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Originally Posted by Tessen
So they were effectively used in an urban combat role?
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Urban combat? Where are you getting that?
The main frontline halftrack role was a lightly-armored, open-topped cross-country personnel carrier. That's not something that is well-suited to urban combat - the open top means top attacks and grenade attacks are more dangerous, and generally infantry in urban combat want to be dismounted and moving on foot rather than loaded into a big boxy target.
If your opposition lacked any sort of anti-armor standoff weaponry then any vehicle that's armored against small arms fire can provide a helpful mobile base of fire, and that would have applied to some urban combat in WWII. Most halftracks would only have machineguns, which are somewhat less than ideal for smashing up buildings that enemy troops are dug into, though there were some with small cannons and possibly even flamethrowers that would be more helpful.
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Originally Posted by Anthony
Though the concept has largely died out, so it presumably also has some unique drawbacks (I am not sure off-hand what those things are).
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Reducing expense and complexity tends to be less of a priority for everyone since the end of WWII.