Best Breakthrough Template 2026

This is the gold standard I run as a major once you have enough factories. 8 «Medium Tank» battalions and 10 «Motorized Infantry» battalions, support companies built for attack. Supply is tight here: without a «Logistics Company» the division runs out of supply fast, and all that Breakthrough is only on paper.

Template description

Why not regular engineers? The «Assault Engineer Company» is built in HoI4 for attack, the division's main job. Without it and without the «Medium Flame Tank Company,» terrain punishes you hard, as if the tanks were made of plywood. The «Armored Recon Company» uses Light Tanks (24) and slightly softens those same terrain penalties.

The «Logistics Company» matters a lot here. A 36 CW tank template eats a huge amount of Supply. Without logistics you'll often be out of supply, and then even 400 Medium Tanks ride like a tractor with no diesel. Logistics costs 20 Armored Cars per division.

Per division: 17 900 Manpower, 1000 Infantry Equipment, 360 Trucks, 400 Medium Tanks, plus 15 Medium Flame Tanks, 24 Light Tanks for recon, 12 Towed Artillery and 40 Support Equipment.

Plenty of soldiers in it, but on the attack the division loses few of them: Breakthrough is high, and the enemy often cannot answer in time. Not an ideal defensive template, though in practice it holds well. Later you swap Motorized Infantry for «Mechanized Infantry»: the stats are a bit tougher and there are more vehicles, but it costs more too.

This is not a minor’s starting template and not «spam it by September 1939.» Mid-to-late game, a major, lots of Military Factories. No such industry — take the «Tanks 20 CW» tab.

How to use it

Do not stretch 12 of these one-by-one across Europe. Mass them into a fist: several divisions on one tile. You break the front — straight into the rear, onto supply hubs and railways, while infantry closes the pocket. This is not a defensive wall: if the enemy counterattacks a starving wedge, the «gold standard» turns into scrap metal fast.

The slimmed-down version of the 36 CW tank template. 4 Medium Tank battalions, 6 Motorized Infantry battalions, the simplest support companies: Engineer Company and Support Artillery. More modest stats, harsher terrain penalties. But a minor can stamp out a few by the time war comes — enough that it no longer has to hold the front with plain infantry.

Template description

On Breakthrough this is still tanks, not plain infantry. The 36 CW template is meant to pressure other majors; this one is for a minor and a weak major: blitzkrieg, hole, pocket. You won't crack a great power's dense defense with one of these — hit with several on one tile.

The support companies are simple on purpose: they sit in almost every infantry template, and a minor does not need to unlock a flame tank. If factories allow, add the «Armored Recon Company» — terrain penalties ease a bit. You can also slot in a «Logistics Company» if a research slot is free: the division eats a bit more Supply than regular infantry.

Per division: 9800 Manpower, 610 Infantry Equipment, 12 Towed Artillery, 210 Trucks, 30 Support Equipment and 200 Medium Tanks. Early game in HoI4 a minor can hardly afford this. By the time war comes it's feasible, if you don't spread your research thin all at once. Trucks need Rubber: no Rubber — no Motorized Infantry, and the tanks barely crawl.

I would not claim this division easily breaks a strong major, but in practice I have pulled it off. For example, there was a game where, as Portugal, I liberated all of France with 6 such divisions against Germany. I got lucky that Germany was busy fighting the USSR, which is what let those tanks work.

How to use it

Mass a wedge of several divisions on one tile, take it, then roll into the rear to make a pocket. Don't spread them out one-by-one along the front: you get an expensive column that bumps into someone else's infantry and stops. Against a major holding 5–10 divisions per tile this is not enough — stack more wedges, or stay off the main sector.

10 «Motorized Infantry» battalions, support companies — Support Artillery and Engineer Company. Honestly, Breakthrough here is higher than with plain infantry. But I don't recommend this template all that often. Almost always those same Trucks and factories are better spent on the 20 CW tank template. This template does not rip a front like tanks. It finds a weak spot, hits there and, thanks to speed, makes a pocket.

Template description

Speed is this division’s main trump card. Stats are modest, but the cost is high: 350 Trucks per division. In HoI4 trucks need Rubber. It eats less Supply than tanks — already a plus. Terrain penalties exist; if factories allow, add a Motorized Recon Company.

You can add 1–2 Medium Tank battalions — it gets a bit better. But I still usually build a proper 20 CW tank template: Breakthrough there is much better. This template is a compromise for when there are no tanks but you already need to attack and make pockets.

Per division: 12 600 Manpower, 1010 Infantry Equipment, 12 Towed Artillery, 350 Trucks and 30 Support Equipment. More manpower than the 20 CW tank template needs. There is Breakthrough, but a tank wedge is still far off. It does not crack dense enemy defense. It can hold its own on defense, though.

How to use it

Do not hit the strongest sector. Find a thin spot, slip through — straight into the rear while the enemy moves up his reserve. If there is no hole in the enemy's defense, this template will hardly create one with speed alone. Speed helps after the front is broken, not instead of it.

Armored Infantry: 9 «Infantry» battalions, 1 «Medium Tank» battalion. Engineer Company and Support Artillery in the companies. Division speed is like regular infantry — there will be no fast encirclement. Infantry is the backbone and the defense, while the tank gives the whole division Armor and a little Breakthrough. You can attack, just not like a tank wedge.

Template description

That's only 50 Medium Tanks per division. Not 200, not 400. A minor can often afford one before the big war, even on an Inter-War Medium Tank chassis: most countries have it researched at start. You will not take the USSR in 1941 with this, but a minor neighbor — easily. The nasty terrain penalties stay: a single tank battalion brings them along.

Skilled players usually build these or similar templates when playing a small minor. They build them first and foremost for Breakthrough and division Armor, which lets them punch through enemy defense better.

This is a middle-ground template between real tanks and regular infantry. Mid-game you still attack with it, until you've got some solid tank wedges. Later it is usually swapped for the 20 CW tank template. Manpower 10 100, rifles 910, artillery 12, Support Equipment 30.

How to use it

Slowly pressure weak or medium enemy defense, don't go raiding the enemy's rear. Let regular infantry close the flanks: in HoI4 this template is better on the attack than on defense. Do not expect a fast blitzkrieg — infantry speed is not enough for that, however pretty the Medium Tank looks in the designer.