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Amphibious Assaults - 9/17/2002 5:19:20 AM

maniacalmonkey

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Joined: 7/5/2002
From: The Netherlands
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Hi all,

I've been playing quite a few amphibious assaults lately - North Africa, Italy, D-Day, Pacific... Now I find myself wondering if anyone has any specific tactics for amphibious scenarios? Commonly, I'll start off with a good deal of artillery fire and smoke to ensure the boats can reach the beach safely. The first wave is made up of well-equipped infantry companies that will land with an utter disregard for personal safety and try to create breaches in the enemy lines. Elite platoons are also in the first wave to assist in particularily important areas.

The second wave follows closely after the first one, two or three turns tops depending on how tough the resistance is. Mostly these are engineers, HQ units, and mortars, as well as some more common infantry to consolidate the beach. They set up in fairly well-secured areas and the engineers get to work on making a few key exits mine-free for the armour, which follows along with heavy artillery and other vehicles in a third wave, often quite late due to heavy mining. The armour and HT mounted infantry then push inland to capture victory clusters and chase down fleeing defenders.

Often there will be an isolated victory cluster somewhere along the beach, to the extreme north or south, with little or no real exit potential. This objective commonly falls to an elite platoon, expanded with some MG and AT teams, and a light mortar or two, as well as a few tubes of artillery to smoke the approach and blast the objective.

If possible, I like to drop a force of paratroopers in some none-too-vital area: There's usually a forest or corn field or something sitting nicely between a few road crossing and/or victory clusters. The para's won't attract *too* much attention as the beach is under heavy pressure, and won't drop straight on top of enemy units either. From there, they can regroup and block crossroads or assault HQ/Artillery positions while the enemy is trying to get reinforcements to the beach.

Thoughts?

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When cities burn and armies turn,
and flee in disarray,
Cowards will cry 'tis best to fly
and fight another day,
But warriors know it in their marrow when they
die and fall,
It is better to have fought and lost than not have
fought at all.

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- 9/17/2002 11:50:48 PM

Katana

Posts: 570
Joined: 7/23/2002
From: Netherlands
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I take a similar approach, but instead try to concentrate on what looks to be the weakest point in the defensive line.(vs AI it's usually the flank furthest from the VHs). Punch through there, and roll up the line.
My first goal is always to get my forces on the other side of the minefield, after that, I'll worry about the objectives.

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- 9/18/2002 1:46:35 AM

bigtroutz

Posts: 2417
Joined: 4/22/2001
From: Montana, USA
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Sounds pretty reasonable. Here are my alterations/additions:

buy lots of Cruiser arty (8"), and destroyer(5") and maybe a couple of battleship arty and then only 60mm leg/jeep and 81mm leg mortar. AirDrop all the leg mortars on turn 0/1 with a FO or 2 with the rest of your airborne (I usually buy a company's worth or Rangers with bazooka). Drop the big arty on the beach front hexes on every turn, alternately dropping 8"+ then 5" or 5" then 8", until your troops unload. (you may want to place your pre-registered arty hexes about 5-7 hexes inland from the beach to make this effortless). Use the airdropped FO & mortars to 1st help clear the landing area and then to support your beach landing, as well. If I suspect a defended VH, I generally airdrop right on top of an inland VH on turn 1 after a turn 0 5" arty barrage.

Use Flamethrower armor like Marine Satan to breach minefield - AFV FT do this job the fastest generally taking 2-5 shots (using 'z') - choosing hexes with alot of ARTY hits (which remove mines). Then pour all your mech thru the breaches on the turn you land and 1) rollup the stunned beach defenders, 2) grab the VH close to the beach.

Hope this helps

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- 9/18/2002 1:48:36 AM

bigtroutz

Posts: 2417
Joined: 4/22/2001
From: Montana, USA
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Oh, yeah, dont bother with smoke, the HE rounds right on the beach fromt have the same effect. Make sure to place arty target hexes so that the water/beach hexes are hit so as to display the actual minefield line.

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Amphibious Assaults - 9/18/2002 3:58:15 AM

maniacalmonkey

Posts: 110
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From: The Netherlands
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Thanks for the advice guys! I like the idea of airdropping mortars - I usually keep them in the surf where they're quite safe unless enemy artillery comes alive, as direct fire tends to focus on my assault units. Interesting stuff on clearing mines with arty and flame tanks, didn't know that - it should make my life easier. Does this work with infantry flamers or satchels as well? I hate it when the entire coastline is mined... Units fleeing into minefields, ouch.

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- 9/18/2002 7:06:49 AM

bigtroutz

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From: Montana, USA
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leg unit FT will not remove mines very quickly, I believe, but maybe you could experiment with "z" flaming the hex during your turn and 'clearing mines' after your turn.

Personally, I dont bother since I know that a Japanese SS engineering tank will clear the mines with 1 or 2 two burst shots, for instance, so that my mech can roar on thru the minefield on the same turn as it lands.

Waiting for engineer units to clear a minefield in 2 or three (or more) turns is just not on.

If you follow my advice on the preparatory arty bombardment, there isn't much left to cause you to retreat. Rolling over the retreating / routed units is pretty much guaranteed. You can either stick around and assault the bunkers for their victory points or just bypass them.

You can airdrop light antitank or AA units AND their transport and even British light tanks as well, if they will fit in the proper glider (check out the british Horsa, for example). Think of the possibilities !!! (hehe, the Tetrarch light tank is pretty pitiful actually, but i suppose it has SOME uses. - but giveme a ranger platoon with a m9 bazooka instead, lol)

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- 9/18/2002 11:56:55 PM

Capt. Pixel

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From: Tucson, AZ
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[QUOTE]Originally posted by bigtroutz
[B]leg unit FT will not remove mines very quickly, I believe, but maybe you could experiment with "z" flaming the hex during your turn and 'clearing mines' after your turn. [/B][/QUOTE]

Infantry FTs won't clear the mines at all.

You need the larger effective warhead of a vehicular FT (~200 IIRC) to actually affect the mines with this tactic. It will still take you several shots, but you also get immediate and permanent LOS blockage to boot. :D

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- 9/19/2002 12:00:18 AM

bigtroutz

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Thanks for that correction, Capt. I kinda suspected this but never actually tested it.

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- 9/19/2002 4:03:21 AM

maniacalmonkey

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From: The Netherlands
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Whoa... It just struck me how incredibly cinematic this image is - the distant muzzle flashes of warships, flame tanks spewing great gouts of burning fuel, mines exploding in mid-air after being unearthed by the artillery barrage, great bursts of dirt showering the beach while the infantry runs along under the raw shouts of their sergeants... And then the lumbering armor bursting through the inferno, guns blazing... :eek:

Why wasn't this in Saving Private Ryan :D

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- 9/19/2002 9:53:09 PM

bigtroutz

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[QUOTE]Originally posted by maniacalmonkey
[B]Whoa... It just struck me how incredibly cinematic this image is - the distant muzzle flashes of warships, flame tanks spewing great gouts of burning fuel, mines exploding in mid-air after being unearthed by the artillery barrage, great bursts of dirt showering the beach while the infantry runs along under the raw shouts of their sergeants... And then the lumbering armor bursting through the inferno, guns blazing... :eek:

Why wasn't this in Saving Private Ryan :D [/B][/QUOTE]

ummm, because of the more usual SNAFU, hehe.

Look at Tarawa, the naval barrages never happened or were late, the intel on the tides & reefs was inadequate to pitiful, air support/preparatory bombardment was inadequate or unavailable. In general, poor coordination between the various participants. The initial 1-2 days were about as screwed up as possible.

Look at Anzio, the landings went fine but timid leadership left the troops standing around scratching their collective a$$es while the GA responded.

Dunno, if you totalled ALL the amphib landings in WWII, I would not be surprized if the vast majority of OPPOSED landings were complete to significant screwups. The fact of the matter is VERY few amphib assaults were defended at the beach with the kind of unit placement the AI uses. Normandy is the only place that comes to mind.

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- 9/19/2002 11:36:36 PM

challenge

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From: Austin, TX
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I am reminded of a WW II movie where John Wayne is talking to an admiral on the bridge of a battleship trying to talk him into letting he lead his men ashore.... The admiral point to a table with all these books labled with tactical information and planning titles on the geography, Japanese military, US Marine Unit designations, and says, "You know this is planned to the last possibility."

Wayne's character answers, "And you know its all worthless as soon as the first shot is fired."

One of the reasons offered for the fact that Germany never invaded Great Britain was that most of the amphibious assaults Hitler read about had failed. Those things rarely seemed to go as planed in RL.

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