If China Invades Taiwan, Taipei Plans to Throw a Thousand Tanks at the Beachhead

choi

David Axe, If China Invades Taiwan, Taipei Plans to Throw a Thousand Tanks at the Beachhead. Forbes.com, Dec 9, 2020
https://www.forbes.com/sites/dav ... s-at-the-beachhead/

Note:
(a) Since 2007, the author has been written in his own blog "War Is Boring," which has turned into a website. The archive of Forbes.com shows he's also started writing for it in May 2020.
(b) "M60 started production in 1960 * * * Taipei recently [July, 2019] bought 108 new M-1s [M1A2s entered production in 1982] from the United States * * * The first M-1 isn't due to arrive until 2023. * * * Taiwanese army doctrine calls for heavy armor to strike back against Chinese invasion troops landing on Taiwan’s beaches. Those Chinese troops—the first wave, especially—likely would be lightly armed.  Any tank, no matter how geriatric, would pose a deadly threat to unprotected Chinese infantry clinging to a narrow beachhead."

(i) M60 tank
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M60_tank
(developed from the M48 Patton; The first M60A3s were assembled at the Detroit Arsenal Tank Plant [1941-1996; owned by US government] in February 1978)

M60 (version 1) started production in 1960 at the same Plant, in Detroit.

In United States at least, M48 Patton (version 1's introduction in 1952), M60 and M1 Abram (version 1 started production in 1980) are main battle tank of the first, second and third generation, respectively.
(ii) The en.ikipedia.org has a page each for CM-11 and -12, where C probably stands for China: Republic of China that is. All American tanks historically have M as initial, starting from M1, M2, M3, M4 etc. Why M? (At first I thought M designates main battle tank, but M1 etc were not MBTs.
Tanks of the United States
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanks_of_the_United_States
("The M1 Combat Car was a tankette that entered use with the US Cavalry in the late 1930s. * * * The US military utilized the 'M' (Model) letter to designate nearly all of their equipment")

(b) "A modern main battle tank might weigh as much as 70 tons. That's a heavy load for a shallow-draught ship.  Fortunately for China, it has access to one of the world's largest merchant fleets. * * * civilian roll-on/roll-off ships"
(i)
(A) draft (etymology: "mid 16th century phonetic spelling of draught")
https://www.lexico.com/definition/draft
(B) The draft is used in American English, and draught in British English. Either is the noun of verb draw.
(C) draft (n): "nautical : the depth of water a ship draws (see DRAW entry 1 sense transitive 6) especially when loaded"
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/draft
(D) draft (hull)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Draft_(hull)  
(The draft or draught of a ship's hull is the vertical distance between the waterline and the bottom of the hull (keel), with the thickness of the hull include)
(ii) "a shallow-draught ship"?

This is because PLA has few places to land. Among those, they are sand beaches. If the draft of a boat is deep, landing force will have to swim to the beach.

(iii) I will laugh at the notion of a thousand fishing boats or merchant ships. There is no way to hide them from satellite. And no harbors in China across Taiwan have enough space.
(iv) roll-on/roll-off
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roll-on/roll-off

(c) "But the first wave of PLA forces likely would include light amphibious tanks that can swim ashore under their own power—and nothing heavier. These thinly-armored vehicles are no match even for Taiwan’s oldest tanks. * * * Any way you cut it"
(i) tank
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tank  
("Amphibious tanks are specially designed or adapted for water operations, such as by including snorkels and skirts, but they are rare in modern armies, being replaced by purpose-built amphibious assault vehicles or armoured personnel carriers in amphibious assaults. Advances such as the EFA mobile bridge and armoured vehicle-launched scissors bridges have also reduced the impediment to tank advance that rivers posed in World War II")
(A) If one googles, he will see a tank not only can swim, but immersed underwater crossing on river or sea bed. Not only is a tank waterproof, but its treads are impervious to water, too. But the quotation says there is no need for tanks to perform acrobatics.
(B) EFA (mobile bridge)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EFA_(mobile_bridge)
stands for, in French, Engin de Franchissement de l'Avant (forward crossing apparatus).

Search Results Engin de Franchissement de l'Avant EFA. Ministère des Armées, France, uploaded on July 13, 2016.
https://www.google.com/search?q= ... p;bih=700&dpr=1

Once tanks are loaded on EFA, the EFA crosses the river. In other words, EDA is mobile. There is no need to create a bridge across the entire span of the river.

French-English dictionary:
* engin (noun masculine; from Latin [noun neuter] ingenium [talent] ): "device"
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/engin
   ^ Though English noun engine is derived French noun engin, the latter does not mean engine in French.
* franchissement (noun masculine; from [verb] franchir [cross] +‎ -ment): "act of crossing"https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/franchissement
* avant (noun masculine): "front; (sports) forward"
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/avant
(ii) any way you cut it: "informal —used to say that something is true no matter how a person looks at it or thinks about it"
https://www.merriam-webster.com/ ... ay%20you%20cut%20it