Stronghold

Follow our comprehensive guide to completing the Stronghold mission in Call of Duty: WWII. Includes objectives, collectibles, and strategies for success.

Daniels wakes up from a nightmare about the big, bad wolf and has a brief conversation with Zussman about how he doesn't need to prove himself to Pierson no matter how infected or unhealed his serious wound is. From here you are thrown right back into the thick of battle, needing to reach a strategic point to lay down suppressing fire for some other troops.

OBJECTIVE UPDATE: TAKE THE CHURCH

The church provides a nice vantage point over the rest of the town, so clearly that is where you want to get to. You also get a brand new ability here, and you can rest mortar strikes from Aiello which will prove tremendously useful in the battles to come. You throw it just like you would a normal grenade, so aim at the troops across the way and watch the fireworks that will follow. It's great for clearing out big groups of enemies or maybe just getting one jerk hiding behind cover you don't particularly like. There are a lot of enemies in and around that building directly across from you when the mission starts. Use the cover given to you to thin their ranks, then race across the street and pick off some more from the safety of the doorway. Be careful, because if you leave some of the Nazis outside alive, they can flank you here when you approach the house. Once the bottom floor is cleared out, head to the second story to finish off the remaining few. You'll know you've finally cleared the house when you get a message from Pierson telling you to push towards the church.

MEMENTO #7: 1 out of 3 on Stronghold (7/33)

On the second story of this broken down house, head to the far back wall, opposite to where you started the level from. Right in the middle is what looks like used to be a small room that had most of its walls and floors blown out. However, there is still a little bit of flooring to walk on here, that leans against the left side of what remains of the wall. On this wall is a little mirror, and hanging from the mirror is a locket. Grab it and head on out.

Things don't get easier from here, though, because there will be more enemies waiting for you as soon as you exit the house. Reinforcements arrive in jeeps and are now swarming in front of the church itself, and there are a couple different ways you can tackle them. You can use the second story here to give you a nice vantage point of the Nazis across the street, or you can head outside and use some cover around the house to engage in combat instead. Use some grenades if you find a nice big group, and there are several gaps in the walls upstairs that provide excellent cover and great vantage points to try and pick some off with headshots. A mortar also works really well here if you have one available. There are a decent number here and they can come from multiple locations, so standing out in the open is not advised unless you desperately want to donate some blood to this particular street.

Eventually, more Nazi reinforcements will arrive, this time in a halftrack filled with troops. Find some covering take your time taking them out. If you are particularly good with grenades, you can wipe out almost the entire group with a well place throw on top of the halftrack. If not, focus your fire on any troops remaining on the halftrack and clear them out as quickly as you can. Once they spill out of the truck, it might be useful to have Pierson mark the enemies so you can easily pick out where they're hiding at. Once the final one falls, make your way to where the halftrack now sits.

HEROIC ACTION #6: 1 out of 1 on Stronghold (6/23)

Once the halftrack arrives, one of your fellow soldiers will get hit by enemy fire. He won't be able to move, and Pierson will shout for you to go save him. He will be close outside the house in the center of the square, next to a truck nearby where the halftrack just bursted out of. Follow the button prompt to grab him and drag him back behind cover to earn this very well deserved Heroic Action.

OBJECTIVE UPDATE: DEFEND THE AREA

Even though you just claimed the area, more Nazis now show up to try and steal it back. There is a very nice machine gun located right in the halftrack and a bunch of enemies coming your way that happen to be weak to bullets being put in their body. Climb in the halftrack and use the machine gun to clear out the Nazis as they make their advance. Unlike the machine gun in the farmhouse back in mission one, the cover here is actually pretty good so you can take advantage of the machine gun without taking heavy fire. There are a good number both on the street and back upstairs in the house, but all of them happen to be directly in the line of fire of the machine gun so you should have no problem clearing this group out. There will be a man with a rocket up on the second story of one of the dilapidated houses, so make him a priority and take out the rest in any order you choose.

OBJECTIVE UPDATE: RALLY WITH PIERSON

Move over to the objective marker. Celebrate your success, possibly with novelty party hats and a cake.

OBJECTIVE UPDATE: CLEAR THE CHURCH

Kick down the church door like you would if you were extremely desperate for communion. The church looks empty, but isn't. This is a church that is filled with Nazis which, as you may have guessed, makes it the absolute worst kind of church. Pierson suggests you grab some ammo from the crate in the center of the room, but once you do it triggers all of the Nazis to come out of hiding. A machine gun on the second floor will immediately begin taking fire at you and additional enemies will swarm in on both the bottom and top fl