Thunderbird Inf Plt Ldr

Production figures, like TO & E figures do not show the numbers in combat. One earlier post was for an SS Panzer formation. The "elite" low number SS armored divisions (Hitler Jugend, LAH, etc.), and units like Gross Deauchland (spelling?), Hermann Goering, and other select units, received far higher numbers of tanks, and they were much more likely to receive Panthers. Plus, regardless of Panthers assigned, how many of those were left behind in the smoking ruin of the Failese Gap? As I recall, the 12th SS Panzer, for one, suffered catastrophic vehicular losses. Players want to use the "kitties" (Panthers and the Tiger brothers) because they have a godlike resistance to Sherman and bazooka fire from the front, at any reasonable range. Wait till CM2. I'm ready to engage those Deauchland Uber Alles types with tanks that can penetrate their armor! America failed to give us a tank with an effective anti-tank capability to deal with the kitties until the Pershing. Heck, my platoon is still armed with Dragons, which cannot penetrate MBT armor from the front (the new Javalin is the first US infantry weapon to do that from a decent range). Sorry. I rant. However, numbers of Panthers reporded produced, or in elite units, or in rebuilt units prior to an offensive starting, has little bearing on the numbers of Panthers likely to be encountered on a given day. "Movin' On!"

I'm new to CM (though not to wargames), and know nothing about CM2. Brief me, please. Release date? Soviets? Time period? Everything, please...

Sorry, but Panthers were NOT as common as Mark IV's. Look at field unit stregnth reports, not TO&E tables, for the actual numbers in the fight. "Movin' On" 1/279 Inf.

Depends a lot on whether you have covered avenues of withdrawl, whether your units can or cannot continue to inflict significant harm on the enemy (or any harm at all if you've lost all anti-tank assets), do you have smoke to cover your retreat, and perhaps most importantly, do you have anywhere to go that you can reach that will allow you to establish or reinforce a fighting position. Usually, you should have pre-planned secondary positions (but, many a slip betwixt the cup and the lip) based on the enemy's most likely courses of action. I'll only give one common situation. Often, infantry units are deployed in support of your vulnerable AT guns. When those AT guns are knocked out, your supporting infantry will then move, or stay put, based on their new role (perhaps to town to aid their bretheren defend the streets, screen the bazooka teams and MG teams, etc.) Movin' On! (motto of the 1/279 Inf)

AT guns HAVE an important offensive role in the isolation of a battlefield segment, and that role helps them survive! First, figure out where those nasty defensive German armored vehicles probably are, and what section of the battlefield you want to isolate, so you can move through, assault or control an area. Place AT guns in a hide position with a carefully LIMITED field of fire along an axis that separates your chosen avenue of approach from the other places where the enemy probably has his forces (maybe along a road, or other somewhat narrow open strip, hillside, etc.) Then, when your approach is detected, and the enemy moves his pesky armored vehicles (especially those Panthers and Tigers) to defend the sector of the battlefield you are threatening, Bam!! You light them up as they cross your AT Gun's narrow field of fire. Often, you will get a side shot, important for Kitty training with our (U.S.) guns that cannot usually take them out head-on. Since the field of fire (and hence, exposure to the view of other enemy firepower) is narrow, there is a good chance your gun lives to brighten the day for other armored vehicles. The main result of this is that the enemy is severly limited in his ability to relocate his defensive forces to the part of the battlefield you have selected to overwhelm. Your initial 3-1 advantage is now 5-1 to 10-1 where it counts. I don't smoke cigarettes, but I LOVE to smoke Panthers and Tigers. Thus, one working approact to the use of AT guns on the offensive limits enemy mobility and his ability to react to your attack, it protects the AT guns, increases their effectiveness verses tanks they cannot engage frontally, etc., etc...