Tips with TrenchesTrenches are a much maligned feature of the British Commonwealth in Company of Heroes. They are invaluable to the Brit player however insufferable they can be to everyone else.
The basic counters to trenches are well known... Flamethrower Pios, Flammenwerfer Halftracks, Bundled nades, Incendiary nades, and Incendiary rounds from the PE's mortar halftrack are the most effective way. Snipers can empty a trench but accuracy is greatly reduced and may be a tedious while before the trench in vacated. Long enough that the brit player may have time to just bring up another squad to fill the available trench whilst he retreats the first. (This is regardless a manpower drain).
Some interesting tricks with trenches can however be utilized and provide a solid advantage. It's always great as Brit's to have a trench to fall back to at one's HQ truck. But leaving such a trench manned would be a terrible waste of Manpower and attack force--in effect a wasted squad. Leaving said trench unmanned could be dissasterous aswell--heaven forbid a shrecked storm squad or flammer pio should sneak into the trench and lay waste to your HQ while your off fighting with your forces elsewhere. The answer? Leave the trench 90% built. By leaving the construction unfinished (and since trench building is still free as of the current Beta patch) you can, without economic reproach, complete building the trench should you need it while underfire and even while suppressed at your HQ. But you run no risk of losing the trench to invaders. This can also be performed anywhere on the map you may see fit to plop down a trench.
Another interesting trick involves the Commando's demo-charge. Placing a demo-charge on an unoccupied trench near one's HQ can be a sneaky and effective way of dealing some unexpected damage to your foe. For one, the open trench will be irresistible to your opponent, who will often insert his most powerful infantry unit inside of it to shield it from fire. At this point blow the charge. The unit inside the trench will be killed and have at least a 30% chance (post-beta) to drop any carried weapons (including shrecks) for your forces to pick up. The trench will not be destroyed furthermore (unless it was already damaged severly), so consider keeping a squad near by (but not near enough to be damaged by the charge) to man the trench upon detonation. This also has the added benefit of making your opponent uneasy about getting in your trenches... even if they're perfectly safe.
Also consider using a trench to block a pass. Trenches are difficult for some vehicles to traverse. Kets have to drive around them. Even tanks have a little bit of slight slow down as they bounce over the trench. So bare that in mind.
Stormsquads present the biggest threat to a manned trench. They have stealth and can wipe out an entire squad in one bundled nade. Its best to avoid trench building in the mid-to-late game against Blitz Wehrmacht.... unless triangulation has been set-up and you can see them coming OR for the purposes of pulling off the sneaky commando trench charge manuever listed above.
Finally, another good use of the trench is as a forward defensive position for your Captain. This works extremely well since you can recall your forces to him using the 'retreat to Captain's postion' command. This is great for using near your Field Support Truck or Armor Command Truck if it's out of the radius of your main defensive structure and forces. Also can be effective near an captured enemy cut-off sector (such as on Angoville) when your enemy may decide to forgo the cut-off and instead assault your main base area only later to come back once you've withdrawn your forces to the HQ. Of course, this has its drawbacks. For one Captains will gain less veterancy being holed up in a trench then they would tethered or even micro'd near a battle. Captain's with veterancy can apply bonuses to emplacements and resources so its effectiveness would also be reduced holed up in some cut-off sector as opposed to near you 25 pdr on your +16 fuel for instance. Finally, he can be a great late game capping unit. Their defensive bonus make them quite survivable and the loss of the units presence in main battle won't be decidedly missed.
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