Infantry Close Assaulting a tank, but have no AT weapons

[easyeight]

How do you Close Assault a tank without something that goes Boom?!?
The NUTS rules on Close Assault (page 55) presume that infantry attacking a tank have an anti-tank grenade or satchel charge that can damage or kill it. But we all see war movies where some guy jumps on a tank and tosses a grenade down a hatch. But reality was different but you should still be able to try. First, let's hear from a WW2 combat veteran:

Ivan Shelepov, Soviet Infantry, WW2: "The sounds of explosions drew closer, and it seemed to me that I heard the roar of engines - TANKS!!! Our defense was on the backside of a large hill. I constantly looked at the ridge. I saw our forward security appearing at the ridge and running towards us. They ran to the company commander, explained something to him and we received the order: "prepare for the tank attack!" - although we all knew what was happening - there were no "greens" among us. We hid ourselves in our half-trenches, half-ditches, trying to camouflage ourselves with branches, sod, and all things we could find.



Of course, we knew we were almost doomed - we had no AT-guns, no machine-guns - we were almost hopeless against the tanks. We had the grenades, but it is very hard to knock out a tank with a hand grenade!



- What is the problem?



- The problem is that a tank is made of steel, and you are not. It fires its main gun and machine-guns at you. It can also squash you. It is very hard to knock out a tank in general, but it is especially hard to knock it out with a hand grenade. If the crew is "green", then you still have a chance, but if there are vets in the tank, it is utterly impossible. Unfortunately, you only learn this when the tank suddenly turns and squashes you. Or kills you with a machine-gun. By the way, what do you mean - to knock out? We had the anti-tank grenades, but they were useless against heavy tanks. It is not every grenade that sets tank on fire! It takes training, coolness and experience. You do not have many chances to get close to a tank, but you have even fewer chances to get away from the tank if you failed to knock it out. In most of the cases we would try to damage the tracks. Then you could try the satchel charge. The crew does not necessarily abandon the immobilized tank, it can stay and continue to fight. You should always burn the tank.



- That time we did not even have the bottles ("Molotov Cocktails" - Valeri). We only had hand grenades, and most of them were "pineapples". At that moment some people appeared on the ridge - they were running towards us as fast as their legs would carry them. That meant that our defenses were completely broken and avalanche of tanks and Panzergrenadiers was about to descend on us.



- Why Panzergrenadiers?



- Germans would often do it that way - their tanks were followed by Panzergrenadiers. That is why their blows were so powerful.



- What happened next?



- The German tanks appeared on the ridge. Some ten of them at once - they rolled forward at a relatively high speed and fired machine-guns at our fleeing infantry. I remember that stupid thought - "this is IT!" - that passed through my mind. That was really terrifying - a tank assault! They even fired their main guns non-stop. This has a very strong effect on the inexperienced soldiers, although it is almost impossible to fire accurately on the move. But the psychological effect is devastating! I also wavered, although I had experienced this kind of attacks before. I knew the main thing was not to flee, although my legs wanted to run themselves. We had to let the tanks pass through our positions and stop the Panzergrenadiers. But the tanks turned and rolled along our defensive line, merely squashing us."

iremember.ru/en/memoirs/infantrymen/ivan-shelepov/



So it seems pretty clear from his and other accounts that you only had a chance to kill a tank with small arms and grenades *if the tank crew was Green and they panicked.*



If they were Green they may not secure the Commander's hatch, or they would hear infantry crawling on the tank and open up the hatch to do something, or even panic and bail out of the tank.



So how could do we do it in NUTS??
Well, I'm going to bring back an old idea from NUTS and NUTS 2e. 

• Test to Charge
•     IF you don't have an AT weapon (an AT grenade, Mine, Satchel or Molatov) that can hurt a tank, your infantry must pass a Crisis Test to try and Close     Assault a tank
•     If you do not Pass 2d6 your Infantry will not try and Close Assault the tank
  
  
• Crisis Test for the Tank
•     IF the Infantry contact the tank, the tank crew must pass a Crisis Test not to panic at the sound of boots stomping on the hull
•     IF the tank *fails* the Crisis Test, the Infantry may Melee the tank crew (the crew panicked and opened hatches to try and get rid of the Infantry, or     perhaps they screwed up and left the TC hatch open or unsecured.
  
•     IF the tank crew *passes* the Crisis Test, the tank may machine gun the infantry milling about. The Infantry fired at are Outgunned and must Duck     Back. Any other infantry can stay with the tank and force another Crisis Test.
  
• This continues until resolved all the Infantry in contact with the tank have been killed or Duck Back, or the tank crew is knocked out.

Comments? And should the Infantry Melee the crew, or if they crew panic and open a hatch should the Infantry be allowed to Shoot at the crew or drop a grenade into the tank? 

Cheers!

[easyeight]

Here's a snippet I found from a Finnish soldier who fought in the Winter War, "A bucket of thick mud works for the moment. We would toss the mud on the vision ports and the tank is blind. Once struck nearby after blinded, the infantry start knocking….. the tank crew will become very nervous and may surrender."

[easyeight]

Oh, here's another variant -- if the tank crew fail the Crisis Test, roll 1d6 to see what happens:
*If the tanks crew gets a Pass 0d6 on the Crisis Test the crew react to the sound of Infantry on their tank or screwed up. Roll 1d6 to see what happens

(1) = The crew panics and bails out of the tank
(2-4) = The crew have left the TC hatch unsecured. The Infantry may place a satchel charge or anti-tank mine normally if they have one. Otherwise, the Infantry may make a grenade attack or a Shooting attack against the crew (they do not get Cover or Concealment). Roll for In Sight!
(5-6) = The TC opens the Commander hatch to "clear" the tank and is armed with (roll 1d6) (1) tosses a grenade out the hatch, (2-4) a pistol, (5-6) an SMG. Roll for In Sight! If the TC is killed or forced to Duck Back the Infantry may place a satchel charge or anti-tank mine normally if they have one. Otherwise,the Infantry may make a grenade attack or a Shooting attack against the crew (they do not get Cover or Concealment). Roll for In Sight!

Looking for comments and ideas. Thanks!

[daveh66]

Later war then tank crews would probably be worried that infantry have ATW so might be likely to bail out, and a lot of the crews would be greener due to losses (at least in the German and Soviet forces). I think this can work out with the second variant of the crisis test for the tank crew.