Mission 1

Achievements

Compassion in War: Rescue the trapped civilians.

• Described within the mission walkthrough.

German Engineering: Kill a German tank with a German AT Gun.

• Received through normal completion of the mission.

Soviet Zeal: Complete Mission 01 without calling in additional Shock Troops.

• Requires careful use of the Shock Troops, keeping them in cover and allowing your Soviet allies to take as much fire as possible. Use grenades to take out enemies, then run away instead of sitting in cover close to them.

Walkthrough

Greetings, comrade. Your first mission as a commander sets you in Stalingrad, where your forces have just exited a ship and are ready to fight the Germans. Under your command are two units of Shock Troops, elite infantry with body armor and submachine guns. Move your Shock Troops off the docks before they are blown up by German air support. Follow the T-34 as it moves toward the German infantry, taking cover at the designated locations on your screen. Green cover is always stronger than Yellow cover; try to take cover behind harder objects and vehicles that provide Green cover, which is designated by the green circles when you click on a unit and mouse behind objects. Order the units to take cover by right-clicking near cover when you see yellow or green circles appear on the ground, or when your mouse turns into a cover symbol. As you continue to move up, the T-34 is destroyed by a bombing run, yet its carcass can be used as Green cover for your forces. Once the enemy units are forced to retreat, your commanding officer will tell you of the current battlefield situation.

After the short cutscene, you are granted the commander ability Mobilize Shock Troops, which allows you to call in additional squads of Shock Troops as long as you have the population room for them, as shown on the resource bar. These are free and unlimited as long as you meet the population requirement.

To eliminate the German Heavy Machine Gun causing trouble for the Soviet forces, you must take one of two paths to flank it, which means coming from a side angle where it cannot shoot your forces. If you click on the Heavy Machine Gun (HMG), it shows the weapon’s firing arc. Stay out of the arc or line of sight and the weapon cannot shoot your squads. Each designated flanking path has enemy squads stationed for defense. Take care of the squads with your Shock Troops, using cover to your advantage. Move farther up the path and around the side of the HMG, then throw a grenade to kill the crew member. This HMG has only one crew member, although HMGs in the future will have three crew members. The more crew members a weapon team has, the longer they can last and the more likely they will survive a grenade.

Once the HMG has been taken care of, continue to move your squads through the city. Make use of cover, especially when near lots of German infantry. Grenades are powerful against clumps of enemy infantry and can be used for the rest of the mission.

Farther up, to the west of the left Howitzer is an additional objective: Rescue trapped civilians within a building by defeating all of the German soldiers nearby. Move your squads together to kill off the German soldiers. As you are coming up from behind them, they do not have cover and are extremely vulnerable. Feel free to use grenades as much as you like to eliminate the enemies quickly. Be careful; if all of the Soviet soldiers within the building are killed, you will have failed. Once all of the German infantry are taken out, move toward the nearby Howitzer by means of a small path east of the building with civilians. It leads directly to the Howitzer. Move your Shock Troops nearby so they can shoot down the Howitzer crew, or throw a grenade to eliminate it quickly. Move on to the next Howitzer to the east of your position. Keep in mind that if you kill a Howitzer, all nearby German troops will retreat. Tossing grenades at the Howitzer and then running away saves you from having to deal with the enemy infantry.

German armor has come to stop your advance! Shock Troops are not capable of dealing with tanks, as they are outfitted for taking out infantry. Move your squads to one of the designated areas where the Panzer IV cannot shoot them. After the Panzer IV has pulled back, your commanding officer lets you know that an Anti-tank Gun (AT gun) is nearby and you can take it for yourself once the crew has been killed. Move your squads up the path near where the Howitzer was previously until you come upon a German HMG on a small path. Follow the onscreen tip to throw a smoke grenade in front of the HMG, blocking its line of sight and allowing you to move your Shock Troops through the area and around to flank the HMG. Toss a couple of grenades to take out the HMG, then continue on to the AT gun.

Vault over the sandbags guarding the AT gun by right-clicking on them when the vault icon appears. Your Shock Troops can deal with the crew using their normal weapons, although lobbing a grenade speeds up the job. Once the crew has been eliminated, recrew the AT gun by clicking on a squad and right-clicking on the now-abandoned AT gun. Once the AT gun has been crewed, move it through the ruins behind the nearby Panzer IV tank. To aim, hold down the right mouse button where you want the AT gun to move to, then move the mouse toward the Panzer IV. A firing arc appears, displaying the area in which the AT gun can fire. As long as the AT gun has sight of the Panzer IV and the tank is firing the gun’s firing arc, the AT gun will fire. Alternatively, simply order an attack move that targets the Panzer IV. Take out the tank to continue.

After a short cutscene, continue toward the rail station with your Shock Troops. Your AT gun can prove valuable against any enemy vehicles so be sure to set it up in a position to cover your forces, such as on one of the nearby roads. The Germans have two HMGs set up to guard their position. Use your Shock Troops to flank them by vaulting over the nearby sandbags and sending them toward the HMGs. Be quick, as your infantry will be in the left HMG’s firing arc after they vault over the sandbags. Throw grenades to deal with them quickly, allowing your Soviet allies to push on.

Another German Panzer IV tank enters the field once the HMGs have been destroyed. Move your AT gun forward and set it up so that it can fire on the tank. If you are having trouble setting it up, simply right-click on the enemy tank and your AT gun will move, set up, and fire by itself. There is a second abandoned AT gun just to the north of where the left HMG was positioned. Send a squad of Shock Troops to crew the gun and aim it at the Panzer IV. Destroy the tank to acquire your first victory as a Soviet commander.