Is assaulting Bunkers too hard ?

panzerde · 01-02-2016, 04:10 AM,

(01-01-2016, 08:52 PM)GerryM Wrote: Can you tell us the approach you used in a scenario that has Trenches, no bunkers. Artillery and Mortars had no effect in Clipping the Hedges - Hill 285 and I played the scenario 4 times. Artillery was useless but I did use tanks and infantry together. Won it on 4th attempt I will admit.

I've yet to play that one, but here are a few things I've found that help a great deal with trenches:

Use concentrated direct fire from tanks and AT guns that are at least two hexes away, but usually no more than four hexes away. By "concentrated" I mean I usually throw an entire squadron/company of tanks at a single trench hex. HMG companies are also useful against trenches from a couple hexes away, though they will take about as many casualties as they inflict. LMGs can be useful, but only if there's no direct-fire reducing terrain (see below).
Keep your rifle companies behind the tanks until you have reduced the defensive capabilities of the target trench hex. If possible, keep them in terrain where they can't be seen, or at least have some cover.
I like to break up my rifle companies that aren't assaulting into platoons, and keep no more than two in one hex, usually. That way if they take fire, you will usually only get a single platoon to disrupt and not the entire company. The remaining platoons can continue to advance together if moving to attack.
Don't leave rifle companies adjacent to dug-in defenders for multiple turns. They'll just take casualties and lose fatigue and morale to the point where they are useless in the assault.
Understand that you are probably not going to disrupt A/B morale troops in trenches (or bunkers) with direct fire most of the time. You can, however, reduce their numbers to single digits in a few turns and lower their morale by at least one level. Their fatigue will also probably be yellow.
Try and hit the reduced trench (or bunker!) with as close to two full rifle companies as you can. If you can add engineers, great. Specialized assault tanks like AVREs and Churchill Crocs can be helpful. I'm not yet convinced that regular tanks in an assault are worth the potential vehicle loss. I need to experiment more.
Be very, very very aware of the terrain/hexside penalties versus direct fire. Take a look at the Kraut Corner hex in the Hill 192 scenario, for example. Between being entrenched (-30%), in grass (-5%) behind hedgerows (-50%) and at a higher elevation (-15%) the combined impact on direct fire from any hex north of the objective is -100%! You can sit there all day and fire on that hex and you will never so much as scratch a single defender.
If you can bypass a defensive position, do so. Flank the enemy, don't beat your head against them if you don't need to. Properly executed this leaves them isolated and easier to deal with. They may even retreat on their own.
Mortars are not terribly useful against trenches, but field/medium/heavy guns can cause some casualties and fatigue. It won't be anything like what artillery can do to units in the open, but that steady attack each turn does contribute to reducing numbers in concert with direct fire.
If you have it, use smoke to block off LOS to your target hex from nearby defenders and screen your HMG, AT Gun, and infantry from retaliatory fire from surrounding hexes. I never have enough smoke. I would fire a ton of it every turn if I had it.
If you can isolate the target hex with ZOCs it's worth it, as long as you leave a retreat path for the defenders. The reduction in defender morale is worth it, but they have to be able to retreat or they will stay there and fight it out. Once through the defensive line, it becomes easier to isolate other positions.

Again, I'm not that great a player, and these are just the things I've worked out myself and learned from reading posts by others. YMMV and I may well have some wrong assumptions here. I'd be interested to hear from others using these and similar tactics.