[updated 19 July 2023]
Theater of War Mission Pack: The Southern Fronts
Mission: Occupation
This is a special solo mission in which you have to blast your way into a fortress the Russians have occupied, kill the Russian occupants, and then defend against five attack waves. To start, you have two snipers, two grenadiers, and two pioneers.
Getting into the fortress
I seem to have had best results moving my force to the right, across the ice and onto the riverbank, to approach across the bridge from the E. On the way, there is a house with a scout car parked outside. Repair and crew the car, and kill the half-strength Russian units that come out of the house. Move N, to the E end of the bridge, then use your snipers to eliminate the Russian units at the other end of the bridge. Watch out for the guards rifle infantry unit on the path to the N of the bridge’s W end. Once the area in front of the barricaded fortress entrance (roughly the E entrance) is clear of Russian troops, use a pio squad to lay a demo charge. When your units are at a safe distance, blow it.
Taking the fortress
You should position your grens in cover near the first building you see as you enter the fortress. Your snipers should also be in cover, and should be in range to hit all the important targets. One of your pio squads (which should have been upgraded with flamethrower earlier) can also be positioned in the same area. The other pio squad can ride in the scout car, after the others have gone in, then park next to the uncrewed T-34, repair it briefly (it is immobile until repaired), crew it, and drive it into the fray. Target priorities are the crewed Maxim, the commissar, and the guards rifle units—when they’re all gone, the remaining Russian conscripts will flee.
Holding the fortress
After a short prep period, the Russians will attack in five waves, starting with infantry and ending with infantry plus heavy tanks (KV-2s). The attacks usually come through the same entrance you used, and the one (still barricaded) on the other side of the fortress interior.
You don’t need your snipers, so they can go into the watchtowers outside the two attack entrances.
The first attacks will be infantry-only. Therefore your first priority is to bring in a pair of 251s (one to cover each entrance) and upgrade them with flamethrowers—when these vet up they will wipe Russian infantry far more efficiently than anything else. Also crew the MG42 that is lying near the base, and put that behind sandbags to cover the E attack route. Your pios can build a bunker-HMG on the path inside the fortress, just SW of the E entrance. One gren can stand with the MG42. Also build, asap, a bunker-HMG covering the W entrance.
Once you have a flamer-251 and a bunker-HMG covering each entrance, just keep bringing in StuGs—you should be able to put three at the W entrance, and two at the E entrance (joining the T-34) by the last wave. Use your pios to lay demo charges at each entrance—important force-multiplier against the big Russian tanks when they roll in.
Initial waves are heavy on infantry. Soon Russian T-70s and scout cars will appear, along with PTRS-carrying guards rifle units. One wave includes a big mortar unit plus a normal-sized one—try to capture both with your pios after you’ve decrewed these units. The penultimate wave includes T-34/85s. The last wave includes KV-2s.
Visibility worsens during the mission, until by the end your tanks often can’t see enemy tanks they are touching. Lack of space inside the fortress for your tanks to maneuver is also a problem—Russian armor will try to exploit this by running into the fortress, past your vehicles, creating a traffic jam that can seriously weaken your defense. Even so, I don’t think I’ve ever come close to losing this mission.
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