Call of Duty: Vanguard

Experience World War II combat in a bold new way in Call of Duty: Vanguard. Discover the origins of Special Forces as you help form Task Force One in a cinematic Campaign spanning four major theaters of war. Step into the role of an original Special Forces Operator in innovative online Multiplayer, featuring 20 maps at launch. Get ready for a franchise-first, universe-expanding Zombies crossover, plus a fully integrated Call of Duty: Warzone experience with a huge new map. Built on the next-generation Call of Duty engine introduced in Modern Warfare, this is the most connected Call of Duty yet.

In August 1941, Private Lucas Riggs serves at Tobruk, Libya, as part of the Australian-led Rats of Tobruk garrison. After a failed ambush against the Royal Italian Army and the Afrika Korps, Riggs is tasked with recovering supplies for the British Army alongside fellow Rat Private Desmond “Des” Wilmot and British Lieutenant Robert Jacobs. The trio uncovers intelligence tied to General Erwin Rommel and destroys a German depot, but Major Henry Hamms detains them for insubordination. In 1942, during the Battle of El Alamein, Hamms orders Riggs and the Rats to hold a defensive line. Riggs disobeys, pushing to retake a hill and call in bomber support with Des backing him up. They succeed, but Des is killed in action. Furious at the way the Rats’ contribution is dismissed, Riggs punches Hamms in frustration, leaving him facing prison time. In June 1942, United States Navy pilot Lieutenant Wade Jackson flies in the Battle of Midway with his tail gunner, Aviation Machinist’s Mate Mateo Hernandez. In November 1943, during the assault on the Imperial Japanese Army in Bougainville, their aircraft is shot down and both men are captured by IJN and IJA soldiers. They are rescued by the 93rd Infantry Division, and later help the division by acquiring an Imperial Japanese Navy Aichi D3A to support the fight to reclaim the island. In August 1942, Red Army medic Polina Petrova witnesses the Luftwaffe invade Stalingrad. She cannot save her father, Boris, from execution by a Fallschirmjager squad, but escapes with her brother Misha and several Soviet partisans. Petrova earns the nickname “Lady Nightingale” as she hunts Leo Steiner, the Wehrmacht commander responsible for the invasion. In January 1943, Petrova and Misha attempt to assassinate Steiner in Stalingrad, but Misha is gravely wounded and sacrifices himself to give Petrova time to escape. Petrova later confronts Steiner and kills him and his personal army, inspiring the people of Stalingrad to retake the city from the Heer. She then turns her attention to Steiner’s superior, Hermann Freisinger. In June 1944, British paratrooper Sergeant Arthur Kingsley joins Operation Tonga. With the Parachute Regiment, he helps destroy the Melville Gun Battery and multiple bridges to aid the Allied invasion of Normandy. He befriends Sergeant Richard Webb, who later becomes his right-hand man. Kingsley, Webb, Petrova, Jackson, and Riggs—along with a sixth soldier, Milos Novak—are eventually recruited by Captain Carver Butcher to form the first special operations task force, callsign Vanguard, with Kingsley appointed as leader. In April 1945, Task Force Vanguard hijacks a train to Hamburg, Germany, seeking intelligence on Project Phoenix, a secret Nazi program run by Freisinger. While infiltrating a Kriegsmarine submarine, the squad is captured by Freisinger’s Feldgendarmerie troops, except Jackson, who evades them. Novak is bludgeoned to death by Freisinger. Vanguard is taken to the Waffen-SS and Gestapo headquarters in Berlin, where Freisinger assigns officer Jannick Richter to interrogate them. Jackson is captured after trying to steal a plane, and Richter breaks the squad’s morale by executing Webb. Unaware of Project Phoenix’s true purpose and Freisinger’s role, Richter interrogates Petrova and Riggs about Steiner and Rommel’s connection to Freisinger. He concludes that Project Phoenix is a coup attempt meant to install Freisinger as the new Fuhrer of the Fourth Reich. As Berlin falls under Red Army siege following Adolf Hitler’s suicide, Riggs escapes interrogation and frees the team, while Kingsley kills Richter to avenge Webb. Vanguard chases Freisinger to the airport, captures him, and burns him alive. The survivors board Freisinger’s plane and discover extensive German documents and assets that reveal global Nazi covert operations. Kingsley chooses to pursue Project Aggregat, a secret V2 rocket facility, and orders Jackson to fly there to continue the hunt.