OFP NG reg Chris G., a.k.a. Miles Teg<GD>, has submitted the following tips to help you control you tank mates and hit the enemy hard:
In order to take full advantage of the tank commander's station, it is usually best to turn in as that allows you to rotate a full 360 degrees. In addition, if you hit the "V" key, this will give you the powerful telescopic sites on the commander's periscope view that allows a fairly wide view and more importantly allows you to zoom in and out and thus target enemy vehicles at great distances. This is done with your numeric keypad's +/- keys.
To target an object, simply right click on the object. To untarget it, simply move the crosshairs to an empty spot of ground and right click again. To target another target, just right click on the new target.
Once you've targeted an object, you can order your gunner to fire at it. Simply press the left mouse button and usually after a second or two he will fire. Keep in mind that you he will not fire until the active weapon label (HEAT, SABOT, etc.), on the upper left part of the screen, turns from red or yellow to green, meaning that the round is ready to fire. Also wait until the gunner has his sites on target before you give the command to fire, otherwise the gunner will miss the target. You can tell where the gunner is currently aiming at by looking at the little white dot on your view screen. This indicates the gunner's point of aim. You will not see this white dot if the gunner is pointing in another direction. But when you target an object, the gunner should swivel the turret to engage that target and you will see that little white dot stop on or near the target. If the weapon is loaded, then hit the left mouse button and he will fire at that target. While the gunner is engaging a target you can swivel your sites elsewhere in order to locate and target other enemy objects that perhaps may be more of a threat to your tank.
Another problem people have commanding tanks is ordering movement from the commander's position. If you are playing a campaign mission where you are the tank commander and someone else is the platoon commander then just let your driver follow the platoon commander's orders while you concentrate on finding targets for your gunner.
However, if you are in complete command of a tank or a tank platoon you can give movement orders in a variety of ways. The easiest way is to select either all your men or just the driver and then hit "1" (MOVE). Your crosshairs will show a square around it. Simply left click wherever you want your driver to move.
You can also use the arrow keys to move in all directions. You'll have to hold down the right or left arrow keys until the driver turns to the desired direction. To command your driver to go fast-forward, press on the forward arrow key and the SHIFT key simultaneously and release the keys.
Unfortunately there is a bug in the game where sometimes the driver just ignores you. This affects other vehicles as well, not just tanks. If that happens, try doing the same thing except, instead of left clicking on where you want the driver to go from your view, go to the map screen and left click on the map wherever want the driver to go. If that still doesn't work, unselect every one under your command, then left click again on the map where you want the driver to go. The driver should now move to that location. If you are commanding more than one tank, simply select all of them, hit "1", and then hit "1" again to order them to fall back into formation.
While all this may seem tedious at first, with a little practice it all becomes second nature and before long you'll be commanding tanks like a pro.