Infantry vs. Armor

[KRS321]

Is there any chance for infantry against a tank? I mean w/out having a bazooka or a lucky mortar strike. I've played the Pegasus Bridge mission like 5 times and the 2 tanks rape me every time. Any hope for the poor GIs?

[Radar]

Well, I've taken out a tank that was crossing a row of shrubs with a demo pack. And another time I've forced a tank crew to abandon ship with a inf squat when I got an immobilize with a 20mm AA. I've seen them throw grenades at AFV's within close assault range (various results). On the other hand I've had my hat handed to me after my troops got prematurely spotted(tanks tend to move faster than inf, even in reverse), and from plain bad luck.

[Warmaker]

Aaagh...Tank-busting without 'zooks/PIATS/PzSchrecks is an art in itself. Remember that tank busting w/ infantry only requires you to be in short ranges on the offset (roughly 0-20m...ridiculously close). First off is to button up a tank with any type of fire, preferrably close range. If you're good or lucky enough you can pick off the tank commander and the crew will be in shock. Whether you cause shock or not, when the tank is buttoned up is your chance to strike. Rush infantry (preferrably more than 1 squad) to less than 15m(roughly). Preferrably again to point blank range. Your infantry will do their best to throw grenades or whatever to disable/kill the tank. Engineers/Pioneers are quite effective at this since they're pro's with explosives and other such goodies. An infantry Flamethrower team can be quite deadly to armor within range. The Germans though hold a definite edge in hand held AT weaponry though: Panzerschrecks ('zook equivalent) and Panzerfausts. The Panzerfausts are extremely deadly to any armor unfortunate enough to be caught within ranges (which come in 30/60/100m ranges & designations, depending on dates. The later, the longer range they are). Add to this is that all German infantry squads at least carry 1. Some even carry 2.

[Warmaker]

One more thing. Stealth is very important to surprise the target. In addition, make your infantry assaults towards the flanks, or whatever opposite direction their guns are facing. Experienced troops are VERY good at taking tanks out.

And another thing: Be careful of the tank's buddies, whether they be other tanks, or worse yet, escorting infantry. That's more food for thought.

[JEagar]

I've taken out tanks by using terrain to maneuver and sneak a squad up behind a tank, then run them up to point blank range. They'll throw nades and often kill the tank, or immobilize it. More than 1 squad is better ... good luck!

[Pak40]

Satchel charges are very potent weapons. But, you better hide until that tank gets within 30 meters. Also, Americans have rifle grenades which are good against light armor. I've killed a Panther from the rear with one.

[Gyrene]

If you are playing in heavy woods or cities, then hunting tanks is fun and easy.

Just hide you troops and wait for tanks to roll by or use farther troops (Sharpshooters are excelent for this) to fire at the tank, button it up, and get its attention; then if the tank is alone you can run some infantry with demo charges/PF's or gamon bombs up to the tank and they'll try to kill it. Try to get close, but not TOO close as they tend to overthrow the charges some times.

Panzerschrecks & PIAT's seem to work better than Bazookas as far as accuracy goes, but all of them can kill tanks.

BTW side shots are usually more effective than rear shots.

Gyrene

[catullus]

Once again I point to my Panther vs Canadians page. (Hope this work?)

This was v1.05, and grenades might be harder to use against vehicles in v1.12?

C.

[nedlam]

Quick war story:

I had a jagdpanzer hulldown covering a bend in a road with a wide field of fire. That was giving my opponent fits (it had already knocked out several pieces of his armor and was even suppressing some of his infantry). Unfortunately it was immobilized by a artillery barrage early on in the battle. My opponent managed to rush a tank across the kill zone and was maneuvering behind my jagdpanzer. I rushed a platoon over to support the jagdpanzer. They arrived just at about the same time as the Cromwell. The Cromwell was buttoned and concentrating on the jagdpanzer, actually got one shot off, a miss thankfully. I sent two squads in two seperate directions (one to the Cromwell's flank and one to it's rear. The squad on the flank threw a potato masher at the Cromwell and knocked it out (lucky shot?). The squad to the rear then masacred the crew as they climbed out of the wreck.

So, yes, it's possible for regular infantry to take out a tank but it takes a lot of luck. I still can't understand why they didn't use their panzerfaust. Guess they knew better what to do than me.

[ 04-18-2001: Message edited by: nedlam ]

[Maastrictian]

Another War Story

Was fighting three Tigers in bocage last night with a platoon of infantry, a six pounder and two piats. The piats managed to imobalize two of the Tigers before they ran out of ammo. The six pounder was destroyed almost instantly. The platoon of men threw grenades at the tigers for *five turns* with no effect while my other infantry held up the german infantry. When their infantry *finally* caught up to their tanks I was wipped out to a man. I probably should have withdrawn, but i just kept thinking to myself... they *can't* survive another round.

[Warmaker]

True, true. Like I said, infantry with a supporting tank are tough nuts to crack. Another difficult thing in assaulting some panzers is the inclusion of their close defense mortars that they launch and it plays hell with your closeby infantry, often suppressing them at the very least. If the panzer has buddies nearby, watchout...

Another thing with assaulting Tigers: They have thick armor all around, 100mm at least, even on the flanks. Engineers/'zooks and other units tailored to AT duties are of course more effective. Regular infantry will have a harder time against heavies.