[Americans] Montebourg - Mission 5

[Druidika]

Montebourg

4 days out of Carentan, Able and Dog companies are tasked with clearing a route to Cherbourg and defending a convoy of troops and supplies needed for the final push to Cherbourg.

[lordkosc]

This mission is about clearing the way for the Red Ball express.

For this mission I captured the first 2 road points and then sent in help to dog company holding the middle village. I then set up some defenses there, and began capturing the fuel and ammo points close to my base and along the entire right side of the map. Soon you will get a new objective in regards to killing some panzer 4 tanks from the 109th panzergruppe, that is the Medal mission for this map.

All over this map there are hidden AT guns, with MG backups ,mortar squads, and flame pioneers so be careful! Also I did not take over any AT guns as I wanted my force more mobile. I am guessing there were at least 10 AT guns on this map...

At my base FYI all I build was a supply depot, barracks and special weapons center. I did not build any vehicles this mission, only Riflemen and Engineers, I just made sure to keep my 2 tanks , my M8's, and my 1 half track from getting killed.

You will get attacked with the first wave of tanks as you approach the middle of the map where the Road breaks off into a Y. I am not 100% sure if its a random attack or once you approach a given area it triggers the attack.

Around this time the supply trucks will come onto the map, make sure to defend them, as they will travel half way up the road to just about where Dog company was first holding out.

Secure that area and the Y intersection also! Next I planned an attack on the Axis Armor base near the top right of the map, there are only 3 entrances and are defended my AT guns. Once that base is destroyed , the enemy will stop attacking you with Stugs ,Walking Stukas, and Puma's. They will continue to get off map infantry support even after this base is destroyed. So make sure to cap all your points and set up a good defensive layer of MG nests.

The enemy seems to mostly come in from the top of the map near a farmhouse that is there, and also next to the base you destroyed where the armor was being pumped out.

At this point I made sure the entire lower and middle part of the map was capped and in complete control. And pushed forward.

I decided to go to the "right" at the Y intersection, and went up the road securing the ammo and fuel points there also, the area ahead on the road is mined so make sure you have what is needed to disable or destroy the mines.

Once you get past the mined area there is another base that needs to get taken out on the top left side of the map, and the final Panzer 4 is up there also. In all I think there were 8 or 9 panzer 4s that had to be destroyed. Once that was gone I took the last road control point, and the convoy moved out...

Victory!

[lordkosc]

If anyone needs help , post a replay of ur game or PM me and I will watch and see what needs to be fixed in ur strategy for winning this map....

I've enclosed 7 pics, to show how won this map... So read the above , and follow the pictures :)

yellow lines are armor movement

orange is MG nests

pink is where I put OP's

red is where mines were

blue circles is where the Panzers IVs were !

remember once u take the point where the Y intersection is, that is when they will throw the tanks at you! Or at least its when they did it to me the 2 times I played this map...

1
http://img158.imageshack.us/img158/3659/1ps3.th.jpg (http://img158.imageshack.us/my.php?image=1ps3.jpg)
2
http://img158.imageshack.us/img158/773/2wm2.th.jpg (http://img158.imageshack.us/my.php?image=2wm2.jpg)
3
http://img158.imageshack.us/img158/2889/3dl1.th.jpg (http://img158.imageshack.us/my.php?image=3dl1.jpg)
4
http://img158.imageshack.us/img158/6285/4hi9.th.jpg (http://img158.imageshack.us/my.php?image=4hi9.jpg)
5
http://img158.imageshack.us/img158/3127/5su6.th.jpg (http://img158.imageshack.us/my.php?image=5su6.jpg)
6
http://img158.imageshack.us/img158/5958/6pp8.th.jpg (http://img158.imageshack.us/my.php?image=6pp8.jpg)
7
http://img158.imageshack.us/img158/6794/7fb6.th.jpg (http://img158.imageshack.us/my.php?image=7fb6.jpg)

I hope this helps thoes who have PMed me for more details... :banana:

[Gatorman82]

I beleive that I've elimated every German unit and structure from the map, and taken all the strategic points, and supply points, but the damn Red Ball Express wont go anywhere. Any Ideas?

[anonymousMarine]

did you capture the SP at the end of the highway? you have to use your Crab to clear the mines on the road after you take the Crossroads

[Sis]

i'm really having difficulties in this mission..i played in normal, tried 3 times, and none of them gave a decent result

my latest strategy is like this.. at first.. 2 panzer and 2 mini tank ( i forgot their name ) to rescue Dog Squad. the rest of the tank blow all the axis next to hq. and rifleman with their vehicle into the closet resource on the right from below.

after Dog Squad rescued, i called all of them into resource below of them and set a defense

the rifleman+vehicle which i mentioned earlier continue their way to the right and capture the next resource..

the rest of the tank hold the upper ground near HQ with resource depot in it..

so after that... axis came after.. tank.. tank ... tank.. engineer with flamethrower..
one by one.. my resources depleted..

they even came from below my HQ without notice..

and after that.. yes.. i'm pretty struggling.. but i could still hold off several resource
but i knew with only that, i could not take the road, because i have to use the squad to defend my resources..

i notice too that there's an axis base on the middle right of the map where they build all of their tanks.. it's pretty heavy defense. should i concentrate on them?

so.. i really need some suggestion..
maybe what should and what shouldn't i build

when lordkosc said that he didn't build any tanks.. wow.. how did you do that?
i mean.. getting all axis tanks with soldier? throwing sticky bomb only gives a little damage, not like airborne company with their satchel charges..
and the engineer can't do anything to tanks..

i'm really frustated in here..

thank u in advance

[wuyanxu]

AT guns are your friends when countering tanks.

i started by sending most of my tanks to rescue Dog company.
then i set up a ring of defence with my tanks in Dog company's location. (and a forword HQ)

now i start using the grayham (sp?) and infentry to capture 3 points next to my position and the fuel point along the left edge of the map.

just before the Panzers showed up, i set up MG bunkers so that their field of fire covered all angles to my base (no more annoying infentry from the back of my base)
and as soon as i saw the panzer cutscene, i built 3 ATs to defend my base.

i sent my usual 2 Sherman and a halftruck with engies inside it to assault on their base. took out everything. (engies repair the tanks)

now, it's just a matter of finding all the germans and blast them back to stoneage. the Panzers are easy as they don't come in groups, i've only seen 2 at the same time.

i left the middle, crossroad point for the last, captured all other points, set up a MG bunker behind each point at the very top of the map. because that is a infentry spawn point. and i cleared out all the mines.

captured the middle point and the "Red Bull Express" just drove stright through, nothing happened at all. (i thought i had to defend it, so i set up tanks, in the middle, ready to react to anything happened)

[anonymousMarine]

its Greyhound i think yanxu :)

[MsgTater25]

I going to try your way. This Mission is flustrating to me as I see it is for others.

[Aslan]

My strategy was a bit different than the above. I found that it was much easier to run up and save the 2 compsquads in Dog Company, then immediately pulled everyone back to the main base. The germans actually left the strategic point alone for several minutes while I started taking nearby points. I slowly moved up to the right-hand fuel depot and after taking it, put some machine gun nests and a couple of AT's to take care of any vehicles that wandered by.

After getting a tank depot up I got a few more Shermans and begin using the Shermans and 3 Rifleman squads to move up through the town and over to the Axis HQ where the Shermans took it out. The Riflemen worked great at taking out any 88's that I came across. Once the german HQ and tank depot was gone it was a simple case of clearing out the rest of the resistance. After that I marched the minesweeper up the road, took the remaining stragetic points and the convoy just trucked in and up the road.

-Aslan

[Sis]

AT guns are your friends when countering tanks.

i started by sending most of my tanks to rescue Dog company.
then i set up a ring of defence with my tanks in Dog company's location. (and a forword HQ)

now i start using the grayham (sp?) and infentry to capture 3 points next to my position and the fuel point along the left edge of the map.

just before the Panzers showed up, i set up MG bunkers so that their field of fire covered all angles to my base (no more annoying infentry from the back of my base)
and as soon as i saw the panzer cutscene, i built 3 ATs to defend my base.

i sent my usual 2 Sherman and a halftruck with engies inside it to assault on their base. took out everything. (engies repair the tanks)

now, it's just a matter of finding all the germans and blast them back to stoneage. the Panzers are easy as they don't come in groups, i've only seen 2 at the same time.

i left the middle, crossroad point for the last, captured all other points, set up a MG bunker behind each point at the very top of the map. because that is a infentry spawn point. and i cleared out all the mines.

captured the middle point and the "Red Bull Express" just drove stright through, nothing happened at all. (i thought i had to defend it, so i set up tanks, in the middle, ready to react to anything happened)
wuyanxu, it really works.. amazing..
by using dog squad 1st place into barrack, i don't need to send troops from HQ
and the good thing, they didn't even tried to blow up that place.. weird..

and then i set up tank traps and wires.. but no MG nest.. too low on resource, instead i placed 3 AT ( 1 axis's leftover ).
and there's the time when i'm having difficulties.. like HQ on fire etc..

i got mad.. i sent most of my troops on 2nd HQ into their base.. 1st round.. i lost, they only had tank depot in half health left
and i started to produce ATs, and launch my 2nd attack with engineers.. done..

after that, they attacked only with troops.. nothing else..
so i gather my engineers, and get some MG nests around HQ and fuel depot..
the good thing again, my resources were high, and i took 3 greyhound..nice

and then i ended up the rest of them with 5-6 ATs and 3 rifleman squad in the upper left SP
it's really quite fun..

i got the medal too.. a really nice level.. wasted 1 hour..
thank u.. couldn't have done that myself.

[lordkosc]

I didn't need to build any tanks, the give you two at the beginning of the game! Just keep them repaired!

[re-con]

This mission is a dozzy. I'm finding myself overstreched and lacking map control. Couldn't work out where they (axis infantry) was coming from, spent two goes trying to find a base. Thanks for the spawn point tip. Looks like I need lots of mg nests behind sp points, not beside them. I try and kill off tank farm early game otherwise I get tank spam and thats what realy streches me. After losing quite a few tanks it finally dawned on me that there not very effective against AT even at point blank range, one nad is so much more effective. Still pluging away at this mission, after a two hour attempt I thought I'd cheack in to see if there where any tips on the forum.......maybe setting it to hard was too ambitous

Edit: OK third go was relatively easy. I get HQ up and running first, them quickly move onto rescue dog company. From there I concentrate on getting map control of the bottom half of the map before going for the sp that starts the convoy heading in. Its a good idea to go mg nest crazy on all territory below the first sp marker that starts the convoy coming in. Make sure to get all the AT guns lying around otherwise axis infantry, which spawns off map will take it and use it against you. While your getting map control keep your tanks inbetween HQ and mid-map where you rescue dog company, as you'll need them. Before going for the sp make sure to take out the tank farm and this stops axis tanks harassing you. Once you have map control of entire bottom half, and have taken out tank farm, then go onto getting road sp for the convoy. Make sure when your getting the rest of the sp take some infantry to take out axis AT along the road, and watch out for mines. Its also a good idea to set up a couple of AT/tank traps/brabed wire/mg nests just north of your base at the first munitions point, as this will stop alot of the axis tank/infantry spam.

[live2play]

This may be a silly question, but can you "repair" AT guns? You know when their health gets low, or the health of the crew...and you can't abandon them to reinforce the crew...

Is it posible to repair them? Or "heal" your troops? Not even the gun crews but snipers, etc...can you get them to full health any way?

[KlavoHunter]

A Triage Center can heal wounded soldiers. Put them within its healing radius and their health will go up.

And an AT gun has health independent of the troops manning it, and can be repaired using Engineers.

[MsgTater25]

Finally
Got through the Mission 5.
Rescued dog Company then retreated back to Headquarters. Got it
set up quickly then move up the left side of map till I got to the Church. Armor still in tack. Move to where Dog Company was
first located to reestablish forward Headquarters. All the while, I
placed MG Nest at each area captured. From forward Headquarters, I move to capture the Axis Headquarters. With the Headquarters removed, eveything else went smoothly.

Thanks for all the good reading to help me get through.

[Camphlobactor]

This mission was partiuarly difficult. I had to try it 3 times, and even then it was a desperate situation. The base you capture first should be reinforced immediately with anti-tank weapons and MGs. On the right side in the open fields, some rifleman and more anti-tank weapons should keep it secure. One of the things that bothered me most was the enourmous amount of tanks that kept comming in. At the same time, a whole bunch of people kept trying to re-capture the points. Keep the mine-flail Sherman to clear out the roads when you have half the map secured. Rush the tank depot and put 1 sniper on the high points.

[sgtsaunders]

Quick refresher Please --

How do you turn a captured building into an HQ that can be used to create more men?

[KlavoHunter]

A button appears in the upper-left of the control panel that says "upgrade to barracks" for like 390 manpower or so?

[live2play]

I think it's 260 manpower, but remember it has to be in your own territory and it has to be of sufficient size.

In other words, you can't turn an outhouse into a HQ. :salute:

[Desram]

I'm having an odd problem with this mission. Once I clear the courtyard where dog company is, nothing happens. They just keep sitting in the buildings. Is this a known bug or am I just missing something? Thanks for any help.

[live2play]

Not sure Des. I've never had it happen. I think there's 2 squads there plus a MG squad, right? If you eliminated them all, the troops should come out.

Anyone else experience this, where Dog company stays in the building?

[Pilot53]

No matter how I try to do it, I get overrun with german tanks. A lot of them. I am playing on Normal. As soon as I take any point, fuel, ammo, no matter what, I get innundated with tanks, 5, 10, whatever. The more I destroy, the more I see. It happens as soon as I rescue the company. I have no time to produce men, tanks, or anything else. The barrage goes on till all my men and equipment are down. I have tried 20 times, and the same thing happens.

Help!!!!!!!!!!

Pilot

[sgtsaunders]

I'm with Pilot53; we're out gunned. It's like a battle of ships on the high seas. The stugs can move and spin around quickly. One-against-One; you can't take them out with a single Sherman.

What is the best approach to take out tanks?
What is the best approach to take out the German Tank Base?

[Pilot53]

Well, Im about to take the game back. If there is no way to beat the game, then why play. No matter what I do, no matter what resources I have, no matter how much fuel, ammo, and men, anti tank cannons, whatever, I cannot build any tanks, I cannot replace any tanks. I can get infantry, I can get mortar men, heavy machine guns, everything else, and have my HQ completely defended, as soon as the german tanks start comming, they never stop, no matter how many I destroy. Eventually my HQ is destroyed, along with everything else. Once all my tanks are gone, I am finished. My Shermans, after about 3 hits, will blow up, and I cannot replace them. Without any tanks, or even with them, for that matter, I am through. Once the tanks come, I am done.

I have followed every stratedgy on the board to no avail.

Anyone have any answers?

Pilot

[Cold Fussion]

I move shermans into an area right infront my base and use them and feild guns. The enenmy will slowly send the 9 panzers at you, aswell with some stugs. After you have destroyed the 9 panzers, send 2 snipers to shoot the 2 at screws inside the german base, then crush it. Then slowly start capturing all the bases.

Note: Leave the fork in the road point to last. If you caputure it in the beggining, the red ball express comes up and get attack y masses amounts of infantry. Capture and secure all the bases, then get the fork in the road, it will make life alot easier!

[Penitent]

This was the hardest mission for me on expert. In the end it was just a case of throwing troops into the meatgrinder until I got somewhere, which is why getting an economy going early matters. I easily lost 40 soldiers and several shermans at the top resource point from where the axis send reinforcements. What makes the mission difficult is the axis sending endless armoured cars and stuff to harass your points.

What you need to do is, well, fight! Like a crazy badass, before you play the mission make sure your comfortable and then settle down for some intense clicking, you really can't have units doing nothing. Build a medic station or two and a halftrack as well as forward HQ. Pick axis weapons up off the ground. Keep an eye on population cost of units. Cherish your veterans.

If you're having trouble with tanks, keep a lot of anti-tank guns or armour in the middle compound, the axis just send dozens of tanks to their doom in that direction, it's ridiculous.

You have to get a force together and take the axis base too, it might take two or three attempts even with decent tactics to clear the place out though, so you'll be running back and forth through retreating alot.

An utterly ridiculous mission, but I appreciate it now I've beaten it.

[DudeWhersMyTank]

at the beginning make sure you wander no farther than dog company's buldings because if you do the AI will go into a frenzy and start attacking with shitloads of tanks. bring dog and everyone else back to your hq and fortify it with tank traps to funnel armor into killzones. then slowly expand outward. once i get a foothold i usually send my greyhounds to their deaths so i can build more shermans

[Pilot53]

Thanks for all the replies. I will try them. Dude, how do you make a tank trap, and what are greyhounds, why does their dying allow you to make more shermans?

[DudeWhersMyTank]

tank traps are made with your engineers, or riflemen if you went infantry company and took the commander upgrade. greyhounds are those m8 armored cars that you start with and them dying frees up population cap for other units, such as shermans.

[Fitz]

This mission gets the official "trikki" stamp from me.

One thing that I have noted is that capping points on the right of the map brings down a world of pain, whereas sticking left of the road seems to cause less of a rumpus. So if you're looking to stock up on resources early, do it on the left.

[wuyanxu]

at the beginning make sure you wander no farther than dog company's buldings because if you do the AI will go into a frenzy and start attacking with shitloads of tanks. bring dog and everyone else back to your hq and fortify it with tank traps to funnel armor into killzones. then slowly expand outward. once i get a foothold i usually send my greyhounds to their deaths so i can build more shermans
for me, the key is to set up HQ where Dog company are and try to hold it there and build lots AT guns at forward HQ.

really, this mission isn't hard at all. use AT guns and Shermans to hold off the tanks while MG nests to ping enermy infentry at the entrence. once you are sure that your forward HQ is scure, just take out their base and the rest is a question of clearing the map.

read my walkthrough in the first page.

and Pilot53, i assume that you knows you cannot show your tank's ass to the enermy?

[Pilot53]

Thanks for all the replys.

I figured out the tanks ass thing in right away. Finally figured out how to make tanks. Left my command center where it was. Took everything on the left, then the road on the right side. Had to make sure that command center was guarded with tanks and jeeps. Took a while, but finally got the road open at one time, and that ended the level. 46 tries, lots of frustrations, and the next level took 20 minutes. I think that level 5 will be the hardest one.

By the way, there was a lot more than 9 Panzers that came at me. At one point, there were 6 of them moving around aimlessly. Guarding the command center area was the most important. I maxed out the men and equipment.

Pilot

[sgtsaunders]

That's one thing that frustrationg about CoH, is you have to think in a non-realistic manor. You're told to secure the road, but if you do it in the sequence that is implied by the orders, your screwed. Engineers become more important then infantry ;-)

[Fitz]

Having completed this last night, I have to say the first rule of this map, is that capping the cross roads is THE LAST THING you should do. Kill everything else first, THEN cap it and start the convoy.

[sgtsaunders]

Yeah I was successful last night as well. Knowing what I learned here actually made it an enjoyable level. It was quite effortless, battles went as planned.

The only thing was I didn't get was my Medal, even though there were no more panzers? Do I need to go top right section to find the last remaining panzers? second base? I mean do I have to go hunting for them?

At least I saved my gameplay so I have some great "saved" points in the game that I can go back to.

[wuyanxu]

Having completed this last night, I have to say the first rule of this map, is that capping the cross roads is THE LAST THING you should do. Kill everything else first, THEN cap it and start the convoy.
that's right, take out the enermy in the crossroad building with snipers and then just hold in there while capping every other points. i capped every points with my 2 sherman and halftruck combo.

i don't know how to get the medal, but on my counter, i destroyed 8/9 panthers while getting the medal at the same time. i did search the whole map, couldn't find the final panther.

[Fitz]

Hmmm, I took quite a lot of time on this map, the Panthers just kept throwing themselves at my defenses at home base, getting owned by 4 AT guns :F

Eventually it told me I had completed that secondary objectives.

[sgtsaunders]

I went back and got my Medal. You have to go into all the top areas, and force out the panzers. Its strange that some of the last panzers won't come out of hiding, unless you make it into the upper right most areas.

Boy, but once you take the last Green SP, the convoy goes regardless of what enemy positions are on the road ahead.

[Kutulhu]

I am also having the problem of Dog Company not coming out.

I am playing on Normal. I have even taken out the Panzer Group. I have taken various sectors, and lose some from time to time. I only have an HQ I set up, so I only can get Riflemen and Engineers. I use the Engineers to keep my tanks up.

So I am just sitting in the Courtyard, wasting all the Nazi infantry that keep making theses suicide runs into the middle.

I kill all the Panzers that come down the road. I have a few squards going around taking sectors and stealing AT guns

BUT IT STILL SAYS CLEAR THE COURTYARD.

What is the event that triggers DOG Companies rescue?

[sgtsaunders]

That's strange, because if you don't free dog company within a certain time frame, it tells you "mission failed". I remember the first time I played, I thought I would capture all the sectors below the courtyard, when all of a sudden it told me I failed to free dog company.


Also for what its worth, the tanks are panzers, some posts refer to them as panthers.

Here is the tank in the mission
http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k233/sgtsaunders1954/PanzerIV.jpg

Here is what a panther looks like

http://www.dragonmodelsusa.com/dmlusa/propics/DIR_DRR/l/l_DRR60125.jpg

[Kutulhu]

Well, I figured it out.

Since I was doing this for so long, I figured I might as well attack the Nazi base, and see if I can take it out.

The East enterance road has a MG nest. It was this nest I needed to kill, to trigger the event.

All in all, not a hard mission, at least, not as hard as most make it seem. I was able to destroy the Panzer Group, establish an HQ, and take out the base, without any support from rescuing Dog.

Once I got the boost from rescueing them, it was easy.

[WalkerK19]

I pretty much have my armored units rescued dog company first. After that one is cleared, I left engineer near the tanks and having vehicle barricade. Sending one greyhound to clear up volks that harrasing HQ. After that I have two squads of riflemens clearing and capping the right side of the maps.

While tossing grenades at those AT guns and occupied buildings (I wish sticky bomb was optional for building also). At this point this is where those panzergrouppe come in. Basically I just have my tanks holding the line when those stugs coming with my engineer behind repairing them. I gather my riflemen squads and have them fast track toward the front line. Throwing sticky bombs.

Sticky bombs is your friends againts armor harrasment. I didn't lose any vehicle in this game. Two squads throwing sticky bombs usually do enough damage at one tank.

After capping and clearing the right territory, I found a small path near those hedge wall leading to the Axis HQ. Cleared the machine gunner there with captured a AT. (This path doesn't have AT guarding). Using only three squads (one of them obtained panzershrek), an AT and upgraded hafltrack to clear the base. Lot's of grenades and sticky bombs thrown here...

And after that the usual clean up routine and capturing the middle point last. The backdoor infantry harrasment is the frustating part...


Still... when those off map infantry squadrons come, I have fun terrorizing them with my greyhound. :rofl:

[DudeWhersMyTank]

it's even more hilarious when you set up flail tanks on the roads so they spawn on the flails and get shreaded into gibs

[Malm]

I think that if you play this particulary map using the standard Warhammer approach meaning create alot of units for then to frog leap up the middle of the map you are doomed. There are not enough fuel resources on the map to do it in a proper way and you end up loosing the same RP's to flank attacks.

I took the advises given in this thread - kept away from southeast, took the tree nearest points to the east but only those along the road. Setting up a defense line towards the east. Pulled back all units along with dog company (didn't dared trying to hold it in the early game but it could probaly be done). Took all points on the westside all the way up to the forest blocking your way. Setting up a stronghold at the fuelpoint northeast of your HQ protecting any engagement from the east to the north. Do not loose your Shermans and M8's while defending. Guading the southern resource point is also important since the enemy keep attacking from the east.

In another thread someone tagged the mortars as being the most ineffective unit of all. To prove the falsehood of that statement I managed to sneak two mortars and one M3 upon the enemy HQ from west to north of its surrounding walls. Keeping them undetected I managed to demolished the tankfactory, all defensive units and then the HQ itself (it tooked extensive time you are hereby warned).

After I managed to demolish the enemy HQ area I secured the area just south of the crossroad and let my remaining Shermans hunt down any remaining tracked vehicles. The enemy will eventually build another tankfactory somewhere, find it and demolish it. By now their resources are depleted and it should not be a difficult task.

Having a Sherman with antimine rollers joining up I managed to clear the road all the way up to the northeast corner. All the time using the tracked vehicles to recon upfront and then finishing off any opposing force using mortars. Rapidly pulling back those tracks for repairs done by a nearby engineersquad then pushing forward once fully repaired.

To secure my flanks I used engineers to roll out alot of wire and having setting up a few MG nests along the path especially in the cementary and the fields north of it.

From here on it should be a relaxed game. Secure the northeast mapedge building with a rifleplatoon and take the central point to trigger the convoye.

Put focus on using strategy instead of brute force. In case of throuble do not mind leaving this map behind with a lot of uncaptured resource points. You can win without them.

I think that this map in particularly prove how brilliant and different COH is :thumb:



-

[Zarty]

Hello. I just bought COH and having a good time with it. I won this level after a few tries but it was a long process. I did it all with engineers! I just couldn't find a way to get other forms of reinforcements - like riflemen. I got the HQ at the bottom left of the map setup but what should I have done to start generating riflemen or paratroopers for example? Is it possible to start making tanks or AT guns? If so, how?

By the way, about 20 engineers with flame throwers seems to be pretty affective in most circumstances!

Zarty

[.sherman god.]

What with the Stugs?

The farmhouse thingy is an hq and build base buildings through engineers. XP How did you destroy the PanzerGrouppen and Stugs with flamethrowers? Or am I thinking of the wrong mission...

Engineers -> Build Base Structures -> Build em (duh)

[sgtsaunders]

Hello. I just bought COH and having a good time with it. I won this level after a few tries but it was a long process. I did it all with engineers! I just couldn't find a way to get other forms of reinforcements - like riflemen. I got the HQ at the bottom left of the map setup but what should I have done to start generating riflemen or paratroopers for example? Is it possible to start making tanks or AT guns? If so, how?

By the way, about 20 engineers with flame throwers seems to be pretty affective in most circumstances!

Zarty
You need to use an engineer group to build a separate barrick. After the build this you can get infantry squads, you can upgrade your barrick to gernades and sticky bomb. You need to build things to get extra tanks.

[Sgt. Conti]

Take my advice. I don't need it anyway.

1) Do not split your forces unnecessarily. Defending the compound where Dog Company was rescued is a mistake. It has no strategic value at all. No resources, no choke point, no nothing. German tanks would just bypass the place en route to your HQ so a large part of your (limited) forces would just sit there doing nothing. Didn't someone say in the opening movie of the mission that Dog Company's mistake was to venture too far afield? Do not repeat their mistake. After you have rescued those losers, withdraw everyone immediately to your HQ and build up your defences there.

2) The German Pak-50mm AT guns are your best friends (besides the pause/break button on your keyboard). The main challenge of this mission is to defend your base against enemy armored attacks. Initially you can't build your own AT guns yet. So the natural thing to do is capture enemy guns for your own use. Send out your light vehicles and infantry to scour the areas surrounding your HQ for enemy AT guns. Their number one priority is to capture those guns. Capturing resourses points comes second. Get as many guns as you can. Sacrifice all your light vehicles if you have to. If you manage to capture at least 2 AT guns you are well set to beat this mission.

3) Get your engineers to build tank traps to funnel the enemy armor into a narrow kill zone. Point your AT guns towards that zone. Potition your three Shermans around them just in case. Geez, I had 5 AT guns covering a small area before my HQ. They absolutely raped any German tank that approached!

And it was fun watching those mine flail Shermans terrorize German infantry and shred them to pieces!

[Psymon]

I remember this mission. Due to a bout of severe absent-mindedness, I forgot which road I'd cleared of mines and charged three halftracks, one full of troops, two with the MG upgrade, straight into a minefield. Ouch.

I destroyed the Panzergrouppen because they kept throwing themselves at my tanks one at a time and I annihalated them. Liberal use of engineers was required to keep them repaired.

[cldoobie]

I figured out the tanks ass thing in right away. Finally figured out how to make tanks. Left my command center where it was. Took everything on the left, then the road on the right side. Had to make sure that command center was guarded with tanks and jeeps. Took a while, but finally got the road open at one time, and that ended the level. 46 tries, lots of frustrations, and the next level took 20 minutes. I think that level 5 will be the hardest one.


I'm only on try #6 or 7 but I'm already as frustrated with this mission as you were at one time. You sir have given' some hope and I'll give some of the strategies in this thread a try, until I get by it. I never give up

I'm pretty much a RTS noob, and suck at these type of games. I'm pretty embarrassed that I'm struggling with single player on normal. This is the first single player game I had to search google for strategy and tips about. Very glad I found this site.

I shutter to think how bad I'd get my ass kicked in multiplayer right now.:donny:

[stomper4x4]

The info I found most help full at this topic is quickly taking down the main axis base where tanks are formed.

I did about 12 tries with no luck. Once I did do very well with a ton of engineers but still lost the battle.

The first time I took down the main base I ended up winning this level.

Here is how I did it.

1) Rescued Dog Company

2) Backed up and reinforced HQ and took nearby resources.

3) Took everything I had strait to Axis main base and took it over destroying the neighboring axis resources.

4) Took everything back to my HQ and did repairs on 3 tanks and redeployed more engineers Built three MG posts around HQ.

5) With most of the axis tanks destroyed I proceed to take all points and resources this side of the first y in the road. I made several forward HQ's during this.

6) Next I ran my anti mine tank up the road to the left and took out the first set of mines. I did this with the help of my engineers and AT guns taken from the axis. This did get a bit bloody for my troops but we pulled through. I had to pull back for about 5 mins to gather up my guys and make some repairs but then pushed back up the road.

7) The last thing I did before the level was finished was to take the last point after the mines and retook the point by the church.

Level complete Took about 1 hour.

[drlou]

Well, I finally got through this mission (with the help of those on this thread wayyyyy more adept at this than me) but I was down to 2 squads and 1 functioning barracks..no armor..no A/T...no vehicles. So I tied to take the Axis armor depot out and did...after 2- 8 hr. nonstop, bleary eyed sessions I developed a winning strategy!!! Take 4 inches of ground and build 9 zillion MG nests as you plod through the french countryside, pissing off your wife who can't believe you're spending so much time "at that computer". But at 1 AM last night when the Red Ball Express rolled up the road it was very gratifying.

[Dogtag]

I was given the game for christmas , so i`m a good way behind all the "vets". just had a look at your maps for the first time and i`m puzzled.
what are the gold lines that point to the stratigic points.
what are the pink dots?
I would be very greatful if you could help me out.
Dogtag

[Stilzken]

There is one overlooked chokepoint. If you follow the courtyard were dog company is to the east you will see a row of trees that ends up at a small courtyard with two houses and a fuel point. Putting a sniper, an mg and a recon car here will result in a defensive line between the two courtyards.

This smaller courtyard will get attacked by panzers so keep a tank on standby for support. (making the camped house a forward hq is also a good option)

If you neutralize all points south of this defense line with a second sniper and a group of riffleman you will not be attacked from that side again. This means you only need to place defenses at your north western side of your HQ.

Might need to get a feeling for this but it sure helps out alot with all those random infantry attacks at your home base.

[Travisimo]

First post here. Great forum.

Wow, I got spanked pretty badly on this mission on Normal. I just got the game about a week ago and I've played some CPU skirmishes but nothing online yet. I have learned a great deal already, but I'm definitely still a noob.

Anyway, I was doing pretty good in the Campaign until I got to this mission! It seems more like a trial and error mission because you really don't know how to go about it unless you've read up on it or tried it a couple of times.

The first couple of times, I just kept getting annihilated by the German tanks and then they'd come and attack my HQ. I was getting pretty frustrated, so I new I had to change tactics and I wasn't ready to seek help from the forums yet.

The next time I took extreme measures and just built a ton of AT guns which did end up taking out the tanks, but they ended up infiltrating my territories with infranty. I still was using the "defend the dog company position approach" and wasn't defending my HQ too much (simply because most games I had played rarely needed much defense at the HQ).

Finally, I had to resort to the forums and remembered a few key things when playing this mission:

1) Don't cap the crossroad point until you have dominated the map. If the convoy enters the road while the enemy still has heavy weapons, you're in trouble.

2) Consistently use engineers to repair your tanks. If you lose your tanks, you're in trouble because you'll be vastly outnumbered before you are able to build your own new ones. Keeping your tanks alive is key, even if it means retreating them if you get in trouble.

3) Use the initial force to rescue Dog Company and then take them back to the HQ while you build defenses. The tactics described here in the forums worked well - use MG's to protect your HQ and cap points from German infrantry. Use AT guns or your own tanks to take out the German tanks. If the German tanks come in one or two at a time, you can use your tanks to destroy them but if they get a group together use the AT's or sticky bombs.

4) When you have a decent force, take the lower right side of the map and cap all the points up to the middle. Build MG's to protect and I kept a couple of tanks together in several key areas of the middle of the map. Once you capture the lower half of the map, you're in good shape as long as you have protection.

5) Then I took my infrantry and tanks into the tank factory base and destroyed everything pretty easily. I used my infrantry to take out the AT guns and then used my tanks to take out his buildings and MG's.

Once you have destroyed that base, the rest is a piece of cake. Just keep advancing and clearing (don't forget to use the croc to take out the mines). One everything is clear, take the final crossroads point and the convoy will encounter no resistance.

Great mission, but definitely tough!

[whitefield]

Toughest missions so far (my first time playing through campaign, having a blast) here's my strat:

I wired and tank trapped the left and right of dog companies position, so it funneled them

then I went with 2 shermans and destroyed their forward base, eased up their attacks SO MUCH!!

(also dont forget theres a road far far south east on your side, place a quad there. every 5 or 10 minutes a group of 2 volks 1 mg and a lieutenent well come out of there. but the quad will make short work of them)

after wire/trapping and getting everything set up its just a matter of a slow push down the road.

EDIT: at the chokepoint i had 3 ats and 2 mgs

[shun]

The first time I played this I got pwned by tank and pioneer spam. I restarted this mission several times, and realized I was doing it all wrong. First, after the cutscene, immediately garrison the HQ, and start pumping out engineers. Take your Shermans and pounce on the forces attacking Dog Company. The placement here is tricky. You don't want main guns pointed at your own armor.

Previously, I would bring everything to the relief of Dog, but that caused my Quad and Greyhounds to get killed by friendly fire. Use the MineFlayer Tank as the ultimate anti-infantry device. Just run over the supressed/pinned troops. It's lots of fun. Also, a Stug or APC will show up to harrass you. Just blow them away with your Shermans. Once Dog is Relieved bring everyone back to HQ.

In the Meantime, if you have the presence of mind to think about doing this (use pause, a lot), build tank traps in a square around your base. I didn't realize the first time I played this, but the buildable area extends quite a bit further north than I initially thought, almost up to the first munitions point. Just build tank traps like crazy, all the way around your base, up to the road (you may want to cross the road, hell, you won't need to destroy them until the Red Ball arrives).

OK, you've built tank traps all around your base, including patching up that hole in the wall behind you, right? Bring your tanks back, and leave just one hole to feed them in (farthest from the HQ is best). Face your tanks outward, keep your engineers in, then prepare for attack). Make sure you keep a couple of flame engineers in the HQ to fend off any pesky idiots who make it that far. Build MG emplacements from any Axis (heh) of attack.

When you get a break build barracks, special weapons, Supply Depot, and Tank Farm. You can build a Motor Pool, as well, but I find AT guns good for static defense, but not so good for the Blitzkreig tactics that I like to use.

The strategy for taking out the enemy's tank farm is to pull a right hook. Go all the way across the bottom of the map with as many mobile units as you can spare, then turn left and hit everything in sight. You'll run into a pak, mortars, HMG's holed up in buildings, etc. Hopefully, they will be facing the wrong way (no way for that to happen with the ultra mobile units, but OK, you have successfully flanked the PAKs).

Go up the right side of the map, and at about mid-map, you'll see a German HQ. Now, here, I was not getting constant harassment from tanks and pioneers as reported on this forum. Basically, I mortar spammed and used a concealed sniper as my spotter. Then, when everyone was sufficiently damaged, I tank rushed to finish them off. I don't think you could build crocodiles on this level, so I used Shermans with Mine Flails. They're almost as good against infantry. Quads are fine, but can't take a shot from a pak.

After that, it was pretty much a mop up. There were some surprises after the fork in the road and the mines, but big deal. Infantry rushes, Paks, and *OMG* officers? Get over it. Use lots of HMG and sniper. Use the bombard ability from the mortars (I rarely use mortars in this game, but I had to give them a try). Hide behind tanks or in buildings. You can entrench behind Machine-Gun Emplacements and Sandbags for a little while but remember to rush forward and take strat points. Leave the point in the crossroads for last. Don't take it until all of the pre-positioned enemies have been wiped out and you are left with spawning infantry/paks at the road heads.
Spawn camp, and when you are sure no one is left alive, take the crossroads sp. Should be easy (I did it with a Greyhound). Oh, and the Panzers will come to you, one or two at a time. I killed them all while building up my base, creating more vehicles, 57mm guns, etc. I medalled pretty quickly, after a couple of tries where I had to go out and try to find the panzers, since they wouldn't just attack like good Germans.

[iron_paw]

I don't know if anyone encountered this...but for some reason halfway thru this mission my manpower income just stopped? My fuel and munitions kept floating but manpower went to zero income. Which sucks as I couldn't reinforce at all. Had to restart the mission :(

[JohnnyPar]

Can anyone link me to a really good, thourough, step by step walk-through for this mission 5? I played 1-4 flawlessly and the stuff you guys are throwing out in here confuse me, such as I didn't even know you could build AT guns etc, so I need a fundamental list. Thanks in advance!

[JohnnyPar]

Nevermind, I got it!~

[Nurizeko]

I got absolutely owned on this map but I've only had one go (though I installed CoH ages ago and oddly enough this was the last mission I played....).

Checklist...

*Take the dumbshite Bravo's back to base.

* Stick to the left...

* Build MG nests.

* Don't cap middle.

* Assimilate the Nazi scum's AT putters (Your weaponry will adapt to service us....),

* Don't over-extend...

* Tank traps and barbed wire, funneled kill zones.

* Find this fabled axis base and destroy it.





I'll see if I do any better....

[tanois]

Okay it took me 5 tries but I finally found a way to do it. It takes some micromanaging and battle line awareness but its rewarding. The key is to rescue dog company as quickly as possible while at the same time establishing a rough defensible perimeter (with some resources flowing in) before the panzer cutscene activates (which then leads to the endless tank wave).

1. Immediately after first cutscene I took my mine flaying sherman up ahead straight down the road till it was next to the court yard where dog company is (but not yet in the courtyard but behind the wall on the left side). This should force the german infantry along the road to get nailed and to flee northward.

2. I took my half track and sent it above my HQ building to nail the German infantry there and hold onto the point until I could build some of my own infantry.

3. I sent my APC to the lower right hand point with my squad of riflemen to take and hold my eastern frontline next to the point. Make sure to have your infantry throw a sticky bomb onto the German half track to weaken if not take it out. And make sure to have the infantry take the point as quickly as possible.

4. I sent two shermans straight up the road into the Dog company courtyard to relieve them. After you nail their infantry and blow up one of their tanks then dog company should pop right out.

The initial commands should all take about a minute or so with you checking back at every area to make sure things don't go wrong.

Once Dog Company is relieved you can do one of two things:

You can pull Dog Company back or you can try and hold onto your forward position.

If you try to hold onto a forward HQ you will inevitable leave huge gaps on your eastern flank with infantry and the occasional tank or half track squeezing through to hit your rear HQ and outposts. If you pull back then you will have to fight your way back up to that position and risk losing that point and its resources.

In any case your priority would still be to gather whatever is necessary to stop the onslaught of of panzers that will activate on a timer (which is why its so important to relieve Dog company as fast as possible).

5. Take dog company and grab any anti tank guns you see and immediately position them along side the main road slightly south of the dog company courtyard (the area of the road with buildings or walls flanking both sides of the road). The panzers seem to favor using that main road and 2-3 antitank guns with the mine flayer sherman should provide a formidable defense. The panzers also seem to favor coming down that road in ones and twos which makes it easier. You should have a half track somewhere near there since you sent one up in the beginning. Use that and an antitank gun to guard the northwest section of that front in case the Germans come down the far left side of the map.

6. If you decide to hold onto the dog company courtyard leave some antitank or better yet both shermans there and have the dog company engineer build a machine gun nest facing the northern archway since the Germans tend to charge through there. Make sure the engineers is close by to repair the shermans and the machine gun nest. If you decide to hold that position be aware that occasionally small groups of german infantry and the occasional tank will roll down to around the southeast side of that courtyard on their way to hit your outposts and rear HQ. So you might want to position your tanks towards the far south side of that courtyard to to intercept these guys as well as be able to pull back northward to hit the incoming tanks and infantry that slide through that northern archway.

7. At the same time you should build a couple (or three) engineer squads and supporting riflemen to:

-consolidate the points in your perimeter and eventually build outposts on them
- construct buildings to tech up to shermans
-and to construct some machine gun and antitank gun defenses near your HQ or along the road facing the field in the center of your territory since your eastern front is going to be like swiss cheese with german infantry and the occasional tank pouring through.

The priority at this point is to stop the Panzer group coming straight south. If you fail at this then its pretty much a loss in my experience. Once you create or set up a chokepoint for a panzer holocaust then you can focus on your exposed eastern flank.

8. Do your best to consolidate your eastern frontline by creating some machine gunner squads to hold key areas near outposts (tanks tend to favor shooting at the outpost rather then at your infantry). And also in the abscence of shermans try to grab some antitank guns or be prepared to do some extreme micromanagement of sticky bombs in the case of tanks.

9. Lacking troops or resources to actually hold onto a solid eastern flank, be prepared to pause the game alot at the slightest red blip and move your forces accordingly but not too far afield. Don't be afraid to let their infantry hit your HQ while you are still waiting on some infantry to pop out. this is more preferable then to juggle your defense around on a wild goose chase and open up even more gaps.

10. With a rough defense in place grab an antitank gun or a sherman and some anti infantry like a machine gunner squad or a halftrack along with a rifleman squad or two and PUSH! You need resources at this point badly but more importantly you need to acquire a defensible perimeter so hit any exposed points the germans have that will yield a defensible perimeter (buildings, walls, high ground, hedgerows) anything that forces and funnels the enemy to take predictable paths that can be watched. Then set up overlapping fields of machine gun and anti-tank fire along these paths as soon as possible.

From there it is then just a painful slow slog to take point by point and reinforcing the new defense line with machine gun nests and antitank guns.

[Koki]

I can't for the life of me find one Panzer IV. I have entire map except for the road sectors, I killed everything, I keep the out-of-the-map enemy spawnpoints secured so they die as soon as they appear, but my Panzer Cunter still shows 9/10. I checked whole map twice and I just can't find that one bastard. Is this a bug?

Replaying this mission again would be quite torturous.

[adamsun]

My strategy is(after many tries):
Rescue Dog Company then go back to HQ and defend it.
Make sure tanks go in the compound first and take all the hits, other light vehicles are place behind them.
When coming back to the HQ, take left side munitions point and right side fuel point. Make sure then are under the cover of fire. Left side has an AT, which can help to defeat panzer attack.

Panzer attack is not too difficult, just make sure to let tanks to take all hits and use engineers to repair them.
Put other vehicles behind tanks. No problem to get medal

After Panzer attack, send tanks and vehicles to right side to take all points, mortar is also helpful to attack known enemy(especially AT) positions. Enemy will try to get the points back and make my vehicles very busy(I do not know to user MG nest at that time).

Then take central compound(also the fuel point) and make it HQ. Move right-side force to the house by the road. These will make sure that no enemy unit can go down to take any point(from right and central areas), make sure to use tank trap and barbed wire to stop both tank and infantry.

There is still a gap between left and central forces. So move left side force forward to take the fuel point, use tank trap at left side of the trees so that tanks can not move down this way, create two MG nests to kill infantry and protect this point(finally, at this time I find out that unoccupied MG nest can shoot enemy, MG team is not required).

Set a road block at Y fork, place a sniper before the road block to detect enemy forces, and AT are very good to kill tank this way, I guess one reason is that with sniper’s help, AT can shoot tank side-way when they try to get on road, not the strongest front end, (or there may be some damage bonus to attack tank which can not see it’s enemy and is not alert?).
Without sniper, one tank(besides 2 AT and repair engineers) is required to defend this road block, with sniper’s help, two AT are enough to handle tanks. MG and other light vehicles are used to kill infantry.

When left and central areas are stable, move one tank(sniper is another option, but I only have one sniper) to into Enemy HQ from right path then withdraw, 2-3 light vehicles below to kill any pursuing infantry. Use mortar to attack known enemy positions especially AT and mortar positions. Then move tanks and light vehicles into enemy HQ area to clear it.

The last part is to move sniper slowly over all points to spot enemy, then use mortar to kill them.

Micro-management
For the first part of game, I create three unit groups (1,2,3) for tanks, armored cars and half-track.
If I need to attack a tank, I just press 1 to select all three tanks and send them to attack enemy tank.
Later, although vehicles are divided into three locations(left, central, right) it is still a fast/easy way to check vehicles health.

Use pause to get time to check situation and find right way accordingly.

Hope this is helpful.

I have not find out how to build Motor Pool and Tank depot until next mission(from this thread I know it is possible); also by accident in next mission I build Triage Center, not Medic Station. If I replay this mission again, MG nests, new vehicles, healing Triage Center will make things easier.

[Dr Dave]

Not the easiest mission but a fun one all the same. It has been a while since I played this but it is one of my favourites. The AI in this mission is trying to give you a ‘realistic’ response to being in ‘enemy’ territory. The enemy will ‘spawn’ from 3 or 4 points on the map, often behind you. Once you realise this you can use this in your favour and nail them as they spawn! 

OK
Rescue Dog Company with your tanks and if you want take the point here but get out once you have (they may retake but not reoccupy). Regroup back at base and set up some defences. Tanks are going to roll down the road towards you so AT (at least 2) in field on same side as base, sandbags, wire and tank traps help. Make sure AT overlap with fire. Some troops here help. Place tank a MGN on right of road level with AT as a bait and as a cross fire (engineers near by for repair). This should deal with the tanks. Base will be attacked from the field to the right and from the road. I had greyhound and HT (I think) on the road behind the wall by base. Wire and MGN are useful as troops rush you with flame thrower. Taking the nearby points requires you to protect them with MGN or something else.

You should now have a well established base with med centre to help repair damaged troops. Once you have smashed the tank attack do not abandon your defence as you may still get attacked. You could now move out and retake the courtyard and upgrade the building and build some defences here but DO NOT TAKE THE POINT ON THE ROAD (or the convoy will turn up and you will have to defend this too). I like to move out across the fields across the road from the base so that I ‘own’ all of this ground before I assault there HQ; but be careful there are some AT and well dug in troops. I usually send a sniper up the road at the edge of the map on the right who deals with the AT’s and MG’s then use tank to take out troops in houses. Troops spawn from the far side of this last farm house so you can leave them a surprise or 2 (at least). I take all territory the right of the road up to and including the farm with the courtyard below their base (troops spawn from the slope on the right of the entrance to the HQ (by the trees) and will run round the courtyard and past the point on the right so you can nail then here. During this time I do edge my AT and troops up the left field stopping just before the crossroads point. Mortar in forward HQ deals with at and troops in road but they will still keep coming. Rushing the HQ can be fun but also suicide; so save before you do. There is AT, mortar, AT troops, and armour in there so if you can rush it from front and back it is good (amour first followed by troops and engineers for repairs and demolition). Once you achieve this, things get a bit easier! You still have the rest of the map to clear but… Troops will spawn from the places mentioned so check you have them covered.

Now using sniper (on hold) you can spot and nail troops still left up to the church and church yard on the left (do not go onto the road as it is mined) bring up AT to cover cross roads right and left. Take the area (before the road) at the back entrance to the HQ and set up some defence (there is another spawn point behind you here from the road that leads off map and you will get troops and light armour coming at you so an AT and MGN is useful!

You can if you wish now take the crossroads point. The convoy will show up and park by your HQ. I like to take both the right and left sides (roads) as it stops any possible counterattacks. There are similar defences on both sides including AT and MG in the roads, mines, troops and base structures. Mortar can usually deal with AT and MG that are near chock points and if you have it use the tank with the mine crawl on it to clear mines. Then it is just a scrap! I clear everywhere before capping main points and also set up some defence at main points on road to deal with attacks on convoy. Then I cap both points at the same time and the convoy moves out (PS make sure you have not blocked the road!)
Have fun

[CallSignRaven]

Finaly done this mission
I've got the game on saturday and was till sunday on this mission,and tried various of tactics.
Then i found this forum(very good) and read all of tactis posted here.At second try I've completed the mission.

1-Helped dog company,with all tanks
2-Created barracks and repared the tanks.
3-Then i went to attack axis base,but not from the "main" entrance(where is located an AT) like i was doing,and endep up all the time almost witout tanks.I went arround and destroyed their building.All my tanks were destroyed except Croc and two other tanks(don't remenber the name)
4-Next I've destroyed all Panzers.for each panzer i destroyed i had to do repairing
5-After that was just capture resource points,put some MG's on the top of the map to stop enemy troops from coming and secure the roads

[Thrud]

Christ!

Ive just replayed this, and im having real problems.

There seems to be a continuous stream of pioneers, mgs and stugs coming off map retaking territory and harrassing the base.

I used to think this was really easy....

[DrEvil....EVIL!]

There seems to be a continuous stream of pioneers, mgs and stugs coming off map retaking territory and harrassing the base.

No, these vehicles are built in an enemy base, which is your objective to destroy. The only off-map they call in are Grens, Volks, Officers, Pak 38s and of course the medal objective Panzer IVs.

[pater familias]

I beat it on the second try on normal. This is essentially an armor meeting engagement, so I didn't want to get myself too tied down (that was my failure in the first try).

After rescuing Dog Co., I built a medic in that forward courtyard and stationed AT / MG at the entrances. Put two engineer squads there and one at HQ to repair the armor, upgraded my halftrack to a quad!!!, then built mostly rifles with heavy weapon upgrades.

Having the forward base lets you constantly repair armor, pop out and fight, pop back in and repair, from essentially the middle of the map. With two rifle squads and one of the Shermans pretty much always ready to go from there, you can flank then kill the German armor one at a time. That way you can get more firepower AND a positional advantage. The one time a tank did make it into the courtyard, I had two sticky bombs on it inside of 10 seconds.

As soon as able, I got the command ability to cap with light vehicles, and sent two Greyhounds with an engineer (for repairs) and a rifle squad (to take out any AT guns) around the bottom half of the map. Using combined arms, the Greyhounds are pretty sturdy and can scoot out of range if you encounter schrecks, letting the riflemen clean up with a grenade. I had to call in the Sherman/quad pair only once or twice.

I mostly kept the quad near a Sherman and microed to make sure the tank engaged German armor whenever they met. If I couldn't get 2-on-1 odds with my tanks or get a rifle squad into play, I would withdraw my armor after I got the halftrack to safety. A couple of times, I led the Panzers into range of the AT at the forward base, "kill you very much."

With the quad halftrack on call, one rifle squad in green cover on duty at HQ to slow down an attack is plenty. The quad is more than a match for the troops the AI is putting out, particularly when you bring it into their flanks as they are faced up to your rifles.

Once I had the bottom half of the map pretty much tamed, I used a rifle squad to spot the AT gun at the Axis base, then hit it w/ two AT of my own, took out the MG nest on the south side with a BAR squad and hit the base from all three directions. Between the BAR, a Sherman's MGs and the quad, there's almost no return fire from the Axis ... It's strictly spawn and get pwned. That let the AT guns, a mortar and the Sherman's big gun have their way. By the team my engineers arrived with charges, it was almost over anyway.

To finish, I went up the left fork of the Y, with an AT gun and a rifle unit in green cover to protect my flank on the right fork and got the last tank for my medal ... a sticky bomb took out the engine from the roadside and the AT gun finished it off.

I lost one Greyhound to an AT gun, one to mines when I got greedy chasing a couple of German engineers, but managed to keep everything else running to the end of the game and built no armor.

Stay mobile, love your quad and use enhanced rifles / sticky bombs to flank armor.

[DummyHero]

Hi there guys. I had difficulty with this one. I found that the enemy tanks kept coming and infantry and slowly wore me down to an ignominious defeat.
I followed the advice on this forum to finish it.

Here's what I found helped:
Do not capture the crossroad point until last.
Give all your engineers flame-thrower ability.
Build a tank depot asap.
Capture enemy territory.
Take out enemy HQ from the North. The South is heavily defended.

BUT I do need some HELP please.
I could not for the life of me figure out how to aim the AT guns.
HOW DO YOU AIM THE AT GUNS?
Every time I moved them they ended up pointing in some random direction.

[GeoffS]

Select the gun you want to work with, then hold down the right mouse button and drag in the direction you want the gun to face. You will see an arc that moves with the mouse showing the firing arc of the gun. When it faces the way you want it to, release the right mouse button. You can give the facing order at the same time as you give a move order, just right-click and hold at the point you want the gun to move to and then set the direction by dragging the arc.

[DummyHero]

Thanks GeoffS. I like your picture!

[Grail Quest]

Playing on Expert.

Is it just me, or is everyone else blowing 8 HOURS finishing this easy mission?
I found it easy if you don't do what Dog Company did -- that is, overextend yourself and leave your flank or rear unexplored. But it took something like 8 hours to clear the map before taking the fork in the road, even on re-runs where I knew where the enemy HQ was (didn't help at all trying to rush to box them in there).
I lost some infantry units but not whole squads; lost no vehicles. (I *do* use the Pause button, though). Is everyone else just spending them like water?