On the usefulness of halftracks

[Tigrii]

Halftracks (HTs) are great for attacking, fall-back defenses, and raiding. The battlefield is ruled by the limitations of infantry: Relatively slow, tires out, pins easily, not much firepower except at point blank. Most attacks in open terrain wind up either looking like WWI, with the attacker occupying the last bit of cover before the open field swept with MG fire, or the attacker attacks and gets routed. With even just one platoon, you can totally bypass the MLR, and zoom unhindered into their rear, attacking the dominant heavy weapons and being dropped off right next to flag-controlling cover. The two limitaions: the main one is that your armor must rule the battlefield, so that no tanks, ATGs, ATRs, etc. pop your HTs. Second, they're not much use in built-up terrain, because they can be ambushed at close range, there isn't good enough LOS to establish armor supremacy, and the "legs" can do OK on their own with lots of cover. But in the open, with enemy AT assets suppressed, they free infantry from their primary limitations: lack of longe-range firepower, lack of freedom of manuever, and lack of protection from small-arms, especially MGs.

[Shifty 101]

This sounds like a sound tactic but if I have armor supremecy then I tend to use my tanks to blast away at the defender's line instead of trying to organize a quick flank attack with my HT's and an inf. plt. I'll keep this in mind though and see if I can't use it to some extent in my next game.

[MikeyD]

Doctrine on the use of U.S. halftrack on the Western front was to drive them up to a reasonable distance from the action and let their troops disembark. The armor on those things was much too thin to risk fire, but the troops were at least more protected from mortar splinters than on trucks. One of the advantages of the U.S. halftrack's .50 cal mg was its standoff range. I use my German halftracks to get my me reasonably close then I stand-off and use the mgs for area cover fire.

Yes, yes, I know of all the tales of halftrack charges with guns blazing. I suspect these heroics were commented upon because they were more the exception than the rule. Man-bits-dog, and all that.

[ December 19, 2002, 06:52 PM: Message edited by: MikeyD ]

[bab]

According to our experiences, halftracks in CMBB can only transport troops until they are hit by MG fire (200 meter distance maximum, I think). After the HTs are knocked out by MG fire, the troops are in as bad situation as they would be if charging on foot...

[mike the wino2]

I love HTs. The main reason I don't like the Russians is the lack of HTs. The 251/16 (?) is my fav; MG and Flamethrower. Nice. Tigrii's point on mobility to flank MLR is right on and I love HTs for this reason. The ATR issue is avoidable if you work in groups. ATRs seldom get 1 shot kills and 3-5 HTs blazing away tend to pin or eliminate the lil buggers.

[manchildstein (ii)]

try 50 or more halftracks (battalion level) with FO, 'assault gun' and tank support... in some situations a 'heavy shock assault' (hsa) with halftracks can be the bees knees... let the infantry walk in behind them as a mop-up force...

[jbertles]

I've played a lot of games with light trees and large hills, and it can be quite efficient to send a platoon of ht-mounted infantry and a platoon of fast tanks to out-flank the opponent by finding a route that is masked by hills and other terrain. The infantry plays havoc on the rear echelons (with ht mg support) and the fast tanks can get rear and side shots on the opponent's armor.

Also, I like to use just a few hts per company to carry heavy weapons like mgs, flame-throwers, etc. This can keep a company moving faster and with more cohesion. Keep the hts somewhat back so that you can disembark before they come under fire.

[bab]

95 % of my battles I play the Soviets (which is 100% in TCP/IP)... No refined HT tactics yet.

[Headshot]

The natural predator against all light armour are AT-rifles because they're so hard to spot in good cover! For turn after turn the enemy will hear the dull thump of an ATR followed by "penetration" on a HT and go crazy wondering where the wicked little slugs are coming from! And they have around 70 shots apiece,plus some anti-infantry capability...

[KwK43 L/71]

I play Germans most of the time. My favorite tactic is to charge my tanks forward with my HT's trailing behind them. Once my armor has pinned the Russkies I swing my HTs around on thier flanks behind cover, drop off the infantry in cover and then advance them on the flanks.

[Redwolf]

Another problem is that the squads will refuse to enter the halftracks when they are supressed.

In typical summer terrain, it is probably equalliy difficult to get retreating squads into an APC or out of LOS (woods etc.).

[Eden Smallwood]

In the last game of my campaign I wound up with six of those SPW hot rods. I've found them pretty fragile in the past, so I zoomed all six of them up into the shadow of the big hill in the middle of the field, let out some HMGs and ATRs and let them listen to the radio for awhile. Count one bogged so far. ( Of course! )

Later, when my Big Guns had traded themselves with the enemy T26s and whatnot, I was reasonably sure I'd gotten all the armor, and MGs in trenches were just freaking out all my infantry, and all mortar had already been spent on the last of the guns.

Around the hill come the five HTs... Boom! Count one gone to a patient Gun. Oops. Ok, so take care of one more gun, THEN around the hill come the remaining... ah, four valiant halftracks.

The enemy didn't like it one bit. Staying on the roads, very very clearly staying on the roads, I have over four hundred HE rounds to spend on anyone who wants to act tough.

The difference? What would have been a long and annoying endgame became a very efficient enemy surrender, taking several guns and Co HQs as prisoners... While delicate even against ATRs sometimes, what they've got is a neverending supply of HE. Where I would have to worry about a tanks load, I can put a HT on Area Fire and not worry about it for ten minutes and he'll still be fine. Not that I would, for ten minutes, but... oh, you get it. I love these guys.

Eden

[Tigrii]

It's too bad that there is nothing in CMBB like CMBO's Ram Kangaroo, which held a squad and had decent armor, which could stop almost all light and even some medium anti-tank fire. Also, there is nothing to compare to the M5A1, which was armed with a .30 and the mighty .50. The russian M5 has only a .30, and the SPW 251/1 has the equivilant of a MG42 LMG.

P.S. It would be nice if they'de include a HT's firepower on the detailed info screen.