Assaulting Factories

[John_d]

Is there a way of doing this without getting mauled? The only ways that I have come across so far are:

- Surround the building and charge, spreading the defender's firepower over as wide an area as possible.

- Blow a hole in the side of the building and use the rubble and the dust to cover the advance

- Land a huge artillery strike in the middle of the building, knocking down a section through the middle. This cuts LOS within the building and hopefully means that you will face half the number of troops in the mad dash in

Unfortunately, although these tactics work, they require rather specific conditions to put into action. Are there any more general ways of doing this?

Discuss

[Joachim]

Kill everybody inside first.

If you can't achieve this - make sure nobody gets at you while you are without cover and enter with attacker odds but spread out far enough. Pinning could work. Closely following a massive barrage might work.

If you can't achieve either of these - be ready for massive losses

A third variant is bypassing the factory, encircling it and then starving the defenders. Leningrad tactics vs. Stalingrad tactics.

Gruß

Joachim

[JasonC]

Send HE, not bodies.

Line the cover nearest one wall with infantry and other supporting firepower, preferably at close range, like inside 80 meters. Close enough for SMGs to help significantly.

Then send a tiny packet of men across, to the nearest, HE plastered edge of the factory. If someone inside shoots them, shoot them right back, from across the street. Repeat until someone enters standing up.

Sometimes the defenders will be just deep enough inside, that they can see maybe the last 10m of pavement outside, but can't be seen from across the street. In that case, advance right into the street with pioneers or flamethrowers. Area fire to the edge of LOS, deep into the first building tile. Germans can use grenade bundles if no pioneers are available. The following turn, send in regular infantry, while the DC chuckers and FTs remain outside.

The first men to enter should stop right at the edge of the building. The point is to go stationary to fire back as soon as possible. Also, that way you about equalize LOS to your men inside, and what the overwatch across the street can see. Line the side of a tile with units.

Then advance, short distances, 10m at a time. To the sides and forward. Feed in a second wave of men behind the first as room is created inside the factory. You want to keep the squads a little over 10m apart - under that and they all take fire together. 12-14m is a good distance to shoot for. 20m is too spread out, and too likely to allow the enemy to hit you with several units against 1.

Once you have full platoons inside, advance with one line while a second follows them 15-20m behind. Keep all the moves short, 10-20m per move. The second line is the sword. The first will often pin on contact, but the second should be still out of LOS. It moves up units to just barely get LOS to the nearest enemy, outshoots and pins it. Then and only then someone closes to close combat range with the heads down enemy (5m or less).

Watch the ammo, consumption is very high in factory fighting. Hence the closing to finish off tactics. You *can* afford to blaze away at an up enemy squad, to get him to drop. You *can't* afford to dump 10 ammo from a full platoon into 3 men already cowering on the floor.

Leave MGs by the place you entered to anchor it. They can't advance into close combat, so use them to hold stuff the squads have already cleared, instead. They can also cover the stuff outside, leaving all squad infantry able to focus on interior enemies. Clear the whole place. Then line far walls with a few eyeballs, and get the rest of the force away from the windows = outer tiles facing the enemy, to avoid his own HE "mail".