JasonC: How to use Self-propelled Guns

[Der Kuenstler]

How do you use Self propelled artillery?


(Marder III scale model by Rudy Mier)

"Keyhole, that is the main tactic with thin SP guns. What that means is pick a spot that peeks out through a narrow window between obstacles, as though "peeping" through a keyhole, instead of placing the SP gun someplace with wide LOS. Just sight along a thin "pencil" into one chosen spot in enemy territory.

The point is, you only need one target, since you can only shoot one enemy at a time. And the smaller the area on the enemy side of the field that can see your gun, the less likely it is he'll have a strong anti-tank weapon able to see you and take you out.

Before you have a target, SP guns "live" in full defilade, unable to see the enemy side of the field at all - and therefore safe, themselves. Infantry scouts see something that needs killing. Then you select your "keyhole", to see that one spot and to see nothing else. Drive there, set up, fire away for a minute or two to smash that target. Reverse back into full defilade, and reposition before doing it again.

Thin armor also makes good "bait" for enemy tanks, which tend to come looking for you. If you are properly "keyholed", they can't see you right away, and they have to move to get a line of sight. Don't stick around too long. And look for chances to catch enemy tanks moving sideways and showing a weak side, chasing the last "keyhole".

As for using SP guns against enemy armor - using e.g. the Marder SP anti-tank guns - that uses the same idea, but since they are hunting stuff that can usually kill them back, more is still required. You want to catch the target already engaging somebody else, and facing the wrong way. Then you want to be in a position were a short movement can let you get LOS, and then lose it again. E.g. just out from behind a house, then back behind it again.

Then you use the "shoot and scoot" order. That moves "fast" to the chosen firing point, stops and fires, and then continues to the next plotted point - which can be a reverse back into cover. The idea is to get your shot off and get back out of LOS, before the enemy can see you, change facing, aim and fire. You can keep the first "see you" part longer, if you button up the target first (by e.g. firing at it with a machinegun or sniper).

Another useful rule of thumb with thinner armor is to bring it out relatively late in the fight. The enemy loses anti-tank weapons in the early and mid battle, as the biggest tanks and guns trade off in their duels. In the bottom half of the clock, he will have a lot fewer items alive and shooting, that can kill armored anything. One Hummel (or several Stummels, sometimes) brought out after he lost his last tank, can wipe out half his infantry.

At the force selection stage, though, it often pays to get something a bit more robust. The StuH is a better all around HE chucker than the thinner SPA, for example. And an SPW 251/2 that can fire indirect from full cover, can be a better buy than a SPW 251/9, that has to expose itself to do so (even if keyholed), and can be penetrated by an ATR."

- JasonC

[Der Kuenstler]

If it is a high HE SP gun I usually just let it sit there in cover until near the end of the game, when I'm sure most of the weapons that can hurt it have been dealt with.

If it is primarily for AT use I usually just let it sit still somewhere waiting for something to drive by. This usually gives it an extra "free" shot while the enemy armor tries to spot it.

[Ratzki]

It might be starting to sound like a broken record, but infantry play such a key role to the survival of armour, specially SP guns. Friendly infantry potentially spot enemy threats earlier then does armour, more-so, if the armour is buttoned up. It guards against quick flanking attacks by both enemy infantry and armour, and with the right support weapons is able to suppress and\or KO guns and such qucker then the SP gun can aquire the target and fire. With the time that the infantry can buy you, much can be done with reversing the SP gun out of harm's way or engaging the threat.