Henri Posted January 15, 2001 Share Posted January 15, 2001 This is an AAR of a Combat Mission TCPIP battle illustrating some interesting tactics. It was a Quick Battle; I let my opponent choose, and he took the map to be a farmland map with small hills. I bought two infantry platoons, two M8 armored cars, a couple on MGs, and a Sherman. The map had a road going straight up the middle with the flag on the left side. I have high respect for the M8, after one of them killed five of my tanks while rampaging through my rear area last week in a TCPIP game … I guessed that the enemy would come down the left side towards the flag, with a light screen possibly covering his left flank. I figured that my opponent would have between one and three tanks, so my plan was to bring up my Sherman slowly on the road in the center behind my infantry, and to race my M8s's along both sides of the map hoping to catch flank shots on his tanks with my M8's and to harass his infantry with the fast-shooting armored cars. The M8 on the left had little probability of flanking anyone, but I hoped I could race him near the enemy lines, nailing some infantry and distracting the enemy who could then be nailed by my Sherman, and I figured that the M8 on the right had a pretty good chance of moving unobstructed all the way across the map, where I would wheel him left behind the enemy lines to hit the enemy armor from behind while they were concentrating on my infantry and Sherman. I had no intention of showing my Sherman before the infantry battle was under way, which was favored by a small hill on the road near the flag area that could conceal the Sherman until it was time to come out. The other main part of my plan was to race my infantry platoons on either side of the road, with the one on the right some distance from the road to avoid being spotted. When the latter platoon came up in line with the flag, they would wheel left and go as far as some trees alongside the road, from where they could fire into the flank of enemy infantry on and behind the flag that were being engaged by my other platoon. As my left-hand platoon was racing toward the flag, the machinegun units fell behind. The platoon reached the clump of trees containing the flag, where it was engaged by forward elements of the Germans, who were also racing for the flag. As the infantry exchanged fire, my M8 on the left raced diagonally across the map, spotting some enemy armor -a Hetzer and a STUGIII! They had been kept well behind the front line, but as the M8 raced between two clumps of trees, one of the German tanks nailed it with a shot to the side. The German tanks then advanced a bit and began to pound my infantry near the flag. In the meantime, the other M8 was deep into the rear of the map, where it spotted and killed a German halftrack that was covering the enemy left flank. Then it kept speeding to its left, crossed the road and went deep behind the enemy position. While all this was happening, my other infantry platoon reached their position and began to fire on the flank of the two US platoons who were giving a hard time to my outnumbered infantry near the flag. The 2 German tanks now spotted the M8 coming up behind them and began to turn to face it; seeing this, the M8 started to look for cover. At this point, I advanced my Sherman onto the small hill with "tophat and lowsky " orders, and before the German STGIII could turn around, the Sherman put a shell into it's tailpipe and killed it, while the Hetzer wheeled around to face the Sherman. The Sherman M4 is no match for the frontal armor of a Hetzer, and as his tank lined up the Sherman, my opponent said "Bye-bye Sherman!…". But I had ordered the Sherman to move in and out of cover, and just as the Hetzer was about to fire, the Sherman backed up out of the line of fire behind the hill. While the Hetzer hesitated about whether or not the Sherman was going to reappear, I ordered the M8 to race right toward the Hetzer, who now began to turn rapidly to face the threat from its rear. The M8 fired furiously and as the Hetzer's side became perpendicular to the line of sight, the M8 immobilized the Hetzer, stimulating a heartfelt expletive from my opponent. Now the turretless Hetzer was as helpless as a floundering fish on the shore, and my M8 put shell after shell into its side until it exploded. But the fight was not over yet: the enemy infantry had overwhelmed my platoon holding the flag despite the fire into its flank from my other platoon. My machineguns had not been able to put effective fire into the enemy before they captured the flag because they were masked by the trees, but now they were pouring fire into the enemy position at the flag. While my M8 was extricating itself from the enemy rear, the enemy infantry underestimated the firepower of 3 MGs 500 meters away supported by the Sherman in the road, and charged the MG positions over the open terrain, intent on silencing the machineguns and on wiping out the remnants of my platoon. They were cut down mercilessly by machinegun fire and the survivors hightailed it back into the trees with heavy casualties. The M8 now headed back to the right toward the road, while nearby enemy units in the rear fired at it. It drove right by a Panzerschreck, who fired at it three or four times, but thanks to its speed, the M8 avoided the shells while ruining the aim of the Panzerschreck with cannon and machinegun fire. The M8 then raced back down the road to a position near the Sherman, and joined the Sherman in pounding the enemy positions around the flag. Seeing that his position had become untenable, the German player now gave up. The key points of my strategy in this game was the perfect timing of the attack on the two German tanks from two different directions, which also required a modicum of luck, given that orders can only be given at one-minute intervals. Had the Hetzer been able to fire at my Sherman a few seconds faster and to kill it, it might have been able to turn faster to face the M8. And even if the M8 had then killed the Hetzer as it did, the Panzerschreck had a good chance of killing the M8. In any case, without the Sherman to back up my infantry, it is not clear whether or not the enemy infantry could have knocked out most of my infantry before the M8 made it back to help, and the M8 could not capture the flag without some help from infantry. The opponent kept his Panzerschreck on his flank to protect against an attack from that direction, but he did not foresee the much deeper penetration that was possible because of the totally free space on the right half of the map. Despite the delay incurred by my infantry platoon to reach its position on the flank of the enemy infantry, which caused the other outnumbered platoon to be almost wiped out by two enemy platoons supported by enemy armor and mortars, it's position on the flank helped to disrupt the enemy infantry by forcing them to fight in a crossfire. In retrospect I should not have taken the flag immediately, but instead placed my infantry in a covering position near the flag at least until the other infantry platoon arrived. The M8 armored car can be a formidable opponent when it is used in a way that exploits its superior speed, fast turret rotation and rapid firing rate; when it manages to get behind enemy armor that is being engaged by friendly armor from the front, it can turn the tide of battle, especially if the enemy units are turretless vehicles that have to turn the hull to engage enemy tanks. Henri Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Adams Posted January 15, 2001 Share Posted January 15, 2001 Love the tactics, and hope to see more of these postings! ------------------ Scott Adams Not Dilbert, Adventure! www.msadams.com msadams@msadams.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dittohead Posted January 15, 2001 Share Posted January 15, 2001 This points out that the M-8 and other wheeled AC should be vulnerable to immobilization and critical hits from machinegun fire. As it is now mg's do not shoot at the M-8's. All it would take would be a chunk of rubber on the front tire being shot off and then when the M-8 tries to turn. The tire gets torn from the rim. Bingo immobilized. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M. Bates Posted January 15, 2001 Share Posted January 15, 2001 <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>This points out that the M-8 and other wheeled AC should be vulnerable to immobilization and critical hits from machinegun fire. As it is now mg's do not shoot at the M-8's. All it would take would be a chunk of rubber on the front tire being shot off and then when the M-8 tries to turn. The tire gets torn from the rim. Bingo immobilized.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> That would be tricky to do on a fast moving vehicle in and out of cover, hundreds of metres away! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Henri Posted January 15, 2001 Author Share Posted January 15, 2001 <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Dittohead: This points out that the M-8 and other wheeled AC should be vulnerable to immobilization and critical hits from machinegun fire. As it is now mg's do not shoot at the M-8's. All it would take would be a chunk of rubber on the front tire being shot off and then when the M-8 tries to turn. The tire gets torn from the rim. Bingo immobilized.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Not necessarily, the M8 is a 6x6 vehicle (6 powered wheels), so one wheel out of commission may slow it a bit, but not immobilize it. There has been a considerable discussion on the M8 last week on another thread, ("How an M8 ruined my day"). Henri Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Henri Posted January 15, 2001 Author Share Posted January 15, 2001 oops, double post... [This message has been edited by Henri (edited 01-15-2001).] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subvet Posted January 15, 2001 Share Posted January 15, 2001 <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Dittohead: This points out that the M-8 and other wheeled AC should be vulnerable to immobilization and critical hits from machinegun fire. As it is now mg's do not shoot at the M-8's. All it would take would be a chunk of rubber on the front tire being shot off and then when the M-8 tries to turn. The tire gets torn from the rim. Bingo immobilized.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> I'm not sure I can agree with you on that. Maybe slow the M-8 down if you could take out a tire, but immobilization might be a bit of a stretch. Ever watch one of those "reality" tv shows like "cops" where a car loses a tire? It almost always keeps on driving, just slower. And that is a civilian passenger car with only 4 wheels. On M-8 is no doubt tougher and has 6 wheels. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jarmo Posted January 15, 2001 Share Posted January 15, 2001 A great read, but dummies like me could have used a picture. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Firefly Posted January 15, 2001 Share Posted January 15, 2001 I'm glad you're posting your AARs here, Henri, my ISP's news server is so screwed up at the moment that I can't read them on war-historical. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pvt.Tom Posted January 15, 2001 Share Posted January 15, 2001 Great story, I would love to hear more if anyone else would like to share. Pvt.Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Henri Posted January 15, 2001 Author Share Posted January 15, 2001 <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Firefly: I'm glad you're posting your AARs here, Henri, my ISP's news server is so screwed up at the moment that I can't read them on war-historical.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> If anyone sends me a request for an AAR posted anywhere, I'll gladly send them a copy in word format.(the most recent one on war-historical is a TCPIP battle using "Bridgehead at Benicourt). Henri Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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