To celebrate the standalone multiplayer expansion of Company of Heroes 2: The Western Front Armies, Kotaku has teamed up with Sega’s Australian partners Five Star Games to give away five copies of Company of Heroes 2. The US Forces and German Oberkommando West have joined the fight, but could you answer this question…
How To Enter
Company of Heroes 2: The Western Front Armies arrives on PC on June 24 — today! You can pick up the expansion on Steam for US$19.95.
Thanks to Five Star Games, Kotaku has five PC box copies (not DLC codes) to give away — one copy each day this week (each valued at $29.95).
Simply answer the question below. The most comprehensive, creative and accurate answer wins!
Entry open to Australian residents. Full terms and conditions.
Friday’s winner: Kai Cen. Noah Ellis! His entry:
The Western Front was a Soviet Front (the Soviet equivalent to an Army Group) during the early to mid stages of the fighting on the Eastern Front. In preparation for operation Bagration, in April 1944 the front was divided into the 2nd and 3rd Belorussian fronts.
The Front was commanded initially by Dmitry G. Pavlov, under his command was the 10th, 3rd, 4th and 13th armies. These were respectively commanded by Konstantin Golubev, Aleksander Korobkov, Vasily Kuznetsov and Dmitry Mostovenko. When the Germans invaded Russia, the Western Front was the primary target of Fedor Von Bock’s Army Group Centre, amongst the army being such names as Hermann Hoth and Heinz Guderian.
Pavlov and his staff, following the Western Front’s defeat, were subsequently tried and executed by the NKVD on charges of retreating without orders.
Pavlov would be replaced Andrey Eremenko (of Stalingrad fame) before then, as the Germans approached Moscow, being replaced by Marshal Semyon Timoshenko. The Western Front would be reinforced heavily as well with multiple armies including the 16th and 19 -22nd armies, commanded respectively by Mikhail Lukin, Ivan Konev (later commander of the 1st Belorussian Front, one of the two fronts to take Berlin), Pavel Kurochkin, Vasilii Gerasimenko and Filipp Ershakov. Facing the Western Front would be elements commanded by Adolf-Friederich Kuntzen.
The Front became heavily embroiled in the fighting around Smolensk, where it lost significant amounts of men and 3 whole armies. Following the recalling of Timoshenko, Ivan Konev took over command of the Front. By the time of the German advance of Moscow, 16th Army was now controlled by Konstantin Rokossovsky, who would later plan Operation Bagration, “perhaps the most successful allied offensive of the entire war” according to Antony Beevor.
Mounting losses forced the army to be reorganised again, with the 33rd, 43rd and 5th armies arriving to fill the gaps. These were commanded respectively by M.G. Yefremov, K.D.Golubev and L.A.Govorov. In preparation for the Soviet counter-attack at Moscow Georgie Zhukov took overall command of the army.
In 1943 the Western Front was commanded by V.D. Sokolovsky, until in 1944 when the front was broken up.
The Western Front interestingly is strongly intertwined with several key Soviet commanders who would orchestra some impressive offensives, amongst them, Zhukov, Konev and Rokossovsky.
Competition Closed!
Company of Heroes 2: The Western Front Armies brings you back to the Western Front first introduced in the original Company of Heroes.
As a stand-alone release, you don’t need to have the full Company Of Heroes 2 game installed to setup skirmish or multiplayer matches against the AI — or multiplayer online matches via Steam. You’re set to go.
However, if you do have COH 2, the expansion will of course add the US Forces and German Oberkommando West. Each army has distinctive tactical gameplay options, new infantry, team weapons, vehicles, abilities and upgrades on a total of eight seasonal multiplayer maps set on the Western Front.
The bottom line: All COH 2 players – even if you’ve only got Western Front Armies — can battle across 31 maps (along with more than 1000 community maps available on Steam Workshop) in auto-match multiplayer, regardless of what content you already own.
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