SgtMuhammed

What is really interesting is that when you set in a position you spend a lot of time preparing to fire in limited visibility. Setting stops for predetermined targets and filling out range cards and other such activities. But as has already been stated you rarely actually fire at your preplanned targets. During limited vis the MGs are largley static, waiting to put down that final protective fire. It just isn't very effective to fire on a clump of trees when you can't see if anyone is there and firing your big guns at a couple of guys will likely get them, the guns, killed before they are really needed.

It's a 19 series thing.

Yes, but no one really listens to him.

Remember the armor of any APC is designed to protect infantry against small arms and shrapnel, the big killers of the PBI. Use them to run from cover to cover not as your Panzerkiel.

Very hit or miss with rockets. I have had them fall with about the same accuracy as other large arty but then I have also had them fall where, no joke here, no two impacts were closer than 200 meters. There were craters all over the map. Look out for that last rocket in the barrage. It always seems to be the one that will find your most important asset and kill it.

You can run it off any liquid that will burn. Parts, on the other hand, might be more of a problem.

It only takes one. Yes one can go pretty fast across the farms of Germany, right into one of the many creeks, rivers, drainage ditches, or other hazards out there. Then, of course there are the woods. I don't know how many M1s I have had chase me into the trees wanting to show off their turbine powered muscle. Most got stuck, many threw track and one even managed to drown its driver at the bottom of a very big mud hole. Fighting men learn to addapt very quickly if you don't kill them the first time you meet them. How many M1s died to Iraqi fire in GW1? How about this time. If you really want to kill something you will figure out how to do it.

Actually I have a license to kill from the U.S. Consulate in Munich. When the guards gave me my pocket-knife back they said I could kill people as long as it was off embassy grounds. When I get to L.A. next month all those reality TV shows are going to pay.

The bottom line is that you would be safer but not immune. It only took a few days to figure out how to kill tanks when they first came out and there were specialized AT weapons within months. As long as the new wonder weapon doesn't win the war immediatly it is nearly always possible to figure out some way to counter it.

Been on a self imposed exile till I have something worth saying...or something like that...kind of a vision quest. And you don't have to go to Iraq to fight M1s, you can do it from the comfort of lovely and always sunny Hohenfels, Germany.

Maybe your father knew my grandfather. Small world.

Maybe your father knew my grandfather. Small world.

Maybe your father knew my grandfather. Small world.

The front armor on the M1 is closer to 600mm or about 2 feet. Yes it might be hard to get a track hit on an M1 going flat out but then again where are we fighting. Here in Germany the only place an M1 is going to get over 20 mph is on the Autobahn. If you meet them in the desert then you will have to be very careful about where you want to engage, kind of like the Iraqis were with the ones they did manage to damage. I've fought against the M1 and yes it is a bitch and a half to kill but it can be killed, even by a lowly BMP.

But a 75mm to the tracks is going to have the same effect on an M1 that it does on a T34. Once you stop it from moving it is only a matter of time before you can get around the armor. Plus with only 40 rounds an M1 isn't going to be shooting very long. If you are prepared to risk the casualties you can prove that no tank is invulnerable.

The number could range from 0 to a couple hundred depending on what you mean by a major operation and exactly which one. The Market part of Market-Garden didn't have any tanks while the Garden part had an entire corps. American forces tended to be organized into task forces at the CM scale. These could be either armor or infantry heavy. Either a couple infantry companies and a tank company or the other way around. I believe the Brits tended to keep a more organic organization but don't quote me on that. Remember that for the most part the Western Allies didn't face large numbers of German tanks once fighting reached Europe so there was less of a tendency to throw tens of them at the same target.

Someone should check to see if the time of year makes any difference. During the winter vinyards are trimmed to nearly nothing. They aren't really bushy again till late summer.

Mobility kill, then gun hit, then watch as enemy circles around to the rear and turns tank into blazing inferno. Same as dealing with WWII ubertanks. P.S. Hi mom!

My grandfather was a tank commander (Stuarts) with 1AD. Shipped out with them to Ireland and then to NA. Was part of Ward's counterattack at Sidi Bou Zid where he was one of the few survivors of his company. Awarded Bronze Star for holding off a German infantry attack with his .50 cal. Fought at Naples, Casino and Anzio. Deamed essential to the unit and so got to fight the entire war in Italy finally ending up in a little town by the French/Italian border. One uncle was an infantryman at Anzio. He nearly drowned when his landing craft dropped ramp on a sand bar and he jumped off into water over his head. One of his buddies pulled him out. My father-in-law was in 3/47 INF 9th ID. He was in the first wave of replacements after Normandy and fought around St. Lo. Wounded his first day in combat when a mortar took away most of his right calf. Rejoined his unit just in time for the Huertgen Forrest. Wounded a second time after a week in combat. The round hit his left hand, went through the stock of his M1, and lodged in his shirt pocket without puncturing his t-shirt. Spent the rest of the war guarding POW work parties in Paris. Joined the Air Force when they were separated from the Army and retired a Senior Master Sergeant.

My grandfather was a tank commander (Stuarts) with 1AD. Shipped out with them to Ireland and then to NA. Was part of Ward's counterattack at Sidi Bou Zid where he was one of the few survivors of his company. Awarded Bronze Star for holding off a German infantry attack with his .50 cal. Fought at Naples, Casino and Anzio. Deamed essential to the unit and so got to fight the entire war in Italy finally ending up in a little town by the French/Italian border. One uncle was an infantryman at Anzio. He nearly drowned when his landing craft dropped ramp on a sand bar and he jumped off into water over his head. One of his buddies pulled him out. My father-in-law was in 3/47 INF 9th ID. He was in the first wave of replacements after Normandy and fought around St. Lo. Wounded his first day in combat when a mortar took away most of his right calf. Rejoined his unit just in time for the Huertgen Forrest. Wounded a second time after a week in combat. The round hit his left hand, went through the stock of his M1, and lodged in his shirt pocket without puncturing his t-shirt. Spent the rest of the war guarding POW work parties in Paris. Joined the Air Force when they were separated from the Army and retired a Senior Master Sergeant.

My grandfather was a tank commander (Stuarts) with 1AD. Shipped out with them to Ireland and then to NA. Was part of Ward's counterattack at Sidi Bou Zid where he was one of the few survivors of his company. Awarded Bronze Star for holding off a German infantry attack with his .50 cal. Fought at Naples, Casino and Anzio. Deamed essential to the unit and so got to fight the entire war in Italy finally ending up in a little town by the French/Italian border. One uncle was an infantryman at Anzio. He nearly drowned when his landing craft dropped ramp on a sand bar and he jumped off into water over his head. One of his buddies pulled him out. My father-in-law was in 3/47 INF 9th ID. He was in the first wave of replacements after Normandy and fought around St. Lo. Wounded his first day in combat when a mortar took away most of his right calf. Rejoined his unit just in time for the Huertgen Forrest. Wounded a second time after a week in combat. The round hit his left hand, went through the stock of his M1, and lodged in his shirt pocket without puncturing his t-shirt. Spent the rest of the war guarding POW work parties in Paris. Joined the Air Force when they were separated from the Army and retired a Senior Master Sergeant.

The actual frequency of something going wrong with a weapon is quite low. On the other hand, the frequency of a stoppage for whatever reason is much higher. Simple things like having to dig ammo out of a pack (very common on the attack) or a twisted belt can stop firing for a short period without being a malfunction. On the whole, I have found, both in RL and CM, that an individual weapon might "jam" once every 3 or 4 engagements in the same series (without any down time for serious cleaning) but out of a section a stoppage will occur in one of the guns in about half the actions. One thing about the .50 being recharged frequently. A major cause is poor fire discipline. If you fire short bursts, 2 or 3 rounds, which soldiers often do because the weapon walks off the target, the weapon tends to jam. Keeping up good 6 to 9 round bursts will allow you to fire all day. The gas mechanism just doesn't get into its groove, so to speak, with short bursts. Experienced gunners know how to brace the weapon properly and maintain a good rate of fire.

For perspective, modern snipers have the following SOP for dealing with armor colums; first they shoot the TCs in their hatches then they shoot off the radio antennas. This is expected to be accomplished from several hundred meters to keep from giving away their positions.

If you can get a 1:50,000 scale tactical map or better they tend to work best. A ton of old photos will also help to add realism.

Try "If Only" at the Scenario Depot. It is a what if that brings the Sturm Tiger to Stalingrad. People seem to like it.