Heavy Machine Gun Teams

Machine guns are designed to do two things: kill enemy forces, and suppress enemy forces so they can be more readily killed. Establishing fire superiority is key—by forcing the enemy down, your own forces can engage them. In a defensive position, machine guns can rapidly fill the battlefield with very discouraging amounts of highly lethal jacketed lead.

You might think that an HMG is a defensive unit that you should use to cover an important area and leave there all through the game, but they’re actually most powerful when they’re constantly moving. Consider a Pioneer squad capturing sectors by itself. What happens if anything engages it? You are forced to Retreat. Now, what if you have an HMG always moving up behind your Pioneer squad along a flank? Your Pioneer squad can beat three Conscripts by itself if you lead them into the HMG’s firing range and suppress them all.

More experienced machine gun crews had a strong understanding of their weapon’s “tactical competencies” and were able to site their weapon effectively in defensive and offensive operations so they could protect themselves and engage targets on the battlefield effectively.

What are the best ways to counter an HMG? Remember this: avoid, flank, Mortar, Sniper, vehicle. Constantly moving your HMG allows you to mitigate the first three counters (avoid, flank, and Mortar)to a large extent, constraining your opponent’s options a great deal. You want your opponent to feel like your HMG could be anywhere, and to fear moving his infantry into your territory because your HMG could be anywhere. As HMGs are vulnerable while moving, it’s important to scout ahead with another unit so that you have time to set up if an enemy unit approaches.

Machine guns have a variety of tactical uses including enfilading fire, firing from defilade, overhead fire, grazing and plunging fire. Veteran crews could direct hundreds of rounds a minute from their machine guns into very specific locations.

One of the most fun parts of the early game is trying to predict where your opponent will try to attack from next, and set up your HMG to cover that area. Experts have an uncanny ability to always have their HMGs facing in just the right direction, even while being highly aggressive with them. The only reasonable situations in which to be defensive with HMGs are when you can’t push any farther in an area of the map, and when you don’t have sufficient units to support your HMG by scouting ahead and countering vehicles or flanking units. Never have your HMGs operate alone.

Machine guns firing standard rifle rounds, including the M1910 Maxim and the MG42, could reliably penetrate 5 to 7mm of steel. Most light armored vehicles carried approximately 6 to 8mm of armor, meaning there was very little margin of error of protection for the crew. Bigger 12.7mm machine guns like the DShk 38 would punch through a half-track or armored car with complete ease.

HMGs are not ideal counters to light vehicles, but when combined with Panzerfausts or AT grenades they can work well to drive them off and sometimes get a kill. The German MG42’s Incendiary Rounds veterancy ability is especially useful in these situations and can even be activated while garrisoned in a building. If you have an HMG in a building, you should only be concerned about light vehicles if they have flamethrowers—otherwise, you will emerge victorious if the vehicle trades shots for any length of time.

Heavy Machine Guns relied on a well-oiled crew to keep the gun maintained and firing. Changing barrels, reloading, cleaning actions, plus moving a heavy weapon and carrying thousands of rounds of ammunition across an active and dynamic battlefield was a demanding amount of effort.

HMG Placement

• Bad = arc of fire is easily flanked and faces obstacles.
• Good = Clear field of fire, arc spreads from impassable terrain.
• Excellent = Arc is bounded by impassable terrain on both sides, HMG is placed alongside impassable terrain such that its arc runs parallel to the terrain so charging enemy units will be continuously within the arc. HMG is placed in heavy cover.

This position is terrible. There is no cover; it’s on an open road that vehicles are likely to use, it can be easily flanked on both sides, and its arc of fire only extensively covers the area of road directly in front of it.

This position is decent. The HMG has light cover, any infantry advancing on the road will be fired upon, and any infantry seeking to advance from the Fuel Point can be attacked as well. Still, the position is fairly susceptible to attacks from both flanks.

This position is good. The HMG has heavy cover (directional, so it won’t help against units on the road or the left, but no freezing will occur), it’s able to cover the entire span of the road, part of the Fuel point, and an extensive amount of the left flank. Its right flank is protected by the hedgerow, so a unit would have to advance right up next to it before firing upon the HMG, and it’s unlikely to be noticed by any units approaching it from outside of its firing arc due to the sight-blocking nature of the hedgerow.