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Blitzkrieg Tactics Translated Into An Online Game
by Megadeth

Many players are eagerly waiting to apply their historical knowledge to winning a World War II Online game. I can already see them rubbing their hands gleefully, knowing that their life long interest in the subject will give them the advantage against less informed opponents. I myself am one of these people, drooling on my shirt at the possibility of pulling stunning defeats on my historically ignorant foes. But wait…this is no where close to being the real thing, I can’t apply German tank tactics to the letter, many things are going to be quite different in this game from the historical situation its trying to simulate. In the France campaign, many of the initial technological and organization conditions will be non-existent in the game. For those who want to win the war in World War II Online, keep these differences in mind:

German armored doctrine superiority: Germany was slightly outnumbered in tanks when the battle broke out. Even worse, the allies had technically equal or superior armor. How did they win? Well, there was surprise, there were concentrated tank formations versus the piecemeal commitment of the allied armor, there was close air support to the armored spearheads. But these are all strategic advantages. How do these things translate in-game? Well they don’t. They cannot be replicated. When playing the game, German tankers will not enjoy the tactical advantages that their historical counterparts had:

Radio in every tank: German battlefield communication was superior, every tank had a radio, while this was not the case for the allied. This allowed German tanks to coordinate well. In WWII Online, both sides have equal access to communication.

German Initiative: German junior officers were trusted (expected) to make their own assessment of the situation and take initiative as they saw fit to exploit local opportunities. The high degree trust from senior commanders and their aggressive independence gave them a huge advantage against the outdated allied doctrine. Both side have equal leadership quality. Another “human” factor was superior German tank crew and infantry training. Not a factor in online games.

Single man turrets: Allied tanks may have been technically superior, but their turret designs were woefully obsolete. French tanks were notoriously bad for this, with the Char B bis and Renaud 2 have single man turrets. German tanks had three-man turrets, leaving the commander free to command and look for targets. This “heads up” advantage was instrumental in their tactical victories against allied tanks. This design flaw may or may not be replicated in the online version. If it is, well this will give the Germans a slight edge only in multi-crew tanks. If the Germans can get enough players to joint-crew their tanks (Driver, Gunner, Commander), and then take the time to train on working together, they may be able to exploit this advantage.

The Ardennes Gambit: One of the factors that contributed to German strategic surprise was their invasion through the Ardennes, which the allies thought was impassable to large motorized formations. Armed with hindsight, the Allied players will not make this mistake.

The Maginot Line: Contrary to popular opinion, the French and British armies were well aware that the German army would bypass the Maginot line to the north. They concentrated most of their army near Belgium to meet the attack head-on. The germans bypassed this force through the Ardennes and cut the BEF off from the rest of the French army. The BEF compounded the situation by failing to coordinate a counter-attack with the French army to the south. I don’t think that the breakdown in communication between British and French headquarters will be nearly as pronounced in the online game. I also don’t think they will put all their eggs in one basket.

If the German player community thinks that history is on their side in WWII Online, they have a big disappointment ahead of them. Military theory states that in order to have a reasonable chance to succeed in an attack, there should be a minimum of 3 to 1 advantage favoring the attacker. In the battle for France, Germany was actually slightly outnumbered in tanks and infantry. This leads me to conclude that the online gamers taking the German side will have to fight three times as effectively as his allied counterpart. Some hints to improving their chances:

Local Superiority: Achieving local superiority in numbers is one of the key ways to overcome the enemy. They may have a total number of tanks equal to yours, but today, at this time, in this place, you can outnumber them 5 to 1. In order to pull this kind of temporary, local advantage, the attacker has to use speed and confusion to their favor. See below:

Exploit breakouts: Always keep a force in reserve and release them when you have determined that the enemy “line” has broken. This takes practice, but if you commit all your forces to the attack, you won’t be able to exploit your success. A good benchmark is to keep approximately a third of your force in reserve. (this may sound boring for those in reserve, but trust me the next phase more than makes up for it). Having this reserve also helps in shoring up your line if things go badly for you.

Ride Like the Devil: Break-out units should have a clear idea of their line of advance determined before hand. The exact route they use should be discussed before the battle, but should be flexible enough to change at any time. These lines of advance were called “rollbahns” by the Germans. Exploiting forces should be motorized and should not allow themselves to be delayed by harassing forces or pockets of resistance. Infantry riding close to the tanks should be able to handle these minor battles while the main armored force drives deeper into enemy territory. These forces will seldom encounter a coherent defense because of the speed and surprise of the attack. They also may have a chance of catching truck convoys or artillery units in the enemy rear (or even a HQ!).

Get Air Support: Do aerial reconnaissance ahead of break-out forces, along their line of advance. The ground commander will benefit immensely from foreknowledge of enemy forces, and can bypass major concentrations. Also, assign ground attack squadrons to these break-out forces, for their exclusive use. This is a must.

Find a Good Defensive Spot: The break-out force should have a clear objective to lunge at. The end of their advance should include a major town or other defensive terrain feature. This is where the force should stop and deploy in a defensive posture, ready for counter-attack. The main attack force should be able to advance up to them eventually, and re-establish supply. If necessary, the break-out force should be prepared to move out and attack in any direction as dictated by the evolving situation. They may even have to fight their way back to their lines if things go badly for the main attack. Either way, German defensive doctrine included the provision that forces should allow themselves to be surrounded temporarily, and that they should vigorously resist from inside these pockets. Such pockets of resistance wear down the main enemy effort and prevent the safe passage of their supply trucks and artillery. When the enemy attack collapses, these pockets can then link-up with the main advance.

Recon: Armored reconnaissance has to be aggressive and constant. Without this vital pair of eyes, an armored column will blunder into bad situations very easily. Choose your recon guys well. For those people playing reconnaissance commanders: Fast and in the cover. Don’t try to fight, you will get killed. Find out where the enemy is and get that information back to the commander: that is your number one job. You are no use dead, so use cover and bug out the minute you get fired at. Find a driver to handle that while you keep an eye out for the enemy. Don’t search and drive at the same time, it doesn’t work.

That’s my two cents.

Hope it works!