Overview
Even the most bucked theeth, cheese munching, burger gulping raw recruit Allied Rifleman can kill or immobilize the Hun’s tanks
Intro
FREEDOOOOOOOOMMMM
Rifle
Killing crew members with that tool of freedom – Lee Enfield, MAS 36, Springfield
Note: MAS36 fires a slightly smaller and slower round than the Lee Enfield. It can still penetrate the shown rifle spots but the angles need to be more spot on
HE Satchel
Damaging the tank with a rather darstardly and unfashionable bag of TNT – HE Satchel (press 5 to select when spawned as a Bolt Action Rifleman)
Difficulty:
While testing has shown that it is possible to track all the tanks below with 1x satchel some you will have higher chance than others.
– Panzer 4G, Stug 3G and Panzer 4D are the hardest (in that order) to track with 1x HE Satchel
– No spots on the Tiger could be found to blow the track off with 1x HE Satchel so it is not included in the guide
Don’t see the information below as a 100% guarantee of a de-track – using HE satchels on a tank is for when all other supply has run out or if a oppurtunity arises as you are out and about (espically for F2P players with limited access to units).
Notes:
– Notes about Kill Credits and the Engineer class (which should not be used) are at the end
Rifle – SdKfz 232
Damage: Driver dead
Damage: Gunner dead
View not aiming down the sights
View when aiming down the sights
Rifle – SdKfz 251
Damage: Driver dead
Side Shot
Damage: Driver dead
Rear shot
HE Satchel – Panzer 4G
Damage: 1x side tracked
HE Satchel – Panzer 4D
Damage: 1x side tracked
HE Satchel – STUG 3G
Damage: 1x Side Tracked
HE Satchel – STUG 3B
Damage: 1x side tracked
Rear placement (recommended)
Side placement
HE Satchel – Panzer 3H
Damage: 1x Side tracked
Rear Placement (recommended)
Side Placement
HE Satchel – Panzer 3F
Damage: 1x Side tracked
Rear Placement (recommended)
Side placement
HE Satchel – Panzer 38T
Damage: 1x Side tracked
Rear placement (recommended)
Side placement
HE Satchel – Panzer 2C
Damage: 1x Side tracked
HE Satchel – SdKfz 232
Damage: 1x Side has wheels blown off
Note: If you blow off the wheels on e.g. the left side then the 232 gunner will not be able to shoot to the right at a horizontal angle as the gun will not be able to be depressed enough due to the 232 being at a angle
HE Satchel – SdKfz 251
Damage: Kills the Driver, Gunner and 1x side tracked
Note: Kill Credits & Supply
So you’ve just blown the tracks off one side of a tank, you despawn (and may or may not see that tank despawn after you damaged it) but you have not got a kill credit.
So was it all worth it? It still is and a couple of the game mechanics are needed to be known to understand why.
Kill Credit:
In WW2 Online a player, in whatever unit is given a ‘kill’ against a tank when:
1) Driver is killed
2) Gunner is killed
3) Both tracks are destroyed
4) Engine is destroyed
5) Main gun has been knocked out (most common with Matilda’s in Tier 0 and Tiger’s in Tier 3+)
If any other player has done these things before you then whatever you do to the tank you will not get a kill credit.
Supply:
Thus if you spawn a unit and that unit gets killed it will take 8hours* for that unit to be ‘replenished’ in that brigade
RTB – Returned to Base – Supply is returned back into the Brigade within approx 5seconds (unless critical damage has been received)
RES – Rescued – Supply is returned back into the Brigade between 5secs to 15minutes (depending on distance away)
MIA – Missing in Action – Unit is effectively ‘lost’. Effectively the same as KIA but you are despawning while still alive
KIA – Killed in Action – You’re ‘Brown Bread’; unit lost
De-tracking a tank:
De-tracking one side of a tank with a HE Satchel won’t give you a kill but if that tank is 1km+ from a Armybase (AB) or Foward Base (FB), which most of the time they are, then they are either forced to stay in that same position or despawn and lose that unit as MIA.
Likewise, without mobility to advance forward and change firing positions a de-tracked tank just becomes a armoured pill box. In this state the tank can stay marked on the map by players and be dealt with by friendly Tanks, Close Air Support (CAS), Anti-Tank Guns (ATG) or anti-tank infantry like Sappers or troops with Panzershreks, Bazooka’s or PIATs (RPAT infantry).
Even if the tank is close enough to town to RTB or RES by having to respawn in the Armybase (AB) they will likely have to run the gauntlet of enemy Tanks and Guns to get to their previous firing position which might either be deadly or too strong for the enemy to attempt to advance.
* Resupply is 8hours however the developers do tweak this campaign to campaign and if players are doing bombing raids on enemy factories (RDP raids) located in a number of rear towns then the resupply time is increased depending on how damaged the factories are.
Note: Engineers
While Engineering units have 4x HE satchels they should not be used for tank hunting. Reasons are:
1) Sapper units are far more effective as their HEAT (High Explosive Anti Tank) Satchels can penetrate 80mm-100mm of armour and can destroy tanks rather than just blowing the tracks off one side. HE Satchels are coded as basically having 0mm of armour penetration.
2) Engineering units are needed for Forward Base (FB) demolitions, repairing AI and placing objects like Gun Emplacements, Tank Traps, Sandbags etc. They are a scarce unit so wasting them on tasks they are not designed for (tank busting) is very bad for the team.