How to stop a Matilda II?

[Sergei]

I'm playing with Italians in 1941 and the Brits have Matildas. I don't know what to do! I do have some 75L35 portees, but even those don't seem to do the job. It seems like the only soft spot in Matilda is lower hull side, but actually maneuvering into such position is too difficult. I have some green infantry, but I wouldn't trust them to take them out in open ground without any AT weaponry. I guess my only chance is to use overwhelming numbers to cripple and gun-damage them and force them to retreat or bail out.

[Urban Shocker]

I noted the same thing in a 1940 scenario. An Italian commander has to be extremely skilled and lucky (probably more of the second). Immobilization is probably the best you can hope for in the early war.

We like to make fun of the Italians because of their supposed cowardice but when your equipment is so inferior to the enemy, fighting does seem futile and pointless. Not too many military organizations have "Nihil attinet y nugatoria" as their slogan. I think CMAK will give us some sort of perspective on what equipment they had to fight against the Brits with.

[Sergei]

Fortunately apart from Matilda, most other early war stuff is pretty much even on both sides, and even Matilda, being slow and with no HE, is quite bearable. Unlike in CMBB in which Soviets have T-34's and KV's in 1941, which are superior to anything the Germans have, while most of what Germans have is superior in comparison to the rest of the Soviet arsenal (T-26's, BT's). Italian tanks even have radios.

[JasonC]

You can try backing up. The Matilda might take a week to get back into range. The things are slow.

You can shoot HE in front of them. The dust will blind them. Obviously smoke is even better if you have it. Similarly backing up can hide your own guys in dust. Doesn't kill them but keeps you alive.

You can try "hail fire" from 5 tanks for each one, hoping for track hits or gun damage. But if you are in range for them to reply, it is likely to be expensive. Against a lead tank as the only thing in LOS this makes sense. But you don't want to take on a whole formation of them this way. You will lose too many tanks.

Light flak might damage them this way, with less chance of being spotted at long range and a high rate of fire. Medium caliber (direct) might be more likely to get damage. It'll get spotted more readily, but at long range the MGs aren't dangerous to a crew behind a gun shield. You just have to worry about supporting FOs and mortars and the like (which with light AA you don't, because they will only get sound contacts).

I think it'd be a waste to use FOs on them, but if you are desperate enough you might try it, and at least blind them in dust while the barrage is on. If you get damage consider it gravy. This makes sense if there is infantry with them, but not a whole lot if there isn't.

The biggest AA guns, ground mounts, should be able to kill them. If you have any. Those are the best AT weapons the Italians have.

As for what they can do back to you, the 2 pdr is effective against Italian armor so your vehicles are the most vulnerable. MGs from them are enough to hurt infantry that tries to move in the open, and to rout anything close enough to spot while stationary in brush or rough cover - typically 100m or so.

Beyond that range your infantry can protect itself by hiding, if you have cover. But obviously your guys can't stop his infantry without showing themselves. You can try pinning infantry at long range with just MGs and light AA, to avoid giving the Matildas anything but sound contacts - for a while anyway.

I don't recommend trying to swarm them with infantry. In open desert tank MGs are sufficient to stop infantry rushes, unless you start from a reverse slope as they crest or something similar.