Hunger and Despair [KCD2] - HELP!

Does anyone have any advice on how to get past the point where you have to knock down the ladders during the assault on the fortress? I have tried God-knows-how-many times to knock them all down whilst simultaneously taking on a MENTAL amount of combatants and I predictably get killed every time. I saw a post here speculating on whether the difficulty during this quest had spiked due to the latest patch, though I'm not sure whether there's any truth to that? I love this game and want to finish the main quest line so I can get Henry a new trim but this mission is absolutely shafting me. Any pointers here? I'm on PS5.