It still makes sense to also bomb the enemy airfield to take down the vehicle hangars, fighter hangars and bomber hangars. Doing this will greatly increase your chances of successfully capturing the town. The success of any military operation depends on using all of the assets available to you. The old days of taking a base by yourself is over, unless you are in the Green Arena when no one else is on. Here's my winning formula for taking a Vehicle Base.
The first step is to take down all of the guns, both AAA and Anti-tank. I prefer to do this with a Bf110 G2 with just cannons. Start with the AAA first and then take down the three 17 pounders.
While I'm doing this, my bombers are taking down the four vehicle hangars. Once they are down and all of the guns are silenced, the base is safe to capture. My 110 checks for any FLAK or tanks. If these are not prowling the base, I send in my troops in an M3 or C-47. Taking down the VHs are critical because just one GV can ruin your day when trying to capture a base. It's also a good idea to have a couple of fighters acting as high cover just in case any enemy aircraft appears on the scene.
In light of the new GVs recently introduced lately, I've developed an attack plan using the new M3 with the 75mm guns to take down the buildings in a town. Here's the order of battle (OB) required to pull off this attack.
*Arty Element - 3-4 M3s with 75mm HE rounds
*AAA Element - 5-6 M16s
*Scout Element - 4 M8s
*Exploitation Element - 3 M3s with troops
You will notice that this is a "fast attack" battleplan including no tanks. I want this formation to be quick, since most towns are usually quite some distance from the spawn point. You will need those M16s to provide the necessary AAA umbrella. They will form a cordone around the other vehicles. All will move at maximum speed towards their objective. The M8s will advance well forward of the M3s and M16s seeking out and engaging enemy GVs. The M3s with the 75mm guns will halt within range of the town (out of range of town guns) and start their bombardment of the buildings and guns. Once you've got a white flag and all of the guns are down you can send in the M3s with troops.
Hope these plans work for you.
Pappy08
C.O.
The Old Breed Squad
