Gotta, gotta, gotta get through, barbed wire !

[Louie the Toad]

Let's see, I have infantry and

engineers with demo charges and

tanks and

scout cars and

155 mm arty and

81 mm mortar.

I think I will drive my tanks through the wire with either the infantry or the engineers mounted. If the engineers can blow a hole in the wire (are they capable of

this ?) then they can jump off and do their stuff to make bigger holes.

What is your experience ?

Wondering Toad

[Warmaker]

I've never tried using engineers to clear a path through barbwire but something in my head says that you can't in CMBO. Not sure though.

As far as running tanks through the wire with infantry riding piggy back, be very careful. A good MG burst will inflict more than usual casualties and worst of all, a hidden AT defense knocking out the transporting tank can bring lots of trouble: losing the tank and losing lots of infantrymen.

Since you don't have any HTs or trucks, your tank-riding trick is the fastest. Just be careful of those sneaky Germans!

Some smoke at the point of crossing will help too BTW. Mortars (onmap preferrably) are quite cheap and efficient for laying smoke. Using the supporting tanks to do this also is good enough. But in using the tanks, watch for sneaky 75mm PaK40 ATGs waiting to snipe your tanks.

BTW, before attempting to cross, I suggest splitting up a squad or two into half-squads and probe them around close to the wire. The reason for this is to make sure there's no mines in or close to the wire, especially AT mines if you're piggy backing your infantry on your vehicles. Also, if the opponent has unreliable, inexperienced troops they may open fire prematurely at long ranges. You can get their location and blast their positions. If they have experienced troops this may be more problematic due to better discipline... they won't open fire until they feel real good about it and usually at shorter ranges.

Also, I suggest holding back your engineers until it's time rooting the enemy out of his strongpoints. Those demo charges will inflict lots of pain.

And one more thing to pray that the defender didn't bother to set up with... TRPs around the barbwire or what he feels are suspected crossing points.

[ 07-15-2001: Message edited by: Warmaker ]

[Warmaker]

BTW, do you really need to go through the wire? I would suggest going around since you don't have enough transport to bring lots of troops across the wire in a short duration.

Crossing the wire on foot is suicidal, even with laying down lots of smoke since it takes a really long time to cross. Sooner or later, the smoke dissipates and you've got a shooting gallery for any Axis HMG teams.

Then again, if you're really lucky, the defender may have just put that barbwire just to discourage a crossing to go elsewhere and possibly funnel your forces into a killzone. If so any heavy handed technique should work if there's token defenders.

I don't know if any of my suggestions are of much help. I play on the defense alot in my games so I'm trying to give you the way I see things and how I would set up, dirty tricks and all... Never fight fair!

[Louie the Toad]

Warmaker, Thanks.

This is a pre made scenario. The objective is encircled by barbed wire although there may be some doorways. Thanks for the mine warnings.

You did give me this idea though.

^^^wire^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ <<<< [-O ] tank

What if I drove up to the wire, turned at a right angle and drove along the line of the wire, will this eliminate it?

I suppose I could run a test.

Enlightened Toad

[olandt]

wire can't be removed by any means. engineers are only good for mines. but, if this is a premade scenario and he gave you engineers, you can be fairly sure there are mines waiting for you.

[Warmaker]

Ouch. An objective surrounded by barbwire and you have no HT/transports to quickly cross your grunts. Olandt, you have a good point about the availability of engineers and higher chance of mines to be encountered. If your scouts spot mines then there's no other choice but to send the engineers to begin clearing them. This is sure to attract defensive fire when the defender realizes your clearing his mines. Setting up units further back to provide covering fire in case it is needed is paramount to the engineers' success. Another way is to provide smoke, but again it may dissapate too soon and it ties up your artillery assets. Nothing like seeing the smoke lift while your engineers are in a barbwired area clearing mines... HMG teams will have a field day. Your tanks can provide impressive covering fire when needed but again be cautious with sneaky German ATGs. If worse comes to worse and your engineers MUST clear the mines under fire, I pray their Plt.HQ units have a morale bonus.

Moving your tanks along the wire tiles won't clear them IIRC. If you're going to try that, be careful. Shermans are thin skinned as it is and exposing their flanks makes them vulnerable to even more weapons. A 37mm FlaK gun will rip them apart at those angles.

One more thing for your predicament: If time IS NOT A FACTOR, run a more thorough reconaissance. Maybe, just maybe, there's a better avenue of approach than the more risky one that we've been discussing. Then again, the defender could be offering that opening as a deathtrap...

Now to drift off just a bit. As an ardent, sneaky Axis player myself, on the defense I can offer one other nasty trick I would do with this kind of setup you're seeing. With the VL having a good perimeter of barbwire and maybe mines I would offer a token platoon and maybe a few cheap Puppchens and a HMG42 team to give a bloody nose to any advances through the wire, primarily forcing a situation for the Allies to bring out the tanks to shut my platoon up. If they show up, bring the Puppchens/AT units out of hiding and kill as many tanks before being knocked out. The point was to put up enough resistance to inflict as many casualties before being withdrawn/routed/destroyed. Give them a few turns to fully occupy the VL and let them secure it. Maybe they will assemble nearby for another advance elsewhere.

Here's where I'd get nasty. I usually like to setup FOs (150mm esp.) or other big guns far back from the fight and the VL itself. The VL areas are in LOS from their respective positions. At the setup, I would put any TRPs ON THE OBJECTIVE. After the Allies take the objective from a hard won fight, I would rain on their parade... with 150mm shells. Even better if the VL is in a wooded area. The TRPs dramatically cut the time of your FOs and makes any direct fire from your guns (provided they did not move from their setup positions) much, much more deadly accurate. The whole point is to make their hard won objective as unlivable as possible and make them pay for occupying it. I love it...

[Freak]

Great stuff there Warmaker, I revel in those German dirty tactics stuff. Its funn as hell!

[Warmaker]

Actually, I believe the "artillery" trick would work wonders if used by the Allies, esp. the U.S. It's been well discussed here the superiority of Allied, esp. U.S. artillery. VT fuses and LOTS of ammo. Stuff only an Axis player can only dream of. It's been also debated alot here over which side has better infantry, tanks, etc. But the Allies have better artillery. Hands down. Of course, the poor grunts on the receiving end of my 105mm/150mm shells don't believe so It's just the show's over sooner.

[Soddball]

Louie, why don't you load your engineers onto your tanks, saturate the area with smoke using your 81mm mortar, rush the tanks across under cover of the smoke, and get the engineers to jump off as soon as they reach the other side.

That way, after 3 turns, the smoke clears and your opponent finds himself up to his elbows in fresh, combat ready infantry supported by tanks.

You could even use the 105mm to bombard the area some distance in front of your arrival point, to get the enemy units to seek cover - would give you an added advantage.

[ragnaar15]

Nice title, hee hee. GO GO GODZILLA!