[ToV - Falaise Pocket] Trun: Swatting Flies - Mission 1

[GeoffS]

Trun: Swatting Flies

The Allies close in on Trun, and target our Panzers with their planes. Protect the Panzers until nightfall, until they can move out under the cover of darkness.

[Dr Dave]

This mission can be frustrating if you want the medel. Ideed I remember the 1st mission on OF where you defended a jeep attack and for ages one jeep always got through. This mission can be the same if the get sight of the tanks they spawn and bomb the hell out of you! so be warned!

One of the key things I have found with this mission is do not build an 88 outside the church (waste of resources), when instructed to build you can build up to 5 in a line from south to north but you must have started to build them before releasing all of the garrisons (as this takes you way past your pop cap). I set my men to build one on the central road near to the last houses one in the mouth of the road south of this one further south facing the building in the bottom left, one just north of the one on the central road near the garrison and one in the field by the top garrison to cover break thoughs to the nothern tanks. To acheive this i Just start building and as the gun becomes visible I move on and build the next one you can then have 5 part complete guns. All you have to do then is finish each off with the central on and the south ones first.
Your troops will have to deal with paratroopers but not difficult if suppotrted by amoured car and puma. A MG squad in the garrison that you originally came out of by the road and woods helps. Be careful, if you leave them (the paras) too long they mine roads. Once you have dealt with paratroopers and secured all garrisons get you troops tooled up with anti-tank and light mg then react to the warnings on the minimap. Wire and sandbags are a great asset and a MG squads near 88 are great.Micro manage your guns with engineers and use firestorm and propaganda if you start to get into problems (the rocket halftrack is useful too in the background). You do not need to be in the garrisons in the town you really just need to defend the line. Troops in buildings are a waste of time as tanks take them out . Antitank troops behind sandbags (keep an eye on them) do loads of damage supportted by MG and 88.

Using the warnings on the minimap help get AT troops to these areas as M10's ect when they come come fast and can break through your line before you know it. Halftracks are a pain but if you still have your puma it can help. It is a case of riding the waves. Firestorm, propaganda and walking stuka help. Repair things as you go and mine the road leading to the bridge and the farm top left. They will try to break through using the road behind the buildings on the farm to the tanks in the north.
Good hunting

[DrEvil....EVIL!]

A cheap method (all difficulties): Before you build an 88, capture the two mun points, TT the approaches and almost finish building 5 88s (once you have finished building 1, the airborne drop will spawn). To get rid of the Croc, simply make a TT near it's spawn area and mine it. The croc will move towards the TT and hopefully get a critical engine damage or become immobilized. Finish the 88s and then produce tons of grenadiers and schreck them all before you alert the garrisons. Move the flame pios and LGFs behind the front line for repair duty and then blob your grenadiers with support from the AC/Pumas. Stuka upgrade the HT for arty support and go henschel strafing runs. If you done this, it should be relatively easy.

A very cheap method (all difficulties): If you place a TT etc under a panzer, the vehicle will away move to clear the way for your construction. With some technique you should be able to "move" the vehicle away from the exposed area. It takes a lot of time though, but the AI will be rendered useless when it can't find the panzers en route.

[gbanay]

Easy when done right:

1. Capture 2 Ammo points.
2. Block 2 small bridges with sandbags (not BW - American eng. cut them)
3. Defend both river crossings (important for next mission) you need at least 125 of mines, decent TT and BW on each one.
4. Block the whole left side with TT aside from the spot the crocs are coming from.
5. On this spot (A bit above the left corner) build an arch of 5 88's almost to complition.
6. Surround al the garrisons on the left side of the river with BW so they can't be entered (important for next mission).
7. Now finish the 88's and let the crocs spawn begin - As long as no croc passes, your tanks are safe.
8. Ignore the paratroopers and built another 2 units of L. troopers to keep the 88's alive and then a lot of grandiers + schreks to support them.
9. Alerting garrisons fill up your manpower with useless units - don't do it before you have enough granadiers.
10. Alert garrisons on the left side of the river with eng. - Have them breach the BW, allert, take all units out and close the gap behind them.
11. Keep the crocs out at all costs.

[Wolfways1969]

I'm so sick of this mission. I remember doing it ages ago but can't remember how. Been trying to do it today. All day...over and over....
I haven't even seen any crocs so i guess i'm losing a tank pretty early in the mission. I've tried the suggestions above, apart from the croc bits because i have no idea where they come from, and i still always lose a tank.
I don't really see the point in infantry in this mission. They are too stupid to stay behind cover and run forward and die instantly.
I was losing a tank in the south but after sending everything i have there i can save the tanks, but when the north gets attacked i lose a tank before what's left of my force even gets there

Edit: Just noticed crocs coming on at the start lol. Weird how i've never noticed them before.

Edit: Still can't do it, on easy. Can't be bothered anymore so i guess i'll not be doing that campaign.

Edit: Decided to give it one more go before bed last night, and i did it...finally. Still think it's a broken mission though.

[Dunnik]

Difficulty: Normal
Artillery Badge Medal Awarded (Keep 10/10 Panzers alive)
Post Battle Summary: One of the most difficult medals in CoH, but not impossible

Phase 1 - Setting up the Defense

You start with one unit of Volknoobs. Send them to the Church to get the Luftwaffe unit. Have them cap the north and south muni points. You will see weapons lying on the ground. I had them pick up an LMG and Shrek each.

Having capped the two points, you'll need to spend some time setting up the battlefield. As previous posters have noted above, this involves:

- Creating a line of 88's from north to south. Start to create the 88, but do not finish one: it's a trigger. As to positioning, I found that the game's suggestions - with the exception of the first one, near the church - are very well-chosen. From north to south, I put 1 by the road as it curves off to the ford across the river (which I TT'd), 1 just in front of the HQ to the south of it, 1 at the main crossroads, just in front of the house, and 2 in the south: one at the exit of that that hedge alley, and the other in the middle of the three tanks there. With these positions, each 88 has interlocking fields of fire and can help the other positions.

- After siting your 88's, create sandbag positions nearby for your infantry and to protect the 88s.

- To really be on the safe side, you can use the cheap method of dropping TT under a friendly tank, causing it to move. Depending on where you drop the TT in relation to the tank's body, you can actually "streer" the tank. I only did this to 2 of the most exposed tanks. You may even want to use the Shreks of the infantry to clear ground - bushes, even buildings - in front of the HQ and x-roads 88's for better fields of fire.

- It may be tempting to drop mines, but you really should save muni for the onslaught to come. The exception is the idea mentioned by a poster above - placing mines near TT near the Croc spawn. It can't resist clearing them, and hopefully it'll hit a mine and slow down enough for your 88's (two should sited to shoot the Croc) to pick them off. Drop them in the field where it spawns and near/behind the hedge there.

- Also as noted above, it would seem to be wise to wall off each footbridge with a sandbag and the river fords with TT for the next mission.


Phase 2 - Alerting the Garrison, Dealing with Paratroopers

The 88 I built first to start the trigger was the one at the crossroads. From there, I had my Luftwaffe squad go north to activate the Amoured Car and Pioneer HQs and build the nearby 88. These guns should go up first as this is the area where the Croc spawns.

I positioned my Volks next to the Armored Car depot in the south part of town: I wanted to tackle the Airborne ASAP, and that field nearby is a spawn point. From there, the Volks popped the other HQ's in town: PG, Pio and Puma. The armored cars was sent to deal with the Para's.

The PG at the north muni point I had pick up a Shrek and ordered up another - all of my 3 PG's had 2x Shreks - then sent it across the ford to cap the half-track HQ. I had the halftrack go Stuka bombardment. Speaking of infantry weapons, for MG support I simply relied on the HMG team they give you plus the LMG equipping the Volks and the Luft: it, along with arty plus a car or two or three, was enough to kill their infantry.

Any subsequent cars that I unlocked were sent back into town to deal with the Para's, along with the Pio's for heals. I found I had enough time to both deal with the Para's ASAP and alert all garrisons before the main attack.


Phase 3 - De Amerikaners attack

In previous attempts, I spread my forces too thin, forgetting what Frederick the Great said: "He who defends everything, defends nothing". He was right: the attacking forces are so strong you must concentrate all of your forces at the point of attack to have a hope of winning.

I basically did not build over the pop cap - I wanted to be able to heal up my infantry squads - and only used the units I found on the map. At a certain point, I let 2 of the cars blow up on purpose so I could replace with more Pumas (with AT gun upgrades), but otherwise, I did not create any new units.

Thankfully the enemy attacks in one area at a time, so take all of your forces to each location and defend it. You must be quick about moving your forces from place to place. If you've sited your 88's correctly, you should be able to win these local battles as it's just a matter of keeping your armor and 88's repaired, and your infantry healed up at nearby HQ's. I did have to retreat run a couple of times when they got down to 1 and were under fire, but I was still able to keep all of my infantry alive for the duration.

The first area that is attacked is the crossroads - the recon force. They will appear both along the road ahead and from the field that the Croc spawns at: be sure to shift your long-range fire as needed. Some micro is needed here in terms of focus firing the Quads first, as they will do the most damage the fastest to your infantry and 88 crew. Once they're down, the M10s are the priority target. If you nose your armor ahead, they'll take some of the heat, just keep them repaired. The Croc may or may not amble by, just have your inf fall back a bit if they start to get roasted.

Midway through the crossroads fight you should have enough command points to get the Heinkel fighter bomber support: it's very good at destroying armor, while Firestorm is good against infantry. The Stuka is good against both, it would seem: combined, it's great in keeping them off you.

The second area that was attacked was in the south. Like the north there are two spawns, through the forest and from the road next to the building. Quickly take all your forces south, concentrating them facing the house, so they can cover both entrances. Since the friendly Panzers are so close to the enemy here, it's important to have your repair team standby to fix them (even at the expense of fixing your own armor).

After that, the third attack was at the HQ north of the x-roads. This one can be tricky to fend off because you'll get the Croc as well, but hopefully the x-roads 88 will help take them down.

The fourth and final wave appeared near that same HQ, but they made a bee-line for the north, running into my northern 88. It held the line long enough to get my forces up there (it badly needed repairs though) and fend them off for the victory. Once again, air and arty support (from Firestorm and the Stuka truck) was key in taking them down.

It's a very difficult and challenging mission - good luck!