I'm reading the first team by John lundstrom about the development of carrier wings both for the usn and the ijn and he mentions an anvil attack to be used for torpedo bombers. I've looked it up but is still. it clear to me what an anvil attack is.
does anybody else know what other tactics were used by torpedo bombers and dive bombers?
As a matter of fact, I've actually written articles on general tactics for dive bombers, and an overview of torpedo planes at the beginning of WWII.
The Anvil Attack was the Japanese answer to the question "how do you maximize the chance of a torpedo hit against a maneuvering target?"
Imagine a single ship sailing in a straight line. Assuming you can lead the target correctly, it's very easy to hit with a torpedo. However, a ship can often avoid a torpedo with a single turn, called "combing the torpedo." The ship turns toward the torpedo, allowing it to pass on one side or another.
The Anvil Attack seeks to prevent this by having two attack groups, coming in on the target vessel on either side of the bow (think of a Y shape... the base is the ship path, the \ and / the torpedo tracks).
If the ship doesn't turn, it takes two torpedo hits, one to port, one to starboard. However, if the ship turns to comb one torpedo, it gives the OTHER torpedo the perfect target, a broadside 90 degree angle.
Obviously this means that one attack group has to delay their assault somewhat, but that wasn't usually a problem.
When done correctly, it maximized the chance of some hits. In effect, it threw away half of the torpedoes to give the other half a great chance... and considering how good Japanese torpedoes were, that was a good exchange.