tatankatonk posted:

How rare are smoke rounds for artillery on both sides? If the Germans are smart, they'll drop smoke rounds on the open ground east of the G ford while they move north to the B ford.

Krysmphoenix posted:

Page 54 of the manual (28 of the pdf) gives me three T-34-85's. M1943, M1944 Early and M1944 Late. Not sure which one to nab for you guys.

(When did we get these tanks? Didn't see them in the OP.)

dtkozl posted:

So we will need 3 company commanders, one of whom is comfortable with tanks. The two infantry companies will need 3 platoon leaders and 1 support goon commanding a gun and a truck. The rest will be 3 t-34s, 3 t-70s, and 1 IS-2 who will be semi broken up to support the different axes of attack, etc. Feel free to volunteer for positions, I will try and respect the sheet but I don't care if you suddenly want to move or whatever this is like taking penalty kicks I want confidence man I've been watching too much soccer.

(nb grey I just noticed you forgot the 3 t-34-85s in that list!)

The Merry Marauder posted:

I'd personally urge a double mortar smoke mission timed so we can rush mounted across the fields and over the Fritz. SMG infantry who wants to desant (hang on the loving tanks) welcome.

The Merry Marauder posted:

Not terribly. But if they're firing smoke missions, they're not harassing our fording process.

I'd personally urge a double mortar smoke mission timed so we can rush mounted across our primary ford. SMG infantry who wants to desant (hang on the loving tanks) welcome.

brakeless posted:

Asehujiko posted:

I made a quick sketch of how I see the situation:

tatankatonk posted:

What's the scale for the gridded map? Like, how long is 100, 200, 300, meters etc.

Asehujiko posted:

Related question: how many volleys of artillery do we have and how many can we reasonably expect them to have?

simplefish posted:

Also, could someone remind me what the coloured dots and crosses, and colum symbols represent on here?

dublish posted:

From left to right, front armor, side armor, rear armor, top armor.
From top to bottom, small calibre, large calibre, shells, ACPR ammo.

If it's green, you've got nothing to worry about. If it's red, your day's going to get bad very fast.

dtkozl posted:

So initially I'm thinking we have the Rifle company cover grids 5 down to the river.

tanglewood1420 posted:

Infantry Tactics Primer

This is a rough and ready guide on infantry tactics that should hopefully be helpful to anyone who hasn't played anything this 'grognardy' before, or as a useful brush up for those who have. It's based on my own reading on the subject, experience playing lots of platoon and company level wargames and also discussions with my Grandfather who was a fieldcraft instructor in the British Army in the 1950s. I apologise in advance if this comes off as a bit a guide for idiots (most people who sign up to these type of LPs probably know a bit about the subject already) but I thought it would be best to err on the side of assuming ignorance than to be less complete and maybe lose someone because they forgot or didn't process completely a particular concept.

The first thing to say is that this isn't a set of rules that must be followed at all times. Different armies in WWII had different levels of tactical flexibility, with the Red Army being extremely rigid, the German and US armies trusting their NCOs to make the call in the field and the British being somewhere in between. The less prescriptive approach is a much more fun and interesting approach to take in this game, so basically if you want to freewheel a situation because gut is telling you it feels right then go for it. If you go against protocol there won't be a party commissar on hand to deliver your summary execution. Probably.

The general concepts are quite unified regardless of the size of formation, so we'll start at the small level and work up, but the general principles are always the same:

1. Make sure you have a scout element leading the way. You want to spot the enemy before they spot you. At company level, this means you want one platoon leading the way. At platoon level this means you want one squad ahead of the others. And at squad level this means you want a team of two to three men around 20-30 meters ahead of the rest of the squad. Combat Mission allows you to detach small teams from squads to do this and it could be the difference between surprising the enemy and being surprised yourself, so make use of this feature!

2. Attack and defend in concentration. A weaker and less numerous force can defeat a stronger and larger one by concentrating maximum force in a small area. A large force dilutes it's strength the further it spreads out. This is the famous Schwerpunkt concept employed in Blitzkrieg by the Wehrmacht at all levels.

3. Always have a reserve where possible. If all of your forces are engaged at once you lose mobility, and in WW2 mobility is crucial. Without mobility you cannot effectively plug deficiencies in defence, nor exploit those of the enemy in attack.

Squad Level Tactics

Squads are made up of three elements - the squad leader, the fire Fire Team (machine-gun team) and the Rifle Group (the other dudes).

1. Squad Leader - the guy that you want to keep alive

The Squad Leader is the guy that you want where it will matter most. In real life he would generally be one of the three men in the advance scout group of a squad so that he has the clearest view of the enemy as soon as possible, however that is less necessary in a game simulation as we have omniscience, at least as far as our troops can observe, so it may be more useful having him with the bulk of the squad at all times. Once in combat he should go where the going will get tough. German doctrine generally moved the squad leader with the Fire Team to help direct the machine-gun, American doctrine sent him with the Rifle Group so he would be with the bulk of the men and able to co-ordinate the final assault if necessary. Neither way is necessarily superior to the other. Just try not to get him killed. It was common for squad leaders to be only equipped with a pistol as opposed to a rifle that the rest of the squad carries. This was to reinforce the concept that the leader is not there to shoot at the enemy, his role is to direct his own troops, and by providing him with a shorter ranged weapon this emphasised the role more clearly to the average NCO on the ground.

2. Fire Team - the guys that do the shooting

The Fire Team is usually a two man operation - one guy carries and operates the machine-gun, the second carries the ammunition and directs fire (in German tactics there would be the squad leader as a third man as explained above). The Fire Team provides the bulk of the squads volume of fire (VOF being a measure of how many bullets you can put in a certain space in a certain amount of time). The MG42 machine-gun has a rate of fire of around 1,200 rpm (twice as fast as the US BAR) and is fed by a 250 round belt and has an effective range of 1,000m, all of which is to say it can shift a hell of a lot of lead into a tight space very quickly - much more quickly than 7 guys firing bolt-action rifles with 5 round cartridges. An MG42 team in a position with good field of vision and sufficient cover can dominate a battlefield. Positioning the Fire Team correctly and exploiting them to the maximum is the number one key to success for German infantry. These are the guys you need to have shooting at the enemy as much and as often as possible.

3. Rifle Group - the guys that do the actual work

So if the Fire Team is where you get your VOF from, the Rifle Group is where you get the mobility from. Naturally, an MG42 is cumbersome and very difficult to fire on the move, which means you want it to stay in one place as much as possible. The Rifle Group on the other hand can move to a position, have each man fire two to three shots, then move again to another position, all in a short period of time. The Rifle Group's role is exploit this mobility in attack is to flank the enemy position to provide VOF from a second angle and then if necessary to settle an assault in hand-to-hand combat. The Fire Team throws the ball up, but the Rifle Group are the guys that have to actually knock it out the park.

4. Movement and Suppression - how to get from here to there

Of course, moving whilst the enemy can see you is tricky, which is where the Rifle Group and the Fire Team work together and the concept of suppressive fire and bounding comes in. This is a pretty basic concept that pretty much anyone who's heard a guys shout 'cover me' in an action film or playing an FPS understands. The enemy can only shoot you if he's looking at you, and if you're shooting at him he's probably not dumb enough to have his head up looking back. The basic principle is that when one element of the squad is moving, the other element is providing suppressive fire on the enemy to cover their advance. This is most common with the Fire Team suppressing whilst the Rifle Group advances, but it can work vice-versa when the machine-gun is being redeployed.

Advancing on the enemy is always about two things: 1. Close the distance to the enemy - the closer you are the more effective your fire is 2. increase the angle of fire between the Rifle Group and Fire Team - fire from multiple angles is more effective both physically (how can I hide behind this building/tree/wall/hedge when the enemy is shooting at me from both sides of it?) and mentally (gently caress man we're surrounded!). When repositioning always try to achieve both points, if it's only possible to do one then evaluate which is preferable - sometimes reducing the angle is fine if it brings you right onto the enemy, likewise going slightly further away can be effective if you are now attacking from a drastically different angle. However, remember that if you are moving and you're not achieving either 1. or 2. then you're not advancing - you are retreating soldier!

5. Example of an assault on an enemy position

So putting the above concepts into an example. Below we have an enemy that has taken up a position in a field behind some hedgerow. Our three elements are a Scout Team (light blue) consisting of our squad leader and two other riflemen which is at the head of our squad and has spotted the enemy. Behind them are the Fire Team (navy) and the main body of the squad in the Rifle Group (royal blue).



1. Immediately after contact, the Fire Team is brought up to a position with cover where they have good LOS (line of sight) to the enemy position.

2. Once in position they open fire and begin suppressing the enemy.

3. The Rifle Group now peels off the left flank, with the Scout Team merging into them. They are both closing the gap between themselves and the enemy and proving a wide angle from that of the Fire Team, which continues firing throughout the Rifle Groups maneuver.

4. Once in position the Rifle Group opens fire. The enemy is now under attack from two distinct angles.

5. If the enemy is showing no signs of breaking then the pressure needs to be increased. The Fire Team redeploys to a position further down the hedgerow that is both closer and wider than their current position. During this movement the Rifle Group continues firing to provide suppression.

6. The Fire Team is now ready and opens fire from the new position. With these two very wide angles it is difficult for the enemy to find total cover, and very difficult for them to return fire.

7. If the enemy still resists, then the Rifle Group prepares to enter hand-to-hand combat. The Fire Team continues with suppressive fire until the very last moment possible to ensure cover for the charging soldiers, but does not fire once the melee has begun. Nor does the Fire Team ever engage in hand-to-hand combat. Assuming the suppressive fire has been effective, a demoralised enemy unit is no match for a motivated charging enemy in close quarters.

8. Not shown on this diagram, but once success is achieved the squad rallies a short distance beyond the enemy position, takes a short rest to regain stamina if necessary, reconstitutes a Scout Team, and continues the advance as before.

Possible alternatives to the above scenario include:

A) The Scout team is spotted by the enemy first and they open fire. If this is the case then the Scout Team will open fire in response, providing suppression to the Fire Team as they advance. They may then stay with the Fire Team to provide additional suppressive fire for the Rifle Groups advance until they are in position. Then both the Rifle Group and the Fire Team provide suppression whilst the Scout Team joins up with the Rifle Group.

B) The extension of the bounding one more time where at point 7. instead of the Rifle Group charging the move to the second building to close range and increase angle even further. Then again if necessary the Fire Team could move further down the hedgerow to provide an even more extreme angle of fire.

One rule that is absolutely vital to note is that suppression only lasts as long as suppressive fire does. This is why it is vital to have at least one element firing on the enemy at all times. All it takes is for one brave enemy soldier to chance his arm and stick his head up during a 15 second break in fire to take a pot shot and kill one of your soldiers. Do not let him have the opportunity and keep suppressive fire at all times when ever possible. Never have men on the move without suppressive fire covering their advance unless it is absolutely unavoidable, even in retreat.

The next post will be on platoon level tactics, where a lot of the above concepts will be carried over, so it will probably (hopefully!) be a much shorter post.

tanglewood1420 posted:

Platoon Level Tactics

The make up of our platoons are one HQ squad and three main squads, each with an integrated MG (Excepting pioneer infantry with has no MG but more numerous riflemen. Their MG support comes from the auxiliary 4th Coy teams).


Formations

When on the move there are two general formations that are commonly deployed - the 'arrowhead formation' and the 'V' formation.



In the arrowhead formation, you have one squad deployed forward, the HQ team with any support weapons behind them and the two remaining squads flanking the HQ team slightly to the rear. The HQ team tries to stay as centrally as possible to ensure good command and control of each squad.

The advance squad is split into three groups as described in my previous post on squad tactics. The scout team consisting of 2-3 men leads ahead searching out the enemy, the fire team sets up around 20m behind, close enough that should enemy contact be made they can sprint into position and set up suppressive fire quickly, the rifle group lags a further 20m or so behind leaving a good gap so they are free to maneuver if required.

The remaining two squads sit deep in the formation and to the flanks. If line of sight is short (night operations, jungle etc.) then they too can deploy scout teams, again around 20m ahead of the main squad, but usually this is not employed.



In the V formation you have 'two up, one back'. The platoon moves with the same width and depth as in an arrowhead, but with two forward squads, each in the split element formation anticipating enemy contact, and one to the rear. The HQ team and support weapons stay in the centre of the formation. If visibility and LOS is particularly poor the rear squad can leave a trailing scout team, but again this is usually not employed.

Arrowhead vs Two Up, One Back

Arrowhead:

+ small profile in vanguard means less likely to be detected by enemy
+ two squads to rear provides greater flexibility once enemy engaged
- advance squad can be overwhelmed if encountering strong enemy unexpectedly
- more likely to be surprised from forward flanks

Two Up, One Back / V formation:

+ greater firepower in expected direction of enemy
+ better coverage of flanks for spotting
- smaller mobile reserve available once enemy engaged
- wider front makes it easier for enemy to spot

These are pretty self evident just looking at the diagrams, but it's worth stating for clarity nevertheless.

For the record, in WW2 the British army almost exclusively used the Arrowhead configuration, the German and (late-war, non-lovely) Russian armies preferred the Arrowhead as they liked extra mobility and the US Army almost exclusively used the V formation.

Conducting a platoon assault

So then how do you attack an enemy position making best use of all your platoon resources? Well, it's not all that different from a squad level engagement, you just increase the scale.

The same principles always apply:

1. Advance means closing the distance and increase the angle of fire
2. Only move whilst under cover of suppressive fire
3. Suppression only lasts as long as suppressive fire does



In this example we are assuming we are deployed in an arrowhead formation, but the general concepts would equally apply if we were in V formation.

1. The advance squad encounters the enemy. They bring up their Fire Team and begin suppressive fire.

2. The platoon commander has two avenues of approach, either the left flank along the forest or the right flank into the buildings. He chooses to go right because a) the bocage covers his troops moving in that direction better and b) cover is always superior to concealment. It's no good running to the forest if the enemy sees you go there, bullets can go through leaves pretty easily. He orders his C squad to advance to a position in the buildings. B squad stays in reserve.

3. Once C squad opens fire, suppressing the enemy from two angles, the commander decides to deploy his reserve. Initially B squad are brought up to the bocage line

4. Then they swing around the back of the buildings to take up a position offering a third angle of fire.

5. They open fire at close range. The enemy is now under heavy fire from three different angles, all equipped with machine-guns. No enemy infantry platoon can withstand such concentrated fire.

6. If there are signs that the enemy is beginning to withdraw, the adventurous commander can detach the Fire Team of his most advanced squad and swing them into a position where their field of view covers the enemies most obvious retreat path. If the enemy breaks then undisciplined troops can be cut down with ease. If the enemy stays coherent, it closes off the most obvious path of escape and forces them to take a more dangerous route still in full view of the rest of our platoon.

7. Not shown on the diagram, after the enemy has retreated, the platoon reforms into arrowhead formation (or V formation if the commander wishes to change protocol now the enemy has been contacted) 100m or so past the former enemy position and renews the advance.

That closes this post on basic platoon tactics. Universal principles apply of always covering your comrades whilst they move and always bringing maximum fire possible on the enemy from the most effective possible angles.

Next up I'll write a briefer post about company tactics.

Davin Valkri posted:

So our ORBAT looks like this, then?

1st Battalion (Rifle 44)
Headquarters Team (BATTALION COMMANDER--dtkozl)

1st Company
Headquarters Team (COMPANY COMMANDER--tatankatonk)
Sniper Team (SUBORDINATE TO COMPANY COMMANDER--tatankatonk)
1st Platoon (3 squads infantry, 1 sniper team, 1 scout team, 1 flamethrower team) (PLATOON COMMANDER--dublish)
2nd Platoon (3 squads infantry, 1 sniper team, 1 scout team, 1 flamethrower team) (PLATOON COMMANDER--RedFlag)
3rd Platoon (3 squads infantry, 1 sniper team, 1 scout team, 1 flamethrower team) (PLATOON COMMANDER--AceBuckeye13)
Machine Gun section (Maxim M1910) (SUBORDINATE TO COMPANY COMMANDER--tatankatonk)
Machine Gun Team (Maxim HMG) (SUBORDINATE TO COMPANY COMMANDER--tatankatonk)
Antitank gun Team (76mm Antitank gun) (SUPPORT COMMANDER--Hob Gadling)
Truck (Studebaker) (SUBORDINATE TO SUPPORT COMMANDER)

Mortar Platoon [Medium] (4x82mm Mortars, BM-43) (SUBORDINATE TO COMPANY COMMANDER 1 tatankatonk)
Mortar Platoon [Medium] (4x82mm Mortars, BM-43) (SUBORDINATE TO COMPANY COMMANDER 2 Herp Derp)

2nd Company (Submachinegun Company '43)
Headquarters Team (COMPANY COMMANDER--Herp Derp)
1st Platoon (3 SMG squads, 1 Tank Hunter team) (PLATOON COMMANDER--brakeless)
2nd Platoon (3 SMG squads, 1 Tank Hunter team) (PLATOON COMMANDER--RedLobster)
3rd Platoon (3 SMG squads, 1 Tank Hunter team) (PLATOON COMMANDER--Willie Tomg)
Machine Gun Team (Maxim HMG) (SUBORDINATE TO COMPANY COMMANDER--Herp Derp)
Machine Gun Team (Maxim HMG) (SUBORDINATE TO COMPANY COMMANDER--Herp Derp)
Antitank gun Team (76mm Antitank gun) (SUPPORT COMMANDER--uPen)
Truck (Studebaker) (SUBORDINATE TO SUPPORT COMMANDER)

Tank Regiment (Cavalry)
3rd Platoon (Tank)
HQ Tank (T-70M (M1943)) (TANK COMMANDER--Jaguars!)
1st Light Tank (T-70M (M1943)) (TANK COMMANDER--duckfoot)
2nd Light Tank (T-70M (M1943)) (TANK COMMANDER--Simplefish)

Infantry Gun Battery (light)
4 x 76mm Infantry Gun (OB-25) (SUBORDINATE TO BATTALION COMMANDER--dtkozl)

Tank Regiment (Heavy)
2nd Platoon (Tank, Heavy)
HQ Heavy Tank (IS-2 (mid)) (COMPANY COMMANDER--HIGH COMMAND FOR ALL TANK UNITS--The Merry Marauder)
1st Heavy Tank (IS-2 (mid)) (TANK COMMANDER--Asehujiko?)

Additional Tanks
HQ Medium Tank (T-34-85) (TANK COMMANDER--Gamerofthegame?)
1st Medium Tank (T-34-85) (TANK COMMANDER--Krysmphoenix)
2nd Medium Tank (T-34-85) (TANK COMMANDER--Grumio)

Davin Valkri posted:

I've kind of lost track of who else has signed on. And I don't have a unit. Oh well. Dtkozl, how's this ORBAT look? Do you want to split off MG sections or mortar batteries for additional commanders?

Jaguars! posted:

Well, I might as well grab the last T-70. If you put your name down for a tank in the original google documnent, post here and I'll step aside.

Edit: Agh, missed last post. I'll take the billet with the AT gun as per Davin's post

Jaguars! posted:

If everyone in the google doc (here) shows up, then both sides are probably gonna need some extra troops to accomodate everyone.

Davin Valkri posted:

Actually, if it's not too much trouble, I don't want to be under Herp Derp. I'll switch to 1st Company's open HMG.

Oh, and Jaguars! said he wanted a T-70 and uPen hasn't expressed a preference. So if you want to switch them, go ahead.