![]() ![]() ![]() But German troops appreciated the Marders’ armor and firepower. They saw combat in western Afghanistan in the 2010s-a less-than-ideal environment for the vehicles, as they initially lacked air-conditioning. German arms-maker Rheinmetall manufactured more than 2,000 Marders, starting in 1969. The German army hurried to replace the HS.30 with a more elegant design: the Marder. ![]() The HS.30 was an ergonomic mess, however, and design changes eventually eliminated the rear exit and made the vehicle unusable in combat. The German HS.30 was, in 1958, the first vehicle to combine all the qualities that today make an IFV an IFV: speed, armor protection, a turret-mounted gun and an infantry compartment with a rear exit-so that the infantry safely could disembark the vehicle while under fire from the front. For two decades after the war, the German army experimented with armored vehicles that could haul the infantry into a tank battle and make sure the soldiers survived the first few critical minutes as they dismounted and scurried for cover. The Germans added more infantry to their tank divisions, but the infantry struggled to keep up with the fast-moving tanks. In battle with masses of Soviet infantry, German tank units often achieved local breakthroughs-only to get overwhelmed on all sides by enemy infantry as the tanks’ momentum slowed. The Marder has its roots in World War II, when the German army learned the hard way that formations with lots of tanks but few infantry can punch through enemy lines, but can’t hold the ground they capture. ![]()
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