Tankettes - How Useful in CS?

[junk2drive]

I posted this analogy at a Steel Panthers forum in reply to a kid from Finland asking what good were Italian tanks and tankettes. Maybe it applies to CS too.

Lakerust
I live in the desert, you live in the snow.
Imagine sending a few scouts out in the snow. A large, somewhat flat area without big trees. How about sending a snowmobile with them. And mount a MG on the front. And put some armour up front. Now if the scouts meet an enemy force, the snowmobile can move up, and be a mobile MG with some protection against small arms fire. It is small, low to the ground, very hard to spot. Since the MG has long range, it can set back a bit and suppress the enemy while your scouts retreat.
That is what the Italian tankettes were for. Small and light to cross the desert terrain. Low profile to hide. Enough firepower and armour to survive initial contact.
I haven't played SP with them. I would hope that they are a small size that would allow them to move slow across the desert, not leave a dust trail, and be very hard to spot. If not, the game may be at fault.
If you could sneak one with a 37 or 47mm gun into postion and take out a pesky gun, AT gun or MG nest, and then slip out of LOS, you would think it was great.