This is a reasonably fun and kinetic mission, even though the intended theme—of a force surrounded and cut off from contact with its division—never has any meaningful impact. You’re playing as Russia on the offensive (Operation Bagration) in Byelorussia in the summer of 1944, and at long last you do have the tools for the job.
SECURE NEARBY POINTS
Your first target is the point just NW of your base. A couple of snipers in stealth mode at max range, a shock troop squad for cqb, two mortar teams to get the enemy’s attention and start wiping his heavy weapons, and an HMG to pin attackers, are all you really need.
Same goes for the second point, N of your base.
Remember that if your guys are charged and/or pinned by German units, they can just retreat a few steps to base, where they can be reinforced indefinitely while fighting.
When you rout the defenders at these points, cap them and build fuel caches—as the mission wears on, your force will consist more and more of T-34s, Katyushas and Su-85s.
SECURE RADIO BASE
For this it is helpful to have a mortar team and snipers at max range to take out German Paks initially, with an M5 full of flamethrowing engineers to follow and get in behind the German MG42s and mortars (and snipers) to kill/rout.
Shortly after you cap the radio base, you will get a free Katyusha.
SECURE POINT ABOVE RADIO BASE
This point in the woods is full of defenders and has more nearby to the west of it. Use snipers (stealth mode) from the east to spot, then open up with a Katyusha and mortar barrage. Shock troops and flamethrowers-in-M5 for the main assault.
As you’re capping this point, have conscripts crew the Pak-40s at the first two points you took. Also bring in one or two Zis-3 field guns. Bring them all to the area north of this radio base you’re capping.
Build a muni cache on the point.
FIRST BRIDGE/BARRIER
If you follow the rail tracks north (snipers in stealth mode in front) you’ll come to a broken bridge overpass. Watch out for the MG42 crew on the cliff overlooking the south/east side of this bridge—use mortar and snipers on them.
On the other side of the broken bridge sit three German tanks hull-down in sandbagged emplacements with support infantry.
What do you do, considering that you don’t have air support (yet)? One option is just to drop smoke and run past the tanks, but you can incur quite a few casualties that way. Turns out it’s easier just to kill the tanks. First, position your snipers, HMG and T-34s to cover any German infantry coming at you through the bridge gap. Next, you barrage the tanks and supporting infantry with Katyusha and mortars, mainly to reduce the German infantry. Now move your snipers (stealth mode) closer to spot the tanks. Make sure there are no more infantry around the tanks. Bring your Paks right up to the bridge abutment, with the M5 off to the side nearby, for reinforcement. The German tanks cannot hit your AT guns easily, and anyway they can be reinforced more or less instantly, so they can just fire away, with help from your indirect fire, until they kill all three German tanks.
After capping the point where the tanks were, build a muni cache. You want those muni points so you can make use of the IL-2 bombing support capability that becomes available around now.
NORTHWESTERN BASE
Once your force has made it past the hull-down-panzers barrier, it should move northwest across the top of the map to attack the large force around one of the two German bases. Use mortars and snipers against Paks (of which there are several) and schreck infantry. Use Katyushas and armor against everything else. Takes a while and sometimes you have to resort to brute force to speed things up.
Watch out for the MG42 and Pak just west of this base.
Watch out also for German airstrikes. The impact zones usually are marked with purple smoke, so move away immediately when you see that smoke.
Cap the point at the base building (marked as a star on the map) to complete this phase.
NORTHEASTERN BASE
German armor at the NE base is formidable.
If you want to make things easier for yourself, use a sacrificial squad or a recon flight to spot the Elefant, and then order an IL2 bombing run on it. A direct hit from that bomb will terminate the Elefant or damage it severely.
Apart from that, after scrounging another Pak-40 or two with your infantry, or anyhow beefing up your force for the coming armor battle, bring your units into position well to the east of the armor base, snipers in front as always. Inch forward, get your AT guns and tanks/TDs lined up, then draw the Germans out with Katyusha/mortar fire or a kiting tank and blast away when they are drawn.
If you do have to fight the Elefant, remember that it is a lumbering beast—not very maneuverable and very killable if you can concentrate fire on it from multiple directions.
Once you have destroyed the German vehicles at the NE base, you should have no serious opposition as you cap the point at the base to complete the mission.
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