Close Assault on tanks

[Brightblade]

Originally posted by ParaBellum in "In Memoriam CMBO ( or the funniest moments in CMBO )"

A platoon HQ down to one man close assaults a Sherman, knocking it out.

Does Panzernahbekämpfung (Close Assault) work in CMBO? If so, how? Can it be done by any infantry unit (especially the ones without special equipment)? Can even crews do it?

[Silvio Manuel]

It's automatic when your unit is within 20m. Its tough to pull off vs. a "real" tank, using just squad grenades and such. It's much easier if you have Demo Charges (engineers) or Rifle Grenades/P-Fausts- though I guess that they are not "close assault." The game abstracts exactly what your unit does, i.e. climb on the deck, put grenades on engine, etc. Smoke cover and buttoning up the tank first will help a lot.

[CombinedArms]

I've seen an HQ kill an unbuttoned Mark IV (a grenade through the hatch?) but I wouldn't count on doing this on a regular basis. Rifle grenades and fausts are, as noted, more effective--esp. against open-topped vehicles like HTs, Priests or Marders but they can also kill tanks. The infantry won't always fire their weapons, however--and if they do, the projectile might not hit, might not penetrate, or might penetrate but not kill. You can't really control it. Stealth is very important here--it helps a lot if the visibility is low due to smoke, trees, fog, adjacent buildings, etc.

Both of the rifle grenade kills against tanks that I can recall were at night: one flank shot on a Panther, one a frontal shot vs. Mark IV. Both very satisfying but I wouldn't bet the farm on it working. Better, when possible, to keep your zooks/schrecks/PIATS alive and in good position.

[Silvio Manuel]

Agreed, its probably more likely that you'll wind up w/ a smashed and routed platoon than a dead enemy tank.

In my (limited) exp., I've noticed that Squads tend to fire their organic AT weapon (Faust/Rifle Grenade) more often when you do NOT manually target the tank w/ your squad...they seem to do it fine on their own...so maybe have 1 squad target it to button the TC, then two more moved in close and "allow" them to attack it on their own, by whatever means.

[Adam T]

Yes, 'fausts are quite good under 25-30m distance. And one time I managed to knock out a Panther with a demo charge, by an engineer squad. They were hiding in a bush covered ditch, and they threw the charge to the incoming Panther's front armor. The distance was about 10-15m! It was like a movie scene I haven't got too much positive results with rifle-grenades.

[Brightblade]

Thanks for all these answers, but I´d really like to know if there is some chance to successfully assault a tank WITHOUT special equipment, be that gammon, demo, `faust or riflegrenade. The statement I quoted in my first posting says it is possible, so is anyone out there who experienced anything similar? Under which conditions did it happen? Is it repeatable?

[Soddball]

Yes it is possible, but it's extremely tough. Make sure that the tank is buttoned up, otherwise you'll be spotted too quickly. If you can immobilise the tank beforehand, that's good too. Simply rushing a platoon of infantry at a tank and hoping they take it out is a recipe for disaster.

[Mud]

Aye, it /can/ be done, but it's unlikely, and if the vehicle's still mobile it's likely to scoot away ASAP.

Cover will help. Attacking from the rear should help, at least with a buttoned vehicle -- many CMBO vehicles lack both remote-flexible MGs and close-defense mortars. Assault guns without either of those features will be especially vulnerable when buttoned, since they'll need to turn their hull before fighting back.

Note that CMBO gives unlimited grenades. CMBB, however (being in the US, all I have so far is the demo), appears to track /regular/ grenades in addition to AT devices; at least, that's what I gather from the appearance of (single, not bundle) grenades in the inventory, which IIRC represent something like five each. (Well, it /could/ represent an abstract scarcity, e.g. more grenade symbols => more grenades present => more likely to toss one, but there's no actual counter).

1- Can you run out of grenades in CMBB?

2- Will this hurt your close-assault chances?

Somebody else will have to field that one, 'tho.