"Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts" Quiz

Answer: The Liberation of Caen

The British campaign involves the break-out from the beaches of Normandy, and the liberation of the city of Caen situated just off the French coast. It was of major importance to the invasion of Europe, and its success eventually allowed the allied forces to begin their move in-land.

The German resistance was so fierce that the operation took weeks longer than initially expected, greatly delaying the end of the war.

Answer: Operation Market Garden

The Panzer Elite represent a crack SS armored division, combining both mechanized infantry (Panzergrenadiers) and heavy tank-destroyers. Their army is extremely mobile, but lacks defensive capabilities. In their campaign, the Panzer Elite struggle to prevent the allies from breaching through the Netherlands and securing a crossing over the Rhine river into Germany.

This was one of the few German victories after 1944, and served to delay the invasion of Germany by over a year!

Answer: Flame-thrower

The British Infantry Section is quite versatile, capable of receiving one of three different upgrades to make it suitable for a specific task. This unit can also do some good defensive construction, and is quite hardy in any battle. Unfortunately, most British soldiers move very slowly through enemy-controlled terrain, and they are extremely expensive to recruit and replace.

Answer: Repairing damaged vehicles

Panzer Grenadiers are mechanized infantry, trained to work in close coordination with the many Panzer Elite vehicles. Therefore, they are all trained in mechanics, and can repair vehicles and structures - albeit at a slow rate. For most Panzer Elite armies, the Panzer Grenadiers are the only available type of infantry - they have no separate engineers or even foot-mobile weapon teams! This faction relies heavily on vehicles - and they have an amazing variety of vehicles to choose from.

Answer: Infantry Command Truck

Instead of stationary base structures, the British army relies on mobile command posts, loaded on large trucks. These can freely move about and set themselves up in any friendly territory. Mobility allows the British to place their trucks right behind their formidable defensive lines, thus offering better protection for their command staff and shorter movement times between the battle and the reinforcement point.

This is crucial for the slow-moving British infantry, and allows the British army to perform some daring and complicated tactical maneuvers.

Answer: Scout Car

The Panzer Elite have several vehicles that are completely unarmed - but nonetheless can prove vital to their "quick-raid" tactics. Kettenkrads are extremely fast and can capture sectors - allowing them to keep the enemy off-balance. Munitions Halftracks can supply other units with ammunition, shortening the delay between the use of their combat abilities. Vampire Halftracks are used to divert resources straight out of enemy sectors. All three vehicles are rather cheap and completely unarmed, but are also rather fast, and in the hands of an experienced player can wreak havoc with the enemy's operations during the early portion of the battle.

Answer: The unit is receiving bonuses from a nearby Lieutenant.

Unlike in the other factions, most British units do not accumulate experience at all. Only three British units - the Lieutenant, Captain, and Command Tank - do go up in experience level. However, when one of these "command units" is in the vicinity of certain British units, those units receive powerful bonuses.

For example, when a Lieutenant is close a British Infantry Section or team of Sappers, those infantrymen receive strong bonuses that make them fight much harder and better than before. This is indicated by a golden star appearing above the affected unit.

As a Lieutenant goes up in experience levels, the bonuses he gives to nearby infantry units get better and better!

Answer: Restore destroyed vehicles to operational status.

The Bergetiger is based on an improvised version of the Tiger tank found by allied troops after the invasion of Normandy. It is unarmed, with its main cannon replaced by a winch that allows it to lift wreckage. In the game, the Bergetiger and its crew can actually restore destroyed vehicles to working condition.

This has virtually no costs, so proper use of the Bergetiger can allow you to re-use your vehicles over and over without paying to replace them with new units. The restoration process is quite slow, but the Bergetiger is well-armored enough that it can sometimes even do this in the middle of heavy combat!

Answer: Sherman

The British Sherman Firefly is a modified version of the Sherman tank. Its main cannon is replaced by an immensely-powerful 17-pounder anti-tank cannon - the same cannon found in stationary British anti-tank emplacements. This cannon is extremely dangerous to enemy tanks, and can even pierce the front armor of heavy tanks with little effort - causing massive damage.

It is sadly much less useful against infantry and small vehicles, making the Sherman Firefly somewhat vulnerable to anti-tank infantry.

Answer: Henschel Hs-129

The "Henschel Panzerknacker Support" ability is a terrific way of getting rid of a large number of enemy tanks in rapid fashion. Once targeted at a specific area of the battlefield, Henschel Hs-129 will periodically descend on any enemy vehicle detected inside the target area, and attack anything that moves with their powerful anti-tank cannons.

The idea of anti-tank cannons mounted on an airplane was revolutionary at the time, but carries on to this day. A-10 "Warthog" planes used by the U.S. Air Force carry a multi-barrel "Avenger" cannon that can rip armored vehicles to pieces!

Answer: Royal Engineers Support

The British Engineer Support command tree has several benefits, many of which are new types of tanks that can be brought in from off-map - the Churchill Tank series. A Churchill Tank is very heavy and hard to destroy - and can dig itself in to trade mobility for even more protection. Though they are not as heavily-armed as other tanks, Churchill tanks provide strong support for the advancing British army.

This command tree also makes all British defensive emplacements stronger, and improves the British army's Population Cap as well! It is a powerful, albeit very defensively-minded command tree.

Answer: Marder III

The Marder III is a dedicated tank destroyer fielded by the Panzer Elite. It is not very well-armored, not terribly fast, and its cannon is fixed to the body of the vehicle which means it can only fire forward. On the other hand, it has an extremely long range, and can often fire at targets that cannot even see it.

The Marder III can also trade its mobility for even longer range (and a faster firing rate), making it even more dangerous to enemy armor.

Answer: Move.

The 105mm Priest is a mobile artillery vehicle fielded by the British Royal Artillery Support company. Although it lacks the range and firing rate of the 25-pounder Howitzer emplacement, its advantage is that it can freely move about. It can follow other British units around to provide support fire, make sudden raids forward of the line to fire at distant targets, and does not need to be replaced or be scuttled every time the front lines shift. Only three Priests can exist on the battlefield at any given time though.

Answer: Arnhem

During Operation Market Garden, the allies attempted to secure a large bridge in the Dutch town of Arnhem, a bridge over the river Rhine leading directly into northern Germany. They landed paratroopers there, who fought valiantly to hold it until reinforcements could breach through Belgium and Holland to link up with them.

The Germans, however, fought back just as valiantly, and eventually managed to stop the allies from crossing over the bridge. During this mission, you will have to contend with many British commandos operating captured German equipment, including the terrifying Flak 88 Anti-Aircraft/Anti-Tank cannons.

Answer: In the chateau.

By the time the army reaches Caen, the allied air forces have reduced most of the city to rubble. Fighting in the ruined city is very difficult, and requires the British to construct their defenses intelligently to prevent the enemy from throwing them right back out again.

The Germans are also dug in quite deeply, and at one point during the first mission inside Caen, a massive air raid must be called in to clear out their forward defensive lines. Advancing past it without this air raid is nigh impossible!