Red Dawn

Operation: Red Dawn is the first mission of the Soviet campaign in Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2.

Background
As the USSR unleashes its forces on the US mainland, a newly appointed is given the task of invading Washington D.C. by Premier Romanov himself. In this endeavour, he is assisted by Zofia as his intelligence officer.

The US was completely off guard and mostly unprotected while the Soviets had been preparing for years.

Force composition
The Soviets had legions of fresh and highly dedicated conscripts brought in by airplanes. More Conscripts could be deployed from a small base if necessary. A legion of engineers were also used to capture enemy structures. Once the Soviets had advanced to the Pentagon, a battalion of Rhino Tanks arrived to assist. The Soviets drastically outnumbered the Allies, with hundreds of soldiers.

The Allies had a small base protecting the Pentagon, but it was ill-defended and quickly destroyed. There were also legions of G.I.s, but they were spread out and easy prey. The Allies clearly had not expected an attack, and they simply could not compete with the invaders.

Events
The start of the Soviet attack was very surprising. The air raid siren was sounded by Washington defensive forces, but the anti-air defense wasn't able to deal with the transport planes. Soviets dropped one battle group of Paratroopers near Iwo Jima Monument where they didn't meet enemy resistance and killed several American civilians. Conscripts seized the monument and replaced the American flag with a Soviet one.

In a short time after paradrop, the Soviets landed some ground forces in short distance from Iwo Jima Monument. A mobile construction vehicle which was part of these ground forces was assigned to the commander.

After the base was deployed, the paratroopers started their advance toward Pentagon. The paratroopers encountered a platoon of American GIs near a gas station. Some of the conscripts took position inside the gas station and eliminated the GI's. A second company of conscripts advanced further, took position in a building and started to fire at the enemy base. Meanwhile, a third company entered the base and killed several soldiers. The first and second companies joined the attack, and eliminated the rest of the GIs and destroyed a battery of Patriots. Meanwhile the paratrooper battalion was reinforced by another company which was dropped to the conquered American base. However, the Americans hastily destroyed the bridge to delay the Soviet advance. Engineers were sent to repair the bridge and they also captured the American power plants.

The invaders crossed the bridge and entered nearby buildings to nearby pillboxes and the GIs. They entered the base, cleared it of American soldiers and used paradropped engineers to capture the Tech Airport and the rest of the base.

The Soviets built up a strike force. Soon, they crossed the bridge towards the Pentagon. Rhino tanks took care of the pillboxes, and the Pentagon was swarmed with conscripts. The Pentagon was finally destroyed with the help of additional paratroopers and Rhino tanks.

Tips

 * Capture the Allied outpost near the destroyed bridge to gain GI's, which are way more powerful than your conscripts.
 * There is another destroyed bridge near the Allied-occupied Airfield, where Rhino Tanks in Amphibious transports will deploy.
 * There are several Pickup Trucks that cause power-up crates to spawn when destroyed near the player's starting location before entering the first Allied outpost. Interestingly, every single Pickup Truck makes a crate spawn via triggers when destroyed in this mission. This prompts some players to a rabbit hunt.
 * There are also 2 Oil Derricks to capture behind the Pentagon.
 * Before assaulting the first Allied outpost, enter the docks which is due south of the outpost. There will be supply trucks with bonus crates inside. There will also be a few ships which are defenseless, but will grant promotion when destroyed.

Aftermath
"The Pentagon was crushed so quickly that many important American generals were captured by our victorious soldiers, crippling their armed forces."

- The mission debriefing when played faster than at par time

"Thanks to you, the Pentagon has been destroyed and the American military has been thrown into chaos."

- The mission debriefing when played slower than at par time

The attack was a major success for the Soviets. The Soviets were able to capture many important American officers, thanks to the speed and ferocity of their attacks. They were also able to capture the city, and coupled with the civilian deaths, intimidated the U.S.

Trivia

 * Despite the fact that Hitler was erased from the Red Alert universe timeline, the Iwo Jima Memorial was still present near the Soviet starting area.
 * The same case applies to the Arizona Memorial seen in Deep Sea and Sub-Divide; Both of those are most likely mistakes made by Westwood.
 * The mission title, Red Dawn, refers to a 1984 American war film of the same name directed by John Milius. The movie also depicts a Soviet Paratrooper invasion of the United States.
 * The initials of one of the game designers appear in the lower right corner of the map. The only way to reveal them without cheating is to drop paratroopers there.