Strategy - Advancing against very strong AT Guns

[GeneSteeler]

I've just set up for a solo game of Grossdeutschland 1946. (Hypothetical - Scenario 8, check it out!). The Germans are just about to enter from the north.

The situation is that the British are set up on a 40m hill dug-in and in entrenchments. They have lined the edge of the hill with infantry with some very effective (8-8) AT Guns behind them.

Germans are to take the hill. They have loads of infantry in APCs and some Panther IIs. The APCs don't have a chance against the 5 Br AT Guns. Starting turn 5 the British armour (Centurions) may appear. It will take them probabaly 2 turns to get up the hill.

Germans have decent OBA (55 and 42). British OBA is more modest.

How should the Germans advance?
Advance on foot? In APCs? Wait for the Br AT Guns to get spotted then OBA the snot out of them?

Panthers lead the charge? They will get "stalled" by the infantry and the Br AT Guns will get some pot shots on them.

I think it is important to get on to the hill as quickly as possible because if the Centurians set up camp there, it will get very nasty indeed.

What are your thoughts?

[campsawyer]

You have quite the situation brewing. I don't have the scenario handy, so I a can't comment specifically. A few general point to think about. First, how much cover do you have between the board edge and the hill and can you take advantage to keep the British guns silent. Second, all the units are vulnerable to something that the British have so some sort of combine arms are needed to punch a hole in the British line. Finally, consider innovative ways to spot the British on the hill so that you can get you OBA working. As for the British reinforcements, they are coming and there is nothing that you can do to prevent this, so you need to be in the strongest position you can at the time they get there. This means don't over stretch and stay with success advances.

[Matt W]

You are going to need to risk a Panther or two to permit the AT guns to be spotted. Letting them at 6 or 7 hex range to draw the fire of the AT guns means that you can then smack them with the OBA. With decent luck more than one gun will have to fire more than one turn at the Panther in order to flush them out. In the meantime you will need to advance your infantry on foot to get better spotting on the British infantry. The goal is to have the ability to fight the Centurions on the hill rather than have to attack up the hill to get at them.

[GeneSteeler]

Ok, here is a (poor) picture of the set-up.


(Shad's note: Sorry for showing up a bit late. Picture added!)

I circled the (correction) 4 Br AT Guns. It's quite a long ways for the Germans to advance, and trying to "flank" the Br will take a fair bit of time. The goal is the 10 Br entrenchments spread along the ridge and where the AT Guns are awaiting.

[GeneSteeler]

Click here for picture because I'm having a hard time attaching it!

[GeneSteeler]

Ok, I think my picture was too big.

The Germans are just piled up in the north. They are actually off map at the moment.

[campsawyer]

Ok, I think my picture was too big.

The Germans are just piled up in the north. They are actually off map at the moment.

Not sure what the final VC's are, occupying the hill or something else? Also where do the Centurions enter?

Looks like to can isolate the flanking AT guns so that only one can fire within normal range while the others can only fire are long range. I would look to get them to fire individually on the approaching armor and have a leader ready to spot with the heavy artillery. You maybe able to get 1 or 2 out before the Centurions arrive. Your INF's will need to hurry up to support the tanks against the British line.

[GeneSteeler]

Not sure what the final VC's are, occupying the hill or something else? Also where do the Centurions enter?

Looks like to can isolate the flanking AT guns so that only one can fire within normal range while the others can only fire are long range. I would look to get them to fire individually on the approaching armor and have a leader ready to spot with the heavy artillery. You maybe able to get 1 or 2 out before the Centurions arrive. Your INF's will need to hurry up to support the tanks against the British line.

VPs are for casualties and owning the entrenchments.

The attack has begun with the armour moving up the east flank. The travel is slow though. I'll post a photo of the progress as soon as possible (likely within 24 hours).

[Shad]

The thing to remember about AT guns, however ferocious, is that they can only fire once per turn. This means that if you carefully consider ranges and avoid overlapping fields of fire you should be able to overwhelm them in sequence by presenting more targets than they can handle at one time.

If INF is screening the guns you will have more difficulty. In the setup you posted I would make every effort to wedge through the infantry line at the far left and overrun the single gun, then roll up the flank. This way you are only exposed to one gun (or one + a long distance half strength shot) at a time.

[GeneSteeler]

The thing to remember about AT guns, however ferocious, is that they can only fire once per turn. This means that if you carefully consider ranges and avoid overlapping fields of fire you should be able to overwhelm them in sequence by presenting more targets than they can handle at one time.

If INF is screening the guns you will have more difficulty. In the setup you posted I would make every effort to wedge through the infantry line at the far left and overrun the single gun, then roll up the flank. This way you are only exposed to one gun (or one + a long distance half strength shot) at a time.

I think I'll keep the infnatry on foot when in range. No point giving away 3 steps for the price of one. Particularly when they can move almost as fast on foot over the open terrain. The British will then need to decide if they want to fire at the armour or take the free (80-95% certainty) Katzchen. Armour 2, doesn't stand up to well against an 8-8 AT Gun!