The Role of the Tank

[Zemke]

My Tanks primary role is to kill the enemy's Tanks and support my Infantry. What does that really mean, well it depends on what I am doing. If I am defending and I have tanks, then I can be pretty sure the Attacker will have more tanks than I, so I wait, and try to draw the enemy into coordinated "kill sacks" with AT guns and then I expose my tanks to help kill his tanks. Because I know that if I do not kill his tanks, my infantry are going to have a very hard time. So I guess you could say I am supporting my Infantry indirectly. Now if I have killed off his tanks, then I move to a more direct support sole for my infantry.

On the attack or Offensive, I use my tanks to overwatch my infantry, as they scout out woods and urban areas, looking for (a) Enemy Infantry, (b) AT guns......usually they find one or the other the hard way. If the Enemy then brings tanks into the fight, I try to use all means necessary to kill them, and the infantry fight is either on hold till the tank fight is finished, or they are directly supporting the tanks by close assault on the enemy tanks if they are close enough. Or if the enemy backs his tanks off, I continue the attack, never leaving my infantry unsupported.

Tanks are an enabler for your Infantry, they can make their life far easier, or enemy tanks can make it far harder, or impossible. Face it, they are pill boxs on tracks!

Bottom Line.........It is all situational dependent. To say "I use my Tanks this way everytime", is to ask for a loss, you have to be flexible.