Mr. Clark Posted October 10, 2000 Share Posted October 10, 2000 I keep seeing tactics articles that say that Infantry should support tanks, instead of vice versa. But then I notice certain Tanks listed as "Infantry Support tanks" Could someone just give me a very brief WWII primer on the difference of Inftantry supporting tanks and tanks supporting infantry? Thanks for any help! All this tank stuff is new to me... as I USED to be strictly into small units and infantry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chupacabra Posted October 10, 2000 Share Posted October 10, 2000 Uh, the short answer is both. Tanks support infantry, infantry support tanks. For the reason behind this, try the following: A) Take an all infantry force, and give the AI an all tank force, in any type of battle. See what happens. Now take an all infantry force, give the AI an all infantry force as well. Have the AI defend in a town. See what happens. I apologize if this seems a bit elliptic, but it's really the best way I could think of to explain why things are the way they are ------------------ Soy super bien, soy super super bien, soy bien bien super bien bien bien super super. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ricochet Posted October 10, 2000 Share Posted October 10, 2000 Infantry should always support tanks, any kind of tanks, by protecting them from Infantry AT weapons, close assaults, ambushes etc. An Infantry Support Tank was designed for just that purpose, not for tank killing. You’ll find most infantry support tanks have large caliber guns with little or no armor piercing shells. It should follow an infantry assault taking out any stubborn resistance the infantry finds. And believe me they can do this with deadly efficiency. Protect them with tank destroyers and it becomes an awesome combination that is tough to stop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Clark Posted October 10, 2000 Author Share Posted October 10, 2000 Thanks guys! I think I "get it" now. As I said, WWII tank warfare is entirely new to me! I'm always very happy to learn new tactics however! I think a tactics section should be added to these forums... (unless I'm an idiot and there already is one) EDIT: I'm an idiot... I just noticed the TIPS AND TECHNIQUES section! [This message has been edited by Mr. Clark (edited 10-10-2000).] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScoutPL Posted October 10, 2000 Share Posted October 10, 2000 These guys did a good job let me take it one step further. Tanks kill tanks. They were originally designed to kill infantry (WWI) but then it got to where they had to worry more about each other. SO tank design drifted in to what you had in WWII, tank vs. tank design. But they still had the grunts running around on the ground. and a grunt with a bazooka or an AT gun can kill a tank before the tanker ever sees it. Two or three tanks if he's good and has a little luck. So when moving through any terrain that has good grunt cover tanks need other grunts to move along with them to protect them. Tanks are really only in their element when in wide open spaces like the desert or the steppe of the ukraine. Remember the footage from the gulf war? See many grunts running around? everybody was in a vehicle hauling ass right? A lot of the european forces still held the idea that the tank should support the infantry in a direct fire role, therefore they designed Infantry tanks. These have been defined above. I would argue that all armor on the western front basically supported infantry since the restrictive terrain simply kept them at the grunts pace, which was always a slow walk. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Mr. Johnson-<THC>- Posted October 11, 2000 Share Posted October 11, 2000 Main point of this is, if any commander had everthing they wanted they would never lose a battle. I would like tanks just helping my infantry and tanks just taking out other tanks but thats a perfect world. Hence the arugument about wither CM should limit vehicals based on real life availbailty, or over all value. CC tries to do it, but on what level do we want to try change history....? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeadams Posted October 11, 2000 Share Posted October 11, 2000 In fact infantry do a great job killing tanks (if they don't have infantry support) Try this: make a QB with one side defending as Infantry and the other attacking with straight armor> I find that the Infantry get a win almost every time Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pascal DI FOLCO Posted October 11, 2000 Share Posted October 11, 2000 Just my 0.02 about the role of Inf and Tanks : one of my preferred tactics, when me & the opponent both have both Tanks and Infantry, is to send the Inf AT Teams, along with some grunts, killing the enemy tanks BEFORE exposing my tanks... The rationale behind this is simple : if I succeed in taking out this way 2 or 3 tanks, I take an important advantage and can more easily finish the enemy armor with mine. If it does'nt (and it occurs often ) I just lose relatively inexpensive AT teams/grunts - and can even, if properly timed, shoot the enemy tanks while they are busy destroying my buggers Lastly, this forces enemy tanks to button up (due to small arms fire) before mine, and is a psychological advantage in PBEM - 'cause the enemy *thinks* he has more tanks than me and is overconfident, losing its arrogance when he sees my armor appearing... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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