I'm sure you all know this by now but for any newbies a tip. If defending do not deploy your soldier sin a town if it's an OBJ. As it will get blasted by Arty. deploy either in front or behind it.
Ya, certainly do not. The enemy AI likes to drop arty right on objectives and seems to look for high value defense squares close to middle of named important objectives. Often is better to pick a less value spot that looks not as great on the set up spot. And to defend something does not mean you HAVE to sit on top of it.