Soviet Human Wave

[JasonC]

Further implementation details for successful use of Human Wave.

The early portion of the movement order will be Human Wave movement type. This part is at least as "morale strong" as the Advance movement type. The rate is moderate, like Move or Advance. After about 150 meters, the movement form will change to Run. This makes the men very vulnerable, but also increases their speed.

You do not want any appreciable portion of the order to be resolved as "Run". Therefore, the maximum length you should use for a single Human Wave waypoint is about 200 meters. Run is fine for a period so short that the enemy may not get a chance to fire, but that only covers about 30 meters. If you try to go 250 meters or more, the men will be shot at multiple times while on Run and before reaching the cover you are aiming at, and they will also tire. That is a recipe for failure.

Instead, keep the target a body of cover large enough to hold the Human Wave formation, and less than 200 meters away from the farthest back participating squad. The cover you aim for can be connected to one occupied by the enemy (same body of woods e.g.), but only if you think the defenders are already well prepared by fire, and never right on top of them. They should not have LOS to the entry point in that case.

The most common case is a block of woods 150 to 250 meters ahead of the enemy. Basically you are ramming your low quality infantry through the second half of the "approach march", which is the range where they otherwise tend to pin under MG fire.

Expect to spend - 1 minute on command delay counting down to the wave, plus 1-2 minutes resolving the wave and actually reaching cover, plus 1-2 minutes rallying afterward. You will make about 40 meters per minute average rate of advance, or roughly half the speed of "traveling" units on Move farther back. This can match the rate higher quality infantry gets using staggered short bounds on Advance, and it quite good for green men under fire.

The formation used should not be a platoon line. Instead use a "blob" - meaning, 2 squads on line in the front, with the HQ centered behind them, and the remaining squads on either side of the HQ, either on line or trailing slightly. Distance front to back and side to side between squads must be greater than 25 meters, to avoid area fire effects, and 30 meters is better.

The blob formation allows the platoon to "charge" on as little as 50 meters of frontage, reduces the amount of cover there need to be along the route to help (since it is "resused" within the platoon), and it keeps the command links short. Since they will stretch as men panic, this is important. If possible the end waypoint the HQ heads for should have full defilade, to help him rally himself and then the others who reach the destination.

A higher level HQ - company or battalion - must remain in cover behind the wave. Some squads will break. That is OK, just pick them up with the higher HQ at the next advance. As they rally, the higher HQ acts as another reserve platoon, using his gaggle of stragglers. If he happens to head near the old platoon HQ (and if the latter is alive lol), he can return squads to their command.

[Soldier]

Excellent post.. :-)