capture into deep enemy territory. only vehicles deter them.
meat shields. sandbag+shock troops= very durable spotters for longer ranged units.
AT guns assault they de crew at guns in seconds.
and basically running up to stuff. they can take a lot of damage to they can spearhead your conscripts. then after they take some hits you reinforce them with conscripts to keep the dps up and go.
yeah they will kill without mercy grenadiers or any support unit mg, mortar, pak etc..
But I prefer going Guards, overall I find them more useful. Shock Troops are too expensive, they should drop the price to 400 mp imo.