In close combat scenarios, effective defensive tactics require proper unit positioning, understanding weapon limitations, and maintaining unit cohesion under pressure. The video demonstrates how a player successfully defends against a German tank assault by strategically placing machine gun teams on elevated positions, using anti-tank rifles at close range, and maintaining communication with the platoon leader. Key lessons include: anti-tank rifles have limited effective range (30m), requiring patience to engage targets; machine guns provide suppressive fire and area denial; and unit morale and fatigue management significantly impact combat effectiveness. The player achieved a decisive victory by holding defensive positions and inflicting disproportionate casualties (11 enemy casualties vs. 3 friendly) through disciplined defensive operations.
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Close Combat Cross of Iron - Russians 001 - Blitzkrieg Barbarossa 26 June, 1941Added:
There we go. Shred.
I don't know if the tank knows where we are.
Come on. Kill him.
This is Close Combat Cross of Iron.
You're watching episode one of the Russian campaign. Take a moment to support the channel by clicking the subscribe button, liking the video, and turning on notifications.
All right, we are going to start off Close Combat Cross of Iron. I actually really enjoyed Close Combat 3 back when I played it the first time. So, I'm really looking forward to this.
I'm going to go ahead and leave our first group unnamed in case you guys want to sound off and chime in with some suggestions. And what I've done is I have my platoon leader, but I've added two medium machine guns and two anti-tank rifles. I could take an AT gun. There is one, but it's expensive.
And I don't know that that's necessarily the way to go. So, I was just going to take the rifles, hope that if they send something at me, I can stop it with that, and we may just have to fall back to the previous map. So, we'll see if that works out in our favor or not, but um I remember not really being able to hold this first map. So, we'll see if I can do better right now.
We only have like 20 or 30 m of effective range with the anti-tank rifle, so I think I already put my hope in the wrong place. But, um in the event that they do have a tank, and in the event that it does cross the ford, I'm going to hopefully just stay hidden and allow it to roll up on me, and we'll take as many shots as we can.
I do have one medium machine gun team in the southwest on the top of the hill.
And my thought here is I can kind of see into enemy terrain and I'll be able to tell if they have a tank. Maybe I can't spot all the infantry, but if I could see a vehicle, that would be helpful.
I'm assuming they're not going to be holding there and they're going to have to pull back. In that case, I've got the second medium machine gun team. These guys are behind them. It's only a one-story house. It's not great, but they can use this structure as a little bit of cover and lay down some suppressing fire and cover the first team's exfil back across the bridge.
Behind them on the east side of the river, I have the first anti-tank rifle and they're in the south.
Um, for whatever reason, I want to say I remember the tanks only driving in the north and none came across the southern bridge. I could be misremembering. I don't know if that's going to be the same, but this one may be out of position. I might not need them there.
I do have my platoon leader just to the north of them in the trench.
Um, I couldn't get both sections in the platoon leader's circle, so he's closer to the south one for now, but I can crawl him up there to the north if I need to.
Uh, to the north, we have our second anti-tank rifle. These guys, like I said, they've only got like 30 m of effective range. They can see across the river, but they can't do anything about it. So, might have to wait for a tank to legitimately like bull rush me. And I also have to worry about infantry doing the same and coming up on me because both my machine guns are pulled back.
I'm hoping if infantry does run to the east, my second machine gun team could shoot north and kind of slow them down or cut them off. We'll see if it's going to go that way, but uh, I have low expectations with this first section.
And we don't see any vehicles.
And I don't know if that's because we don't see them or because they're not there.
But um I did set a 30-minute timer and if that runs out, awesome.
Maybe it's going to be too long, but I kind of like the idea of about a half an hour cuz anything less than that and I'm actually making progress or I'm maneuvering, I have to really hustle. So, I feel like this gives me a little bit of an opportunity to do what I feel like I need. We've got contact spotted in the north, one tank Panzer 3.
And 345 m. So, yeah, like we can see it, but our range is yellow at 30.
And that's best.
So, red from 30 to 76 and then outside of 76, nothing.
Supposedly, according to the description, this thing's effective at 500 m. I don't know that I believe that, maybe if it wasn't facing frontal armor, but uh in the event that the tank turns around, I guess I could try to engage it. Contact, infantry advancing.
I want to know Yeah, we're a little bit exposed there. We might get spotted.
Um where'd these guys go?
Right here. We got more back there.
Um I do have to worry about this tree.
It's kind of in the way, so I can't see them, but uh once they get past it, they're going to be pretty close.
Here they come. Here they come.
And cut them down.
>> [screaming] >> All right, those guys have them bottled up. Tank isn't reacting, so that's okay.
Uh I don't know that I waste any shots on the frontal armor. I mean, I could do one just to see how it goes, but I don't have high expectations for a penetrating. I remember tanks in this were pretty OP. So, it it might be just worth waiting.
We have these guys bottled up.
Um these guys are moving east. There's a team that's Yeah, right here. They're kind of making the flank around of the north. I have nothing to stop them.
Um if I do have to fight with the platoon leader, I got two submachine guns, but that's not super helpful simply because tanks land a sight and they're going to have to be close. Uh I will have to rely on these guys to cover to the north, which they might have to get ready for right now. And then, we got another Let's see. I don't know what that one is. This is an MG. This guy's fleeing.
Can you hit the runner?
Got infantry up here. What are they moving?
Okay.
Advancing still.
Um really, really going to count on this guy to mess them up.
There you go. He's auto engaging. We'll let him do his thing.
Tank is content sitting back.
We are not having any effect on uh teams in the rear. I don't know if we try TO GET >> ALL RIGHT, WE STILL SEE A LITTLE BIT OF THESE GUYS, but they are kind of pulling back. We did get a hit on the MG. That's wonderful.
What are we doing on ammo? 1,800 rounds, we're fine. We can keep shooting.
These guys, same boat, 1,658.
Um They try to turn or just trying to hide.
I can't Uh-oh. Uh-oh.
Yeah, they know we're here and they're returning fire. We don't like that. Can we hit the last guy in their section?
Come on.
We are towered. We're seeking cover.
Um Two of them are towered.
I have to crawl them down and get them out of here.
Ooh, we took one. We took one.
Get down the hill. So, this is 14 and 1/2 m. 19 Yeah, so there is a decent hill here.
Oh, see if I'd stayed, I would have been able to get him down. Like That's a disappointment. Tank has moved.
I did not catch that at first, but he has rolled forward a little bit.
So, we're going to move them back.
I'm not sure what these guys are shooting at.
I'm guessing they're just still shooting in this vicinity, but I don't see a contact, so we are going to stop that for the moment.
Um I don't know that the tank's ever going to present its rear armor. I would accept side armor, but We'll take one shot.
Says he can't hurt it. We're going to see if he'll take one shot.
All right, lost line of sight and does not want to shoot at it, so might not be able to.
Uh like I said, if we get the uh side armor, maybe we try.
Come on. Come on.
Contact here.
Okay, the actual gunner is really lagging behind. He's been separated.
Um this guy has what, like 30 m of range?
Like maybe we could bring him down, but he'd have to cross the bridge. So, we Oh.
Yikes. Thank you.
Um so, really we'd have to pull these guys back to the east to get supported and maybe we could set up in this building, but then we're blocked by the trees. Um I kind of feel like if we have to pull back from this line of defense, we are just going to have to pull back.
Kind of consolidate around the hill or something.
Tank is turning.
Get set.
I don't know if we'll be able to get a clean shot or not, and even if we do, I don't know if we'll take it.
Says he can't hurt it. Says he's aiming.
All right.
We lost it.
All right, we might just leave these guys on defense for a minute in the event that the uh tank gives them an opportunity, they'll take a shot, hopefully.
And we're winded, but we made it back here.
Um I might actually just go ahead and cross. I don't know if the tank's going to see me.
But we are going to try and go for it.
Um contact here.
I definitely don't think I could hold this if I if I advanced on it and we know that they had several sections and we've only like cut down one a partial two. And this is actually I guess the machine gun guy. We saw him run so I assumed he's fleeing. But he he may not have actually left the map. He may be back here hiding out.
Ooh. Yeah, we are being shot at by the tank. Come back.
Tank tank tank.
Hide.
Okay.
Um let's see.
They have not advanced up here and taken the flag. These guys can just lay low for a minute. The uh gunner is now super fatigued so they are just going to have to chill. Tank is rolling this way. That could be a problem for us.
Unless he just comes down and turns.
Um 200 m probably still as ineffective as it was.
Oh.
Is he looking at us?
Come on.
Um or winded.
I actually kind of want to get these guys out of here.
And the tank is behind the hill a little bit, so hopefully that's enough and he can't get his barrel down on us before we get across the bridge.
Might not go that way. We'll see.
What about We have this kind of rear aspect. It still says black. If we get a shot though, um I totally will take it.
Oh, he's turning. He's turning.
He might be going for the flag, which I don't love. Um I'm pretty sure these guys don't carry anything that we could kill a tank with, so probably wasn't worth trying to hold on down here.
Um he is going to get that flag.
Infantry is moving.
Uh let's try and get I don't know, maybe up in there.
Oh, he's looking now. He's on our level, so we got a problem.
He made it down off the hill. Turn north. Turn north.
Get some stuff between you.
Get up here by the uh platoon leader and that will solve our panic problem.
Okay, flag has been captured.
We can hold the uh fords but the the problem is we can't really do much about it.
Okay, come on.
This guy, man. I feel bad for him. He's like, "Just when I started feeling better, you guys make me run again."
That's a problem.
First team is redeploying just fine. We got this guy here.
We got one fatigue two is falling out of formation and then the one guy that died.
I'm just going to let him chill there and then the separated he'll get there when he gets there. As for these guys, they are going to be freaking out and not having a good time. So if and when they get to the trench, we'll let them chill. They'll be in range of the platoon leader so they should be able to start recovering.
And we have some movement out here to the west so we won't have long to rest.
It's going to be chill and re-engage.
There we go. Shred.
I don't know if the tank knows where we are.
Come on. Kill him.
It's okay.
You can shoot again. I promise. You're fine.
All right. I want to move these guys up but the fatigue guy really does need to just like sit somewhere and chill for a minute.
Maybe we try and move our platoon leader to the north.
Get the SMGs up there and also keep our machine gun in his circle.
We're aiming. There we go.
Now he's running. He doesn't like this.
Come on. Easy target guys.
>> [screaming] >> Yes, just like that. Just like that.
All right. We are doing all right and how I don't remember. I thought you could show like the morale bars or was I thinking of Close Combat 4?
Maybe you can't.
Nothing really going on in the south.
Um, I can't crawl up and recapture the flag. Tank's kind of sitting in a bad spot for me.
And the tank's 100% content not to advance. Like he's he's not about to make it easy for me to kill him.
Uh, whatever infantry they have remaining, we are unaware of back here and this might just have to play out and come to a to a conclusion at the end of the timer.
Yep, tank's on.
Tank's on.
Go.
Go.
No. No. That No. Absolutely not.
Oh my gosh.
All right.
I don't know. This guy might get popped right here.
Just distract him. Put some rounds on him. Whatever you got to do.
Do something.
Okay.
Run with fine. We're going to go for the hill.
>> [screaming] >> Ooh. Yep. Yep. That happened. That happened. All right.
Move south.
Um That's That's not good.
That was not good.
That tree is like just right in the right spot, so I can't play with this guy. And I don't love it.
All right, so we are down to one guy, no rifle, just the anti-tank rifle. And I'm feeling a little bit less optimistic about this plan.
Tank. I don't think he should be able to see me.
I'm playing as though he can't. Um apparently he probably can.
Then I started thinking like, well, what if I did move up here and took a shot at him?
But 28 seconds, we're not going to worry about it. We are going to call this a nice stalemate, which for me is going to be a win.
And we'll regroup at the end.
Well, all right. So, decisive victory.
And our base score was 120, theirs was 70. We got a plus 50 in the battle score, they lost 50. Um we are playing at 100% reality, that's great. And then battle tournament score, we picked up 50 to their lost 50. Now, they did mess up a couple of my guys, and that sucks. So, we lost three total infantry that were killed. We only killed two leaders and and killed four regular infantry. Um but the fact that I was able to just keep them back, I think makes a huge difference here. Cuz if you look at their, you know, 11 total casualties to my three, that's pretty reasonable. Um, they had everything that they needed to win that. If that tank moved forward any more, it probably would have just messed me up. So, as much as, uh, I appreciate them taking it easy on me, um, I still think I fared pretty well and got some kills in where I could.
So, uh, let's see.
We have the one KIA down here.
And then, in our anti-tank rifle, we have a KIA.
In our anti-tank rifle, we have a KIA.
But, that's okay. It's not the end of the world. Uh, for the most part, it went fairly well. Um, I didn't lose any teams outright, and that's what we kind of want to see.
Kills were all in the MGs. First MMG team does have five infantry kills. So, we've got probably the best performance out of the guys that were advanced to the front, I guess you could say.
Uh, they had the opportunity to do the most damage. And then, we also have our second MMG team. They're coming away with three kills. Uh, I like that. I'm fine with that. They do have two cowardice. Um, I I don't blame them.
They were having a bad time with being strung out there.
But, nonetheless, it worked okay.
Uh, anti-tank rifle did have a simultaneous, uh, bravery and cowardice.
And that is all of our kills.
Ooh, yeah, we don't have a lot here to scroll through. But, um, what is this one?
What is this medal?
I don't even know what this is.
Um little red star for just about everybody.
So, Patriotic War Second Class like I I don't I don't know what they awarded it for, but so yeah.
We got one.
All right, if you guys are excited to be back in the Close Combat 3 era, go ahead and like the video. I'm really looking forward to this. I heard that it's basically just a a remake of the original. It's like it plays the exact same. It's like everything's the exact same.
Um if there are changes or differences, go ahead and let me know. I would love to hear, but I really did like Close Combat 3, so I don't want to skip this just because we already played Close Combat 3, and I want to kind of get another opportunity in, but I also want you guys to enjoy the content. So, sound off and let me know how you're feeling. I am waiting for my Starlink stuff to arrive.
It was supposed to be here, and it's been delayed, and now it says it's arriving sometime around 3 to 5 days from now, and that bugs me cuz I was hoping to get on and do some multiplayer, and it's obviously not going to go well if I'm on my terrible practically dial-up internet over here. Uh but, when the Starlink gets here, that should change a lot of things. I do have some plans for other content, so let me know how you guys feel about that, and uh I'll probably throw up a poll, so be on the lookout for that.
Click the subscribe button to help support the channel, and you can support me as a content creator by becoming a channel member. Thanks for watching. See you guys in the next one.
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