The Tanker's Guide To War

Day 981, 14:46 • Published in Ireland Ireland • by Joe2987

Image from Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts (site: 2404.org)

In war, a soldier must be prepared for the worst his enemy can throw at him. As we are a small nation of moderately skilled part-time soldiers, we must prepare more than others in order to survive. We cannot hide behind our numbers, or our skill... yet. Sun Tzu, the great Chinese strategist, whose works form the basis for all modern strategy, believed that war is a matter of attrition; you must wear down your enemy before he wears you down. I believe differently. Look at the ancient Spartans, at the pass of Thermopylae, no more than a few hundred men against an army of hundreds of thousands. Though they were defeated, we face much, much better odds. We are a nation of hundreds facing a nation of mere thousands.

Though we face better odds, we must not be complacent. We must train and plan for when they truly begin their attack. Here is a general tactical plan for the Tank Division (somewhat useful for other Divisions, but it must be slightly edited for relevance). In order of importance:

1. Stick the the hills [edit for other divisions]. Tank squads possess a slight combat advantage when attacking/defending in hills.

2. Cover chokepoints (bridges, mountain passes, etc.) Keeping a bridge, for example, against an enemy infantry squad may prevent the capital city from being captured. The only units that can cross rivers are helicopters. Only infantry and helicopters may cross mountains.

3. If you have fire support (artillery, infantry, helicopter), let them deal with the units they can kill, while you handle the infantry [edit for other divisions].

4. Safety in numbers. Get fire support whenever possible, try to keep a balanced force nearby.

5. Don't worry about what you can't fix. Don't rush to stop an enemy helicopter squad from taking the capital city, abandoning your post in the process, when there are 3 allied artillery units sitting on the capital.

6.If you are outmatched by an approaching force, retreat and call for help. Do not stick around to be destroyed while a Veteran*-level helicopter squadron is bearing down on you, and there is no nearby artillery.


And now, a recommendation to the military leadership:

You've divided the military into divisions by weapon type. This is rather bad organization. Instead, the military should have its weapon types scattered evenly throughout the divisions, so that a chain of command can be established allowing fire teams of 4 soldiers: one of each type. Also, it would prevent the incompetency of one commander from completely ruining our defence. Instead of having no competent.... oh, infantry*, we would merely have 3/4 of our combined forces in competent hands. 3/4 of the Infantry, 3/4 of the Air force, 3/4 of the Tanks, 3/4 of the Artillery. And, of course, 1/4 in incompetent hands, but that is still better than no defence against artillery.

Think about it, guys.

*I'm just using infantry as an example here. I could have just as easily used tank, arty, or air. Infantry just came to my mind first.