Clearing a Path

Clearing a Path is the ninth GDI mission of Tiberian Dawn.

Background
As GDI forces advanced into Nod-controlled Hungary they advanced into the heart of an area afflicted with Tiberium sickness. Consequently they lost 60% of their numbers and the GDI advance came to a halt.

J.C. Carter had devised a cunning plan to prevent further losses, deploying gunboats along one of the tributaries of the River Danube he hoped to destroy Nod bases along the river.

Events
Carter himself had come down with Tiberium sickness and had difficulty speaking.

Despite this he was coherent enough to give Solomon orders to destroy the turrets along the river. Solomon arrived with an MCV to the north of the river, established a base and began the destruction of the northern turrets while a Chinook moved a small force of grenadiers and rocket soldiers to destroy the turrets south of the river. Carter had hoped that Solomon would have eliminated the turrets so that his gunboats would arrive in the base and destroy it.

Nod however had preempted his plan. They had built one of their new defensive weapons, the Obelisk of Light which had been invented for the primary purpose of sinking enemy ships. Nod sank all the gunboats with its Obelisk. Carter is believed to have died in the gunboats or to have been rendered insensible by Tiberium sickness before his death and was unable to give any new orders to Solomon.

Solomon took command of the situation, assembling a force sufficient to eliminate the Nod base and the Obelisk of Light.

Aftermath
With the base destroyed the GDI were able to conquer Budapest, installing a GDI government there and having eliminated the Obelisk of Light, GDI gunboats were able to advance down-river the bombard Nod forces. GDI gained control of the Hungarian section of the River Danube and shortly afterwards Nod resistance in Hungary collapsed.

The United Nations which had previously cut GDI funding following the Białystok scandal had finally reversed its earlier decision due to Sheppard's diplomacy. As a result he was assume command over Solomon's forces in Europe.

GDI forces in the south of Italy were victorious, eliminating the last Nod presence on Italian soil.

Meanwhile a powerful GDI counter-offensive from Poland routed Nod forces in Ukraine pushing them into a south-eastern pocket as they proceeded to push on into Nod Romania.

Walkthrough
Deploy the MCV, then get Guard Towers and Rocket Soldiers to stop the Nod attacks.

A small squad of infantry will arrive on the southern section of the map by Chinook. Use these to destroy the southern turrets. Another Chinook will then arrive (this one being controllable) to allow them to join the main force. Note the money crate to the far west of the southern section of the map before leaving that area.

Get some more infantry to deal with the turrets on the northern side. Once the turrets are under attack the gunboats will arrive but the Obelisk will destroy them all.

Get Medium Tanks and Humvees to destroy the Nod base, favouring the northern entrance to stay out of the Obelisk’s way.

Trivia

 * Carter refers to the Danube as the Tiber river in the briefing. This is most likely a mistake, however it is also possible that the original location for the map was in the Tiber River.
 * If the player chooses to destroy the Obelisk before the turrets, the gunboats will arrive without any threat whatsoever, however they will not attack any enemies at all.