Section Leaders:
Fionn Kelly & Madmatt

Movement To Contact:
A Tank Platoon Tactics Primer
by Fionn Kelly

  
In this article I will optimize the information presented for play against another human opponent at that level where the platoon is the maneuvre unit. These lessons can also be adapted by an individual tanking against AI-driven opponents on his/her personal computer but since aiming these articles at multi-player games provides me with the widest possible remit I chose to follow this course.

Also I wish it noted that this article is being written with a view to being displayed on the internet so I am writing it so that people new to the genre and unused to reading tactical manuals or combat histories can read the articles and gain an understanding of the basics involved. I do not intend this to be an exhaustive expose but rather a guideline. Anyone who wishes more substantive details is free to email me or ask me questions on Battlefront.com’s Combat Mission forum.

And if there is sufficient interest in a further, more detail step-by step detailing of the issues I will, of course, write a more detailed account in time. So, let me know what you think. 

Fionn "Wittman" Kelly 

Movement to Contact

The importance of a unit’s movement to contact doctrine in a real war cannot be overstated. The manner of movement to contact determines the manner in which a unit first meets the enemy and this has a great impact on the unfolding of the situation. A good start is half the battle the old saying goes AND it is true. A unit that uses the optimal movement and formation orders for the given terrain, mission and battlefield conditions will gain a clear advantage over its foes. And, as all wargamers and military leaders know, ANY initial advantage no matter how small can be capitalized upon, magnified and utilized to win victory at lower cost than might otherwise be attainable. It is my opinion that the practice of tactics is the practice of knowing and choosing the strongest tactical option which reaps the highest rewards at the lowest cost.

So what is a movement to contact? Simply put, a movement to contact occurs every time a military unit is ordered to move from its position towards the enemy. An intelligent commander maximizes his combat potential by choosing:

1. an advantageous formation and unit orientation. 

2. the combat fronting of his units. 

3. an applicable movement protocol 

4. an advantageous path across the terrain. 

5. the "combat drill" to be automatically instituted once the enemy is contacted.

I know this is probably a lot for some of you new to tanking to digest so I’ll break it down and explain it in easy steps:

1a. Formation

There are 7 basic formations that are useful for platoon-level leaders. None of the formations is a panacea for all ills but used correctly and with an eye to your own position, the enemy, the terrain and the mission at hand the correct formation order will become apparent and significantly impact on the nature of your first contact with the enemy and the unfolding confrontation. 

Let us deal with the basics of the formations by defining each of them:

Wedge formation:
Wedge formation is a good choice for offensive operations. It puts a large proportion of your firepower forwards with tanks oriented to cover the full 180* front axis. If the tanks at the edges orient to cover the left and right flanks respectively we achieve an almost-optimal condition whereby 50% of the firepower is concentrated forwards with 25% of the firepower covering each flank.

While this 25% allocation of firepower to each flank may seem like a waste compared to the "all guns forward" line formation it is actually sensible if the commander is not ABSOLUTELY certain that ALL enemy formations lie to his front. This 25% flank guard (to either side) is vital if your entire command is not to be surprised and destroyed by the appearance of a hitherto unknown enemy formation on a flank. Remember most tactical tank doctrines call for the employment of tanks against the flanks of any attacking units so this is a wise insurance against just such an eventuality. 

Lastly but not leastly it is a relatively easy matter to re-orient all main guns forward during combat ONCE you, as a commander, feel comfortable that there is no threat to your flanks you can re-orient and concentrate ALL your firepower to your direct front. 

Vee formation: 
Another popular choice for offensive operations but this time with the two foremost tanks on the flanks of the formation and the tanks in the centre bringing up the rear. I find it inferior to the wedge formation since while the two foremost tanks have good fields of fire the rearmost tanks have their fields of fire obscured by the outermost tanks. 

Right Echelon: 
This is a more defensive formation. It provides strong protection for the RIGHT flank of your force unfortunately it leaves the left flank of your force spectacularly unprotected unless your tanks can use engine smoke systems to help shield themselves. The reason this does not have a good offensive potential is because it places only 25% of your effective firepower at the tip of the formation oriented to fire forwards. 

Since offensive action usually involves charging straight towards the enemy at some point a formation which minimizes your frontal combat potential at this time is to be avoided at all costs. 

Left Echelon: 
This is a more defensive position. It provides strong protection for the LEFT flank of your force unfortunately it leaves the right flank of your force spectacularly unprotected unless your tanks can use engine smoke systems to help shield themselves. The reason this does not have a good offensive potential is since it places only 25% of your effective firepower at the tip of the formation oriented to fire forwards.

Since offensive action usually involves charging straight towards the enemy at some point a formation which minimizes your frontal combat potential at this time is to be avoided at all costs. 

Line: 
This is simply a line of tanks abreast. In multiplayer games this is still a useful formation as long as the tanks on either end of the line can orient to cover the flanks. As soon as the commander of the unit determines that the flanks are clear a re-orientation order can be given and the two tanks at either end of the line orient their guns forward and search for targets to the front of the formation. 

Column: 
The column formation is the quickest travel formation BUT it is absolutely the LAST formation I would advise for travel when contact with the enemy is expected. With the front tank obstructing the fire of ALL following tanks to the front an enemy formation appearing suddenly in front of you will be able to concentrate ALL his firepower on your leading tank while only one or at best two of your tanks will be able to fire back. While your formation shakes out into a more effective line or wedge formation the enemy will devastate your unit.

So my basic advice is use it as little as possible. Remember an enemy WILL plan to ambush your units at choke-points which are precisely when you will be using column which is EXACTLY the worst formation to be in when ambushed. 

Staggered Column: 
Basically the same as the column formation except with this formation it is easier for following tanks to re-orient their main guns to cover the frontal quarter of the formation and so it is not as vulnerable to frontal attack. IF you must use a column formation please make sure you default to staggered column.

1b. Unit Orientation

Basically orientation as I use it refers to the direction in which the tanks main gun points. Ideally a unit will have a 360* view and be able to bring ALL its guns to bear on ANY target it spots. However the ideal versus the real is the name of the game in life. So we must contend with units which can only, at best, scan a 90* sector adequately. So IF we want to maximize the firepower brought to bear on enemy formations in front of us we must orient all our guns directly forwards.

However if we do this we cannot adequately keep under surveillance our flanks and are thus vulnerable to attack from our flanks. And don’t think that the enemy will not be aware of your weakness and will fail to take advantage of it.

Thus I prefer keeping the majority of my tanks oriented forward with 1 tank oriented to cover each flank. Once I am certain that the only enemy I will encounter in the near future is to my front I order ALL my tanks to orient forwards and thus bring maximum firepower to bear on that target.

By maximizing my forward firepower I destroy the enemy’s units in the least time possible thus lessening his chance to hurt my unit and also minimizing the amount of time I am vulnerable to flank attack. The instant the enemy is destroyed a switch back to an orientation which covers both flanks is strongly recommended.

2. Combat Frontage

This is an easy concept to explain. The three frontages that are internationally recognized are:

• Narrow Frontage: This orders tanks to take up their formation positions 25 metres from their fellows.

• Standard Frontage: This orders tanks to take up their formation positions 50 metres from their fellow.

• Broad Frontage: This orders your unit to make the distance between the individual tanks in formation 100 metres. 

Frontage of the unit is not vitally important but in multi-player games increasing the distances between your individual tanks can help complicate the enemy’s fire control difficulties. Conversely setting a 25 metre separation increases the shock effect of your unit’s appearance but also leaves them more close together and thus vulnerable to ambush.

3. Movement Protocol

Generally speaking there are three distinct movement protocols for you to choose from on the battlefield:

1. "All together now syndrome" as I call it. 

2. Alternate bounds 

3. Successive bounds

Single Unit Movement: 
In this movement protocol all vehicles in the platoon (or larger formation) move out together with none allocated to oversee the movement of the others. Instead all vehicles move to each objective as one group.

This is the quickest of the three movement protocols but it is also the riskiest since : 

1. If the moving group is ambushed then ALL vehicles in the unit will be under attack with the all the resultant losses in cohesion and command and control common under these circumstances.

2. None of the members of the unit are instantly available to fire, while halted, at any enemy units spotted. This is a very serious drawback. 

For these reasons it is recommended that single group movement protocol is reserved for those occasions when contact with the enemy is a VERY remote possibility but speed is essential. As with column formation being ambushed while moving in "whole group" protocol can lead to excessive losses. 

Alternate Bounds. 
The whole theory behind ANY type of overwatch protocol is that if one section (usually two tanks or other AFVs) of the two section platoon is halted in a position with clear fields of fire covering the other section as it advances towards the next terrain feature then the whole unit will be immune to ambush and the overwatching unit will be able to provide more aimed, effective fire than if it accompanied the other section in stumbling blindly forward. 

In my example of alternate overwatch. I am presuming that a platoon of 4 Panthers is moving to an objective on a hill D. The platoon starts on hill A and will have to pass over hills B and C on the way to hill D.

Section 1 is ordered to deploy on Hill A and cover Section 2s advance on Hill B. When section 2 reaches Hill B and takes up a hull-down position covering the ground between Hill B and Hill C the 1st section moves out. Section 1 passes through 2nd sections position on Hill B and continues on to Hill C. In this 2nd phase of the movement Section 2 returns the favour and covers section 1s movement.

Once 2nd section has taken up a hull-down position with good fields of fire out to Hill D 1st section moves out from Hill B and moves to Hill D covered by 1st section. If any further objectives must be reached then the procedure is repeated.

This is the quicker of the two forms of overwatch and has the benefits of providing the commander with the benefits of the overwatch protocol whilst still allowing relatively quick movement across the battlefield.

Movement by alternate bounds has many advantages, chief amongst them are the fact that 50% of your force is always ready to give accurate, supporting fire and is sufficiently removed from the advance force that it cannot fall into the same ambush as the advance force. Also movement by alternate bounds divides the stress and fear of being the lead element equally between the two sections. Thus it is an important adjunct to the officer who wishes to maintain a unit’s overall morale and trust and respect since no-one feels victimized or unduly burdened.

The only major pitfall which novice commanders fall into is that they pick this method of bounding movement as their standard, ALWAYS-USE system even when the forces at their disposal argue against usage of this movement method.

So when should the commander rule out using alternate bounds. I contend that if one of the sections is markedly weaker than the other the commanding officer may have to decide to switch to successive bounds in order to either protect the weakened unit or to keep the weaker unit in the lead.

I personally feel that if your command consists of one section of MBTs (Main Battle Tanks) and one section of infantry, reconnaissance troops or lighter tanks then the commander has a duty to ensure that the more effective long-range killers (the MBTs) are kept as overwatch to EVERY movement and the infantry, recon or light tanks are used as reconnaissance and to flush out any ambush since their effectiveness in an overwatch position would be minimal.

So in conclusion I would state that movement by alternate bounds should only be ordered when speed of movement is important and BOTH sections are of a similar combat power. If one section does not contain weapons capable of long-range kills then that section should take the exclusive lead. If you MUST take losses you might as well lose units which will not greatly impair the units combat power and efficiency.

Successive Bounds: 
This is the other method of overwatch-type movement available on the battlefield. It is slower than using alternate bounds and does not distribute the strain of being in the lead slot equally amongst the sections. For this reason it is utilized if the commander is very cautious and expects to contact the enemy at any time and/or if one of the sections under his command is considerably weaker than the other e.g. its men may be inexperienced or its vehicles may be of poorer quality.

If a commander had 2 Panthers crewed by veterans and 2 Pz IV F2s crewed by green personnel he would have to seriously consider using successive bounds to traverse the field of battle. How would a commander deal with this situation? Well there are 3 possibilities:

1. If the commander wishes to protect the green Pz IV F2s then he would switch to movement by successive bounds and nominate the Panthers as the overwatch section.

2. If the commander wishes to protect his strongest combat unit then he will nominate the PzKpfw Vs as overwatch section and merely use the Pz IV F2s as a sort of ambush detector ;-).

3. Alternately the commander who wishes to protect BOTH sections may elect to re-organize them into two sections each containing a PzKpfw IV F2 and a PzKpfw V. This has the benefit of stiffening the green PzKpfw IV F2 crews with veterans. Unfortunately it also has the effect of breaking up the "team" formed by the PzKpfw Vs and thus lowering unit cohesion.

Which decision would you make? This is a simple little situation BUT your answer is indicative of the type of commander you would be and your command philosophy and as such your answer to these questions will be reflected in your wider gameplay. 

In my example of successive bounds. I am presuming that a platoon of 4 Panthers is moving to an objective on a hill D. The platoon starts on hill A and will have to pass over hills B and C on the way to hill D. 

Section 1 is ordered to deploy on Hill A and cover Section 2s advance on Hill B. When section 2 reaches Hill B and takes up a hull-down position covering the ground between Hill B and Hill C the 1st section moves out. 

Section 1 moves up to Hill B and moves into hull-down positions covering the route to Hill C. Then section 2 moves out and moves up to Hill C where it again takes up hull-down positions.

Then section 1 advances from Hill B and takes up hull-down positions on Hill C ready to cover 2nd section’s advance on Hill D.   

As can be readily ascertained from this example the prime characteristics of movement by successive bounds are that it is slow, cautious and that ONE section is always in the lead. Thus it is of chief use when one of the sections under your command is far weaker than the other.

4. Advantageous Routes

What is the most advantageous route to always take? Well there are many answers to that question. Most of those answers are both right AND wrong. That is because the QUESTION is fundamentally flawed. YOU will fail as a commander if you ever answer that question.

There is no single "good and true route" for every situation. I know that may seem a very obvious and stupid statement to make but I have seen far too many gamers fall into the habit of developing a preference for always following woodlines or taking up full defilade positions on the largest hill within 1km of their entry point. This leads to their rapid demise and ONLY vigilance on your part will help you escape this lack of constant evaluation that will make you predictable and dead. 

The only way to determine which route you should use during THIS particular battle is to FULLY understand the mission you have been given, the likely locations of the enemy and the nature of the terrain. Only when you have gathered as much of this vital information as possible will you be able to create an ACCURATE context within which to ask yourself, " What is the most advantageous route given the mission, terrain and likely enemy actions?" If you develop the skills necessary to answer that question correctly time after time you just might survive the virtual battlefield.

Bounds.
Movement across a battlefield is most commonly conducted in "bounds". So let us define what a "bound" is before I go any further. A "bound" is defined as "a tactical feature that may be held if necessary and the next tactical feature which enables supporting tanks to give cover." Just to make it even more confusing for newbies tank crew also refer to any tactical feature they stop behind as a bound. So a bound can be the distance between tactical features or the tactical feature you stop behind.

That is the LETTER of the definition but what does it mean for you as you survey the map and the terrain with your own eyes. A tactical feature can be a ridgeline, a dip in the ground or anything you can drive a tank behind or into that will give you cover. I would STRONGLY suggest that this tactical feature should not merely be a hiding place but should also at least give you a clear field of view over the battlefield. Preferably it would also give you a clear field of fire and enable you to effectively engage enemy targets without hindrance. 

Being hidden from enemy sight and unable to engage is all well and good for the recon troops operating with you but as the commander of a powerful, deadly platoon of main battle tanks your job is to crush, maim, terrify and kill the enemy. Being able to fire on this enemy is a prerequisite for your job. If you ever find yourself in a "good" tactical position without clear fields of fire then, firstly, it isn’t a good tactical position and, secondly, you failed in your job as platoon commander.  

1. How to choose the next bound? 
There is a well-known mnemonic for remembering the decision-making process a commander must consider when deciding what tactical feature to bound to. 
It goes: 
CRABMEAL, 
C: Cover 
R: Routes 
A: Arcs 
B: Background 
M: Mutual Support 
E: Enemy 
A: Air 
L: Landmarks 
  
  
C: Cover 
You, as a commander will want to choose a tactical feature (bound as it is called from now on) which will provide you with some cover from observation and if possible some protection from enemy fire would also be advantageous.

A bush or tree isn’t cover for a tank but a nice 1.5 metre dip in the ground, wall, rubble or a ridgeline will do nicely. All of these also have the advantage of providing protection as well as cover.   

R: Routes. 
The bound must have good routes of access and exit. In other words you shouldn’t have to spend ages driving into and out of it.

Preferably routes into the bound will NOT be under enemy observation (e.g. they will be "covered" routes) and so your appearance at the bound may take the enemy by surprise. 

Even more importantly as commander you should ALWAYS have planned a route of retreat FROM the bound back to your previous bound. This route should, as much as possible keep you hidden from the enemy and out of his fields of fire and, also, care should be taken to ensure the overwatch section can keep your proposed route of retreat under observation to prevent any nasty surprises befalling you during an intense combat situation.

A: Arcs. 
You must be able to cover the entire arc (180 degree area ) in front of your tank from the bound. There is no point picking a "perfect" bound but not being able to bring effective fire on the enemy since that wall or tree blocks your fire. 

Remember that when hiding behind a tree which blocks your vision that you are still vulnerable. The children’s adage that as long as you can’t see "them" they can’t see you isn’t correct. A tree or shrub which blocks your vision but won’t stop an armour piercing shell is a literal deathtrap, especially since it makes fire control so easy for the enemy commander.

B: Background. 
A tank is, in essence a large, regular greenish blob of metal. As such it looks decidedly out of place sitting on the top of a hill. As commander you are responsible for choosing such locations that minimize the weirdness of your tanks.

DON’T place your tank so it is silhouetted against the sky or a white building or road. Try to move it so that from the enemy’ viewpoint your tank is moving against a green background (a forest does nicely).

M: Mutual Support. 
As a commander you are responsible for the conduct of your UNIT not just your tank. You must ensure that your unit has interlocking fields of fire, can support mutual advance, can support each other if your unit is forced to fall back.

E: Enemy. 
What are the enemy doing? From what direction are they coming? What are the characteristics of these forces? What are their weaknesses and how can these be used to speed your victory?

A: Air. 
How do you protect yourself from air attack? Don’t be obvious and don’t sit still? Being obvious can be as simple as being the only tank in a field or hiding behind the ONLY house on a map. Avoid the obvious locations and always be aware of whatever cover exists nearby in case a plane shows up and you must hide.

L: Landmarks. 
Know the landmarks in your neighbourhood. This doesn’t apply so much in Panzer Commander with its instantly, perfectly-updated maps but in reality knowing and recognizing landmarks and instituting a unit-wide methodology for reporting contact is the only way a commander can gain an accurate picture of what is happening out of sight.

2. How to move between bounds. 
The first step in moving from one bound to another is to leave your present bound. "Just rev the engine and move forward" seems to be the tactic of choice amongst players and it is one of the chief reasons that they die in their droves.

When leaving a bound you must NEVER, EVER, EVER just drive forwards. You always reverse out of your fire positions for two reasons:

1. If the enemy has seen you enter the fire position he will have ranged in on it and will know the exact range to target when you start to appear over the crest of the hill. As you appear his correctly sighted and ranged gun will fire one shell and probably kill you.

2. As you move over the hilltop (since many bounds are actually ridgelines) you will be silhouetted to all the enemy within range. You will instantly become a target for all of them and as such will have a short and spectacular life, ending it as a human torch.

So what should you do? When wanting to move to another bound you should observe the terrain leading to it and try to calculate the "dead ground" (terrain blocked from enemy vision) then you should reverse from your present bound into covered terrain and proceed quickly and invisibly to your next bound.

When moving from a hilltop you should reverse fully down from the hill, move to one of its sides and then advance to the next bound from there. The whole name of the game is to stay as low and invisible as possible until you pop up unexpectedly and begin killing the enemy.

This necessity reminds me of a conflict which occurred between three JagdPanthers and approximately 24 Churchills during the Goodwood Operation in Normandy. The Churchills were ordered to capture and hold an important hill on the flanks of the assault. They moved to the hill and advanced slightly beyond it to clear the region of Germans. Unfortunately they hadn’t gone to dead ground but rather over the hilltop. This allowed the three hidden Jagdpanthers to open fire at known ranges. 16 of the Churchills were destroyed before the remainder managed to scramble over the hill crest and out of sight. Because they had left no friendly tanks in overwatch positions the Churchills didn’t have any idea where the enemy fire was coming from.

The three Jagdpanthers then moved towards the hill to capture it but the eight remaining Churchills managed to put two out of action with HE shells to the tracks and scared the other off.

This simple example illustrates the importance of ALWAYS maintaining tactical awareness and good practice and the importance of overwatch both for the British and Germans.

How quickly should you move between bounds? Should you move slowly, scanning the area ahead of you for ambush or just dash blindly forward. Neither ! You shouldn’t have to move slowly in order to observe the terrain. The unit in overwatch is watching for you AND you should have conducted a reconnaissance of the terrain to the next bound while you were stationary.

So by the time you move out towards the next bound you should know the rough layout of the terrain either from seeing it yourself OR having the commander of the overwatch section describe it to you over the radio. Then you should move out as quickly as possible. As a German tactical manual from World War Two puts it, "The tank should have only two speeds. Zero, when firing and full speed when moving."

Even a slowly moving Second World War era tank is a terribly gunnery platform and literally couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn. So whilst moving slowly your gunnery will usually be as ineffective as if you were moving at full speed. Your vision is only slightly improved by the slower speed BUT your vulnerability to enemy fire is hugely increased.

I don’t deny that there are advantages to moving slowly to the next tactical feature BUT I do believe that the disadvantages far outweigh the possible advantages. Remember that in World War Two a destroyed tank usually meant a 30% chance of each of its crewmembers dying. While it is easy for us as gamers to try risky maneuvers on the basis that they "usually work" it isn’t historically accurate since for Second World War tankers there often wasn’t another chance. Hence they were either CAUTIOUS or DEAD.

Be alert for choke points, natural terrain features that serve to channel your movement through or towards a particular area. These are always prime sites for an enemy ambushes since they offer him/her the opportunity to smash each of your vehicles individually as they slowly emerge from the choke point. In general it is better if AT ALL POSSIBLE to avoid the choke points and seek another, ANY other route towards the goal.

What is the maximum distance of an entire bound? Well that maximum distance varies depending upon what vehicles you have under your command. Basically the length of a bound should be HALF of your effective engagement range against the enemy’s tanks.

Why half? Well, the tanks in overwatch must be able to EFFECTIVELY engage the enemy if they should appear. There is no point following all these rules and setting up a section in the perfect overwatch position only to find that when the enemy tanks appear and attack the advance section the overwatch section is too far away to penetrate the enemy’s armour.

So for a Panther which can expect to penetrate a T-34s armour comfortably at 800 metres the maximum distance between the two sections of the platoon (and their respective tactical features) should be no more than 400 metres. But for each tank it will differ. Some of you will have noticed the difficulties that this rule will cause for American and British tanks with their poor anti-tank performance. If you can only penetrate a Panther’s armour at 100 metres does this mean that your bound distance should be 50 metres? NO !

German Second World War tactical doctrine held that the minimum distance that a tank should move is 200 metres. Any movement less than this distance would not throw off the enemy’s aim sufficiently (this is analogous to the realities of naval warfare and range computation which is beyond my scope in this article). It should be noted that this did not prohibit stopping for a second or two to fire while moving to the next tactical feature.

Of course, if your unit is involved in a close-in knife-fight the aim is survival and the movement rules are usually thrown out the window in favour of "shoot and scoot" tactics. 

3. Entering the bound. 
Now that you’ve traversed the ground between your initial position and the bound you have chosen how do you position yourself at the new bound?

Move SLOWLY into position using the lowest gear possible. There is no point moving into position quickly just to have your position telegraphed to the enemy by a plume of exhaust smoke from your engine. Once you have achieved a satisfactory hull-down position have the driver put the tank into reverse, ready to evacuate the position as soon as ordered.

4. Hull down vs Full Defilade

Full Defilade: 
This is a position where a vehicle is completely hidden by the terrain. A vehicle in full defilade cannot see or be seen. However, ideally the tank commander will be able to see over the terrain and thus maintain full observation of the area while his tank stays hidden.

Full defilades are useful for hiding your forces until an enemy has reached a set position. Then your forces will move forward into hull down positions and open fire in ambush

Hull Down: 
A tank in a hull down position is sited so that only its turret is visible to the enemy. The tank’s strongest armour is its front turret armour and so this position combines the effects the stronger armour AND the smaller target presented by the tank’s turret.

Finding hull-down positions is a skill that needs practice and estimating hull-down positions from the map is a skill which, although difficult to master, will pay dividends to any who master it. It can be practiced on normal topographical maps and one can become proficient relatively quickly. Also useful is the estimation of dead ground and fields of fire from such maps. Soon it will become second nature and can be applied to the gaming environment with resultant increased efficiency.

5. Combat Drill

For my purposes the combat drill is defined as the drill which is put into action once fire is exchanged. A unit’s combat drill is not so much useful for what it does as for what it avoids.

No combat drill is ever universally the "right" thing to do BUT what we can say is that a combat drill will, to a large extent, prevent the fragmentation which is common when a unit initially exchanges fire with the enemy.

Generally, two basic combat drills are popular in the world’s armies. The first favours the offense with all units forming a line, orienting towards the enemy unit and moving towards the enemy, stopping only to fire. This combat drill is useful if all the vehicles in a unit are moving together.

The second is more conservative and is more suited to overwatched situations. In this situation the mobile section will stop, seek cover and then conduct a fighting withdrawal towards the overwatch section’s position. This has the advantage of avoiding whatever traps the enemy may be trying to spring and, secondly, giving you as commander more time to establish the situation and plan a response and lastly it causes any pursuing enemy tanks to run into stationary, well-sited, prepared vehicles of the overwatch section which will inflict painful losses on any pursuers. Thus overall I favour the second combat drill since it minimizes my loss potential while maximizing the enemies loss potential.

Why do I think that, as a commander, one must establish a combat drill with your team mates during the movement to contact ? Simple… By its very nature the first instant that you as comander will know the movement to contact phase of the battle is concluded will be when either one of your unit spots the enemy or when one of your units is fired upon. The confusion and fear caused by being fired on can cause that vehicle to react poorly unless the crew (player) is given a firm order to which to cling at all times.

If the commander is merely told to drive ahead of the rest of the unit until the enemy is met he is much more likely to panic and do something irreparably damaging to the unit. That is why I always establish a combat drill. That way my advance element always knows that once fired upon they are to find cover, report the number of enemy tanks, type and enemy actions to me. Simultaneously to this the overwatch section will be reporting what they see. Your job as commander is to synthesis this information to form a coherent picture and order the correct actions whatever they may be.

While you are performing this analysis of the situation you may become so wrapped up in your thoughts that you may ignore the advance section’s increasingly desperate situation. Therefore to guard against such inattention on my part I always ensure my lead element is aware that they have total permission to fall back to the overwatch element’s positions if the enemy is getting too close.

If you follow all the rules given above you are maximizing the chances that your tank platoons will be organized and in good firing positions with a clear idea of what to do when the enemy is sighted. This initial advantage can be maximized if efficiently handled and will yield very significant victories. I will detail in the next article in this series how you, as tank platoon commander can develop this initial contact to your advantage. Any and all feedback is welcome.

Signed. 
Fionn Kelly, Historical Editor 
The Gamers Net