Guard Duty

Guard Duty
Chronology
Previous	Lesson in Blood
Next	Covert Cleanup
Details
Part of	Second World War
Location	Oder-Neisse river line
Outcome
Soviet victory
Belligerents
Soviet Union
Allied Forces
Objectives
Destroy all Allied forces in the area
Destroy the Soviet forward command HQ
Commanders
Soviet Commander
Unknown
Forces
Soviet border forces Rifle infantry Grenadiers Yaks
German border forces Rifle infantry Rangers Pillboxes
Mission Transcript

	The following is based on the Soviet campaign of Red Alert and might contradict canon.

“

Tomorrow, the attack on Germany begins, but today, we must protect our facility from Allied attacks. Keep the Command Center intact at all costs, and destroy any Allied fortification you might find. - Mission briefing

”

Guard Duty is the second mission in the Soviet campaign of Red Alert.

Background

Stalin's dream of conquering Europe was about to begin. The Soviet military had started mobilising for the invasion of Western Europe, but needed more time. Knowing that the Allies could hardly miss a Soviet build-up at the German-Polish border, Commander Kukov called upon an up-and-coming Soviet commander to guard the bridges that were key to the Soviet invasion of Germany. The mission was to defend the Soviet command post at one of the two bridges, and eliminate all the Allied forces guarding their side of the bridge.

Walkthrough

The player must defend the command center from allied ranger and infantry attacks. The player gets only two airfields and two yaks so don't let them be destroyed or the player will have no air support. Get rifle infantry and grenadiers to deal with the allies. Get the Yaks to hit them from the air and once all allied units and structures are destroyed the mission is a win.

Beta variants

The v0.09c beta of Command & Conquer: Red Alert features two playable variants of this mission. Variant A only has minor differences compared its final version, such as an additional ore field south of the Soviet base. The Allies are also supposed to be reinforced by a Destroyer. However, the trigger to call in the ship is missing, and the Destroyer can’t reach the waypoint it is supposed to end up at. The B variant differs substantially from both final maps. This map is conceptually the same, but the player starts with a Barracks and a Refinery. No Airfields are present, nor does the player have access to them. This setup matches that of the cutscene that plays prior to the mission. There is only one river crossing via a central island with three bridges. The difficulty of the map is much higher, with the Allies having access to more Pillboxes and APCs. The B variant appears to be a very early map used for testing, as it contains a lot of different team types with instructions such as taking different formations, including commands that don’t work in the final version of the game.

Gallery

• 

  Mission selection screen

• 

  Variant A of the mission.

• 

  Variant B.

• 

  v0.09c beta variant A of the mission.

• 

  v0.09c beta variant B.

Videos

Briefing

Soviet emblem (mission accomplished cutscene)

Soviet 2A - Guard Duty (North)

Soviet 2B - Guard Duty (South)

References

Red Alert, Counterstrike and The Aftermath missions

Red Alert Allied In the Thick of It Five to One Dead End Ten to One Tanya's Tale Iron Curtain Infiltration Sunken Treasure Protect the Chronosphere Extract Kosygin Suspicion Evidence Naval Supremacy Takedown Focused Blast No Remorse Soviet Lesson in Blood Guard Duty Covert Cleanup Behind the Lines Distant Thunder Bridge over the River Core of the Matter Elba Island Liability Elimination Overseer Sunk Costs Capture the Tech Centers Capture the Chronosphere Soviet Supremacy Cut On the Prowl   Counterstrike, The Aftermath and Retaliation Allied Greece Crackdown Down Under Controlled Burn Evacuation Siberia Fresh Tracks Trapped Wasteland Personal War Italy Harbor Reclamation In the Nick of Time Caught in the Act Production Disruption Poland Monster Tank Madness Time Flies PAWN Negotiations Absolute M.A.D.ness Soviet Ukraine Mousetrap Paradox Equation Nuclear Escalation Legacy of Tesla Austria Proving Grounds Besieged Soviet Soldier Volkov & Chitzkoi Top O' The World France Testing Grounds Let's Make a Steal Test Drive Don't Drink the Water Spain Grunyev Revolution Brothers in Arms Shock Therapy Situation Critical Deus Ex Machina Ant missions Discovery Rescue! Hunt! Exterminate!