Question about tactics

[Yggdrasill]

I am playing the Blunt the Spear campaign of CMRT, getting back into the game after a five year hiatus. This is against the computer.

I wanted to solicit the forum's input/advice on the best way (best = lowest losses) to clear Soviet SMG infantry from a town/building environment. The challenge for me is how to draw their fire without being annihilated. Once I have drawn their fire I can blast them with tanks and other direct fire HE. I can draw fire with infantry, halftracks or tanks.

It seems like sending 2 person scout teams is suicidal.

Are soldiers safe from SMG fire inside halftracks? How vulnerable is the halftrack itself to SMG fire?

Will the Soviet infantry fire on a tank, giving away their position?

I welcome your suggestions.

 

[A Canadian Cat]

2 man scout team at least is only guy men dead and not 9-13.

The half tracks themselves are fairly safe but the occupants are not. Especially if they are taking fire from above.

They will likely fire on an unbuttoned tank. They will not likely fire on a buttoned one though.

You could just blast the crap out of places where the could be and not wait for them to fire at you.

 

[2Dog]

Gain fire superiority, then close and finish. These videos are CMBN but the tactics are the same.

Armchair General Tactics

Also, when attacking a town, try to stay inside the buildings as much as possible, use engineers to blast a route through adjoining buildings or use a tank to put a hole in the side of a building to gain entry from a covered side, and use smoke when crossing the street between buildings.

 

[A Canadian Cat]

Oh yeah the arm chair general series is excellent!

 

[Nemesis]

Soviet SMG troops are nasty to other infantry up close. It is very hard to win against them with other infantry. A few things you could try:

1-Ask yourself if you can bypass this particular building. Infantry firefights with SMG troops under 50 yards is like T34s fighting with King Tigers at 1000 yards. The odds are stacked against you. Avoid the fight if possible.

2-2 man scout teams are the correct approach to find the enemy. Hell, I wish I could send 1 man scout teams.

3-You can use complex manuevers where overwatching troops and vehicles suppress the building and their fire lifts right before your infantry team enters. You can work smoke into this plan too.

4-Related to number 3, area fire suspected buildings with tanks. I would mostly use tank machine guns so you don't waste too much HE. Once you know the enemy is there, use HE to blast them out or use multiple tanks firing machine guns at the building. A lot of time, the enemy will break and run. If you surrounded the building, you can mow their men down as they flee.

5-Also related to number 3......SMG troops are a lot less effective at 100 yards or more. See if you can mass infantry 100+ yards away and hammer at them.

6-If you have them, use pioneers or paratroopers to use demo charges to breach rooms via walls (not through doors) and storm them. When the troops breach into a room, the guys in the room will be suppressed/killed and usually overrun.

Losing a 2 man team and then killing an entire SMG squad is a pretty good trade. But you have to have overwatch to make this happen. No shoddy overwatch allowed.

 

[macjim]

I love reading tactic threads.

 

[Nathangun]

Are soldiers safe from SMG fire inside halftracks?

Passengers will be hit.

How vulnerable is the halftrack itself to SMG fire?

Rifle grenades can take one out.

Will the Soviet infantry fire on a tank, giving away their position?

As @A Canadian Cat says if they are unbuttoned.

 

[Yggdrasill]

Thanks for all the comments and suggestions. I can't really bypass buildings because there are so many along the road into the town I need to take. Obviously, most of them are unoccupied; it's just the matter of identifying where the defenders are. Sounds like the best approach is to sacrifice some scout teams and then blast the defenders with all my mobile SMGs and direct fire HE support. Kind of what i figured but I hate losing my soldiers unless i have to. I guess that's war.

 

[Bulletpoint]

Try moving your tanks up really close to the buildings. As far as I remember, Soviets don't have any bazookas or other AT capabilities apart from grenades, which they can't throw against vehicle from inside buildings. So if you go really close, you should be able to spot some directly.

 

[Yggdrasill]

Try moving your tanks up really close to the buildings. As far as I remember, Soviets don't have any bazookas or other AT capabilities apart from grenades, which they can't throw against vehicle from inside buildings. So if you go really close, you should be able to spot some directly.

That is really helpful. I did not know that the AT grenades cannot be thrown from inside buildings.

Is that also true of allied satchel charges?

 

[Bulletpoint]

That is really helpful. I did not know that the AT grenades cannot be thrown from inside buildings.

Is that also true of allied satchel charges?

As far as I remember, yes. However I don't have CMRT myself, so there's the small chance that the Soviet AT grenades can be thrown from buildings, but I doubt it.

The regular hand grenades definitely cannot be thrown against vehicles from buildings.

Even if you find they can actually throw AT grenades, just stay outside the 30m range. When you get closer than about 80m to a building, even tanks start getting a chance to spot infantry.

 

[Nathangun]

ind of what i figured but I hate losing my soldiers unless i have to. I guess that's war.

Shot at places where you think they might be to flush them out.

 

[A Canadian Cat]

I did not know that the AT grenades cannot be thrown from inside buildings.

As far as I remember, yes. However I don't have CMRT myself, so there's the small chance that the Soviet AT grenades can be thrown from buildings, but I doubt it.

The regular hand grenades definitely cannot be thrown against vehicles from buildings.

Let us know what you find out.

Note the grenades thrown at tanks are meant to simulate close assaulting a tank. They are not literally throwing the grenade but placing them in strategic places. So they definitely cannot do it from 30m. I am less convinced that they will not do it if the tank is right outside the door. And the Soviet RPG (yeah there is no rocket but they still called it that) has the same restrictions.

I am honestly not sure what will happen - please let us know. Push the envelope too - when your tanks find occupied buildings drive up to the front door just to test what happens.

 

[Yggdrasill]

I will let you know what I find out. I was reading about the Soviet RPG, and in practice it was very hard to use effectively. In order to penetrate armor it needed to be thrown so as to land at a 90 degree angle to the surface and with enough force to activate the shaped charge. sounds like something you couldn't do through a window unless you were on the second or third floor with your target just below you.

 

[Bulletpoint]

I will let you know what I find out. I was reading about the Soviet RPG, and in practice it was very hard to use effectively. In order to penetrate armor it needed to be thrown so as to land at a 90 degree angle to the surface and with enough force to activate the shaped charge. sounds like something you couldn't do through a window unless you were on the second or third floor with your target just below you.

I think they were meant to be thrown horisontally, with the parachute aligning it to hit with the right end first. You could probably throw it through a window, or even better, a doorway. There are videos of the similar RKG-3 grenade being thrown at US vehicles in Iraq.

 

[Yggdrasill]

Yes, I think you’re right about them being meant to be thrown horizontally. But I believe they were pretty heavy and so couldn’t really be thrown that far especially since they need a certain amount of force to detonate. So yeah you could throw it from inside the building but I still think it would be harder than throwing a grenade.