ALLIED CAMPAIGN 04 - NORMANDIE

OBJECTIVES:
1 - OCCUPY THE WESTERN BEACH
2 - GAIN CONTROL OF THE HINTERLAND
3 - OCCUPY THE SOUTHERN BEACH

[Now, this is really a monster scenario, the first one in the game, and it's pure pleasure. There are many new units at disposal, and many ways to get the objectives, so I'll tell you mine, which could be very different from yours. There's one very important thing to deal with, it's unit experience, because with experience comes speed, which is vital in the game. Now, there's a trick to gain experience, it's not cheating, no code, it's in the game, but some of you could consider it unfair, and it's shooting our own units. A unit gains experience when it shoots, but it takes a very long time, or when it's shooted, and this way is much faster. So, if you take a vehicle, a tank or a man, and you shoot it and heal/repair it before it is destroyed, you can improve its experience up to the maximum. So take a Willy, place a Jimmy Supply Truck close to it to repair it, and have a rifleman shoot it. Take the Willy to 1000 experience, put two sub machine gunners, one heavy machine gunner and a rifleman on it and you'll have an almost unstoppable killer unit that can infiltrate enemy lines and wreck havoc anywhere. The only way you can lose it is if it finds something on his way that forces it to stop, but as long as you keep it moving, it will be very hard to get it.

Now, we have three beachheads at the start of the scenario. The first thing to do should be to capture the three heavy cannons on the riff just in front of the southernmost one, but in a short time there will be reinforcements coming from the northwest side of the map, and they will head to the hinterland, so to avoid losing units we have to first wipe out the enemy from that area. Take some snipers and shoot at the bunkers using the W key. In this way, the sniper (or rifleman or whatever) will shoot until there's someone inside the bunker/building, and when it's clear, he will stop shooting. But please note that if the bunker/building is empty, the sniper will go on shooting indefinitely. When some of the buildings in the north area will be cleared, take an experienced Willy and rush through the enemy positions, firing and killing the remaining units. When the vehicle is damaged or bullets have run out, take the Willy to a Jimmy Supply Truck and have it repaired/reloaded. Now, with the same tactic, you can take the field guns on the southern riff, and once you have them, combining snipers fire, Willy's rushes and long range fire, nothing can stop you until the end of the scenario.]

That was true with the first edition, now with the Gold Edition, experience means much less, and Willies at 1000 experience can be stopped by anybody. So everything becomes harder.

THE THREE HOWITZERS

At the very beginning, the three southernmost snipers advance and take advantage of the recon aircraft flying over the riff where the artillery and the mortars are to destroy the Maultier supply truck and kill two officers which are running to enter the bunkers that overlook the beach.

The Maultier supply truck is hit by the three snipers on the beach

NORTH BEACH

First thing to do is make room for the reinforcements which will enter from the northwest side of the map and will head to the forest. Willies are now only good to draw fire from a certain distance, so a single Stuart tank is enough to attack and break through the first line, as there is no antitank or Panzerfaust. Then come the snipers, which eliminate all the enemy units manning the many antitank guns forming the second line.

Snipers slowly advance and kill all German soldiers manning antitank guns

BUNKERS

Time to take the five bunkers on the beach from the north, as allied reinforcements keep entering the scenario and move very near the enemy on the fringe of the forest. Snipers kill enemies inside the bunkers, while tanks destroy the barn, as for unknown reasons snipers' fire has no effect on infantry inside the barn. Anyway, it's always better to keep an eye on fresh units entering the map, and move them to a safe position.

FIELD GUNS

Once room has been made for fresh units to enter, it's time to take the three field guns on the plateau. Some snipers shoot the bunkers, houses and tower to kill everyone inside. The barn must be hit by a nearby gun, as snipers fire is ineffective against it. Once all hidden enemies have been eliminated, a Willy rushes to where field guns and mortars are, killing the soldiers manning them. Otherwise, it's possible to send a soldier up through a passage in the riff, the guy will be killed my mortars fire, but it will be enough for snipers in a safe position to kill enemy soldiers operating the mortars. Once the plateau is clear, snipers will come and from a vantage position they will kill two anti-tank crews to the north and to the east. So, three field guns, two mortars and two anti-tank guns have been captured.

NORTH VILLAGE

Allied soldiers have been parachuted in the far north corner of the map. Some of them, with an officer, move to the ledge overlooking the village. Some tanks move to the spot, ready to shoot at enemies patrolling the streets when they enter their fire range. Blood will flow. An allied soldier moves to the west corner of the ledge to keep an eye on a Tiger tank that sooner or later will come from north-west. 

LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE
Just north of the plateau where the big guns have been captured, there's a lonely house defended by three bunkers, a barn and two anti-tank guns. The newly-captured field guns take out the barn, while the snipers can do the rest, shooting the bunkers and advancing slowly to spot the guns and kill the crews.

THE FOREST AND THE TREES

Now it's time to free a large forest area in which six mortars and many tanks are, the most deadly of these is a Nebelwerfer. Two strong positions and some Willies which rush through the trees to spot the enemy units and the three big guns nearby to hit them.

West border: a sniper and two anti-tank guns.

South border: an officer in the bunker, six anti-tank guns, three snipers and three big guns.

THE BRIDGE

Now it's time to cross the bridge. On the North bank usually there are five enemy soldiers walking around, and two, seven and four lurking in the buildings, for a total of 18 German soldiers, plus 2 SdKfz anti-aircraft units. The matter is simply solved: first a Stuart rushes in the middle of the enemy destroying the SdKfz's, then a Willy rushes around, killing the men hidden in the buildings.

North bank before the attack

North bank after the attack.

Same situation on the South bank: five plus four men in the buildings and five Sd.Kfz.'s patrolling the place. First the Stuart rush, then the Willy, and the place is clear.

South bank before the attack

South bank after the attack

THE LAST VILLAGE

The last village to conquer is hard to get, as there are ten tanks of various types and enemy soldiers in almost every house. So, to make things easier, artillery pounds hard and destroys all buildings, hoping in the process to hit some of the tanks. At a certain point, the tanks will leave the village and join the field guns just to the west.

German tanks are eliminated and three field guns have been captured

THE FINAL ATTACK

The remaining enemy units are scattered in the woods: six mortars, four AT guns and twelve soldiers. Artillery softens defenses and an advancing sniper spots the remaining enemies which are killed by the sniper himself or by field guns.