Cordesman so right, yet so wrong

[Norfolk]

Indeed. During WWII, it was found that an Infantry Battalion performed best in offensive operations when it was reinforced with a Tank Squadron (Company), and an Infantry Division was reinforced with a Tank Brigade of 3 Regiments (Battalions). In Korea, the Canadians again rediscovered this, as the Infantry Brigade fighting there went from having no tanks, to a Squadron of 19 tanks, even though fighting in close, usually mountainous country.

Interestingly, in the wake of the Second Battle of Panjwai in the summer of 2006, the Canadian Infantry Battle Group there received a 15-Tank Squadron with upgraded Leopard 1 A3s ("C2"); now it is 20-tanks strong, with the newer Leopard 2A6M replacing the Leopard 1A3, much the same proportion as was found to work best on very different battlefields in very different times from North-West Europe, though not Korea (but Armoured strength in the Army was doubled in the years after the war). Despite having Air Support on hand, CAS could not replace Armour (not to mention that friendly CAS has an unfriendly habit of killing and wounding lots of groundpounders in Afghanistan). There just is no substitute, most times, for true Combined-Arms.