Killing armoured vehicles

[martin goddard]

I am asking around for all your thoughts on how armoured vehicles might get knocked out (ie no further use) in a SCW game. Any enecdotes and information gratefully received.  Tanks cannot have changed battles that much, or did they play a pivotal role in the major battles.


thanks

[Colonel Kilgore]

A few quick thoughts with the sources I have to hand:

Mechanical failure seems to have been common. There were few maintenance depots, and spare parts seemed hard to come by. Republican drivers were apparently much more capable of wrecking their own tanks than the Russian crew supplied with them.

The Panzer 1A and 1B appear to have easily been knocked out by Republican tanks and anti-tanks guns [hence the re-use of captured T-26s]. The T-26 guns notably out-ranged the armour-piercing round of the Panzers, so held back and picked them off from afar. This tactic was countered by the Nationalist deployment of Pak 36 towed anti-tank guns alongside their tanks. The Pak 36 accounted for many T-26s, particularly in the absence of infantry support [infantry-tank cooperation appears to have been abysmal]

3 out of 15 Republican tanks were disabled by road mines at Sesena on 29/10/36. Another [one, maybe 2, since a total of 3 "destroyed by Molotov cocktails or artillery fire" are mentioned] was destroyed by a Molotov cocktail in street fighting. One of the CV 3/35 tankettes sent to fight them was pushed into a ditch and overturned by a T-26: the others appear to have been destroyed by tank gunfire.

My sources for the above: the Osprey books "The Ebro 1938" and "Spanish Civil War Tanks"

[martin goddard]

That is useful. I ca get all that in the rules easily!

[Colonel Kilgore]

Excellent!

The general theme I'm getting from my reading is that tanks in the SCW were not great technology in the first place, and not well-handled from pretty much any perspective one looks from.

If you are planning on incorporating armoured trucks too, these were apparently often top-heavy, with an unfortunate tendency to topple over. Lots of scope for in-game fun and games there!

Looking forward to seeing how these new rules shape up (once MOCB is release, of course!).

Simon

[Mensn]

This article by Steven Zaloga might be useful: http://bobrowen.com/nymas/soviet_tank_operations_in_the_sp.htm

[Colonel Kilgore]

Mensn,

That is a good find. And saves you buying Mr Zaloga's book that I referenced below, as much of the text is identical!

[martin goddard]

That is good!