tank detroyers

[Griefbringer]

Originally Posted by Mobhack

British soft skin portee tank Destroyers? - avoid like the plague, IMHO.

In the offence - easily spotted by the enemy and hosed down with even rifle and LMG fires.

No HE round to deal with grunts, and no co-ax MG either.

In the defence - easily killed by the smallest mortar bomb.

I have actually experimented with these for some 1940 battles in the western Europe, and found out that they can be somewhat useful in ambushing German armour in delaying action in that sort of terrain, with lots of small forests providing opportunity to shoot and scoot into a new firing position. But they'll better shoot well and scoot fast, since any return fire will be deadly. And even this role would probably be performed at least equally well by a cruiser tank or armoured car armed with a 2 pounder ATG.

I certainly would not try getting them as a part of long campaign core force, since they are likely to be more of an asset than liability most of the time, and have rather short life expectancy. Or at most I would get them for the very first battles in Europe (if I wanted extra challenge) and exchange them for something better armoured once the campaign would move to Africa.