Halftracks and the Panzergrenadier

[John_d]

I have just found another use for halftracks, where tanks and trucks would not do the trick. I was recently playing a game against a friend based around a large town in the middle of the map, surrounded by countryside and fields. The town itself was too packed and LOS too poor to really make best use of tanks, so whilst an infantry battle raged in the town itself, there were running tank battles out on the surrounding fields. These tank battles had reached a bit of a stalemate, so I decided to do something totally unexpected to wrongfoot my opponent. Inspired by the 'Thunder Run' I decided to charge my re-enforcements (mostly more tanks) through the centre of town and through enemy lines in order to get flanking shots on the enemy armour. However, I realised that I would need infantry to spot for me. But I couldn't get them through the centre of town on foot, nor could I get them through on the backs of tanks, as my tactic rested on the idea that my opponents AT defences wouldn't be able to react quickly enough to an all-out charge, but the small arms would (thus why I coudn't do the same thing with an infantry charge). So any infantry riding on tanks would get hit. So instead I used HTs. Seeing as I wasn't going to encounter much AT fire anyway (hopefully), they would serve to protect my infantry as they drove through a hail of small arms fire. Perfect.

The tactic worked really nicely, with me losing a couple of tank commanders to rifle fire and one PzIV to a lucky shot by a T-34 parked down a side-street. Also, all of my infantry made it intact, which wouldn't have happened if they had been riding tanks or in trucks. So HTs do have a function that nothing else can perform, even though it is an extremely limited one

[Grimly Fiendish]

Originally posted by JasonC:

The argument against tank riders is completely unconvincing. The tanks are the main element and they do what you want them to do. The infantry are with them to serve them, not the other way around.

If an opportunity arises, yes you engage with the infantry on their backs.

This is an instructive point. The lesson I would take is that if you are concerned about tanks geting confused about their roles (and I fully sympathize) then this is a sign you need not more TANKS or HTs, but more INFANTRY. Let the tanks do their job and assign another platoon to squat on the flag.

If this leaves you with insufficient tanks, then you may need to reconsider the battle situation as a whole.

[Bruce70]

In a QB ME (and I agree that this is probably not anyones favourite), HTs can sometimes be the difference between having a company assaulting an objective and a platoon with heavy weapons defending it. In such cases the HTs are worth the points. But since you can't see the terrain beforehand, it is always a gamble.

[JasonC]

I'll take the company assaulting the objective every time and twice on Sundays.

Attacking just isn't that hard.

[David Chapuis]

Originally posted by David Chapuis:

I have a 3000 point ME going right now where I selected 8 SPWs. I will post some screen shots when the battle ends (probably a few more weeks).

Just finished my game, so I thought I would post some screenshots. This was a 3000 pt mechanized QB, rural, moderate trees/hills. No armor on either side, so you have to take that into consideration.

My forces:

Reg Fallschirmjaeger battalion

Vet Falls. Pioneer company

Reg armored pioneer platoon (7 251/1 HTs & 1 251/17)

3 75 sIG

1 truck

Opponent forces:

1 reg mtn battalion + 2 reg mtn companys (5 companies total). Mountain companies are my favorite russians

1 reg 122mm art

6 76.2mm mountain guns

2 82mm mortars

4 AT rifles

4 jeeps

I used my HT in 3 distinct phases of this game, and in each phase they were critical.

1. The Flag rush (turn 1 - 6)

2. Move up Heavy weapons (turn 6 - 22+-)

3. The blitz (the game ended before I was able to complete all my blitzes, but I did get one in.

The Flag Rush

Having 7 HTs definitely let me get the best position out of the gate.

My left:

I was able to get a strong position well beyond the three small flags. I rushed a crack pio squad & team, their +2 moraler leader and a FT. This was actually a long way from my start line (no direct path)

The result here was that the battle was never even close to the flags, and at a position that gave me the maximum advantage.

My center:

This spot was not very conducive to rushing, but I hoped that a HMG there would at least slow down the ruskies long enough to get my platoons to the houses in that valley. You can see that the HT is already on a return trip to get some more units.

My right:

I was most worried about this side, which is why I used 4 HTs. If he would have rushed this flag, I never would have gotten close because there was no approach. He also had a road that lead straight to the flag. But he decided on the "blast and assault" strategy, so I was able to get a really strong position here. Notice my HTs have already picked up their second platoon of men (which are 'tired').

Moving Heavy weapons

Everybody agrees that this is a good use of HTs, but I just want to point out that my truck was KOd at over 200m by small arms fire. Thankfully I had already dropped off the gun.

Also, I dont feel like 4 HTs would have been enough. I lost 1 HT while moving 2 HMGs, another while moving a mortar and FT, and another while moving 2 mortars. However, since I had so many HTs, I was able to get 2 sIG and 2 HMGs to the critical point on my left.

The Blitz

This was probably a little foolish, I decided t try it after our dicussion in this thread. Overall, I think it helped - mostly by not letting the ruskies go to stars. Therefore, I was able to keep FP on them when otherwise I would have only been able to area fire.

The Plan:

At this point I had the ruskies in the woods (circled in green) broken, but I really need the elimination points. Crossing that 50m of open ground was going to be very hard with all the shooters he had (red lines) on my flanks. So I figured I would load a squad and a half plus their HQ in some HTs and try to drop in those scattered trees. This was especially dangerous because I knew he had an AT rifle in those scattered trees.

The Accomplishment

It worked, sort of. One HT made it with the HQ and half squad. The HT with the full squad left before the squad boarded. The lead HT got KO'd, but not before it delivered its goods.

The Results:

Although not as pretty as I hoped, the end result was that I was able to continue to target his men and push him all the way out of those scattered trees. Even better than that, I also broke the morale of my opponent, and we ceased-fire just a few turns later. I had another HT blitz on the way.