Killing IS2 and IS3 tanks

[John Given]

Hey Jim, one of the best ways to knock out the heavies is to get side and rear shots, as you know. But how to do that?

1. Study the map. If your enemy is the attacker in that scenario, he will need to advance along a route - look at the map and make a decision over which route(s) this will be.

2. Using the above info, plan your ambush. Put tough units along the route, and put them in forest, preferably, or rough - any place tough for him to get to. Try to put them in the high ground as well.

3. For your units "deep" inside your lines, make your op-fire AT - medium or short, and the units at the edge of the trap set to op-fire = off. The idea is, you want him to think that your forward units are the ones op-firing. This is when you spring the trap.

4. After he's fired on your "deep in" op-firing units, THEN have your other AT units (the ones further toward his lines) fire on his sides and rear armor. Guaranteed kills in most cases.

5. Note that if he's advancing slowly and cautiously (using recon vehicles, or advancing with infantry at the front), the above plan won't work so well. What you'll need to do at this point is is pick some well-hidden spots in forest, high up if you can, turn off their op-fire, and wait for him to come to you. The idea here is to get off a parthian shot or two, and then duck out of sight.

6. Note also that the above tactics won't work if the enemy has already recon'ed (spotted) your ambush areas in question, for obvious reasons), so make certain you scout out your "ambush area" before he does.

7. If all else fails and he has numerical superiority, vastly superior equipment, and terrain on his side, then fight a delaying action with your infantry toward the enemy, and your armor only supporting. With luck, the enemy will shoot at the infantry, partially freeing up your tanks (if any) for the job of tank killing.

8. If desperate, you can try the following:

a. Put artillery-class units in bunkers and use them for "ghetto" AT units.
b. Recon like there's no tomorrow - use any infantry or combat vehicles (not trucks or unarmed halftracks) - you *must* find out what he has, and where. This will give you an idea at least, of what you're up against, and this will allow you to form a defensive (or offensive) strategy much more effectively.
c. Put disrupted and low-strength units in hidden areas and turn off op-fire. Allow them time to recover.
d. If you have engineers, try blowing bridges (if any) to keep those enemy heavies from coming at you.
e. Don't forget smoke - it halves the attack strength of units firing from it, or firing into it.
f. Is he overstacking? If so, make those hexes a priority. It's one of the best ways to lessen the defensibility of tough enemy tanks.

hope this helps!