The goal of this rather scripted and artificial mission is to destroy some baddie’s Tiger Ace outside the village of Autry, at the top of the map. Around the German base up there lurk lots of other armor as well (Panzer IVs, StuGs, Ostwinds and Tigers). The Germans also have an endless supply of overpowered panzerschreck grenadiers, against which you have no good counter.
The main advantage you have is that (you guessed it) the Germans come at you piecemeal instead of with the overwhelming force they could muster easily. Also, the Tiger Ace is never repaired, so the damage you inflict—which can include artillery damage—is cumulative.
Your task is to move up the map, cap some points to get some supplies flowing, survive the Tiger Ace-led attacks that come down from the village every few minutes (and usually end in a German retreat, at least for the Tiger), and eventually—having built up a large armor force—strike a killing blow on this Moby Dick of German tanks.
If you want the mission medal, you must kill 25 German vehicles before killing the Tiger Ace, which means that you must take things slowly and, at some point, focus on killing other vehicles while staying clear of the Tiger Ace.
Note the tac map, with points numbered in yellow. I took this screenshot with fog-of-war turned off so you could see some of the German defenses, but there are some additional German units, especially armor, that will “materialize” as you near certain locations.
I suggest that you start by attacking point 1, where defenses consist of just two grenadier squads. Leading with infantry is a little bit tricky, as the direct path to the point is barred by a fence. Your starting two tanks (a Pershing and a Sherman) can handle the job more easily, although those grens will magically acquire schrecks as the armor approaches.
When done, cap and put an observation post on that fuel point, and put down some HMG emplacements and mines to protect it. Bring in Wolverines as quickly as you can—although they are relatively fragile, they are cheaper than Shermans, have greater range, and, when massed, can kill enemy tanks in one or two salvoes.
Similarly, attack, cap and protect point 2 (munitions point) above it, which is guarded by an MG42, schreck infantry squad, and Pak-38. A Panzer IV may come down from the north to try to flank your attack. You want to attack from the east, or right side, as there is a mass of schreck infantry nearby to the NW and waiting to schreck your tanks if they come that way.
Now get into position to defend against some Tiger Ace-led attacks coming down from Autry. If you have at least your starting tanks and a couple of Wolverines, you should be able to hold your position comfortably, so stay there and build up your force (try to include at least one captured Pak-38) until you have knocked the Tiger Ace’s health below 25%.
When the Tiger Ace reaches this parlous state, it will retreat and park itself in the road right in front of the center of Autry—and German tank attacks will become less frequent and less effective.
Now head back to base with your force.
When healed up, etc., attack the first muni point (Point 3) on the lower left side (HMG, schreck infantry, Pak-38, mortars and Panzer IVs nearby).
Move ahead slowly, defending against tank and infantry attacks as well as you can, and eventually take the heights (Point 4) with the fuel point.
You will start to be shelled from point 5 by a mortar team or two. Therefore, move forward (but stay to the west, well away from the Tiger Ace) and wipe that point 5 area clean, using call-in artillery / howitzer and your armor. A non-ace Tiger will jump out at you from the west edge of the map, but if you have massed Wolverines ready, they can kill it quickly.
Cap that point, back off to avoid more mortar fire from the village, heal up, then hit the left side of the village (point 6) with artillery and rush it with your entire armor force, destroying everything German including the base building there.
You can now move your entire force to the center of Autry or even further to the village’s northern reaches (point 7), and wait for 251s which happen by every minute or two (coming from the N and S map edges). 251s count toward your 25-kill total.
When you get the medal, move your Pershing into position behind the Tiger Ace to finish it off and close out the mission. It would be easier to do that using artillery, but once the Tiger Ace gets below a certain level of health, artillery seems to stop affecting it.
As an alternative, fun challenge, you can do this mission with no additional armor—only infantry—beyond your starting two tanks. It is very doable, and by the end you will have a formidable AT-infantry force, though you will have lots of infantry casualties along the way.
***