Stratagies of War - Economy of Force

[JasonC]

Firing at long range to delay the enemy, let alone this snippet of advice "it is you that must always outnumber and outgun the enemy. Doing so should cost the enemy more then it does you, and if this can be repeated over and over again" - don't work as economy in CM battles.

Every unit you have will spend itself in fighting. Actual wipe out of a unit is rarely the way a unit is spent, or it is just one of the ways. You can't afford to gang up 3 or 4 to 1 on an enemy subunit, clobber it, and repeat indefinitely, for the simple reason that you will run out of ammo long before the enemy runs out of forces, fighting that way.

A unit is spent if it is destroyed. Infantry is spent if its morale is shattered so badly they won't rally within the scope of the scenario. Guns can become spent simply by revealing themselves, either because the enemy then avoids their covered arc or because he brings up an asymmetric counter like on map mortars or an FO, or area fire from just out of LOS by an AFV with large HE. Units can become spent simply by being out of position for the rest of the fight, including e.g. by winning on their own axis but not having good terrain or enough time to redeploy to another. Units can be spent by being required to hold a flag or exit for VPs. But by far the most common way a unit gets spent in CM, besides direct knock outs, is simply running out of ammo.

FOs run out in 4 minutes. On map mortars run out in 4-5 minutes, only the light Russian 50s lasting longer. Guns typically don't survive more than a few minutes after opening up, but if they do, most will run out of the relevant category of ammo in about 5 minutes, and some will in 3. Squads typically have enough ammo for 7 or 8 minutes, which is typically enough for 2 heavy firefights with similar numbers of enemies. Infantry AT may have 2 minutes of fire if they live that long; usually they need stealth to get within range of anything and thus expend themselves by being spotted. HMGs are longer lived if they shoot at range, but still will run low or dry in 10 to 15 minutes. They have plenty of ammo for close in fighting and will pin or die before they run out if they fire within range of enemy spots, but if they fire at long range to delay the enemy, they can keep that up for maybe 10 minutes, if they want anything left for closer range firing.

OK, so within those limitations, what units and match ups are capable of more than even exchanges? Everything used right can generally mess up its opposite number while burning through its ammo - and that may help victory with knock out points or by contributing to the overall plan. But a force that spends all its ammo and lives, while wiping out its own number on the other side, has not advance the ratio of live and capable forces in your favor. You are ammo neutralized and the enemy is dead neutralized, but it is still an even trade. There are only a few categories of weapons and match up that can exceed this trade off performance.

Infantry fire at very close range against morale broken enemies, can rack up kills far higher than they own losses. But it has to be very close - inside 50 meters typically. At 100 meters into open ground while you are in cover, perhaps. That is about the *only* situation in which squad infantry inflicts greater losses on the enemy than it neutralizes on your own side, by running out of ammo.

Thick front AFVs can run through multiples of their own cost in dead enemy AFVs. Thin front ones generally don't - they win or lose coin tosses and you might get lucky and string together 3 "heads" in a row, but that is about it. Many on fews from thin front but well armed AFVs can approximate the effect of a thick front AFV.

The cheaper towed guns can trade for AFVs worth several times their own cost, but generally the ones that miss or are out of position about make up for it.

Full tanks with high ammo for coaxial and hull MGs can mess up large amounts of enemy infantry if they catch it in the open, and can dominate it even in cover if you have enough of it - like full platoons. They won't kill whole companies but they can break them. This depends on the enemy heavy AT network being completely smashed and the armor war being completely won.

Very high caliber HE weapons with direct fire, can mess up several times their own cost in enemy infantry, before running dry. The category here is "HE chuckers", usually AFVs and occasionally towed guns (like the German sIG). Again it relies on first having won the armor war, at least locally, to allow your HE chucker vehicles to focus exclusively on enemy infantry.

Overmodeled strafing AC can sometimes kill more than its (high) cost, if they have a "target rich environment" of enemy AFVs without thick sides, and there is no enemy AA present.

That is really about it. Everything else is in a tool kit of even trades or counters to specific enemy threats, and works - if it works - by "drawing trump" to set up those sorts of match ups later on.

Boneheaded enemy play is the only other major force multiplier beyond even trades, available, and you can't force it by your own actions. Examples are outstacking under TRP artillery, driving expensive AFVs recklessly, handing you lots of infantry in the open, moving heavy weapons prematurely instead of using them to fire, poor fire discipline throwing away all their ammo too soon at hard to hurt targets, or significant parts of the enemy force just misdeployed so badly they might as well be on the moon.

To me, a sensible attrition-economy approach starts with avoiding such boneheaded play yourself, and then is mostly about avoiding giving the enemy the few lopsided kill chances described above. Don't duel thick fronted armor frontally. Don't take on a tank platoon in a tight fist with one tank. Have a heavy AT net and skulk back into it with your infantry, to avoid giving him armor vs. infantry shooting galleries. Don't blast away with infantry at range and into cover - it is a waste of ammo and of your stealth. Notice these are practically all "don'ts", not "do's".

Above all, stop trying to shoot more by shooting sooner and realize you won't shoot any more often that way (because the ammo will run out either way), but will shoot less hard (farther, into better cover, at the wrong sort of targets, etc). Wait for the good shots, in other words. Then try for even exchanges at the right enemy targets and punish any outright boners your opponent pulls.

To me, that is economy of force. And it won't on its own win anything for you. It will only prevent preventable mistakes and get you an even chance. If the enemy screws it up, you may get an edge out of it. That's it. Dial down the ambition and dial up the professionalism. Settle for solid, sound play.

One man's opinion...