infantry

[Hilhil45]

Maybe its just that I'm new but it seems almost impossible to kill infantry.EX: There was an infantry team in the top floor of a building. My sherman's engine got knocked out so I told it to fire at the infantry team. The sherman fired at them point blank and the still ran downstairs, into another building, out of it then infront of my tank, lobbed two grenades under it and destroyed its gun and killed the crew. If they can take out a tank with two grenades why can't I kill them with five or six shots from my Sherman? :confused:

[Maastrictian]

By "infantry" I assume you mean a squad? Don't forget that a squad of Germans is 8 or 9 guys. A few shots from a sherman, especially when they are in a stone building, is not going to kill them all, though it may kill some of them and make the rest pretty unhappy. As for infantry throwing grenades at tanks, don't forget that this represents the whole squad close assauting the tank. Tanks are relitively fragile, one you manage to break part of them they are out of action. Its easy to kill an individual infantry man, but much harder to wipe out a squad.

--Chris

[Gen-x87]

Ahh hence the reason you need infantry support for your tanks.

This is a common newbie mistake

Tanks are not all that tough if put into close quarters combat with an infantry squad. Keep him back and pound the target.

Churchills and Cromwells are better at killing infantry because of thier bigger guns.

Gen

[Beltfed]

In CMs case as stated previously a squad is abstracted and therefore is not just the three goobers you see on the screen. So yes yer tank may have clobbered a few or dazed them but their buds are still combat effective to run downstairs and put a hurting on yer tanks. Sucks

With lots of cover it is very hard to impossible to fully wipe out infantry units. They may break but they're rarely destroyed out right, especially by armor alone.

While it sounds like the Sherman, because of it's inability to move, had no choice it's best to slap Infantry from as far away as possible and if you have to go toe to toe try and bring yer own infantry to keep the enemy troops suppressed and away from your armor.

Frankly Infantry is not given it's due by many people. IMHO! Many grab the best or most tanks they can and just fill in the gaps with grunts. That is just too simplistic. In built up or close terrain, Infantry is very, very dangerous and their abilities are ignored at one's peril. Even in open terrain Infantry are dangerous even if only to distract one from larger threats.

So basically when in towns, woods or other close terrain try to bring troops with your tanks to flush out and suppress the enemy infantry so yer tanks can pound with relative impunity! Pounding is good then!

Good luck and I hope some of my yapping helped a bit.

[Hilhil45]

Thanks for the info...I've found just using the MG on top desecrates the enemy( took at HQ battiolion in about five seconds).

[Pvt. Ryan]

The MG can decimate the enemy too.

[JasonC]

One other pointer - the Sherman can mess up enemy infantry by shooting at them forever from more than 100 yards away. The infantry will not be able to do much of anything back at that distance. If they have a Panzerschreck, 200 yards is better.

You don't need to run the tanks right up to them, is the point. The tank has range, and at logn range the infantry can't hurt it, while it can hurt them. So, stand off and blast. Your own infantry can keep his from getting too close to the tanks, too, by staying between the two.

As another benefit, the infantry ahead of the tanks will tend to spot enemy armor before it can get shots off at your tanks, giving you warning and a chance to move or get the drop on the enemy tanks, yourself.

[Wolfpack]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Pvt. Ryan:

The MG can decimate the enemy too. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Awww man, I thought maybe someone had made a mod that made your troops urinate on the dead enemy...bummer.

[CombinedArms]

To add to the good advice above:

It's not a universal law, but it's often good to follow the following adage:

"Don't lead with tanks."

Something must have immoblized that tank of yours. It may have been a mine, an AT gun, or a panzerfaust or panzershreck. On the other hand, with your infantry ahead of your tanks, moving where possible through available cover, you can spot these problems and either warn the tank (e.g. mines) or kill them (e.g. shrecks) or maybe both (e.g. AT guns--though AT guns are hard to kill with infantry fire, you can spot them and bring down mortars or arty).

Infantry can also spot or attract enemy tanks, so you can see them before they see you (a key to survival with Shermans, given their weak frontal armor.) Meanwhile, as Jason C points out, the tank can support the infantry with ranged fire. They don't need to be right up close. You can bring them close, but only after the enemy infantry has been largely killed or suppressed and you're engaged in mop-up before moving to the next objective. Even then, exercise discretion.

Each situation is a little different because of terrain, enemy forces, objectives, etc. but generally, in the intimate battlefield modeled in CM, infantry should lead tanks. This seems counter-intuitive because:

1) tanks are faster and,

2) tanks are armored and,

3) tanks have big guns, but,

as you had graphically illustrated for you above, an infantry squad can take a few casualties and still function, but a tank can be destroyed by a single effective shot or by a close assault .

But they can also win the battle for you if you can keep them alive. So the moral of the story, esp with Shermans is, "handle with care"--and use them as support weapons, not as the vanguard of the assault. With their 3 MGs, good HE gun, and high ammo loads, they can be a GREAT support weapon--but not if they're dead.

[ 05-13-2001: Message edited by: CombinedArms ]