question on aa

[voncasey]

hi

anyone know if the german sd kfz 7/1 aa halftrack with 4x20mm guns can shoot at aircraft in front of it

says it is 'rear facing guns' so i wasn't sure how to postion if using it for aa

thanks

[ArgusEye]

Aircraft make a line across the battlefield, so it'll basically get a shot off in most situations. I normally position them facing the nearest map edge.

[voncasey]

thanks for the reply

do you just leave them near the edge then or keep em close to you men/machines??, how do you tell the range??

[Erwin]

These are good questions as I tried putting them on higher ground with great fields of view, and also close to the units I was trying to defend. My only conclusion was that one needs 2+ AA units covering friendlies to be "reasonably confident" of the effect of AA on attacking aircraft.

My questions:

1) When firing at aircraft does placing AA in short LOS terrain limit firing at aircraft, or does the system calculate that since the unit is firing into the air it can see and shoot ok.

2) When you surround your units with AA, is there an enhanced "triangulation effect" on attacking aircraft?

[stoat]

None of the halftracks with rear-facing AA cannon can fire in a forward direction. However, the gun mounts will swivel through perhaps 315 degrees, with the remaining 45 centered on the cab. The halftrack will also maneuver in place to allow you to get a shot off in almost all situations. Place it however you like, and you should still reap the benefits.

Mobile AAA assets, including Wirbelwinds, are generally light skinned. I would recommend keeping them within 500 meters of your armor, but out of the line of enemy fire. You don't want to lose your AAA to a few bursts of long range MMG fire. In addition, if you know your opponent is going to use aircraft, keep your vehicles well spread out.

As Erwin noted, you want more than one AAA asset to actually have a chance of hitting the attacking aircraft, but if you want to save points, only get the one and keep it segregated. There are no guarantees here, but it seems that aircraft target AAA vehicles, then armored vehicles, then exposed guns, and lastly infantry. Planes are not a cheap purchase in QBs, and if you can trade a 7/1 for a pair of 1000 lb. bombs, you've come out ahead.

Placing AAA assets in terrain will limit their ability to fire on incoming aircraft. I wouldn't put them in anything more enclosing than a patch of scattered trees. Also, while I don't have statistics to back it up, it does seem that placing units in a triangle increases their rate of success. To achieve this effect, one should consider that vehicles with AA MGs will also fire at aircraft. many of the other halftracks (250's, 251's) and most armored vehicles will add an MG to your AA curtain. In my own estimation, quad 20mm is the most effective German AA weapon, followed by 37mm, followed by the single 20mm. MGs are least effective, but if you have a lot, you can occasionally get lucky.

[Erwin]

Additionally, I think CM1 models aircraft getting "distracted" by AAA fire, so you don't have to hit/kill it to degrade its attack.

[voncasey]

thanks that helps alot

i have 2 quad 20mm nicely spread out on medium board and a bunch of halftracks, panzers iv and v, and tigers so we'll see how it goes

keeping tankers spread is a good idea too

should be fun