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Company of Heroes: After Action Report
- September 28, 2006 13:42 PM PST
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Arriving to near universal acclaim, Company of Heroes has firmly entrenched itself on the hard drives of nearly every Gamepro editor. We are so enamored with the game that we decided to demonstrate its amazing ability to transport you right onto the battlefield. So strap yourself in and take a ride with the men of Able Company as they fight their way towards the strategically vital town of Autry.
It is August, 1944. Two months ago, Allied forces landed in northern France. The men of Able Company have fought across much of Normandy, from the beaches of Omaha to the port of Cherbourg. Now the men have arrived in Autry where elements of the Panzer Lehr divisions are attempting to escape eastward out of Falaise Pocket and certain destruction.
Able Company had been tasked with cutting off the Lehr Division's escape route, but the Tiger Ace, Captain Schultz, and his handpicked Tigergroupen were defending the town from Allied attack. They've thus far stifled all attempts at taking the town. Schultz himself was reputed to have destroyed seventeen Allied tanks in the process - clearly, taking Autry would be a bloody affair.
With the odds seemingly stacked against us, command graciously decided to lend us the first Pershing heavy tank to arrive in Europe. In a sharp contrast to the weakly armored Sherman and M10, the newest addition to our arsenal is heavily armored and testing confirms that it will stand toe to toe with any Tiger or Panther it comes up against. However, Schultz was certain to have large numbers of supporting armor with him so we needed to put together a force of Shermans, M10's, and supporting infantry to make sure our vital Pershing wasn't knocked out by enemy fire.
The mighty Pershing and its imposing 90mm gun
In order to build up such a force we first needed to build up our stores of fuel and munitions. The only way to do was to capture the numerous resource points scattered throughout the region. However, we had to move carefully as any move to take these them would undoubtedly draw the attention of the German forces.
Our first target was the nearest fuel point, located just to the northeast of our starting location. Without the prompt capture of this area our forces would have been starved for fuel and we wouldn't have been able to deploy critical armored reinforcements to the battlefield. In order to secure this area we dispatched our Pershing and two squads of riflemen. A small detachment of Volksgrenadiers was all that stood between us and the securing of the sector but the Pershing made quick work of them. We moved quickly to take control of the area but back on the main road Schultz is spotted moving directly towards our main base.
Captain Schultz roars forth in his Tiger
With the Pershing deployed in another sector, Schultz and his escort moved almost unmolested towards our base. Since our arrival we'd managed to build up a small defensive force of anti-tank guns backed by a Sherman and an M-10 Tank Destroyer. While this force would have been more than a match for most armor, it was wholly unprepared to deal with Schultz and his imposing Tiger Tank. Fortunately for us, his escorting Ostwind Flakpanzers took the lead and walked right into our defensive fire; chalk up two more German casualties. However, Schultz is a different story: his Tiger heavily damaged our Sherman and knocked out our lone M-10 before the Pershing could force him to pull back.
Schultz stares down our defending forces
