MG placement

[dunc]

I'm having trouble with positioning MG's when defending.

Do you put them at the front of your defence so they can fire at oncoming troops from a distance, or do you place then further back, so they attack at closer range?

[CMplayer]

That depends on a lot of factors. But in general MGs come into their own at longer ranges.

[dunc]

Do you try to give them limited firing lanes? As my MG's often seem to get pounded by tanks when they are placed upfront.

[Pak40]

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by dunc:

Do you try to give them limited firing lanes? As my MG's often seem to get pounded by tanks when they are placed upfront.<hr></blockquote>

That's why you place an AT gun close by your MG teams. If your enemy brings a tank in the open then it's toast.

[jgdpzr]

MGs should be used in concert with other units to create "kill sacks" or "kill zones." The key to these zones is interlocking fields of fire. Support infantry units with anti-tank assets (ATGs, tanks, TDs) so that all types of threats can be countered.

In general, MGs should be placed a bit further back from the contact areas in these zones because of their lack of mobility and increased vulnerability when enemy infantry gets close. At longer ranges, one of the primary values of the MG is suppression--make the enemy hit the dirt, pin him with MG fire and use supporting infantry, mortars or other arty and possibly tanks to pound them. MGs are most effective when they are used in multiples, placed sufficiently apart so as to bring fire down from different angles on shared targets.

A final thing to keep in mind is that any infantry unit's (including MGs) vulnerability is increased dramatically when they are asked to cover too wide, or too long, a field of fire. Hence, the concept of keyholing, or placing them so that any unit (infantry or vehicle) can be countered if it comes into view, is critical. This requires restricting the field of fire (los) while maximizing the number of weapons that can fire into this killzone. By doing this, you ensure that you have the firepower advantage which is the critical factor in any firefight. Clearly, in open terrain this can be quite tricky and is one of the major reasons that defending open terrain is so challenging.