Caves

[jivemi]

Just wondering about caves. Any way to take them out except direct fire to the front? What about infantry/engineers assaulting from the rear (or side, provided they survive small-arms fire from inside the cave)? Would helos have to be at low altitude, or does that matter? Thanks and Happy New Year...plus happy gaming.

[gila]

Well, heavy suppressive fire,arty bombarding air strike or just smoke the hex in front and get some engineer close in to assault.
In the days before and during Vietnam before it was declared unhumane, a FT unit was also very useful.

[Aeraaa]

I think the flamethrower is the best solution. This RPO launchers Russian units carry sound very promising...

[Mobhack]

What era are we in?

Is there a decent LOS to it?

Has it got defensive weaponry or is it covered by own A/T weapons and other anti-grunt weaponry? (If its isolated or uncovered, its dead - just a matter of time).

In modern times - use a kornet or similar HEAT missile with well over 100 penetration. That will be able to kill it at any angle from some way off, once the scouts have found the pesky blighter. Air-launched mavericks will also do the trick too, if the pilot aims at what you want him to, but a hellfire from a helo can be specifically aimed.

Should you have HESH firing tank guns, especially 120mm - then fire at it from outside its anti-tank weapon range, if any. If you have an AEV with the 165mm HESH chucker, then this is its designed-for job, so trundle it up and have some target practice. HESH is extra good on fortifications.

Or if you have tanks with decent HEAT or APDS, manoeuvre these to the front embrasure and pop the AP rounds through the front door. Early era tanks that can't get through the 33 or so doorstep can always post a round through the 2 armour embrasure.

Some RPG type weapons can do the trick as well - spray the bunker with lots of rifle fire first (you may get stray rounds picking off a crew member for extra suppression) - and then once the RPG is bearing on the front letterbox from 2-3 hexes or so, fire away and you should get little or no effective return fire. Again - the front letterbox is merely 2 armour, so an anti-tank rifle might get lucky let alone a Carl Gustav.

Post WW2, when decent HEAT and APDS ammo is easily brought to bear on forts, I tend not to bother with them. In WW2 they are worth the points - but maybe not post 1960 or so, unless the OPFOR is a grunt-only army. I think the points are best spent on mines or dragons teeth after that, while anti-tank weapons should be mobile (they will get dug-in for the defender - I use the dug-in position as a hide location usually, and manoeuvre about it to catch him as he advances from other positions).

I do rather like the Milan pits or MMG pits with their 360 degree coverage though! - put those a few hundred yards to the rear of dug-in regular squaddies for security from the above mentioned methods.