Formations - close, or spread out?

[TankHunter]

Norfolk’s main idea is pretty good and I am shocked that no one mentioned the fact he seems to have pointed to in this thread. War is an art and a science. Thus, there are many ways to skin the proverbial cat. No one approach will be of use all the time. I would like to add that if one were to follow the same approach constantly, then you do yourself harm for your enemy can then easily predict your future moves and thus tailor his acts to your SOPs.

[pamak]

Obviously, in very open terrain, your formation can have a much wider spacing. However, terrain can be very decieving, and terrain that appears as open(such as Munster Nord), might still favour close formations because of "hidden" dead areas that will allow an enemy to hide and pick off your tanks one by one. Bounding overwatch on Munster Nord will only affect the enemy if the enemy allows you to, by ignoring frontal cover and going head-on with you. In that case, he will lose. If he manages to make good use of dead spaces(not hard to do at all), he'll render your covering teams ineffective, and you'll lose.

I get the idea and i will agree.

Can somebody recall a book about a unit's experience in national training center?

Was it "dragons's at war" or something?

I think i recall the description of one scenario where the oppossing force (tanks) decided to use tactics similar to the ones described here. That is using frontal cover and dead areas to engage the attackers piece-meal.

There was actually a drawing of the terrain profile and the use of dead spaces by the opposing force (tanks).

Does anybody have it available for a quick review to confirm it?

I recall also that the first time when the attackers were opposed by such tactics ,they lost.

They had to modify their attacking tactics and won the second engagement.

Can anybody who has the book , comment about the nature of those changes?

[Norfolk]

The book was Dragons at War: Land Battle in the Desert, by Dan Bolger. I threw it away last year when I moved from the country to the city, though.

I do seem to remember some computer-generated graphics with a few tanks hiding in wadis that seem to recall what you're talking about pamak.

[Red Dagger]

Awesome thread, this Tactics forum is an absolute treasure trove of info for military enthusiasts like myself.

[crazyeddie]

Tactics and Formations:

Just remember the old adage "The best plan in the world goes to complete ratsh*t about 3 seconds after the first bang !!"

As an ex Infanteer we always knew the ground was our greatest asset and no 2 bits of ground were ever the same. Keep changing the plan to suit the ground, keep the boys well apart but close enough to maintain control, never assume anyone knows anything and keep talking to them. Make the ground work for you and use it aggressively to get to your objective. Know where each man (or tank) is at all times and when you make your plan try to see the ground from everyones perspective. Dead easy really !!!!!

Never had much experience working with tanks but imagine the same rules would apply - always avoided the noisy beggars, arty magnets !!!. Had the misfortune to fall off one at speed once, fortunately I fell on my head - so no damage done.

Interesting thread.

Edited April 22, 2009 by crazyeddie