[ArmySGT.]

Originally Posted by Olefin

And you have a shop with all those parts in abundance ready to support the tanks that they put back in the field - remember its the fact that he has trained techs and equipment and facilities that most dont have –

You don’t have an abundance of parts. You have possibly a crew of talented fabricators….. if after all in canon any have survived the TDM, the famines, and the plagues… all per canon. After that you don’t have an abundance of parts……. You have talented fabricators that can make parts or engineer a fix on something broken. Assuming you have blueprints, not manuals blueprints with specific dimensions and materials….. You can look up in a manual that a tank gun uses part #47-B for a replacement firing pin….it is all together something else to know the dimensions in metric or English and the materials with hardening specifications to make one. A serviceable one that will function repeatedly.

Originally Posted by Olefin

and also the fact that the days of massed armor are over - thus his shop cant support divisions with hundreds of tanks - but the reality is that those divisions dont exist - and adding six to seven tanks, in 2001, is the equivalent of adding a hundred a few years earlier

So their now recreating the British first use of the tank? Throwing them away in a useless gesture in singles? A tank platoon is 2-3 and a tank company is 10 to 15 depending on national doctrine. Using them any other way is a waste of combat power and resources.

Originally Posted by Olefin

and marauders are not highly trained forces - maybe in Europe or Korea or Iran - but not in the US - basically you are looking at gangs of thugs and survivalists, most of whom the only military training they ever had was watching old episodes of Combat on TV

In the U.S. I would expect marauders to be formed from a core of veterans and deserters. Those motor cycle gangs you are scoffing have a great many disgruntled viet nam veterans that know which end the bullets come out of. Don’t underestimate mauraders and partisans as stupid or ineffective….. Read some German WW2 eastern front history or Japanese Burma campaign history for perspective.

Originally Posted by Olefin

the logistics train you need to support a half dozen tanks is alot less than what you need to support hundreds - and thats basically what a force with tanks has nowadays in the US - so again a place like Littefields is exactly what a T2K armored force would need in 2001 to keep going - and his guys can service an M1 tank just as easily as they can an M48

Originally Posted by Olefin

in 1997, 1998, even into 1999 the Army wouldnt want older tanks
now, as per canon, they will take anything with a turret and a main gun for a tank - and thats what an old M47/M48/M41/T55 fits to a T

I have read the books….. They made up a lot of excuses to forc e the setting to work. What we see in canon is National Guard and Reserves being called up and taking those relics because in canon the huge war stocks of M1s and M2/M3 siting at 29 palms, Seneca, and Sierra have been depleted armin allies. A huge stretch but that is the way the authors painted themselves into a corner.

Originally Posted by Olefin

oh as for mortar and artillery fire called down on the hypothetical Sherman tank sitting in a field in the US - sounds like a great idea- most Mexican forces have a max of 1-2 artillery pieces and limited ammo and mortars wont do squat to a tank, not the typical 60mm and 81mm mortars that are left - and getting a hit with an unguided artillery shell on a tank with your one or two guns is basically impossible - again this is 2001 not 1997

A turret hit on a M60 or a Centurion with a impact fuzed 81mm ………I’ll take that bet….. pound for pound, kilo for kilo, mortars pack more explosives than cannon shells….. The blast is going to stun the crew, strip the MGs and and antennas off, crack or shatter the TC and loaders periscopes.. the chance is remote… but, even jamming the turret traverse gears is possible. Then the spalling as pieces of the armor roof flake off and ricochet around the interior among the crew and main gun ammunition. 105mm HE from a Mexican M101 or M102…. Pretty much the same.. a near miss is survivable….. and direct impact not so much.

I’ll take that bet.

Originally Posted by Olefin

as for RPG's - look at the Texas module - they are describing combat Mexican forces and what they are armed with - and what they dont have is anti-tank weapons - here and there but most units dont have any - so if they dont how do a bunch of marauders who raided a gun store have RPG's?

They have IEDs…… and they don’t attack when the tank has the advantage… They wait for night when the tank is at a disadvantage. They deploy mines and deception to lure the tankers into kill zones, then kill or force the protecting infantry off with mortars, machineguns, and artillery. Then Mexican infantry with White phosporuous, pole charges, satchel charges under smoke and protective machine gun fire kills the tank.

Infantry units world wide practice anti tank tactics without AT rockets or ATGMs as core infantry skills.

Originally Posted by Olefin

as for massed fired on periscopes - lets see marauders using hunting rifles and shotguns - again good luck getting even close enough to make a hit on a periscope or vision block let alone taking one out while the coax turns you into swiss cheese - and unless the tank is the one from Fury I dont see it just sitting there as it takes a hell of a lot of fire or waits for the artillery to get lucky and hit the roof

You are giving me civilian hunting rifles! Ok I’ll take that bet too! Those are going to be topped with x4, x6, x8, and even x10 magnified scopes…….. I am going to detail 4-6 guys widely dispersed and give them a dedicated sector with the gunners primary site and the drivers periscope as primary targets.

Read the “Siege of Grozny” and how the Chechens stopped Russian armor attacks cold.

Originally Posted by Olefin

thats the difference between a pillbox and a tank -a tank moves

No, a tank CAN move if not disabled……. Which isn’t impossible for infantry supported by artillery. Most importantly all of these have unstabilized sights and have to stop to move..... the M60A3 being an exception with the Leopard I