[Americans] Hill 192 - Mission 9

[Druidika]

Hill 192

Between Able company and Hill 192 lies the maze-like bocage nestled within German 88s, Panzers and concealed infantry. Able's orders are to secure Hill 192 before advancing towards St. Lô.

[Weavern]

MEDAL: Clear hill in 40 minutes!!!

You will hate this level on the higher difficulties. The artillery strikes are cruel and your time to get the medal is far less then you would think necessary.

So now that we have established you will hate this level? What can you do about it? Halftracks! These are your very very best friend, same with medical tents.

The safest path and most direct is to crawl up the right hand side to where charlie company died. Then advance through the hedges towards the hill. Once you move past the flak88 you will enter into the artillery range. This is where the level becomes painful attacking up the hill only to have your squad obliterated by artillery! Something you should be very thankful for is once you build a tank production center you are reinforced with a sherman and a croc. These will assist you very much keep them alive!

Halftracks, a pair of 57mms and a mortar or two and multiple squads or riflemen is a good crawling force. Dont forget your engineers as going back along the main road is death and inbetween you and HQ is a very exposed flank. Remember to bring along a sniper on hold fire to act as an early warning system. This will also allow your 57mms to take down panzers much quicker. For this mission halftracks are your lifeline if these die you may be forced to crawl all the way back through the hedges to your position due to no more reinforcements for your riflemen who will all be battered and brused by the time you get to the top.

But why wont you tell me what exactly is along the path? Because I'm lazy. Securing the munition point to your right is a very useful objective on higher difficulty but is a horrendous timesink. So you want to advance as quick as you can up the hill towards all that lovely fuel yum!

Ok so you died on the hill again... ah but you remember that howitizer that the infantry tree gets and that group of hedges north east of the 88 you can place these guys here and completely demolish everything on the hill. But remember to obtain victory you only have capture the hill, the moment you capture it, the mission ends. Even if its a lone rifleman after his squad was obliterated around him it still counts.

//will be expanded//

[Nirelyn]

I found it interesting that that the briefing warned to avoid the roads repeatedly, yet the 88MM on the left hand side of the map did not fire at my tanks until I was nearly there! At that point it was easy to circle and destroy it, blitzing to the hill from there.

[lordkosc]

I found it interesting that that the briefing warned to avoid the roads repeatedly, yet the 88MM on the left hand side of the map did not fire at my tanks until I was nearly there! At that point it was easy to circle and destroy it, blitzing to the hill from there.

Ditto! I think they were out to lunch or something, and I also went up the left as I found it much easier... Beat this mission in 58:21 with 1 single ranger left alive atop the hill to make the capture! :)

Also if going left, they seem to only flank you in once spot near the 88 on left side that you should have captured and crewed.

[JonZ]

You have to build right on start a research facilty then a tank depot to get your Calliope and Crocodile earlier. Then build a Motor Pool and get one or two halftrack to reinforce your troops along your ascention. Keep the commander points to get howitzer first. Rangers aren't necessary and cost too much for the little damage they are capable of.

The good trajectory would be to flank to the NW. Use the Crocs shovel to tear down the trees and make the ascention to the north easier. With tanks, take all the Fuel and ammo points to the West side while keeping troops going to NNW. Important to secure ammo points with OP for faster rates of ammunition regeneration for later bombardment. It also a good idea to secure territory points to get more MP.

Don't go on the far West road, a 88 gun is awaiting you on it way, just ascent the hill with the help of the Croc through the trees.

You will at some point get the order to take out the enemy observation post near the territory point that lay behind an enemy bunker because of the Axis bombardment. Just keep for a little behind and order to the engineers to build an howitzer and proceed to bombard the observation post.

Once the observation post goes off, proceed over there with tanks and AT for incoming Panzers. Once you take the ammo point near the falled observation point, get the croc to make your way through the field where there is 2 oil barrels stocks. This is the easiest way to flank the enemy defense due to the lack of defense of the enemy.

Make sure your tanks are fully repaired and have the Crocodile lead the way for bulldozing the tank barriers. Also a good idea to have your troops in halftracks. Once over there, the enemy artillery will goes non stop on you, so you better to react fast. Have also your Artillery, Calliope and Howitzer to proceed to an heavy bombardment of the top flag.

The top flag is heavily defended by 4 bunkers, 4 AT guns and alot of elite troops. Make sure your bombardments clear off the corners where the AT and bunkers are. When the areas starting to be clear, rush your halftracks over there and get the flag. There's a possible encounter with 2 Panzers but if you do it fast, the Panzers won't have time to react.

[evotech]

omfg, i made it 1 minute late with constant spamming rifle comanies and what not, truly epic battle up there

[sniper-X]

build 2 extra sherman and go up the left side with 1 sniper a 2 engineers and troops and keep sending the troops up
i think i made it with a few mins left

[0mar]

I just built 3-4 shermans, had engineers follow them, built a couple of howitzers and 105mm-spammed the top of the hill. Beat it in about 25 minutes.

[Petwin]

After reading all this I expected mission impossible. It was a walk in the park.
(Note: didn't build a motorpool), (note 2: up = North).

1) Engineers: Build a supply store / tank depot - you'll get a Calliope and Croc for free.
3x rifle: hug the SE side and kill the pak, continue till you see the tank. 1 rifle can move around out of it's range (N, NE, SE) behind the ammo-point. Kill the pak & use it to kill the tank. Let the reduced riflesquad stay to build an OP and return everyone to base.

2) The Call and Croc can take out all defences around the 3 ammopoints NW of your base. Engineers can take the points.
Beware of the Goliath minitank (just 1) from the W.
Heal up and build 1-2 more Shermans and 2-3 engineers. With Call+Croc+1 Sher and 3 engineers+1 rifle in the rear (let's call this the A-team) simply push NW along the road and take al the SW points.

3 ) Keep some troops NNW of your base to scare off wandering German troops (snipers are useful). Keep 125 ammo in stock.
The A-team will encounter a nasty flak 88. Just rush it and heal up. After the cutscene let the Call throw it's missiles on the tower. If it's not dead, rush it with Cal+Sher (there's a panzer defending). Beware of the Goliath minitank (just 1) from the SE. Return to the flak 88 and heal up.

4) Use the Croc on the bushes. Move NE toward the ammo-point. Heal up and let the Call throw 1-2 missile barrages on the hilltop.
Rush the hilltop with your tanks. Kill the panzershreck-grenadiers and the paks first, then rest (don't forget the bunkers). Beware of the Goliath minitank (just 1) from the SE and the artillery barrages (just move your tanks out of the area).

5) The engineers take the hilltop and the mission is complete.

Hope this helps,
Petwin

[Papageno]

Wow, I have no idea how you guys are managing this mission within the time allowed for the soldier's medal (50 minutes). Did they change it with the latest patch (1.3) to disallow Calliopes? Because I don't see an option for building them. With them, it would be a lot easier to take out those damned rocket-launching halftracks the Germans have. Or maybe I'm thinking of the wrong mission? It's called Hill 192, right?

[sgtsaunders]

When I played I got a calliope from the opening start.

[Papageno]

Well, they must have changed it for 1.3 then, because in the mission I played all they start you out with is an HQ, an engineer team, a barracks and three rifleman squads. Plus they've pre-chosen Infantry as your company type (because you end up getting Howitzers), so clearly you couldn't get your hands on a Calliope, since it's an Armor company support option.

[sgtsaunders]

Early on ( about 2-3 minutes ) in the Mission two tanks arrive, a Calliope and a Croc. Without it very hard to take the lower left bottom side.

[Papageno]

Where are they supposed to show up, at HQ? Because I never got such help, nor was there an announcement that it had shown up. I just got my initial forces (an HQ, a barracks, 3 riflemen squads, an engineer squad, and some starting resources), and had to claw my way through the capture of the lower left corner (which was "a biatch," as you point out, though not in those words). Maybe that's why they increased the time to 50 minutes?

[sgtsaunders]

When I heard someone say that they didn't get any tanks after 1.3, I went back and played. I said damm, they're right no tanks. But after playing for two minutes they showed up.

The Calliope and Croc show up right after the 2.00 minute mark. A message comes on telling you need to build Shermans and upgrade them to Calliopes. But you are given two tanks for free and they come onto the map just below your HQ

http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k233/sgtsaunders1954/Mission9.jpg

[Papageno]

Well, I guess I'll try it again to check. Maybe it makes a difference if the campaign was started back when the game was first released (as this one was), and I only got around to this mission after the 1.3 patch was installed.

OK, just checked, and played 5 or 6 minutes into the mission--no tanks. Looks like a bug. No wonder I found it near impossible to get the medal in the time alloted (although my brother managed to do it with 5 seconds to spare, with much pausing and giving orders).

Or does one have to get a tank depot up and running first in order to get the "freebie" tanks? Doesn't seem all that logical, but getting resources from telephone poles isn't either... ;)

I'm beginning to feel like I'm in the twilight zone here. Can't see how the message could tell me to upgrade the Shermans to Calliopes if Infantry company is preselected-- I thought that was only an armor company option.

A few minutes later, after checking again...

OK, now I feel like an idiot (sorta)-- the freebie tanks do come if I get a tank depot up ASAP. However, they never did show up if I waited and built the tank depot later. There must be some kind of window of opportunity that you can miss. Jeez, wish that had been made clear. :(

[sgtsaunders]

Yeah I noticed that. When I went back to play it one more time again, like you NO TANKS showed up. This time I was just playing waiting for the 2 minute mark. 3 and 4 minutes later and damm, NO Tanks. This time I didn't build anything I just waited and waited.

So you found the problem, you need to have a Tank Depot up.

[Sgt. Conti]

I sent my sniper in camo with fire on hold ahead of my main forces to screen the advance. When he got close to the (destroyed) observation post a tank appeared from nowhere to chase him around. My sniper was like 20 feet from the Axis infantry and they couldn't detect him while the tank just drove straight at the poor fellow no matter which way he ran. How could the tank "see" my sniper? Did it have a smell sensor or something? That was not all. Rocket barrages suddenly fell upon my sniper! I managed to get him out of harm's way just in time thanks to that red warning smoke. However, it was still as annoying as hell. I mean, snipers in camo with fire on hold are supposed to be nearly invisible, right? The tank and the rocket barrages happened AFTER I had taken out the observation post so there could be no question of Axis spotters radioing the position of my sniper to the tank or the rocket launchers.

I'm thinking this may be a bug. Anyone else experienced the same problem?

[Papageno]

Yup, I noticed that too. It's lame in the extreme that the AI magically knows just where to send its units to "coincidentally" detect your camo'd sniper in this mission. I think it was designed that way because otherwise it would be pretty easy to just send a sniper in deep and blast any area you wanted to with off-map artillery.

I sure hope there aren't any more missions with that magical clairvoyance on the part of the AI.

[Yaden]

This mission kicks my ass in so many ways. I finally get the observation post and re-gear, as I assualt the main base I suddenly get hit by several tanks out of nowhere.

Plus I am very annoyied how hard it is to direct the tanks to knock down a path, they constantly path back and around everything unless I micro them.

[blahblahblahbla]

Has any one got the medal on this set on expert. To take the hill in 30 minutes seems totally impossible. It took me a couple of hours just to clear this level without getting the medal.

[Mitch]

This mission kicks my butt...I'd appreciate seeing how others did it...

[MonsterRain]

Ya this mission is cyco.
I have tried everything.
Going left, going right, going center, just rushing the hill.

Cant friggin see how it is possible to beat this in 50 minutes. Takes nearly ten minutes to build the depot to get tanks then build the first tank. Then upgrades and etc.

I can beat the mission easily, but the time limit is so very hard. Maybe because the calliope gun was changed or something. I cant even really get close to 50 minutes. I just dont see it as possible. Too much resistance plus I got a pop cap issue and need to secure points to get resources.

This is a game breaker for the medal. It id real fun mission though but that time limit os crazy.

[Offensive_D.Fox]

Yes, someone please post a replay if you have one. I too went and attempted going up the right side, but there really isn't a lot of munitions on that side and how am I supposed to deal with those nicely hidden panzers waiting around in the bushes without munitions?

[MonsterRain]

Got the 50 minute one the other day.
Lost the Calliope early too didnt even get to use it.
I cleared everything on the south side of the road. Went back by the 88 and stayed back over the hedge from the road.
Mortar'd the 88 with a mortar i commandeer'd.
Swept my army in and took over that town.
Had 1 croc 2 up gunned shermans 2 engies and about 4 squad of infantry rifle-ranger
Held that town while building HQ in the building all the way to the east on south of road that the axis was using for hq.
Built 2 howies.
Howied the hill every chance I could.
Crawled forward taking out anything I saw.
Cut the hedge nearest the town that I could.
Rushed the hill with croc and shermans. lost them all, had infantry rushing the victory point. lost them too.
kept sending units from the hq to the top and kept shelling it when i could see what was up there. At same time making new croc and sherman.
Just kept rushing over and over till someone finally made it.
took 48 minutes and change.
I will never do that one again.

[shun]

For all of you having trouble with this :

When the cut-scene ends, pause as soon as you can.

1. Build an engineer, flag the HQ so that they run to the bottom of the screen, close to the road head.
2. Take all of your rifles and have them bunch up just to the left of the road. Don't go too far, or they'll be engaged by an MG or bunker.
3. Start building Supply Yard with the Engineers.
Unpause and wait a bit.

When the second engineer team is built, have them help the first group build a supply yard. When that is done, have them build a Tank Depot.

Hopefully, only a couple of minutes have passed by now. As soon as the Tank Depot is up, a Calliope and Croc will join you from the road. Research 76mm ASAP. Yes, I know how to waste fuel. I learned not to waste Muni, however, so for Goddsakes, don't buy Muni upgrades for your tanks. You'll need muni for later.

Build a barracks while the croc and cali deal with enemies. Research BAR.

Take the two tanks to the first munitions point up, and to the left. (I attack left, btw). Kill the bunker with the croc and the MG with the Calliope, or vice versa. Watch for Panzershrek infantry. Heal with engies and capture with rifles when the shooting stops.

Take the Fuel to the left of Muni, same tactics. Try to minimize the use of the bulldozer blade. The enemy uses the breaks in the hedgerows to attack you, too. Advance up the left hand side. You will also encounter an entreched sniper, some panzergrens, a mortar team, a tank (if you piss it off and try to cap that high-muni point) and goliaths every once in a while. I go after mortars and sniper with Croc. Goliaths, with Rifles and engies. Rifles are a lot cheaper than Tanks. The Cali is irreplaceable.

The theme that I use is, Attack with tanks, heal with Engies, cap with infantry. Your rifles should not do any actual fighting (ooh, icky). You should convert a building (I chose the shrine) to an HQ. Reinforce any low squads here. Take out the Axis HQ left of the road. Burn out the sniper, cap this point with rifles, etc.

Call in a Sherman as soon as possible. You will be watching your Man and Fuel from this point onward. As soon as you can, build a Sherman and have it come to the aid of the other tanks. Continue to build Shermans as you advance.

Rush the 88 on the left hand side. Make sure you attack with at least 3 tanks. A walking stukka is here as well, but if you rush it, it will die. It will get one shot, which will fall well behind your tanks. Here, my Cali was killed by the 88. Oh well, keep advancing. There will be a panzer and an enemy HQ, here as well.

Stay away from the fork in the road leading right. Keep your men as far left as possible. If you even stop by the road head, you will get an "Enemy Flanking" message and some tanks and infantry will attack. This is more pain than it's worth. You may even lose a tank. Boo hoo.

Here I made another classic mistake : I burned the enemy HQ to the ground. Ideally, you should take the HQ intact and convert it to your own HQ. Some people like to build a motorpool, then APC/Quad. Me, I like my fixed HQ's. So sue me.

You should have something like 15 minutes left, when it is time to take the Fuel point and prepare for your final push onto the hill. Build a howitzer next to the fuel point and pound the Observation Post with it. Shell the top of the hill periodically. Bombard left, right,and center of the VP. If you played this a couple of times, you know where the bunkers are and where that damn Panzer camps out. Hit them.

Keep bringing Shermans up from base camp to where you are (left side, upper left-hand corner). When you have 3 or more shermans, go around the left side brush and hook right. You will get an Enemy Flanking message and a whole mess of *OMFG* infantry will attack. Oh well, tanks make short work. Also, cap that point near here, and build MGE's with engies. That'll keep that pesky infantry down.

Cap the final Muni point to the left (watch out for more infantry). Then push with your Croc only up through the gap in the hedges and watch out for panzers. You'll get a Rockets Incoming message, but will hopefully breeze through the impact zone without any damage.

Now, the hunt : at the top of the hill, look for Knight's Cross Holders. They, as far as I can tell, control the damn Off-Map Artillery. Target them (I paused a lot during this level, can't you tell?) and burn them out.

Your croc may die, but in the end, the Rockets will stop. Howie and Artie the top of the hill, build your men (I used the original 18 rifles, but you may want more, unless you are close to your pop cap). Rush with 1 tank going far and nailing the camped panzer. 2 tanks short, attacking the closer bunker, waiting for panzers to arrive. If you still have your cali, keep it back and wait for enemy tanks to barrage.

Infantry : rush them to the victory point. If your Croc did the job, most of the enemy infantry should be messed up. Your only worries are gun crews, pointing the wrong way, tank cannons, which are hopefully pointing at your tanks, and infantry reinforcements, which should not be enough.

With 18 (no, 15, aah!! 12) men rushing the victory point, you should have it in a minute or two. Hint : save often.

I did this a couple of times. I once ran out of men. The second time, I ran out of time, just as I captured the victory point. Frustrating. Tried calling in Rangers, and they seemed to help a little (they were able to fire up). They just take too long to get there, and are engaged along the way.

Finally, medalled with a minute left to go.

So, total timeline looks like this :

10:00min -- take the two lower points
15:00min -- Run up the left side and take out first HQ
20:00min -- Burn down second HQ (oops).
25:00min -- Prepare for invasion (take last two strategic points)
27:00min -- Attack, first with croc, then with combined Sherman/Infantry

Don't worry if you're late. Just make sure you have a full 2 minutes left when you begin your infantry rush, or you'll win just as you run out of time (like me).

[TheCiscoKid]

Wow! I captured the Hill 192 @ 49:53!!!!

The funniest thing about it was that I had no idea I was that close. I actually thought I had already missed it :lol: :D :lol: !!

[Felipe_Panzer]

MAN!!!! The german AI makes panzer spam!!! I can´t beat it

[metal1966]

Well. I finally beat it... but not in the timeframe. Just glad its over. Now I can move on or go back and try to beat it under 40min. I think my time was around 50.
I used Shuns lengthy guide to good effect. Annoying thing is...they tell you to stay off the roads which leads you right into the hedgerows and doom. It takes forever. But if you take the western and then northern approach, making a HQ at the northernmost building, you are most assured of success. So..what they tell you and what you think should work is actually counter to victory. "Stay off roads!" - BS. The 88 is an easy take down and a valuable assett.
Although I fight with the tanks...I still lead with infantry. Finally figured out its great to suppress the AT squads with BARs and then mop up easily with tanks.
I built 3 howitzers near the northern building and rained death on the main camp. It was very good.
What a great mission and a GREAT game. Fantastic. I've been playing it incessantly for about 3 days now. Looking forward to St. Lo!
Thanks for all the help, mates.

[Thrud]

Expert, this needs to be done in 30mins!!!!

[Penitent]

raaaaAAAAGE!

My mistake was trying to take the entire map because it led to me being spread out, defending against counter atacks constantly. Just pick an avenue of attack and work your way towards the victory point.

[adamsun]

Normal, required 50min, finished in 26min.
After building tank depot, get two free tanks, use them to take one fuel point and near by munition point. At the same time, build two tanks, mortar, snipers. Then take other two munition points close to HQ. Then move all troops directly north, leave the road.
At 21min(I have a saved game for this and test many times from this saved game), use tanks to attack observation building(no need to destroy the building, just need to kill the MG team). Then move all troops to the hill, but keep one or two squads infantry behind to delay on-coming enemy tank counter-attack(a sure lose of infantry).
When move the tanks to the hill(WITHOUT any stop), move them from left side, by pass AT, then destroy the AT from behind.(Do not stop before the hill, there will be both AT fire and artillery fire.) Destroy the bunk face south ASAP, otherwise it will stop my infantry. When tanks are still fighting enemy infantry, use engineers to repair tanks, then move tanks to destroy the enemy tank at right side of the hill. Engineers take the point. Time 26min, survived force 50+.
Called artillery on the observation building, but it killed only one enemy soldier. I have only 50 munition left, that is why I use tank to destroy the observation building. Only call artillery once on right side of the hill when moving my tanks/sniper on the hill. Before that, use Calliope's rockets on the left side of the hill defense too. On one of my tries, I also called rangers after tanks get on the hill, it also helped to control the hill. I also have many not so successful tries, general speaking, once started to rush all forces on to the hill, move faster means less casualty.

Hope this is helpful.

[Compel]

It's worth pointing out that on this map, Panzer IV's can crush tank traps. I tried using them to safeguard the right fuel point, no luck. 3 pIV's rushed me at about 10 minutes in. Nuking the stolen PAK. Second game I tried, I had a squad of infantry and 2 PAK's sitting there most of the game, did nothing at all.

When I originally played this, I went left, long and up the sides - the long way around. I think the game ended at 3 hours.

I came back to it, some months later to get the medel, this time going the more direct route. I went down the main highway, with my main army being made up of 3 infantry squads, 2 rangers squads, armoured car, an AT gun, 2 shermans and a crocodile. I mostly proceeded slowly, AC semi scouting up until I reached the flak 88 defending the town.

I actually did a drive by attack of the 88, doing a big loop round it, suffered heavy damage and had a tank after me, but it actually took out the 88 and lived to limp home to base for repairs.

I'd assume the way you're 'supposed' to do it, is have one group of infantry go up the road, the second group opposite of the hedge of them. Oddly enough, I found the hedgerow square to be the bigger fight. Once I've semi secured that part with the infantry, I move up my tanks closer to it, with the AT gun. A good trick to remember here, is that you can throw sticky bombs over hedges, I took out 2 panzers that way.

There's a hedge compartment there with a strategic point on it that acts as a good staging ground - and calliope point for the final push to the hill. I defend that point, start thinning out the hill with barrages, while taking out the German HQ on the other side of the road nearby. Then, when things look... Well, not safe, but adequate, I took my crocodile, drove out, did a sneaky bulldozer round the 'forest' went right up to the hill, parked it there and proceeded to flame well, everything. Drove up a half track I had built for reinforcements, won.

[metal1966]

Finally did it in 37min on hard. Took others advice and went from the south. Never even took the high muni and fuel on west side of map.
1. sent 3 inf squads due east to take the 2 AT guns and then fuel. Defended against PzIVs.
2. at same time engies built support and tank building.
3. send "free" tanks east.
4. Build shermies and upgrade to 76.
5. Easily took Germ mortar near bunker in so central part of map. Used mortar to take out sniper and AT squads in building. also used to take out 88.
6. rushed main enemy base on east side of map - the house.
7. convert house to my base.
8. Engies begin to build battery after battery after battery of arty.
9. Move force north past 88 . use arty to take out germ arty observ post
10. Keep moving and hitting the german hill (bunkers and AT guns ) with arty.

If I hadnt screwed up and lost my initial calliope and flame sherm to P4...I'd have won more easily. This is BY FAR the best I've ever done.
Thanks to whoever came up with the southerly attack plan

[torenico]

Its a very very complicated mission, i made it whit a friend and we have a good laugh when those 88 Takes the Inf.. i remember, it was the 1.0..

Well, all i do is clear the 88 First, make an good assault over the "Village" and keep sending my guys to the north, i think there was hedgegrows there, i broke them down whit the SHerman.. and i make 2 Assaults, 1 supported by heavy armor, and the other pure inf and light vehicles.

I ill never, NEVER do that mission again, it was a real pain in the Head. But i've managed to get the Hill in less than 40 mins.

[hooahguy14]

i did this with about 20 minutes to go.
what i did was this:
use the calliope to barrage the town in the lower left hand corner.
take the croc and a sherman and go onto the town. eliminate the sniper and all other enemies. move into town, take it. make another 2 tanks, move up the road until you get to 88. take a normal sherman, draw away the 88s fire. take the croc and burn the 88. move other 2 tanks into area, eliminate sniper and MGs in the HQ. move into the area with the 3 riflemen squads that you started with. bombard the artillery tower with calliope until it is destroyed. convert old enemy HQ into a US HQ. get your forces together, move in as one from the new HQ to the hill. use bulldozer to clear a path for the tanks. use calliope to pound the hill- multiple times. assault as one. use croc to burn out the AT guns and bunkers. there will be 2 panzers south of the hill that will attack when you come into the area- be prepared for it! when all is said and done, you should be able to capture it and get the medal.
the key is to stay on the left road.

http://img26.picoodle.com/img/img26/3/2/11/f_cheroof2009m_434a4e0.jpg

[simanos]

CoH v2.301 here.
I did this in normal in less than 21 minutes, with pause abuse, seems nearly impossible to get medal in expert mode.
I used FOW_RevealAll to see what scripted units appear (-dev shortcut).

Most forces on the map stay where they are at start, only moving to engage you if you get close or to retreat. You can clear it easily. There's only 3 infantry (with panzershreck) patrols, roaming the map.

To the left and right of the hill are two "towns" that produce (1 each max) a german rocket launcher truck. You can keep destroying the trucks, but you have to destroy the building (HQ) that produces them to really stop this bother. The tower in front of the hill that you are told to destroy to stop their artillery is not enough (the tower probably gives sight only). You have to kill the Knight Cross Holders unit that camps the hill objective to really stop their off map artillery. It doesn't seem to respawn after you kill it.

When you get close to the hill, near the tank traps that are after the tower, more units will instantly spawn on the hill. 2 AT guns, a tank and a few more infantry forces. You might want to trigger this event before you start heavy bombardment of the hill so you get 2 birds with 1 stone.

When you advance on the tower the enemy will start spawning infantry (and some vehicles) on the hill and keep sending them to you, probably non-stop. Watch it, they come to aid the tower usually and proceed from there.

At the start you HAVE to build a supply depot and then immediately a tank depot. This will give you a free Croc and Calliope, the only way to get anything free. While doing this, send your riflemen to the right to take the enemy AT gun from behind, capture it and retreat after taking the strategic point (do not build OP on it, it might get attacked, though it never gets retaken). With your new forces take the small "town" to the left after using the tanks to kill the infantry before it. There's 2 snipers and a panzershreck squad in the buildings so use the Calliope and pak38 to kill them. Move in and charge the mortar that was bothering you a bit upwards. Take his weapon and retreat, there's a tank near (behind) him so don't go to far. Build 3+ more Shermans and attack from that (left-top) side till you reach the tower. The riflemen are expendable, you need the pop. You need 2-3 engineers and a truck and any enemy mortar or AT guns (2 should be enough) you can find, the rest can be tanks. When you kill the tower use the Croc to open a path left to the "town" and kill the HQ and missile truck. There's also a tank and an 88 gun, but you can kill the 88 with mortars from behind the hedges. Then you can proceed to clear the hill from that side. It's pretty easy with all your tanks and artillery.
1 vehicle can probably patrol all your territories behind and kill any Germans attacking them, after you clear the panzershreck patrols. There's 2-3 enemy Goliaths that attack you as you proceed in this attack plan and I found no real counter to them other than get in a lucky shot to blow them. Maybe a HMG would help. Otherwise use a tank up front as a target to avoid losing more troops (you can repair the tank afterwards) or taking more damage. Save often ;)

[BlackOmne]

Are you saying that you did all that stuff in the last paragraph and still completed the mission in the time alloted by the medal requirements? And what is the Expert medal time requirement?

[simanos]

Yes, that was the fast way, 21 minutes in normal (but only killed one enemy HQ, the other one is too far to bother you with rocket trucks anyway). I doubt I could do it in expert though.
Medals are probably 50 minutes for normal, 40 for hard, 30 for expert (not sure, but easily checked).

[gbanay]

beat it at 37:30 on hard, steps as follows -

general tips - before going anywhere, allways use callipe to soften the area and reveal enemy. keep at least 4 eng. close behind the tanks to repair it quickly.

1. cover both sides of HQ with MG posts, built tank depot + 4 eng.
2. go left with inf+Bulldozer and take 2 fuel posts, leave inf. in building next to far post to protect it. don't care about the bulldozer - don't need it.
3. once you have 2 shermans, go right and take the close post (not the far fuel - waste of time & resources).
4. then take the 3 adjusent ammo posts to your upper left - tanks+eng. by now you should have artillery and howitzers.
5. you should now have at least 4 shermans + 1 howitzer + 4 eng. at the upper tip of your teritory. use the big gun to locate and take down the spot tower - secondary accomplished.
6. all this should end at about 30 min. start moving towards the hill - when you're clear of the 88 (leave it alone) funnel up and kill 1 AT and 2 panchers - use big gun+artillery for support.
7. fix all tanks fully and go up the hill - don't stop for nothing. ASAP, start bombarding, focusing first on the 2 AT at the top.
8. the key on the hill itself is allways move your tanks around to avoid enemy artillery - use yours when you can.
9. when all your tanks are dead, just deploy 2 squads of rangers and go up to take the hill - it's a walk. remember to stop them before the top untill enemy artilery locks on then proceed - gives you enough time to take the center post before it locks on again and kills them - primary accomplished.

good luck.

[AllRaj]

I have completed this mission but not in enough time to get the medal. I am trying everything but keep getting bogged down with the hedgerows and tight spaces. The best so far has been to knock out the observation post in 40 mins but can't get these guys over the line.
Haven't tried the howie yet because I'm always up to the pop cap max and can't fit it in.
The bothersome thing is why do we have to use infantry doctrine when there is so little muni points available. This is definitely a tanker mission and needs a different doctrine to work properly.
I'll keep trying until I get the medal. Only two to go.

[AllRaj]

OK I have finally done it in under 50 min and got the medal. I reckon I could do it in under 40 min with a bit more micro using the same basic strategy. Essentially it was using the points made here earlier so thanks to all for the insights.
The crucial parts I missed prior was the howie set up in captured base located in east of map and pounding the German spotters post and main base. Dont spend all your time clearing out each field as you will get bogged down in minor details.
1. Capture the point and AT located east of start point and then move to far right of map and capture both high fuel point and AT.
2. Use the Calli and Croc to clear each field to left for the muni points. Start with the Calli to soften the enemy resistance, then move the Croc in to clean up. Once done have your engineers capture the point. Last, have the engineers build a MG nest to guard each point.
3. By now you should have all the bottom of the map with only one OP uncaptured below the road running east to west. Build a Sherman and an upgraded HT and move all your armor to the east and guard with the two AT guns you now have. Use this as bait to drag the German tanks down and finish them off with the AT. I would provoke them by having the Calli send a barrage onto their Eastern base and then retreat behind the defensive position set up at bottom of map. Do this 2 or 3 times and then rush all units to the Eastern base. Expect to find more tanks there so bring your AT with you. Finish off the Stuka HT and be mindful of the sniper located in the German HQ.
4. Once captured and settled with all armor being repaired and troops reinforced build a howie right next to the building which was garrisoned by the grenadiers. This will just reach the observation post which is a secondary mission and is calling in the barrages that are making your life miserable. In the meantime have your Calli sending rockets into the main base as often as possible. By now there should still be about 10 or 15 mins left.
5. Use a sniper to take out the 88 located along the road. If lucky and this is done you might try to capture the 88 intact and use this to take out the two tanks that are hanging around here. You will lose it eventually but with luck you could take them out or severely damage them prior to your big rush.
6. Send in your tanks and HT with infantry support towards the objective. The idea is to have whatever is left there concentrate on the armor while you slip in the infantry to capture the point and complete mission.

[gbanay]

Getting the medal on expert:

1. Build tank depo + 2 MG nests to cover the HQ.

2. Go left with Bull to take 1st fuel point. bring another Sherman+4 eng. to take the 2nd and leave inf. to guard it. These are the only points you need for this mission.

3. Repair the Bull and just send it up the hill - you'll lose it but not before it opens a direct path to the top, avoiding the 88, the AT and the Tower.

4. Once you have 4 Shermans (15:00 or so) start going up the hill with Calliope and 4 eng. spread just left of the 88 and kill 2 Panchers. repair.

5. go up and spread again between the lower bunker and the Tower, kill the bunker, repair, use the Calliope on the hill as long as you can.

6. By the time the enemy artilery starts pounding you should have another 2 Shermans up there - send one left to kill the Tower and storm the hill with at least 5 good Shermans. move Calliope to the back of the hill so you can still use it.

7. on the hill, concentrate on killing the bunkers and avoiding the Panchers and the artillery - best scenario is to triger the artillery on the flag area itself. Don't forget to use Calliope as long as it's alive.

8. Start building rangers force at your base ASAP (skip the artillery option since you don't have ammo anyway).

9. When all your tanks die wait for the Panchers to descent from the hill and send your rangers up to capture the flag - with no bunkers, resistance should be minimal.

took 27:38 min :salute: .

[comrade_daelin]

As of 2.601, the Expert Medal time is 30 minutes.

[Toddeh]

Finished this on expert in 21 minutes.

Soon as game starts build engineer squad then use both engineers to build a supply depot then a tank depot.

A croc and calliope will spawn when tank depot is finished. Send your croc to take out the near by Fuel and Muni sectors and the local hmg's and bunker.

Then move up the left side of the map taking everything out with your croc. When you reach the long strech of road fully repair your croc and charge it up the road and flank the 88.

Next move up your infantry and crew the unmanned 88 to deal with the tanks near the HQ supported by your shermans/croc.

Once HQ and tanks have been neutralised capture the HQ and reinforce infantry.

Then drop the bulldozer on your croc and move through the hedgerows towards the strategic point north side of the hill.

Place your calliope there and build a howizter also. Start bombarding the hill with both. The time should be between 16-18 minutes at this point and you should have 3 shermans , 1 croc , 1 calliope and a howitzer with 1-2 engineer squads. Use the rest of the population cap u have to produce more infantry as much as possible.

Then send your croc up the hill and start taking out the AT guns and bunkers while your Shermans deal with Tanks. Use offmap artillery to deal with infantry blobs.

All your tanks will die so keep bombarding the hill and constantly producing infantry from the HQ and just send them up the hill to cap.

I had 4-5 squads at the VP and i managed to capture it even while being fired upon it just took the jerry's too long to kill them.

it should take 6 minutes to reach jerry's first HQ on the left side of the map. Save here.

At 12 minutes u should have the second HQ. Save here too

18 minutes you should have the strategic point captured and your calliope and howizter should be firing on the hill.

[Max Zorin]

Wow, I just finish this one on hard and got the medal with 2 seconds remaining on the clock. I choose the NW approach like JonZ did. I couldn't make the Northern Jerry HQ (next to the 88Flak) mine so I brought a halftrack with me. It seemed to me that, Jerry doesn't counter any advance until you get to the 2nd base and start up the hill. I was so busy trying to flatten the top of the hill with the 2 105's I built, I almost forgot to attack. I started up the hill with exactly 38 minutes gone with 2 shermans, 1 inf squad of 5 veteran guys and the calliope. There were two AT's (pointing the wrong way) and a couple of inf. squads left on top. Then the tanks can in. 4 MkIV's Three in a group sw on the point and one east. Lost the Cal., a Sherman and 4 of the 5 inf. guys but the last one captured the point with 2 seconds left! This in a fun one. My advice is to get the the northern 88 site and built those 105's on the road in front of the base asap so you can arty the top for as long as possible. Thanks for the tips guys!

[jmroman]

Second time time I am passing the single player campaign, now on 2.601. In hard it is 40 minutes to get the medal, it took me about 28 to finish with the NW approach. Never before has it been that easy as now with your help.

[Dunnik]

Difficulty: Hard
Soldier's Medal Awarded (take Hill 112 in 40 minutes)
Post-Battle Conclusion: Going for a left flank up the road seems to be the best strategy: took Hill 112 in approx 37:30.


Phase 1 - Clearing the nearby HQ and local resource points

Started by building another engineer. Built two MG nests, covering left and right entrances to base, but turned out they were not needed - my base was never attacked. This is probably because I never went right, into or beyond the fields were poor Charlie Co. met its fate.

Built Supply Depot and Tank Depot. Researched BAR.

Once the Tank Depot was constructed, the Calliope and Croc arrived. As others have stressed, it's important to keep both these tanks alive.

I immediately took my entire force, 2 tanks, 3 rifles, 2 eng's, to the left resource point. I first softened up the area with the Calli, then sent the Croc in to burn the infantry out. Rifles in to cap.

Wasn't quite ready to assault that nearby Axis base on the left, I wanted to build a Sherman for AT duty. Didn't have enough to get the 76mm upgrade, but got it ASAP.

While I was waiting, I sent the Croc to the resource point just to the north of the 1st one, taking it and leaving a MG42 team in the corner. It was attacked, but the CPU seemed to give up after being pwnd by the MG camping in the corner.

Once my Sherman was up, I moved in. I expected to find a PzIV in this area - seen it before - but it wasn't there this time. Used the Cali to nuke the mortar team on the hill to the north, and otherwise sent the Croc in to flamebroil the Axis in the buildings.

A pause for the Cali CD, then I softened up the HQ area. As before, Croc goes in with Sherman to nuke the base and bunker, Rifles cap. At this point I had enough resources and command pts to order up a squad of Rangers. Got them their Tommy upgrade ASAP


Phase 2 - Rushing the northern HQ up the far left road

As others have noted, they tell you to avoid the roads - for good reason, they're covered by 88s - but it still is the best way to go. As before, used the Cali to soften up that 88 spot at the top of the road. Sent my rifles and ranger up in a skirmish line to draw fire from the 88, then sent the Shermy and Croc on a rush to flank the gun. There was a PzIV near the HQ, so stuck the Shermy on him while the Croc cooked the 88 crew. Some infantry made a flanking attack on the way up, but my rifles and rangers dealt with them easily. Once the tank and 88 were down, the Croc microwaved the troops in the HQ.


Phase 3 - Setting up a Fire Base and taking down the Artillery Tower

This top HQ is where I set up my fire base. My troops were much wounded, but all were alive, thankfully. I took the point and HQ and healed them up. Didn't quite have enough pts to get arty yet, so while I was healing up my squads I sent a few Cali rounds at the artillery tower. Oddly enough, I found that if I kept my troops near the HQ building, arty wouldn't hit me at all. Gave me a chance to heal up my squads without a problem. Once everybody was healed up, I deployed my rifles and rangers covering the roads for the inevitable counter attacks - you almost constantly get spammed by infantry at this HQ - then sent my Shermy and Croc, along with my two Eng's, to take the MG crew in the arty tower. There was another PzIV up here, but my Shermy blew him up nicely, while the Croc easily BBQ'd the MG crew.


Phase 4 - Softening Up the Hill

Taking down the arty tower gave me the points to build a Howie, and had enough points to make 1 more Eng squad for the pop cap. I made sure to place Mr Howie Pwndell in the top corner above the HQ, in which position it could cover the entire hill. Once I had the Howie up, I found I had exactly 15minutes to bombard the hill and take it.

Leaving some rifles and the rangers to cover the arty, I broke through the hedge at the rear of the HQ and nosed my Shermy, Cali, Eng's and rangers and 1 rifles a bit forward so the Cali could bombard the entire hill. For the next 10 minutes or so, I defended against rushes by Axis infantry (Shrek PGs, STG PGs and Volksfail, and a single Pz IV showed up: rangers plus the Shermy got him np) while I attacked the hill with my best friends, Howie & Cali.

Once I got to about 4min 30 seconds, I organized all my troops for a rush. As you go in for the final rush, just make sure to watch for red smoke - and gtfo asap if you see it. Save before you rush the hill, and if your squads get nuked by the arty from the rocket half track, reload and try again.



Final Phase - Rushing the Hill!

Sent the Shermy and Croc in first to the edge of the base, Shermy finished the bunker that was at like 10%, destroyed the rocket halftrack, and then helped the Croc finish the infantry nearby including the AT teams. Meanwhile, my infantry were swinging around the north side of the base, where they were covered by the hill on the way in. Conveniently I had an arty strike and Cali barrage up, and used them to good effect on the far side of the base.

While the Sherman was dueling a PzIV, I moved in my infantry and eng's to the cap point, which thankfully is well-protected from fire. Had the Eng's cap while the Rifles and Rangers found some cover. Then I sent in the Croc. It was just merciless in hunting down the elite infantry, PGs, AT and MG's crew still alive. Unless that crew is a bunch of psychos, they're gonna have nightmares after the war about how many Nazis they charbroiled. O_O

As I was capping the point, the three PzIV's showed up. Drew my Croc off - not much he can do about Panzers, and somehow I wanted that heroic crew to survive the fight - while the Shermy, who was still at about half health, engaged them.

Had two rifle squads take over the AT guns, which, since their crews were nuked by the Croc, were in good shape. The go go power rangers plus the Shermy and two Paks were enough kill one Panzer and hold the rest off until I capped ftw, with about 2:30 on the clock to spare! :D



P.S. I've also finished this map without going for the medal, by capping all points and clearing out the entire map. It's a pretty fun grind, you really get a sense of how crazy bocage fighting must have been in the Normandy campaign. Slow and steady progress with snipers, mortars, rangers, AT and a handful of tanks will clear out the map: though it will take a while!