joint operations when to use it?

A few games ago i had an awsome match on the map ( i believe it was) Bistrya voda or something. me and my mate ignored the only fuel point in the south of the map but went straight top for the vp's and ammo points. bcs we thought we would be run over soon by the allies if we went south so our plan was to fortify north. And i thought this commander was really useful for that. And it was because we didn't get run over by a classic riflemen blob + shocks followed by is'2s and jacksons. Now i got a bit interested in this commander bcs i like to play defensive (not to camp but just a defensive strat) which is almost impossible in this game nowadays. So my questions is when is this commander useful and what are the best ways (and maps) to use it and do you guys like it or not and why?

The pak43 works best on maps where you have a good sense where the enemy will attack from with tanks. For example Minsk Pocket, Bystrada Voda and rails and metal or on smaller urban maps where it can hidden from direct attacks like Semoisky Winter or Lieurneux.
It's best used against slower tanks like the Is2 or medium tanks as long as you prevent them from charging your lines. Tellers and Fausts required!

The leif Howitzer, I think is quite bad. Slow fire rate and the damage does not make up for it. It's best used against slow moving support weapons and on vet1 the coutnerbarrage is in fact quite nice to kill off mortars all over the map.

The rest of the doctrine is nice, the recon is an excellent combination for the howitzer and pak43 and for delivering the light arty strike. That artillery strike used to reliably kill howitzers but it might survive now I think.
The arty officer has some very nice abilities and especially the victor strike barrage is an excellent way to circumvent the long Howitzer reload.

All in all I think this is one of the best commanders without call ins, but there is a reason callins doctrines are the most used. Teching for Ostheer is very manpower intensive and the bleed can be substantial if you play against good opponents. You usually have to decide around 8CPs if you want to build the pak43 or get a P4 out, or maybe even save up for T4.
THe choice here depends on what your teammate is doing, if he is Ostheer and you expect call in tanks soon then I would build the pak43 first but with OKW I think a p4 first is better.
The reason this commander is missing in my loadout is because my mate is OKW with the fortification doctrine and because the OKW is usually floating MP the pak43 fits much better in that faction

Note this is mostly for 2v2 and up, in 1v1 I do not consider this commander viable because teching will leave you vulnerable to call ins from soviets or the sheer MP bleed from the USF player

love j,opration in minsk&semosky&vaux specially 2v2