[updated 27 July 2023]
Theater of War Mission Pack: Operation Barbarossa
Mission: Officer Assassination
On this mission, your task is to use a couple of snipers, plus two (later reinforced) panzergrenadier squads in 251s, to rove around a map killing Russian officers. I have always viewed this mission as both misconceived and broken. Misconceived because COH2 does not simulate a sniper’s situation very well (e.g., player has little feel for sniper’s p.o.v. and visibility to the enemy). Broken because of the combination of bugs and nerfage: For example, if you crew an abandoned weapon such as a DShK HMG—which really would come in handy—your crew will become immobilized. The visibility range of your squads is way too low, as if they were all walking around with blindfolds; this is ruinous for a sniper mission, in which long-range firing is essential. There are movement/placement bugs such that, for example, an enemy MG position beside the corner of a house will be immune to grenades and gunfire from any angle. There is also a deep bug that occasionally causes a crash to desktop.
Worst of all, the Russians have a fast-airstrike capability as well as fast-firing, highly accurate, extremely powerful 120mm mortars that can and will wipe most/all of your force more or less instantly, as soon as you come within range of spotters.
If you want to play this mission anyway, consider moving around the map anticlockwise, and at each strong point with an officer, disembarking your panzergrens in two separate 251s, giving them different angles from which to attack, while your snipers approach on foot and target the officer. Usually the 120 mm mortar team is at or near the upper left corner. Once you are targeted by mortars your only chance of victory is to keep moving and kill the mortar team—and believe me, they are all but unkillable.
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