Stukas on Wheels - the German 150mm Rocket FO

[jasoncawley@ameritech.net]

Stukas on Wheels

A guide to the German 150mm Nebelwerfer FO in CM

One of the cheapest artillery modules available to the Germans is the 150mm rocket FO. This item is easy to misunderstand, and doing so will lead to disappointing failures in its use. Understanding this common late-war German weapon can enable you to use them more effectively, and practically speaking give you the option of using them in the first place.

The initial attraction is obvious. Here is an artillery weapon of high caliber with powerful "shells", available for a "price" so low only the 75mm infantry howitzer FO is cheaper. (The more expensive, larger rockets are a waste, in my opinion). The drawbacks are also obvious, or soon enough will be. The module comes with only 25 rounds, effectively a single one-minute barrage, and the rockets themselves are wildly innaccurate regardless of the "quality" bought. Incidentally, stick with "regulars", as quality has little effect on rocket tactics.

You can't use the 150mm rockets as you would ordinary artillery or mortars. Do not buy it alone, and think it will fufill the ordinary artillery roles. If you decide to use rockets, use them *in addition* to a module of e.g. 81mm mortars, used for the ordinary tasks.

Ordinary artillery and mortars are useful for point targets, for concentrated enemies in an important position, or to deny the enemy use of a definite, planned area of ground for a moderate period and to break any infantry, and potentially wreck any light vehicles, that try to remain in that area. Rockets cannot do any of those jobs, and it is easy to conclude they are therefore useless. Not so - they simply have an entirely different use.

That use is the "spoiling barrage". A spoiling barrage is called down on an attacking enemy before he closes with your positions. It does not try to deny him some route of march, or protect your own men by preventing the enemy from getting close to them. Instead, it is designed to break attackers, inflict casualties, and cause delays and miscoordination problems. The source of those is some units "cowering" or broken by the barrage, and thus unable to fufill some assigned mission in the attacker's overall plan, or to do so on time.

You can try "spoiling barrages" with ordinary artillery or mortar FOs, and many do. That just involves calling in fire missions on enemies soon after they are spotted, before they close with you. But while this is common, it is not always the best use of limited ammo for regular artillery FOs. The risk of hitting few units is high, and sometimes the barrage will miss altogether. Regular artillery can do more damage when employed after the enemy has made contact with your own forces - meaning, gets into a firefight with them - or just at the point they do.

A typical regular artillery mission will put most of the rounds within about 100 yards of the aim point. Occasional shorts and longs will fall between 100 yards and 200 yards from the aim point, tending to miss "over" or "short", with the side to side error typically somewhat less. This means regular artillery can usually be fired safely at targets 200-250 yards away (or, "rifle and MG range"). An aim point somewhat beyond the center of the enemy formation can be used in closer-in cases, and especially when your own men are in better cover or when the situation is desperate, ordinary fire mission are sometimes useful at aim points as close as 100 yards off (or, "SMG range").

By contrast, the German 150mm rocket will spread twice as far from the aim point, on average. Most of the rounds will land in the large area within 200 yards of the aim point, and the rest will spread out to 350-400 yards. In addition, there is some tendency for the rockets to miss more "side to side", rather than in the range. This may be because it is not that much harder to get the right range for rockets, but it is much harder to point them in the right direction, since they wobble in flight and have only fins, not the spin of rifling (nor the straight-down trajectory and close range of most mortars), to stabilize and direct them.

The aim point of a rocket barrage should therefore be at least 200 yards ahead, even with men in cover, and you will get hit by your own shorts at that distance. This is too close for a spoiling barrage anyway. A better range for a rocket barrage is 500 yards away in larger fights, or 200-400 yards from the far, enemy board edge. This will put most of the rounds on the map, with the barrage falling from the rear of the enemy positions to several hundred yards ahead.

The time to call a rocket barrage is almost immediately. On the first turn, or perhaps after 1-3 minutes to see what you can see, at most. In larger battles you have a bit more work to do in timing them, and a TRP can be useful. In smaller fights, forget about the TRP for rocket use. While a rocket barrage will start landing in about 45 seconds if fired at a TRP, in most fights below the largest, you will not have the option to set the TRP as far forward as you generally want the rocket strike.

It hardly matters if you can see the "target". It saves time for the FO if he can see something, but any prominent terrain feature he has an LOS to will serve. Since you have the set-up phase to check lines of sight, this should not be too hard to arrange, on all but the tightest terrain or small maps.

You want the barrage to land in the first five minutes. From start to finish, the whole thing will only take about 45 seconds, then the mission is done and the ammo is gone, and the FO goes home (or shelters in the rear, whatever).

Because the error in aim point or "spread" is larger by about a factor of two, the total area under the barrage is higher than a typical e.g. mortar mission, by a factor of four or so. With only 25 rounds landing in an area that wide, the average "spread" and chances, will put a round about 30 meters from the aim point, and others will hit between 50 and 80 meters out.

The spread of the shots is somewhat thinner than is optimal against an enemy maintaining proper dispersion of units to avoid "bunching up" under ordinary artillery strikes. The best effect would be achieved against such "spread" troops by 2 rocket FOs firing nearly simultaneously and neary the same aim point, or only seperated by about 100 yards.

With a single module, the chances of many misses and few effective hits, or "sound and fury" only, is obviously greater. With two modules overlapping their scatter zones, you will see "closest" rounds at about 20 yards from a typical random point in the target area, with others at 35-50 yards, which is a much more effective ratio of detonations to ground covered.

Each detonation is 135 blast in CM terms, which is big enough that the effective "blast radius" to have any noticeable effect, is roughly twice that for the common alternate artillery types (plus or minus fractions, to be sure). As with all HE, concealment provides no defensive benefit but cover does. The effect of rockets will also be increased in woods from the tree-burst phenomenon.

The cost of 2 150mm rocket FOs for a full-blown spoiling barrage, is about the same as the cost of a single infantry platoon, or alternately one cheap tank destroyer. If delivered correctly early in a fight, it can potentially have a much larger effect on the outcome. It is a "high variance" defender's tactic, however. The upside is higher, but you cannot count on the effect as much as you can with an added platoon. If the added platoon is "money in the bank", a rocket barrage is the same sum bet "double or nothing" on a coin toss.

The tactic will be most effective in fights were #1 the attacker does not have much time, so that delay and discoordination effects hurt his ability to accomplish his mission, where #2 the map is large enough, and #3 where the attacker can be expected to move a company or more of infantry toward you on a relatively broad front.

A long thin column of vehicles is a comparatively poor target, and in a tiny map the beaten zone of the barrage will include you r own positions, or the enemy will be closed with them by the time it arrives. Do not try to delay the barrage beyond minute 5, or 10 at the utmost in the largest scenarios, because if you wait the enemy will be in contact and the opportunity will already have passed.

Also, do not bother trying to use them when attacking. Dug in defenders or troops in stone buildings are a poor target for rockets, because the nearest hit will be some distance away from any given defender. You want infantry on the move, in woods or open areas.

Because of their sound coming in, and their simple light-tube construction, the Germans refered to their Nebelwerfers as "stukas on wheels". Instead of calling for air support, they could call for a spoiling barrage on the Allied jump-off points. Now that you know how to go about doing so in CM, you can try it too.

I hope this is helpful.

[Guest Pillar]

Another useful mini-article from Jason Cawley. Keep up the good work Jason!

[Beer_n_Pretzels]

JC,

will you stop telling the newbies about all these neat tricks

I'll never win a game now

Seriously though, an excellent post although I believe 150mm rockets were historically used as a battalion (the equivalent of 4 to 6 FO's in CM terms). I'm sure either you or one of the Grogs can confirm.

take care

BnP

[109 Gustav]

Aww, I thought I invented the use of 150s as first-move weapons.

Their real advantage is when your opponent is advancing over more or less open terrain. He'll either have to run for cover and spoil his timetable or risk casualties by continuing the advance. Either way, it'll get him rattled, because he never knows where the next round might hit.

They aren't much good against AT guns though- right Strat?

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But if somehow my skiff goes down, I'll freeze to death before I drown.

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-Commercial fishing in Kodiak, Alaska

[Gremlin]

Thanks for another excellent tutorial.

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[ParaBellum]

I just tried 2 150 mm FOs in a QB defensive battle against the AI.

Normally I prefer to ambush the attacker and at the same time start hitting him with 81mm mortars.

This time I caught an infantry company and some halftracks in open space.

The results were 3 enemy squads running in panic back to some cover and 2 halftracks destroyed. When the rest of the attacking force met my MLR, it wasn´t a threat anymore...

Thanks for the article. As always, the CM board is an endless source of (mostly) useful ideas.

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Klotzen, nicht kleckern!

[Terence]

Jason

This is a first rate piece. I think you are an excellent writer. Please keep it up!!

Terence

[Lawyer]

Excellent and well written post.

I can testify to the effects JC describes from the viewpoint of receiving and giving.

I first learned about 150mm rockets the hard way when they broke up my attack. One well-placed rocket simulaneously caused a bunch of infantry casualties and two abandoned HT's that were nearby.

So I tried to use them myself in another game when I was the Germans. But I used them in the attack, and it was a complete waste because the US troops were dug in and many rockets flew off the map. I did use 3 FO's, but it wasn't enough.

So I now hope to use them effectively next time.

Thanks.

Jake

[Guest Germanboy]

Originally posted by jasoncawley@ameritech.net:

Each detonation is 135 blast in CM terms, which is big enough that the effective "blast radius" to have any noticeable effect, is roughly twice that for the common alternate artillery types (plus or minus fractions, to be sure). As with all HE, concealment provides no defensive benefit but cover does. The effect of rockets will also be increased in woods from the tree-burst phenomenon.

In Real Life™, the 150mm (not the larger ones) had the explosive load in the back of the frame, and a contact fuse. The effect was that it produced an airburst at about 60cm height with devastating results. A lot of kills in inundated areas occurred from damage to the lungs (the explosions crushed them, IIRC). I have read a first-hand account by a Soviet infantry man who had the luck to survive a barrage, and it made sobering reading. In that particular case, the rockets were used to break up the second wave of an attack, isolate the first wave and push it pack. It worked.

They were also used offensively, the high mobility of the 150mm launcher made that possible. Whenever the infantry bumped resistance, the rockets were called in.

Here is the 150mm Nebelwerfer from the Imperial War Museum. It is at most 160cm high, I would say:

for hight comparison:

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Andreas

Der Kessel

Home of „Die Sturmgruppe“; Scenario Design Group for Combat Mission.

[Olle Petersson]

Yeah, the 15cm rockets are good for breaking up infantry (in CM).

But if you want even better result, try the 21cm variant. This one has a larger blast area, and can take out tanks as well. It's a lot more expensive than the 15cm though.

Cheers

Olle

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Strategy is the art of avoiding a fair fight...