Guns in Tow

[Catch]

What is the best way to get an AT gun being towed by a truck/tracked vehicle into a combat situation without being blasted off the battlefield. Example: Battle situation trying to drop off 88mm flak to take out Russian tanks camped out on a hill. After I dropped off the gun it took almost 5 turns to set and rotate it, by that time the guns were summarily "tatered". Please help.

[88mm]

Lots of smoke

Seriously do:

If the enemy have a LOS on the position where you want to deploy your AT the only way too keep it alive is giving cover. Or you drop the gun a little behind at a unseen spot, then the gun-crew must carry it in position and set it up. Again, smoke makes life easier in that last stage. If your turn you truck btw, the gun already points in the right direction. Dunno if that goes faster but atleast the men have a easier job to push/pull that gun in position.

Overall it's a "not done" move. the only situation that justify trucks/carriers is a defensive battle, where you misplaced your AT/Inf gun and rapidly transport it to the other flank where the support is needed the most. Afcource you need a save path to carry your gun and eploy it where the enemy not yet is but is expected.

Hope this helps

[Bone_Vulture]

And for the love of God, forget about towing the heavy, immobile 88's. It's hard to place them in the required cover (woods / rough), and they have a hideous setup time.

If you're playing the Germans, the 75mm PAK is usually way enough to handle any Russian tank. Look for a strip of forest that both blocks LOS to your enemy's position and offers a good fire line there. Recon the forest with several small infantry teams, and tow the gun to your edge of the forest. Disembark the gun, and let the crew move it across the forest to establish a line of fire to the enemy.

Actually, I've never tried this earlier, but it might be possible to give your AT gun an armor cover arc, and maneuver it with move-to-contact orders, thus making sure that the gun will start setting up as soon as soon as it has a LOF to the first enemy tank.

[JasonC]

I've had good success repositioning small guns during a fight - German 28mm PAK, Russian 76mm infantry guns for example. Bigger stuff is distinctly harder, and size 9 immobile guns are the hardest.

With the little guns, you just drop them at the back of a body of trees and "disembark-move" to 5-10m from the front edge. It takes a minute or two to make the movement and another minute or two to set up. But then you are in action. You don't get hurt while it is going on, because you typically aren't even seen until you open fire. Sometimes not even then e.g. with a 28mm PAK.

When the area is clear, don't waste the time going out the back again, just send the vehicle around to the front side of the cover to speed the pick-up. Repeat at the next chosen location.

Selecting gun locations can be a bit tricky, because you do need LOS to enough places to make the gun useful and so you don't need to reposition right away. But the route in must be covered, and LOS shouldn't be to absolutely everything or reply fire will kill you. I find an overall arc of 60 degrees or so, and thinking in terms of covering about 1/4 of a typical map (e.g. left half and far half), is about the right compromise.

You can also drive the vehicle into scattered trees. The bog chance is quite low, just be sure to use "move" for the portion actually in the trees, rather than "fast". Long distances through trees will degrade accuracy on your own shots, so if the gun can be moved it often makes since to push it farther forward anyway. You are less vulnerable when already disembarked and inside the trees, particularly gun types that have a gun shield (not e.g. a 105mm howitzer). But against small arms - HE can still hurt you. This is the only way to get an immobile gun like an 88mm FLAK into a decent firing position.

The best movers are halftracks (armored), then jeeps for the light guns (small, hard to hit, fast even off road). The worst are plain trucks - those get KOed if you look at them funny and are easy to see and hit. They are also quite slow off road, in anything but perfect ground conditions or over any kind of rough terrain. If all you have is trucks, select gun positions right beside roads if at all possible - the tiny patches of trees in lined road tiles can work.

Other tricks are smoke just ahead of the gun position the turn the vehicle pulls in, so the gun is disembarked in cover and the vehicle has left by the time it clears. A gun on the ground in trees is hard to see, much harder than a vehicle or attached gun.

A mortar or tank main gun can deliver the smoke. In some cases you can get the same effect by using a "hunt" order with a smoke-discharger tank facing a superior enemy, along the LOS line from gun position to enemy aka ahead of the gun. When it gets LOS the hunter will not like the odds, pop smoke and reverse.

A last useful trick is the baited trap. You set up the gun in a place without immediate LOS to enemy tanks. Then some light armor or an inferior tank of your own tries to entice the enemy forward by staying just out of its LOS, reversing, etc. If he comes to get the easy kill, you gun is waiting. (The Germans historically made extensive use of this tactic, sometimes with whole companies of armor drawing full brigades onto their PAK fronts this way).

[Beta1]

I find moving guns on the attack only useful with HE type guns - I've normally got TDs to do anti tank work.

The smaller calibre HE guns can be really useful when moved. The Brit 75mm pack howitzer is light enough to be pushed a long way without transport. I've had guys push these halfway across the map and up a hill to suddenly provide fire support onto a stronghold from an unexpected angle in CMBO. Never really pushed guns much in BB. I suspect the early years of AK may see a fair few small calibre guns that are easily moved around though