The Battle of Pointe du Hoc
Objective
Raise the hill, destroy the guns and secure the area
” The Battle of Pointe du Hoc” is the seventeenth level in Call of Duty 2, and the first American level of the game.
The player begins the invasion of Europe as Corporal Bill Taylor of the 2nd Ranger Battalion in an LCVP Higgins Boat. When the ramp drops, the Germans will open up with full on machine gun and rifle fire. Men are gunned down left and right, focus on getting to safety and get out of the LCVP and run forward. The player will then be knocked down by a grenade or mortar round hitting and killing most of the soldiers that are standing behind the player. This launches a cutscene of the first few seconds of the first wave assaulting the cliff side. When recovering and Sgt. Randall drags the player to safety, look forward and one will see a Springfield sniper rifle lying on the ground. Pick it up for extra ammo, then turn left and start looking for a rope to climb up. There is one near the end. Sgt. Randall will order the player to climb the rope and get topside.
Use caution while climbing up the rope, once atop the cliff, meet up with Sgt. Randall and Pvt. Braeburn for a situation report. Braeburn explains that the Germans have hidden the 155mm howitzers, and replaced them with telephone poles and hedgehogs to fool recon aircraft. The orders are to clear out the bunkers and trenches of German resistance, and set up field operations within the hour. Randall orders to keep moving with the rest of the battalion to the entrance of the small hamlet. Keep going forward until having reached the very end. At the end, there is a bunker with an MG42 on the right and another trench from across. Toss a smoke grenade at the MG42, then head to the other trench. There, the player will see troops in the trench, take out the Thompson and wipe out the ones that are closest. There’s usually a troop on the far-left side, grab the rifle and snipe them, once sniped, there will be other enemies to take over the MG42, smoke grenades are vital for higher difficulties.
If player has sniper rifle, it would be wise to snipe the flak gun crews to the right, making the crossing easier.
Most bunkers will have lots of enemies waiting to ambush the player, don’t be afraid to use grenades to take them out.
When the trench is cleared out, go to the right side of the trench and jump up. One can see three troops firing from a pit. Snipe them, then go forward until seeing an ally with a field radio. Sit near him until the explosions stop, then go forward.
Eventually, the player will see a gate to a village on the left with troops coming out of it. Let them get into their positions, then snipe them. When all of them are dead, go into the gate.
The player ends up in the village. Go forward into the first house and take out the troop in it. After that, turn left to a doorway towards some ruins with a troop hiding at the end of it. Eliminate this threat, then go through the ruins. Once there, look to the right to see a house nearby. Go into the house and take out the troop inside.
Inside the house, there is a table on the left and a staircase on the right. There’s a troop behind the table, so toss a grenade to flush him out. The player can go up the stairs to take out some troops, but there’s nothing important up there. Instead, when the enemy behind the table is dead, go straight to enter a dining room. There’s another troop behind the table on the left in this room, take him out. When he’s down, take a right then go outside.
The player will now be near a farm. Go left and go through the gate. This is a mini-maze made out of low stone barriers with a ton of troops on the other side and a half-track with a MG42 on the left side. Instead of navigating the maze and firing at the troops, go right then go down the hill until the troops hiding behind the barriers can be seen. Take out the gunner on the half-track first, then take out as many troops as possible. Once the area is secure, go to where they were coming from.
Go through the mini-maze, get near the farm and turn left. The player will see enemy troops coming in from the farm. One half will hide behind the farming equipment, while the other will hide behind the wall on the far right side of the farm. Take out the equipment troops with the rifle first, then toss a grenade and rush the wall troops. When they’re down, go back to the trench area before the village.
Once there, there will be troops running to a trench far away from the player. Ignore them and take a right until seeing the allies huddled near a closed gate. Get close to the gate and let one of them blow it up. When it’s open, go through it and look to the left. One should see troops hiding in a trench. Toss a grenade at them and finish off the survivors, then go into the trench. Follow it until reaching a circular concrete formation with a fake gun on it.
When reaching the concrete area, go into the left trench and follow it to the end, eliminating any enemies. At the end, turn left and look up. Here is the first bunker. Toss a grenade in it, then go inside and finish off anybody that’s left.
Now to the second bunker. Go back to the concrete area and look right. Here is the second bunker. Take out the troops near it, then enter from the right and finish off everybody that’s left.
To get to the left bunker, get inside and go through the opening at its front. There is a trench. Go into it and take a right to get to the bunker. There’s an MG42 on the side, toss a smoke grenade to distract him. Go straight to get into the bunker. There’s an MG42 at the front, but it takes the operator some time to get into position and fire, take him out before he’s done. Clean out the bunker and get out. When out, turn left and there will be an entrance to a small room with three troops. Toss a grenade in there to wipe out the troops.
Now the player has to take out the rest of the troops in the area. Just get out of the bunker, jump on top of the trench and scan the area for enemies. When the area is cleared out, go to the concrete area and find the allies huddled up. Get near them and exit the level.
Veteran of D-Day (60 ) – Complete “The Battle of Pointe du Hoc” on Veteran.
Most of the level is scripted “eye candy” and poses little threat to the player. For example, the Rangers climbing the ridge disappear once they hit the top and German troops are scripted to all die once the player passes certain points on the field. Also the player can stand on the shoreline, and unless in the line of sight of the few non-scripted attacking enemies, is virtually safe from any harm.
As soon as the player reaches the top of the cliff, all dead bodies and NPCs will disappear from the beach.
The player could kill McCloskey with an M1A1 Carbine with two shots on his legs and one on his head without a penalty.
When looking for a rope to climb, go to the last one on the right and head behind a rock. There, one will see Pvt. Barb. When looking at the last rope, one can see another Pvt. Barb by the cliff wall.
The LCAs used to land the US soldiers are operated by British sailors, hence the use of ‘Yank’ in the opening segment of the game.
If the player stays on the beach for some time, they may be able to hear some Rangers shouting “Rangers lead the way!”, a phrase created on Omaha beach at the same time as the level.
During the regrouping on the road after destroying the coastal guns, the player can see two Pvt. Braeburns.
One may notice Sgt. Randall is shot and killed in the landing craft before the player can exit it.
There is a reference to the movie Saving Private Ryan in this level. Once the player exits the landing craft, he/she is hit by an artillery shell, and lay dazed on the ground. One can see another landing craft get blown up with several burning men stumbling out of the blazing craft. Also, the player acts like Private Jackson from the movie, who actually used the Springfield.