Killing Tanks With Infantry

[desertfox5768]

I'm still at a loss as to the best way. Should you run towards then, advance, sneak, assault? How many meters is a good bet?

[YankeeDog]

There's lots of previous threads on this topic. Do a search and you'll come up with some interesting reading. Much of it will be for CMBO, but the basic concepts still apply to CMBB.

Briefly, it depends a lot on situation (cover, number of squads available to assault, number and type of AT 'specials' the squads have, type of armor being assaulted, etc.), but if you're talking about using Squads/Tank Hunter teams with thrown AT weapons only (i.e., no Rifle Grenades, Panzerfaust-60, or Pz-100s - Pz-30s don't really count as their range is really no better than a thrown weapon), I'm usually going to MOVE TO CONTACT and/or SNEAK into a position as close as possible without being seen. If I can HIDE and get the armor to come to me, even better. Then, if there is open ground I need to cover in the final attack, I will use ASSAULT with FOLLOW VEHICLE. I have seen hand-thrown AT weapons used from as far as about 40m. They seem much more likely to be used (and more likely to hit) from under 30m, though. Getting closer than 20m seems to provide very little, if any, additional benefit.

Cheers,

YD

[ January 12, 2003, 11:43 PM: Message edited by: YankeeDog ]

[desertfox5768]

Thanks for the advice. Will the Move to Contact order let the men move up to throwing range before they throw their weapons, or will they stop as soon as the see the tank?

I've had little luck with the sneak command.

Should you target the tank or just let the men decide when and if to do it themselves?

Thanks!

[YankeeDog]

As of Patch v 1.01, of you use MOVE TO CONTACT in conjunction with a COVER ARC, the unit will stop ONLY if it (1) Actually takes fire, or (2) sights an enemy unit within the covered arc. This is very useful for getting close to enemy armor when you don't have the time to use SNEAK, which is very slow. SNEAK is more useful when you just have a very short distance to cover, such as perhaps one side of a building to the other.

I don't usually target the Tank. If my infantry is going to close with the Tank in order to attack, I put the Final ASSAULT waypoint actually on the Tank and say yes to FOLLOW VEHICLE? - they always seem to attack the Tank when you do this (if they don't get gunned down on the way in!). Alternatively, if I'm trying to ambush a Tank that I think is going to come within 30m of my infantry's hiding position, I will use a Covered Arc. Units are MUCH more likely to open fire on an enemy unit inside a covered arc, and this certainly holds for the use of AT 'specials' on armor just as much as it does for small arms fire.

When using Pz-60s & 100s (or Rifle Grenades against light armor), I will usually use a Covered Arc rather than ASSAULT order, or even manually targetting the Tank. These weapons have some range to them, so it's usually not necessary to ASSAULT to get really close - about 40m seems to suffice for a Pz-60, and Pz-100s seem to be best used under about 60m. Theoretically, the Max Ranges for these weapons are 60m & 100m, respectively (hence the names), but practically speaking they're not very accurate at long range, and squads are also very reluctant to use them at longer ranges, especially if they only have one of them - it's a one-shot weapon, and if you only have one and you miss, you're probably screwed. . .

Even if the squad already has LOS to the Tank and is within Panzerfaust Range, I still usually don't manually target the tank, but rather use a Covered Arc to 'encourage' the Squad to fire on the Tank. My own subjective experience suggests that Panzerfausts shots taken in this manner are somewhat more likely to hit. Don't know why, but this just seems to be the case.

Cheers,

YD