Scorched Earth (mission)/Trivia

• In the cutscene before the level begins, Alena Vorshevsky's last name is misspelled as "Vershovsky".
• This is the first campaign mission in the entire Call of Duty series where the encountered German army is friendly, as opposed to the Wehrmacht and SS of the World War II-era titles.
• Sandman calls Alena "Athena," which is actually Alena's codename for the operation, due to the fact that HVI's names are never given over airwaves.
• This is the last mission in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 that the player plays as Frost or in Delta Force.
• The way Frost looks at his hands in the beginning of the level and before the flashback shares similarities with two characters in the Call of Duty series. The first was Dimitri Petrenko when his hands were burnt from the singed wood when he tried to move it in the level "Vendetta". The second was James Ramirez when he looks at his tattered gloves after his team's helicopter crashes in Washington D.C., USA in "Of Their Own Accord" and "Second Sun".
• Oddly, it seems that the two Leopard 2 tanks seen are not supported by any other German infantry; rather they are supported by American infantry.
• After the building collapses, Grinch is wearing a Ranger uniform, rather than his usual Delta uniform.
• The Player will receive friendly fire warnings even after Granite Team is killed if the player shoots the two friendlies on the road on purpose. However, the player will no longer receive the warning once all of the Russian soldiers withdraw from the road.
• After the German tanks are destroyed and before entering the destroyed building, a dead Delta member that wears Metal's uniform may be found.
• The A-10 cannot perform strafing runs more than 20 meters long even if Frost marks a target longer than that.
• In this mission, the scoped M14 EBR has the ADS speed of an unscoped one. Furthermore, during the animation of aiming down the scope, Frost appears to be looking not into the scope, but through the iron sights.
• On a couch in the lobby of the first floor of the building Alena is in, there is a teddy bear.
• If there is an enemy soldier present once the player reaches the top of the stairs of the building after they landed and with Sandman ahead of them, Sandman will charge up to the soldier and push him off the building instead of firing at him. This is very similar to the way Bowman pushed a Cuban soldier off a balcony in Operation 40 in Call of Duty: Black Ops
• At the very end of the mission after the breaching sequence, the player's FOV is decreased massively. To insure the player sees Alena being taken away. 
• The Hind that takes Alena away has a unique paint job. Unlike most other Hinds, which are painted with gray camouflage, the Hind in this level is painted with a tan and green camouflage.
• When marking targets for the A-10, there are four friendlies on the road that are not part of Granite Team. It is unknown how they got there, although it is possible that they are part of the metal team whose Little Bird is shot down by an RPG-7 fire at the beginning of the mission. They can be killed without being given the friendly fire warning after Granite Team is killed.
• Strangely, the friendlies on the road will not fire at the Russian soldiers once the player is no longer able to use the A-10, and they will let the Russians withdraw from the area, though the Russians can and usually will kill all of the friendlies. The player can take out the remaining Russians themselves, however.
• The objective to use A-10s to clear the road is failed if all the friendlies on the road are killed.
• Strangely, the weapons Frost wield do not reset or refill after the building collapses. Note that in the same scene after the building collapses during the beginning of the mission before the actual flashback, both weapons are full of ammo, while the ones after the building collapses during the progress of the mission aren't. The weapon the player posses will be kept after the building collapsed, despite the loadout given at the start of the mission.
• This is the only mission where the ACR 6.8 is usable in the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 campaign, in contrast to the ACR's extensive presence in the in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.
• This is the only level in the game where the player doesn't actually breach a room when told to and takes a friendly unit's weapon from them.
• Before the helicopter is shot down by an RPG rocket, the player can shoot the enemy, killing him, but not saving the Little Bird.
  • A random event occurs in this point wherein the player can be shot by the enemy RPG, dealing a heavy amount of damage just at the start of the mission.
• Changing the FOV will make Frost's whole body visible without a head when trying to breach Alena's room.
• In the destroyed building, one can find a sledgehammer on the floor immediately after sliding down a ramp. A reference to Sledgehammer Games.
• The PMC's spawn theme is heard during this level.
• If the player goes to the far end of the building (Near the beginning of the word "Reisdorf" on the roof) after Granite breaches the room, it is possible to see one of the members who did not get cut down by gunfire stand there and not fire.
• There is a crate with an emblem of Shadow Company on the roof of the destroyed office building.
• This mission's title is a reference to a quote made by Joseph Stalin in World War II when he said, "We will make Germany nothing but scorched earth".
  • "Scorched Earth" is a military tactic or command that orders all assets or objects potentially useful to the enemy (Such as weapons, bombs, supplies, and sometimes even animals or people) while retreating or advancing through an area to be killed, destroyed, or otherwise deactivated. The title of this mission may be a reference to the term.
  • In this case, the Russians blocked off an entire street with a giant building to deny passage for the German tanks.
• One of the German Tanks, "Zerstorer", can be seen in the destroyed building.
• One of the Little Birds that had been shot down by RPG at the beginning of mission is from Onyx Team. The player can see the destroyed Little Bird in the alley, along with passengers from Onyx Team.
  • Via noclip, it is possible to see that the crashed Little Bird model is already on the ground, even before the crash.
• After the German Tanks cross the bridge, five or six US Army Rangers will appear and take cover behind some barriers on the bridge. These soldiers will have German names, such as Sgt. Bein.
• It's possible to kill the tank machine gunners outside the lowest floor of the building Alena is in.
  • It is also possible to destroy the tanks with RPGs.
• If the player go's near the tanks outside the building Alena is in, the player will be killed instantly.
• After rappelling down the building, if one walks a little bit and then turn around, there is a poster of a bakery, featuring a person. The person in this poster is wearing a Delta Force helmet.
• It is possible to stay on the Little Bird at the beginning of the level. If the player pushes against the helicopter where he was sitting, he can stay on the Little Bird until he jumps onto another building, in which case he won't be able to return to the starting building. It is also possible to stay on all the way to the edge of the map.
• Trying to jump to the bottom of the building, instead of triggering the scripted rappel cutscene, will result in an instant death that is caused not just due to extreme height, but can also happen due to explosions occurring in the windows of the building. The explosions will only occur when trying to jump off like this.
• Grinch never physically attaches a scope to his MK14, as it appears to just come out of thin air. The same applies to when it disappears.
• It is possible to see the German tank column advancing towards the bridge in the streets below at the beginning of the level, although this may be another column.
• If the player turns around soon after rappeling down from the building, he/she can see what resembes a girl holding a teddy bear. This is a reference to Sledgehammer Games and Samantha Maxis, and can also be seen on other missions such as Bag and Drag and Back on the Grid.
• In the same location as the girl, there is graffiti on the wall that says "Slegehammer", another reference to the developer.