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Sorry to butt in, but I happen to be German and to have served my time of compulsory military service in an armoured batallion of the Bundeswehr.
'Skirts' directly translated means Schuerzen (with an umlaut).
I am not perfectly certain about the term as applied to tanks, as the term we used (for what I believe is the modern day incarnation of what you are talking about) was "Kettenblenden", both heavy and light ones, the former covering the frontal third and the latter protecting the remainder of the tracks,(not sure about the appropriate term in English, but if you take a look at the tracks of a Leopard II you will probably recognize what I am referring to, and those of you with a military background will certainly come up with the proper English word).
I am almost certain that Schuetzen was never used to refer to those parts.
This judgement, however, does not originate in extensive knowledge of military history , but from a background (albeit basic, but augmented by the advantage of being a native speaker) in linguistics, which makes this ?kind of word-derivation seem rather unlikely/strange/impossible in this context (Particulary as there is a homophone which means "riflemen", as already noted, also with an umlaut by the way).
I *might* be wrong, as some words have *very* strange, and on the surface unlikely, etymologies, but I am fairly confident that this is not such a case (for one thing the term seems to be too recent for it's roots to have been obscured to such a degree (having been introduced around WW2, as it would seem, though it might of course date back to medieval barding etc, but I won't speculate on that as my knowledge of mounted warfare before the advent of the tank is practically nonexistant)).
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"...and they taught me terror. How to use it and how to face it."
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... but I thought it was "schutzen" ... unfortunately most of my library is in storage in boxes in my garage ! 
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? ?However, I do have a 2 book set handy, my old ROTC Recon Team buddy gave me for my B-day/Xmas ... SS: The Secret Archives ?Western Front, by Ian Baxter, Amber Books, 2003 ... pg. 146 ... "Schuzen" (u has an umlout [sp.?] ) or 'skirts' ... ? ? 
