Re: How to kill a <grav> tank :)

John Skelly wrote:

> I have to agree with Jon on the point of infantry supporting tankers.
> It is nice to imagine a lone grunt running up to a tank with a sachel
> charge and taking out a tank but how often is this going to happen? 
If
> you're playing the tanker's side how the heck did you get your tank
> sitting by its lonesome?  In combined arms infantry are there to take
> out other infantry (and maybe a few engineers).
>

Lets remember that not every tank battle is fought on a billiard table .
Infantry taking on tanks is very much terrain dependent. Tanks can very
easily find themselves "stripped" of thier infantry support for a number
of
reasons.

Infantry train to kill tanks not as lone gunman but as part of
hunter-killer
teams (using LAWs AT4s, RPGs shaped charges, whatever) operating in
constrictive terrain in concert with their sides defensive plan. (as an
aside, The country I just got back from advising a few months ago pretty
much snagged many of their tanks (and spare parts) through exactly the
technique described above.)

I served a stint at JRTC as an OC as well as went through both NTC and
JRTC
a number of times. Infantry kill tanks every rotation with regularity.
Sometimes with mucho success, sometimes they get their ass kicked. It's
dependent upon unit quality, experience. and situation. This is the same
old
arrogant tanker's argument about their invulnerability to infnatry. Of
cours
ethey have to be taught the lesson over and over the hard way.

As far as tanks avoiding this or that terrain or not going forward
without
infantry support if it's not present or loss, well guess what? Tanks go
where ever they're told to go and infantry stay put where ever they're
told
to stay put. unless you've been in some of these engagements you cannot
possible imagine the chaos and confusion which are so far removed to
anything that happens on most wargaming table.

So I say if any tanker wants to think himself (or herself, lets keep the
future in mind <g>) impervious to infantry in any situation, well then
more
power to him! The term "well done" comes to mind...

Los