Entering a Town

[Free Work]

I have been playing CMBO since i got it and i still have trouble with one thing. When i enter a town and begin fighting house to house i tend to lose a lot of men . What is the most effective way of clearing a town and holding a town with combined arms (tanks, men, arty, etc)

Thanks

[laxx]

well,

usually, if it not under concealment, i will do a variety of things before I send the troops in:

- Off-board Artillery bombardment or On board Motars with Fire Officer (FO). If the town is big, i will use target wide (I) commad.

- Use Tanks/HMG/Guns to fire at buildings, ie. target specific NON-heavy buildings etc.

Of coss, you could use SMOKE to mask the entry into town, that way, you won't have too many sniping before you enter the building. But SMOKE is one of those very underutilised tools that people just forget to use. And I usually just advance/assault or if CMBO, Fast move into the building.

Now, for the entry into the village / town, sequence should be:

- Troops in first

- then tanks

- then guns

Tanks die easy in towns and usually used in parts which have been captured.

Becareful of storming into buildings because the game favors the defenders rather than attackers in buildings. I like to use SMG squads or paras because of the higher fire power. (to check out the firepower, select the troop and press return key, SMG will have high firepower around 200+ fp under 100m)

Good luck coz town fighting isn't an exact science, so your mileage will vary.

[Cybeq]

What laxx said is mostly true but I don't agree with his statement:

"- Off-board Artillery bombardment or On board Motars with Fire Officer (FO). If the town is big, i will use target wide (I) commad."

The reason is because buildings offer good protection from artillery. If you don't have 155mm or heavier then I wouldn't waste it on a town. My advice: If you don't have to enter (i.e. no flags in the town) then don't. If you find yourself in a position where entry into an enemy occupied town is required then you are in for a real chore. Finding out which buildings are occupied is very important. Send infantry into the outer-most buildings while being overwatched by sp arty with LOS to the inner buildings. When you come under fire, destroy the building with your Priest, Sexton, Wespe, or whatever. Digging infantry out of towns is tough but it can be done. Flame-throwing vehicles can help with this too.

[Sargon70]

In my CM-experience, suppression is the most important thing to do if you want to be successful in urban terrain.

Use HMGs, tanks, flame-throwers and 80-90% of your infantry to suppress enemy positions and storm a house only with one or two SMG-heavy squads. That should reduce your casualty rate.

Still, your casualties will be higher than in most other environments - which is quite realistic, as Stalingrad, Berlin and Grosny demonstrate. In a city even a superior attacker will have a hard time against a determined defender.

[Darryl60]

Street fighting has always been more bloody than fighting out in the "field".

I just try to keep my men under cover as much as possible while advancing and hope for the best.

[Howard R]

I agree that suppression is very important when assaulting a town. If the other guy's head is down, he is not returning fire. Isolate the area you intend to assault with machine guns or vehicles-try not to let the other guy re-inforce the area you are assaulting. Beat the snot out of them with HE of any kind. Actually, when assaulting small towns, I have found that 81mm mortar fire will keep their heads down and allow me to advance to the edge of town (usually just as I'm running out of ammo.) If there is a little ammo left, switch to smoke to provide some close cover.

When you go to jump a position and secure it in close combat, don't be half-hearted. Send in many, good troops.

And remember the first rule of infantry combat-don't run across open ground in the face of enemy automatic weapons fire!

Good luck!