The lecture took place in Hill Hall of the Southwest Missouri Military Academy, given to a class of cadets. It was a familiarization lecture for the Tactics II course, Modern Tactics and Combat. Colonel Stevens stood at the front of the lecture amphitheater behind several tables laden with weapons. I sat in the audience with the cadets recording the class, as attentive as any of the youths around me.
The Colonel began the lecture simply. "You are here to learn the rudiments of directing men in modern combat. Your education begins with knowing the elements of today's infantry environment. It really hasn't changed much since the first fight in the dawn of prehistory; we just have better tools for the job."
"The most important part of any infantry combat unit is, of course, the individual soldier. This soldier can be poorly or excellently trained, green or veteran, man or woman, young or old, any race, creed or color - soldiers come in an infinite variety, each one an individual human being. To be a good soldier requires only two things: Knowledge of your weapons and a willingness to use them. That's all.
"That's right. If a soldier knows how to use his weapons and is willing to do so, you've got a good soldier. And this has been constant throughout all warfare.
"A soldier who doesn't know how to use his weapons is useless. So is a soldier unwilling to use them - a soldier doesn't necessarily have to be a hero, just brave enough to do the job. As a matter of fact, heroes seldom make good soldiers for very long. They tend to have short careers - and lifespans. To paraphrase General Patton, the object is not to become a hero by dying for your side. The idea is to make the other guy become a hero by dying for his side!
"Most of the soldiers you'll be working with are trained to use their weapons and taught the obedience and team spirit to have the will to use them. There are always times where troops lack this training, but self-confidence and personal training will show - those lacking one of these qualities either flee or die quickly"
He gestured to the tables in front of him. "Assuming that your soldiers know and will use their weapons, let's go on to the weapons themselves." He proceeded to pick up each weapon in turn as he spoke about them. "First, we have the assault rifle with underslung one-shot grenade launcher: The single most versatile and useful weapon combination available to the foot soldier today. It combines the features of anti-infantry firepower with the multiple-damage capabilities of the launched grenade. Furthermore, with the addition of high-penetration anti-vehicular ammunition, an assault rifle like this 5mm can poke a hole in plastic compound armor. This ammunition is expensive but too useful to ignore if you're going up against hard targets.
"Assault rifles range anywhere from 4.5mm to 6mm in caliber, and are usually made of fiber-plastic composites and steel. Generally the steel is encased in the plastic. I'll explain why later. The under-barrel grenade launcher is the standard 3Omm bore accepted world-wide.
"The next most commonly used weapon is the submachine gun, a pistol-caliber weapon shooting large slugs. It lacks the damage of the assault rifle and the grenade launcher, but can be silenced and is less expensive. SMGs are 7.65mm to 11 mm in caliber and come in many styles. Some are as plastic-oriented as assault rifles, some are pure metal fabrications and some are ornate art pieces of metal and wood.
"A lot of civilians prefer to use pistols and machine pistols, but the fact remains that such weapons have short ranges and low penetration ability. Pistols are meant for use within ten meters of the target, despite actual maximum ranges. They're light and handy and that's all the good they are. You won't see very many soldiers of any type using pistols as main weapons. Plenty of heavy-weapons men use them as back-up weapons, though.
"Pistols come in a bewildering array of calibers from 5mm to 11 mm. They come in as varied a number of shapes and appearances.
"Shotguns are popular, but they lack penetration ability. Sure, they're devastating against unarmored targets, but forget them if your targets have body armor.
"Rifles can be found everywhere, and often with anti-vehicle ammo. They have larger rounds than the assault rifle and are just as deadly. Don't underestimate the rifle-armed foe.
"Rifles and shotguns look alike, save for give-aways like the thicker barrel and different feed mechanism of the shotgun. A lot of these guns are classic wood-and-metal constructions.
"The new Gauss guns show promise, but at present they're almost heavy weapons rather than regular guns - you have to hump a thirty-pound power-pack with it, and that's an extra fourteen kilos. They look like science-fiction zapguns, made of plastics and metal, 4mm blunderbusses with ribbed barrels to let the air out of the barrel each time they shoot.
"Depending on your situation, an assault rifle/grenade launcher combo is often the best bet for combat."
"Next we have the soldier's friend, the heavy weapons. These toys are designed to enhance a soldier's offensive capability - or in simple terms, help him destroy more things more swiftly.
"In the past, the most common was the machine gun infantry squads have been using machine guns to increase their firepower for the last century. Rifle caliber 5 mm to 8 mm guns, they've been superceded by the assault rifle. Nowadays the squad heavy weapon is the five-shot 3Omm grenade launcher. It's lighter and capable of doing more kinds of damage. Still, a well-placed MG can do wonders, but they've been relegated to the rear lines.
"The grenade launcher is the squad heavy weapon of today. It can launch shrapnel, incendiary, smoke, paint, high explosive, thermite, and gas rounds at the target and affect an area. A well-trained gunner can even fire at a target behind cover, indirectly. With such a variety of rounds it's useful in any combat."
"When armored targets started appearing on the battlefield, weapons were made to defeat them. The first was the anti-tank rifle. For a long time they were outmoded outstripped by the armor carried by vehicles - but now they've had a resurgence with the advent of light-armor vehicles such as motorcycles and cars. We have two kinds: the smaller high-velocity anti-vehicle rifle and the larger heavy rifle. These guns have limited use as over-grown sniping weapons, since they are slow-firing and not really powerful enough to take on a really heavy target. Still, they can do a real number on infantry and cycles.
"Anti-vehicle rifles are generally 6mm-8mm in the small version, shading up from 1 2mm to a whopping 1 5mm - the same shell as an autocannon, that's right - in the big monsters. You can't miss an AVR on the battlefield - no other rifle is that big, over a meter long.
"The next weapon to come along for anti-tank use was the man-launched rocket. The ones we have today are essentially the same weapon invented almost a century ago: A rocket motor tipped with a shaped-charge warhead and fired from an aiming tube. Our modern ones are a little different in that they're expelled from the tube to a safe distance before the motor ignites, extending the range and eliminating backblast.
"There are a lot of different ways of doing this: Compressed gas, high-low pressure systems, low-powered powder charges, even springs. The British PIAT rocket-launcher line is still spring-loaded. Bear in mind that these systems are not recoilless - just blast-less.
"The most common is the VLAW, a throw-away derivative of the old 66mm M-72 system. As armor got better the M-72 was discontinued. When armor got lighter a lighter, cheaper version resurfaced on the market. Carrying the same warhead made for the anti-armor grenade, the VLAW is a cheap 25mm alternative to the anti-vehicular rifles.
"The next most common rocket weapon is the 4Omm LAW. Actually, it's not a classic LAW at all, but it has the designation. Our LAW is the AT-7, the latest in the progression of anti-tank weapons that replaced the old M-72 LAW.
"Like the VLAW, the LAW is practically universal. The design has been copied by nearly everyone, with enough differences in the other designs to escape patent violations. Learning to use one teaches you to use them all.
"The biggest rocket weapon was a goner, just like the anti-tank rifles. The bazooka was obsolete up to a few years ago, outstripped by LAWs and their ilk. Thanks to thinner armor and a demand for reloadable rocket-launchers, the bazooka is back.
"It's 67mm, just like the old WW II model. And it is lethal to vehicles and anyone else in the way. The big difference between our bazooka and the D-Day version is in the no-backblast design of ours.
"There are other reloadable rocketlaunchers - the M-204 four-shot 4Omm MPRL and the eight-shot 25mm M-208 are examples, products of a battlefield where heavy firepower is needed.
"A new rocket weapon has hit the battlefield. The Gyroslugger is an overmuscled 3Omm rocket fired from a smoothbore gun - like a rocket shotgun. It's more accurate than most, but has a nasty recoil and costs more than other systems overall. It does, however, have a wide variety of specialized ammunition available, making it as versatile as the hand-held grenade launcher.
"The great advantage to the gyroslugger, the multi-rocket launchers and the bazooka is an equally recent development, the laser-guidance link for their rounds. Linked to a laser-targeting scope, rocket launchers are now as accurate as any laser. While expensive, the modification is very popular because of its lethality.
"Off the subject of anti-armor weapons, we come to the heat weapons. The oldest and most dangerous is the flamethrower. Heavy, hazardous and short on ammunition supply, the weapon is still accurate enough to put a stream of flame through a pillbox weapons-slit without trouble, effectively eliminating any opposition still inside. It works fine against open vehicles as well, and can set cars on fire. There is the added advantage of the smokescreen generated with each shot, although this is a side-effect. The biggest problem with the flamethrower is timeless: If the fuel tanks are pierced the gunner will probably be covered with the burning fuel that explodes from the tanks. Handle with care.
"The man-pack laser and the laser LAWs are interesting developments. The man-pack laser rifle is the forerunner of useful man-portable lasers, not much use by itself. A group of laser rifles could set a car aflame, but a single flamethrower would do a better job.
"The laser LAWs are a different story. Dangerous, uncannily accurate, lethal; they're even rechargeable. Their big down-side is cost - a single laser LAW costs as much as two bazookas."
"Enough of the man-portable weapons. Crew-served weapons are the next step up, for those weapons too large to carry. These are mounted on tripods or wheeled carriages and usually operate from fixed positions. These weapons range from wire and radar-guided missiles to machine guns, recoilless rifles and cannons of all sorts. As a matter of fact, they're pretty much vehicular weapons on different mounts."
"The general tactics of infantry combat are pretty simple: cover, teamwork and support. Use of available cover is the most important element infantry are too frail to stand in the open. Hide behind whatever you can to fight, because exposure is deadly.
"Teamwork is next. The infantryman doesn't fight alone, he has the rest of his squad or fire-team with him. No one infantryman can carry all the equipment he needs to handle every situation. Instead he carries equipment to deal with one situation while his squadmates carry gear for other situations - for instance, one might carry a LAW while another carries a GL and others carry VLAWs and mines.
"Support is a part of teamwork. No infantry unit moves as a single unit when in contact with the enemy. They use the leapfrog maneuver instead: Half of the unit fires at the enemy to keep them down while the other half moves.
"There are two basic environments in which infantry fights: urban and wooded. No infantry fights in an open situation where there is no cover - this is a good way of getting mowed down. If you find yourself in this situation, go prone and take cover immediately. The best way to avoid being hit is to not be seen. Try and retreat to arrange another encounter more to your advantage.
"Defensive combat is virtually the same in urban and wooded environments. The object is to protect a piece of ground. This is accomplished by defense in depth. Have scouts guarding outlying areas, waiting for anyone to pass. The scouts inform command of enemy forces incoming and stay behind the enemy to snipe. The next part is infantry screens, mobile harassing forces that attack the enemy and run to the next ambush point. Finally you have interlocking layers of heavy-weapons points to defend the ground. If you don't have armored strong-points then don't stick around to slug it out. Fire and move on to the next engagement, using all available cover. Fight from your advantage, not the enemy's.
"Offensive combat is more costly, since you're advancing into the enemy's fire. Remember the leapfrog maneuver: have half of your forces fire from braced positions to support your advancing elements. Heavy weapons are useful here in that they can engage the enemy at range. Smoke grenades are essential - lay a barrier of smoke between your people and the enemy any time you can. Grenade launchers are best for this, although advancing men can throw smoke grenades ahead of them. Men going into offensive combat should be fast runners, though, so don't issue too much equipment or they'll be sitting ducks.
"Urban combat is an infantry playground. Lots of cover, buildings for height and protection, narrow choke-points to funnel vehicles into kill-zones. Use whatever you can to confuse the enemy and stay out of sight. Sewers are wonderful, since they allow you invisible, safe movement. Stay away from open areas like parking lots and yards; these are killing grounds for vehicles.
"Wooded combat is fun, too. Trees make excellent sniping points for men with flash-hidden rifles - although when they're spotted they're in trouble, because there's only one fast way to get out of a tree . . . There's lots of cover and mines can be easily hidden beneath leaves and other surface debris. Foxholes can be dug to give men cover; bunkers can even be constructed from foxholes and logs, to dig in the heavy weapons. Use the woods to your advantage; cut down trees to form road-blocks and funnel the enemy into your fire zones. Hide anti-vehicle teams behind ridges and in draws to engage vehicles from the sides or rear. And always use the cover to retreat if you need to."
"One thing no machine has been able to duplicate is imagination and inventiveness, two qualities that are useful in combat. Keeping the enemy off-balance is always beneficial. You can even fool the enemy with fakes - just over a hundred years ago, infantrymen in the Spanish Civil War fooled tankers with ruses. A clothesline and several sheets strung across a road held up a tank advance for an hour; the tanks didn't have infantry support to find out what was on the other side of the sheets and didn't move until a support tank knocked out the line. In another instance, a tank advance was held up by three dinner plates laid face-down on the road - the tank crews thought that they might indicate a minefield and had to call in sappers to check it out.
"Today we have all sorts of playthings like fake mines and so on, as well as resources not available to the average partisan. And jury-rigged traps like the Trench-Foot Opening, the Kamikaze Oops and the Barbed-Wire Howdy have proven most effective in the past. Encourage inventiveness among your troops - just make sure you know what they're up to so you don't fall prey to their tricks!
"Today's infantryman is tougher and better-armed than the soldiers of any previous era. Unfortunately so are his enemies. The difference between victory and defeat is decided by the intelligence and resourcefulness of the soldier and his commander."
Field Carriages - $500 and 100 lbs. per space of weapon mounted, weapon weighs 1/2 listed weight. Enables mounting of any 2+ space weapon on a man-movable wheeled platform (1-space weapons are tripod-mounted). The weapon has an F arc of fire (from a 1/2" by 1/2" counter). A 20-point Gunshield may be added to protect the crew from fire from the front and sides at $15 and 6 lbs. per point of shield. The carriage must have two car tires bought for it (any type, but they must be a matched pair). Moving the carriage requires a tow vehicle - the carriage is towed like a trailer - or men. Each man adds 300 points of moving power. Movement points equal to the field weapon's total weight (weapon plus carriage, gunshield and tire weights) are required to move the weapon 1 square (1/4") per turn. Points equal to 2x or greater the weapon's total weight move the weapon at 2 squares (1/2") per turn. 1/4" of movement may be used to pivot the weapon, altering its facing.