BTS and troops: Possible Firefly gunnery problem?

[John Kettler]

In a recent grueling QB against Kingfish (I lost again), I had a Firefly whose meager twelve rounds of HE were gone, facing infantry in light and heavy buildings. I repeatedly ordered main gun fires, but I never saw any made. Granted, HE would've been preferable, but we all know that it would be most unpleasant to have three inch shot slammed through the walls at almost 1000 m/sec; could be fatal in the event of a direct hit or fragments of wall, etc. Would be most unpleasant in any event.

I recall that British paras at Arnhem were in a brick schoolhouse through which an 88, firing high fortunately, put nondetonating (brick wouldn't trigger fuze) AT shell after shell, taking out many square feet of bricks with each hit.

Given this, and the fact that I used to be able to fire AP shells from Hellcats and M-10s when out of HE, why wouldn't my Firefly use its 44 rounds of APCBC against the infantry in houses?

Regards,

John Kettler

[Simon Fox]

Funnily enough I had a Firefly open up without orders using AP against infantry in the open so what you are talking about is nothing fundamental. Are you using area fire or directly targetting the infantry? I find tanks very reluctant to area fire AP but they will fire it at clearly identifiable targets.

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"Fatso-the battlers' prince"

[Vanir]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Simon Fox:

Funnily enough I had a Firefly open up without orders using AP against infantry in the open

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Yup, seen the same thing myself. If you target a specific unit it should ask you if you want to use main gun. If you say yes I think it will use AP if it is out of HE. I can't vouch for the effectiveness of the AP vs. infantry though and it probably won't work with area fire.

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So maybe you should listen to this Vanir guy instead of ignoring him -- he has the best take on the whole thing. - Combatboy

[John Kettler]

Simon Fox,

The infantry was in the houses, and I was shooting at the infantry.

Kingfish may be able to shed some light on this, but he's asleep right now (lives on the other coast).

Thanks for the reply.

Sincerely,

John Kettler

[This message has been edited by John Kettler (edited 09-29-2000).]

[Ron]

Not sure why John, I had a Firefly in a RD tournament game with no HE initially. Once the armour was gone I had no problem with it firing AP on infantry in woods and buildings. I observed it's effect to be more psychological than real however

Ron

[:USERNAME:]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by John Kettler:

Granted, HE would've been preferable, but we all know that it would be most unpleasant to have three inch shot slammed through the walls at almost 1000 m/sec; could be fatal in the event of a direct hit or fragments of wall, etc. Would be most unpleasant in any event.

I recall that British paras at Arnhem were in a brick schoolhouse through which an 88, firing high fortunately, put nondetonating (brick wouldn't trigger fuze) AT shell after shell, taking out many square feet of bricks with each hit.

Regards,

John Kettler<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Ive seen pictures of those 88mm brick holes. They went through the whole rowhouse I believe. I bet if you were to shoot under a house (so as to ricochet the shell upwards), that a satisfactory amount of material would be sprung up. You would not want to be near it.

Lewis

[Kingfish]

John,

The only thing I can think of is the Firefly lost LOS when my Infantry entered the house. IIRC, the Firefly was also buttoned up.

I had a similar experience in the same game with my Pak40. Once it lost LOS it refused to fire it's remaining AP shells.