Boot Camp: Half-tracks and Light Vehicles

[Gremlin]

(Author’s Note: Below is an article that originally appeared as part of the Boot Camp series on Manx’s sadly defunct Combat Missions site. It was written quite some time ago, and I’d surely make changes and additions to it if I had the time, in light of all I’ve learned since writing it. Unfortunately, I have no easy way to post the original explanatory images that accompanied it. Still, I think this article will be useful for newer players. Enjoy!)

Workhorses of the Battlefield: Half-tracks and Other Light Vehicles

Welcome to the second installment of Combat Mission Boot Camp, where we’ll look at half-tracks and other light vehicles. Of all the vehicles in Combat Mission, half-tracks are among the more versatile and useful. Before looking at their strengths and uses, a few words of caution are in order. Half-tracks should be considered the lightly armored equivalent of off-road trucks. Just as you wouldn’t drive a truck onto a battlefield crawling with tanks, you shouldn’t do it with half-tracks. Their armor is only thick enough to stop small arms fire from infantry. Infantry heavy machine guns and any larger guns will quickly immobilize or destroy them. With their open tops, they’re also highly susceptible to mortar and artillery fire, as well as grenades from nearby infantry. Destruction of a transport half-track will generally eliminate or seriously injure squads or teams carried within, too. So, take great care with these vehicles, or they’ll quickly be reduced to smoldering wrecks littering the battlefield.

Despite their weak armor and open tops, half-tracks are still very valuable assets. First of all, in Quick Battles they’re inexpensive to purchase. Secondly, they’re among the faster vehicles in CM, able to rapidly carry troops, bring their guns to bear, or scoot to cover. As the Germans powerfully demonstrated with their Blitzkrieg tactics, the ability to move armor and infantry quickly and in concert is a key combat strength. It’s important to set the pace proactively instead of simply reacting defensively to your opponent. Speed and timing are always vital. On larger maps, it’s often not possible to safely get troops to an area in a reasonable time, and that’s where half-tracks come into play.

Let’s look in more detail at this troop transport role, since it’s one of the most common and important uses for half-tracks. You’ll often want to seize vital terrain or establish a front line quickly, and four half-tracks (depending on the model) can rapidly carry a platoon of three squads, an HQ unit, and a weapons team to the area while providing them some protection. That’s a sizable amount of men and firepower. When using half-tracks this way, you’ll want to keep out of enemy view as much as possible while advancing, both for protection and surprise. It’s safest to park the half-tracks a little bit away from your objective, hidden behind some cover, and then disembark infantry, letting them advance the remainder of the distance on foot. This is because you never want to send any vehicle near unscouted territory, like a tree line or village, where anti-tank weapons or teams might be hiding or where tanks might suddenly rise over a hill crest. Even a regular infantry squad without any anti-tank weapons can knock out many vehicles at point-blank range. Keeping your half-tracks back also gives you a mobile reserve to move up and support the dismounted infantry with mounted machine guns as needed. Another useful task for transport half-tracks is their ability to carry slow-moving weapons teams quickly enough to keep up with running troops. The problem there, though, is that vehicles can’t travel through the rough or forested terrain that infantry can.

Since you should always have reserves of some sort, if only a squad or two held back a moderate distance, half-tracks are excellent for quickly bringing them forward to the main lines, particularly later in a battle when most of the enemy armor has hopefully been dealt with. The half-tracks can then advance fairly close to the front lines, firing as they go for suppression, and then disembark troops when they arrive. You still want to dismount your troops under cover if possible since they’re very susceptible to fire when leaving vehicles.

Let’s take a closer look at some specific vehicles. For the Germans, the older SPW 250 half-track series tends to be a bit faster than the larger SPW 251 series. The armor on both the 250 and 251 series is roughly equivalent. However, the 250/1 can only carry a team, while the larger 251/1 can carry a full squad. Another difference between the two series is their ammo allotments: the SPW 251 mortar and 75mm versions carry more ammo than their counterpart SPW 250’s, for instance. With a crew of only two (unlike the three in Allied half-tracks), an injury to one crewmember leaves the German transport half-tracks unable to shoot their machineguns. Remember that you can button up half-tracks to keep crewmembers’ heads down, though spotting capability is reduced.

The Allied M3 and M3A1 both carry a full squad. The former has one MG, and the latter has two MG’s (including the extremely effective .50 caliber) and more ammo. The slightly slower M5 and M5A1 both carry a squad, as well. The M5 has a .30 caliber MG, while the M5A1 has that plus a .50 caliber MG and more ammo.

In addition to the troop carriers, there are many German half-track variants that mount heavier weapons than the usual MG’s. The SPW 251/16 flamethrower half-track is useful for attacking infantry along wood lines or in buildings, provided you’re reasonably sure they have no anti-tank weapons and that they are being fully suppressed by other units. This is because the flamethrowers have a very short range, requiring you to drive right up to the enemy. Another use for the flamethrower half-track is intentionally setting woods or buildings on fire with the “area target” command. This denies that territory to the enemy, forcing him or her to move around into incoming weapons fire (hopefully), and creates small smoke screens to block line of sight. Some opponents might consider this tactic “gamey” (unrealistic), though.

With a quick rate of fire, the German SPW 250/9 half-track with its 20mm gun is useful for suppressive fire, destroying light vehicles, and warding off fighter-bombers. However, the small ammo allotment of the 250/9 means it can’t sustain fire very long. Standard transport half-tracks, particularly the Allied ones that carry the brutal .50 caliber MG, can often be just as effective overall, since they have much larger ammo allotments and can also destroy light vehicles, though admittedly not as easily as with a 20mm gun. Either way, a quickly moving heavy MG or light cannon that’s impervious to small arms fire can be a powerful tool.

The German 250/8 and 251/9 half-tracks with 75mm guns primarily use high explosive rounds, but they carry a few hollow charge rounds for anti-armor use. The penetration capability of these guns is fairly weak, though, and in the anti-armor role they’re best used against other light vehicles and light tanks. Beware that their lack of a turret will make aiming at moving targets difficult, as the whole vehicle has to turn to aim. When engaging light vehicles, take a shot, relocate, and repeat, since any tank and many other vehicles can obliterate a half-track in no time. These half-tracks are often better suited to serving as infantry support vehicles, covering your troops as they advance. They can then blast enemy infantry and also demolish buildings with the “area target” command.

Mortar half-tracks (including the Allied M4A1 and M21 mortar carriers, which are half-tracks with another name) have the advantages of speed and high ammo counts that standard infantry mortar teams lack. However, mortar half-tracks seem to be high on the TacAI's target priority list and are usually eliminated quickly, particularly by return mortar fire or artillery. They also can’t fire indirectly in conjunction with an HQ unit the way on-map mortar teams can.

Now that we’ve taken a look at half-tracks, let’s look at their cousins, like trucks, scout cars, armored personnel carriers (APC’s), and carriers. For the Allies, the Kangaroo APC’s offer much better armor protection than half-tracks since they’re built from a tank chassis. The Ram version can carry a full squad and has a forward MG, while the Stuart version is unarmed and can only carry a team. The lack of armament poses a problem since you normally want an MG on a vehicle to provide cover fire as infantry dismount. Still, the Stuart Kangaroo is substantially faster than the Ram, albeit less well armored.

The carriers used by the British, Canadian, and Polish forces are small, tracked, open-top vehicles with minimal armor and medium speed. The universal carrier can transport a team. These are most safely used for ferrying teams around rapidly behind main lines, though the flamethrower and MG versions can be useful infantry support vehicles, as long as you keep them out of view of any big guns.

The unarmed Allied jeep is extremely fast and can carry a team. Its speed makes it somewhat useful for scouting or quickly getting a team into position, but the complete lack of armor means it has minimal survivability. There’s also a version with a powerful .50 caliber MG, useful for mopping up towards the end of the battle, but only from a good distance, again because of the lack of armor. The German Kübelwagen is the equivalent of the Allies’ unarmed jeep.

Scout and reconnaissance cars, which are fast, but typically open-topped, with light armor and armament and a small ammo allotment, can indeed be used to scout. However, their low survivability and combat power, coupled with the inability to move through woods or rough terrain, make them a questionable choice for the scouting role, at least when used alone instead of as a support unit for an infantry scouting party. If they’re eliminated before they provide useful info or at least harass and disrupt the enemy, they’re not worth the cost in this case. They’re arguably better used as mobile machine gun mounts, akin to transport half-tracks.

Trucks are inexpensive and carry a full squad, but like jeeps they lack armor, leaving passengers utterly exposed. Only use them where they’re highly unlikely to come under fire. Trucks, gun tractors, and troop-transport half-tracks can tow various field guns, anti-tank guns, and anti-aircraft guns, provided no troops are also being carried. Vehicles can only tow guns with an equal or lesser transport class number than the vehicle. This towing capability is important, since most of those big guns can be moved only painfully slowly—if at all—by their crews. When towing guns, be sure to unlimber the guns out of incoming fire, or you’ll likely lose both the truck and gun.

As you can see, CM provides a wide variety of light vehicles that can adopt many roles. The most important thing to bear in mind with all these vehicles is that they’ll withstand small arms fire, but they’re susceptible to heavy machine guns and any larger weapons. Their open tops are another liability. Even when mounting large weapons like a 75mm gun, they’re no replacement for armored cars, tanks, assault guns, and the like. When used with care, though, they can provide an excellent resource for rapid troop deployment and support.

© 2002 by Scott Osborne

[Gremlin]

Bumped for newbies. I hope you find it useful.

[netrat]

Very useful indeed..thanks

[Hat Trick]

That's great. If you have a write up for tanks and assualt guns, please post it as soon as possible; this is the best primer I've read on light vehicles for the game, and a similar quality primer on AFVs would be invaluable for new players.

[demoss]

Hat Trick: check out this thread.

[coldmeter]

Originally posted by Gremlin:

The German 250/8 and 251/9 half-tracks with 75mm guns primarily use high explosive rounds, but they carry a few hollow charge rounds for anti-armor use. The penetration capability of these guns is fairly weak, though, and in the anti-armor role they’re best used against other light vehicles and light tanks. Beware that their lack of a turret will make aiming at moving targets difficult, as the whole vehicle has to turn to aim.

© 2002 by Scott Osborne

Just to point out that there is always the exception to the normal, I had a 251/22 (which is longer barrelled than the two halftracks mentioned above) and this guy took out a T-34/85 and a IS-2 at ranges of 480 and 290 respectively.

The IS-2 took front turret and upper hull penatrations from the 75/46mm hollow charge rounds.

So if the conditions are right for you and you think you can jump the big guy, go for it. It's a sweet thing to see that huge tank knocked out by your countryside runaround!!