Order of Battle: Red Storm

Red Storm, the third Soviet-themed DLC for Order of Battle, covers the battles of the Red Army between 1943 and 1945.

The campaign begins with the fierce tank battle near Prokhorovka during Operation Citadel, the last grand German summer offensive on the Eastern Front in mid-1943. Following the failure of Citadel the Red Army will almost always be on the offensive.

Like in the previous Soviet DLCs, Red Star and Red Steel, Red Storm includes both famous and crucial battles as well as operations that are less known or limited in scope, but still provide unique challenges. So while the Eastern Front is known mostly for large land battles, a few operations with amphibious and naval elements, like the Kerch-Eltigen landings and the liberation of Crimea, were added.

An optional scenario roughly in the middle of the campaign depicts key aspects of partisan warfare in Byelorussia. Most core units cannot be used here, and the scenario can be skipped entirely if the player prefers more conventional battles. But winning it offers additional benefits in Operation Bagration, the huge offensive against Army Group Center in the same region a few months later.

The ultimate goal of this campaign is of course the defeat of the Third Reich in the Battle of Berlin. But Red Storm does not stop there - players can opt for another battle after the fall of Berlin and take their core army to the Far East to defeat Japanese forces in the last major Soviet offensive of World War 2 in Manchuria.

SCENARIOS

1. Prokhorovka, a massive clash of tanks at the height of the Battle of Kursk
2. Operation Rumyantsev, the Soviet offensive to retake Belgorod and Kharkov following the cancellation of Citadel
3. Kerch-Eltigen Landings, an amphibious operation to establish beachheads again on the east coast of Crimea
4. Zhitomir-Fastov, fend off a series of heavy German counterattacks west of Kiev in late 1943
5. Korsun Pocket, Soviet forces encircle two German army corps west of the Dnieper, while the Wehrmacht launches several relief attacks
6. Crimea, the Red Army concludes the liberation of the peninsula as remaining German and Romanian forces hope to be evacuated across the Black Sea
7. Hide and Seek, a unique and optional scenario about partisan warfare in spring 1944
8. Karelia, depicts the big Red Army offensive against Finland in June 1944
9. Operation Bagration, huge Soviet offensive to destroy Army Group Center in Byelorussia in summer 1944
10. Baltic Offensive, the scenario focusses mostly on the Soviet drive towards Tallinn and Riga
11. Debrecen, after Romania and Bulgaria leave the Axis the Red Army advances into Hungary in October 1944
12. Vistula-Oder Operation, the large offensive in January 1945 through Poland to finally reach Germany
13. Seelow Heights, the Red Army has to defeat the last defensive stronghold before Berlin
14. Berlin, the battle for the German capital to end World War 2 in Europe
15. Manchuria, the last Soviet offensive in August 1945 to defeat the Kwantung Army

ADDITIONS

Red Storm adds more Soviet commanders and specialisations, but also a number of new and improved units for both the Soviet Union and its Axis opponents:

Players can buy light Ba-64 armored cars, devastating BM-31 Katyusha rocket launchers or hard-hitting 100mm anti-tank guns additionally to a large variety of Soviet equipment already available. They can also field new fighter models like the agile Yak-3, the heavily armed Yak-9T and the more advanced Yak-9U, and get access to improved medium Tu-2 and heavy Yer-2 bombers.

On the other side the Germans do now deploy their deadly 8,8cm Pak 43, the nimble Pzkw II Luchs and new He-162 jetfighters in 1945, while their Hungarian allies field Turan tanks, Zrinyi SP guns and use Bf-109 and Me-210 aircraft.

Finally Red Storm adds more camouflage patterns which players can use to skin their units if they wish.