I start writing this report in Turn #26, that's the 2200 turn on December 18. Up to now, we have fared well in containing the German advance. Mike advanced on a broad front so that many small battles along the entire line developed. We suffered initial setbacks in the extreme South, in the 4th Division sector, but could fight back when 10th Armor arrived as reinforcement. Facing only two Volksgrenadierdivisionen, this sector remained quiet for a while, but now the Führerbegleitbrigade of the OKW Reserve has crossed the Sauer at Echternach and we are in some sort of trouble. Also, naturally the 14th Cavalry Group got annihilated in the Schnee Eiffel and the rest of the 106th severely mauled. I wonder if this outfit ever gets away without serious damage?
On the other hand, the long front the 28th holds along the Clerf is entirely stabilized as we could blow all the bridges just in time. Also, the 2nd and the 99th, supported by CCB/9th Armor, still manages to hold the Elsenborn Ridge/Rocherath Area, in spite of heavy losses and a lot of fatigue. Southeast of St. Vith, the 106th and CCR/9th Armor wiped out the Panzerspitze of the 116. Panzerdivision at the Our river bridges, and the Panzerspitze of the 1. SS Panzerdivision was severely mauled south of Elsenborn. So far, we have succeeded in reducing the armor as well as infantry strength of the enemy considerably, especially as we were lucky with catching enemy guns in travel mode. The enemy lost very nearly 30,000 infantry, 200 guns, and 270 vehicles, while our losses are 17,500/200/440, which at this time amounts to an Axis major defeat with -54 points total, compared to 1000 objective points.
Now, however, it's getting interesting in several spots.
A) In the North, the 12. SS Panzerdivision has this turn taken Monschau and I don't have much up there to hold them, save two regiments of the 9th.
B) South of Elsenborn, the 1. SS Panzerdivision has been heavily reinforced and has almost broken through my lines in the general direction of Malmedy. Unfortunately, that's where what remains of the 2nd/99th losely connects to a weak line of one regiment of the Big Red One and some army level battalions, and the only unit in the widening gap is the completely exhausted CCB/9th Armor.
C) At Weissampach, in the gap between the Clerf and the Our, the 2. Panzerdivision has already broken through and vaporized the remains of the 110th regiment which happened to be in its way. 7th Armor arrived from the North just in time to establish a new line running due West from the Our to Hiereberg, but the flank on the road to Salmchateau is pretty much in the air, and West and South of Hiereberg there is more or less nothing at all.
Now, my reinforcements may be in time to plug the gaps, or they may not. At this moment, the 101st is arriving east of Bastogne to fortify a line from the Wiltz to the Ourthe (roughly from Longvilly to Houffalize), while the 82nd is to hold from Gouvy to Salmchateau, in the gap between the Ourthe and the Salm (thank God for the many rivers!). The 30th Infantry Division I will have to use to contain the advance of the 1. SS Panzerdivision on Malmedy: the plan is to trap the Germans in the peninsula formed by the Warche and the Ambleve (more rivers!). Still, all three of these spots are troubling me right now.

December 19, 0200 (Turn #27). The weather has changed from mud to soft conditions. I am reorganizing the defense on the extreme right. The exhausted 4th Infantry and 10th Armor are preparing to fall back to a new, much shorter line behind the Alzette. At the same time, both are (re-)attached to the XII Corps, MG Eddy, to provide a better C&C.

On the left, I decide to hold the Hohes Venn with the newly arrived 30th Division. The advance of the 12. SS Panzer is threatening my supply and reinforcement hexes there, and considering that two divisions are due to arrive through these hexes in the next 48 hours, they are of the utmost importance for me.

December 19, 0600 (Turn #28). The balance of the Big Red One arrives and we have a regular traffic jam in the Hohes Venn, as they're moving through the 30th's deployment area. This terrain is nice for defence, but not at all for rapid shifts of force. Especially artillery is a pain. Deploy them guns on the roads, and they are a regular roadblock; deploy them off the road, and they never get away again.

December 19, 0800 (Turn #29). Major decisions are forced on us. West of Monschau, the 12. SS Panzer has broken through the lines of the 9th and is pushing fast armor elements into the Hohes Venn. The left flank of V Corps is wide open, and the heavy concentration of the 2nd/99th around Elsenborn is in danger of being cut off from the rear. At the same time, the Panzerlehrdivision has broken out of the bridgehead achieved by the 2. Panzerdivision and is racing towards Bastogne.
On the left, V Corps is beginning to withdraw from Elsenborn to a shorter line running south from the Hohes Venn to the Warche at Robertville. In the South, I am not really concerned so far, as the 101st is already entrenching northeast of Bastogne. What worries me more is the very real danger that further German reinforcements may move northwest from Hiereberg towards Vielsalm and combine with an advance towards Malmedy by the 1. SS Panzer to cut off my troops holding St. Vith. With a heavy heart, I order the undefeated defenders of this latter town, the remains of the 106th and the 7th Armor, to prepare to fall back over the Salm. Likewise, the Big Red One will deploy west of the Warche rather than east of it and fortify Malmedy. We are giving up a lot of real estate without any fight so to form a better defensive line further west. Considering the exhausted state of our frontline troops, though, it's a sensible decision. I hope.

December 19, 1200 (Turn #31). The enemy keeps advancing fast east of the Alzette, towards Bastogne-where the Panzerlehr has now bumped into the 101st who have just about finished their entrenched positions-and from Monschau towards Elsenborn. Masses of broken units, artillery, and AA are streaming back on the north bank of the Warche through the Sourbrodt gap towards Malmedy (2nd/99th/V Corps troops) as well as on the St. Vith-Vielsalm road (106th). The 1st and the 7th Armor are trying to disengage so they can follow in the retreat.
At least our airforce keeps strafing their columns at will, although we're losing aircraft in almost every sortie, 16 so far.

December 19, 1800 (Turn #34). It turns out that disengaging an infantry-heavy army from an enemy attack based on fast armoured forces is quite tricky even with a good road network. On the extreme right, the broken remnants of the 4th and of 10th Armor are creating a bad traffic jam at the Alzette bridge at Mersch while company-sized detachments are holding a last defensive line from Waldbilling south to the map edge.
South of St. Vith, 7th Armor is linking up with 82nd Airborne on the right at Gouvy while trying to disengage the left on the Our river line. The bulk of the 28th and 106th is over the Salm and regrouping near Lierneux, but the rearguard has a very good chance of being trapped and totally destroyed, as the 560. Volksgrenadier is pushing northwards through the gap between 7th Armor and the Our.
North of St. Vith, it's even more tricky. I have tried to disengage everything at the same time so to avoid having individual battalions cut off, and everything is racing for the Warche bridges, but 1. SS Panzer is hard on our heels.
North of the Warche, 2nd and 99th are still withdrawing from the Elsenborn position towards Malmedy in a steady stream of broken battalions and batteries. However, I am getting more optimistic here. The breakthrough of 12. SS Panzer has been contained for a moment at the forest edge, and apart from individual companies holding the frontline, both divisions have already more or less escaped the trap. The redeployment area northwest of Malmedy is quite crowded though.

At Seraing, 3rd Armor begins to arrive on the map and is directed towards the center at Vielsalm.

December 20, 1000 (Turn #39). The withdrawal to the new line is almost complete except in the center, where 7th Armor still forms a narrow outward bulge with the base at Bouvy/Govigny and the tip almost at St. Vith, caused by the fact that the armored infantry battalions couldn't withdraw from the Hiereberg line as fast as the assorted army troops north of St. Vith had to retire to avoid being trapped by the advance of the 1. SS Panzer. Apart from that nose, we're now holding the line of the rivers Alzette, Clerf, Wiltz, Ourthe, Salm, and Warche, with the 101st closing the gap at Bastogne and the 30th the one from the Warche to the map edge in the Hohes Venn.

10th Armor and 4th in the South, 9th Armor, 28th, and 106th in the center, and 2nd and 99th in the North have been taken out of the front to rest and recover. 3rd Armor is forming the new general reserve in the center, behind the 82nd; and 4th Armor in the South, behind XII Corps.
The enemy lost heavily due to artillery barrages and airstrikes today. His losses are now 37,000 infantry, 310 guns, 400 vehicles, while we lost 22,000/250/570 and unfortunately also 22 planes.

December 21, 0200 (Turn #45). Weather has changed from soft to snow conditions. The withdrawal is in its last stages, and the enemy is hardly harrassing the new line now. They must be exhausted; the Panzerspitze of the Panzerlehr and the 2nd Panzer has been in constant contact with the frontline of the 101st for almost two days now. And now they're bumping into entirely fresh high quality divisions everywhere.
I am assigning the 3rd and 4th Armor to the XVIII Airborne Corps so that this corps, holding the vital gaps in the center of our natural river line, is now four divisions strong, two armor and two airborne.

December 21, 0800 (Turn #47). Reinforcements begin to pour in in whole divisions now, but not necessarily in the most intelligent places. 5th Infantry arrived at Lintgen on the wrong side of the Alzette and bumped into the Führerbegleitbrigade. They are now in a tight spot between the river and the map edge and I only hope that the Germans are as irritated by the situation as we are. We are trying to build a bridge to recross the Alzette, but if you really need a bridge, naturally, it will never be completed. The 84th is moving south from Seraing to form a central reserve; the 80th is just passing through Martelange on its way to reinforce the Wiltz/Clerf river line where we have but one regiment of the 28th and some AA to hold about 20 miles of river (the bridges are all gone, of course, but then the Germans have engineers too!).

December 21, 1000 (Turn #48). Never say never. The bridge over the Alzette is already completed, and most of the 5th division is safely across, but extricating the rest will be tricky. Meanwhile, the 12. SS Panzer and 150. Panzerbrigade, supported by two VG divisions, have resumed their offensive in the Hohes Venn and I am redirecting the 84th into this area. The 5. Fallschirmjägerdivision has a bridge up at Ettelbruck and is crossing in strength, but the 80th and some heavy artillery should take care of this. Nevertheless, the Germans are clearly on the advance again.

December 21, 1600 (Turn #51). The 5th has managed to slip back over the Alzette completely. On this occasion I learned that an engineer unit can cross its own bridge! Very useful feature. The 80th has arrived in the Sure river bend just in time to seal off another German crossing south of Hoscheid.
The 12th SS Panzer is pressing the 30th hard in the Hohes Venn. The 84th is retracing its own steps through Verviers and moving up in support via Jalhay. Meanwhile, the remainder of the 2nd and 99th is still falling back towards the regrouping area west of Aywaille, just as the last formations of the 7th Armored are reaching the other regrouping area around Lierneux.

December 21, 1800 (Turn #52). The 5th is clear of the river crossing, but the ghastly German Nebelwerfers extracted a heavy toll from the engineers for their courageous deed. Generally, the German artillery is getting more and more annoying along the line. Seems they finally managed to catch up. As the lines don't move much, this is turning into a battle of attrition, and I am desperately missing my air force to balance his artillery, but with this damned snow …

December 22, 0200 (Turn #54). Back to soft conditions. The enemy seems serious about crossing the Clerf, he has two bridges up at Ettelbruck an north of there, and is bringing up more bridge engineers at the confluence of the Clerf and Wiltz. The crossings are backed up by heavy artillery so that opposing them is costly in terms of casualties. In fact, the enemy Nebelwerfers are inflicting heavy losses along the entire line while except on the flanks infantry and armor have broken contact. Maybe I should withdraw further to escape his artillery but I'll never have a better line on this field than this one, so I am willing to try to hold it.

December 22, 1200 (Turn #58). Situation unchanged. The enemy is also pressing heavily along the north bank of the Warche where the 84th has reinforced the 30th. Strangely at the same time the enemy also attempted a crossing of the Warche from south to north just northeast of Malmedy, where his massed reinforcements suffered badly from our artillery fire while on the road. It is so strange because the German advance north of the Warche made this crossing entirely pointless.

December 22, 1600 (Turn #60). Situation virtually unchanged. The enemy is making slow progress on the north bank of the Warche. The crossings in the south are contained, though the enemy artillery is too strong for us to counterattack. Reinforcements continue to pour in.

December 23, 0600 (Turn #64). With the new morning, visibility has suddenly improved to a full 4 km. As a consequence, the artillery duel is stepping up and both sides are taking fearful losses in guns, though with the help of our air force which is now able to fly sorties for the first time in a long while, we prevail. Enemy pressure is still heaviest on the flanks. We are slowly being pressed back in the Hohes Venn. On the right however, with the help of the 5th Infantry Division shifted north from the Alzette line, the Ettelbruck bridgehead of the 5. Fallschirmjäger is slowly being reduced, though the toll on our troops in terms of casualties and above all fatigue inflicted by the enemy guns is almost intolerable. In General Ridgway's sector in the center, the enemy is just watching us; on the other hand, there are numerous engineer units at large all along the line that try to establish additional crossing sites. All in all, it's still a battle of attrition along more or less fixed lines.
Two divisions and two armored brigades of the British XXX Corps are now present on the field and will most conveniently reinforce our left. Also still moving up is our own 2nd Armored.
Losses are presently 32,000 men, 270 guns, 750 vehicles, and 27 planes; the enemy has lost 56,000 / 500 / 700 / 0. Also, the point score is 560 in spite of the Axis' holding objectives worth 3,500.

December 23, 0800 (Turn #65). Heavy enemy columns are moving up towards Malmedy and our air force is having a field day shredding them to pieces while in travel mode. We have also counterattacked against the Ettelbruck bridgehead and bagged over a thousand enemy foot soldiers. In a single turn, the score has moved 300 points in our favour which is quite unique considering that it involved now mass surrenders of surrounded forces or anything like that.
I am concerned about the enemy advance on the north bank of the Warche. It's very difficult terrain to advance over, but he is pushing into a gap between the Big Red One at Malmedy and the 30th/84th in the Hohes Venn. Our British friends have been assigned the protection of this sector, but they're not even over the Ambleve at this time. Some VII Corps corps troops are the only reserves with which we can hope to plug this gap at least temporarily There's the 29th Battalion just east of Spa, and also the 4th Cav Group is racing to the front but has not even reached Seraing yet.
In the XVIII Corps sector the enemy has taken Gouvy but seems unable to advance further.

December 23, 1000 (Turn #66). The enemy has a new bridge over the Alzette at Berg. I am bringing the 10th Armor back to the frontline to plug the gap that is likely to occur. The 26th that has been in reserve at Bastogne for days is moving out to the right to reinforce XII Corps.

December 23, 1600 (Turn #69). The enemy is still advancing north of Malmedy, but it's tough going for him, and by stubbornly refusing to yield we have gained enough time to bring up reinforcements to plug the gap before it develops. The 84 is shifting some forces to the right, the 1st some to the left, and the 29th Battalion is digging in northeast of Francorchamps. It's a thin line, but the Brits are close behind now and will stop the Germans for good in this sector, hopefully.
The bridgehead at Ettelsbruck is contained and some hundred Germans cut off from the river.
3rd Armor is moving from its reserve position north of Houffalize down to the Ourthe to meet a new enemy bridging attempt.
We have passed to an Axis major defeat this turn, -35 points, this in spite of the enemy still holding objectives 3,500 worth. Casualties are now 35,000 men, 290 guns, 820 vehicles, and 29 planes for us; and 63,000 / 630 / 760 / 0 for the Axis. (Compare this with the turn #64 figures, the enemy is losing heavily and quickly.)

December 24, 0200 (Turn #72). Snow has fallen. Mike certainly managed to make this game interesting again this turn. The hated Führerbegleitbrigade has managed an unobserved crossing of the Alzette, probably north of Mersch. When I belatedly sent some tank destroyers and engineers to picket the area, they ran into way superior armored forces. Now the 4th infantry and CCA/9th Armor (which both had some rest for a few days around Brouch after their last battle with the Führerbegleitbrigade forward of the Alzette line) are moving out to a new defensive line from the map edge at Tuntange to Boevange-sur-Attert. Fortunately, there is only a narrow strip of land between the unnamed river to the north and the map edge, so this breakthrough will easily be contained. 26th infantry, presently enjoying their night rest on the pike to Ettelbruck, will be re-routed to the south to back up the defenders of the Brouch lines.
On the other hand, the Ettelbruck bridgehead is in the process of being wiped out. 1000 enemy infantry have surrendered this turn in two pockets pressed against the river north of the village.

December 24, 0600 (Turn #73). I don't know what keeps these Wehrmacht guys going. They have suffered horribly and still they are advancing. The Führerbegleitbrigade seems to have seven lifes, and even some of the Volksgrenadierdivisionen just keep on coming. There is no question that the Germans can't win the battle, but it seems they are not yet ready to accecpt that they lost it.
The 84th is starting to pull out its guns from its position in the forest northwest of Sourbrodt to a new position nearer Jalhay. The marsh and forest limit movement to much to risk the guns in a general retreat. The 9th Infantry and the British 34th Tank Brigade are moving up to a fallback position forward of Verviers. British 29th Armored Brigade and 43rd Infantry Division are reinforcing the Big Red One west of their line Malmedy-Francorchamps.

Our present overall situation looks like this:

The Alzette line:

The Hohes Venn:

December 24, 1600 (Turn #78). On the Malmedy-Spa road the Panzerspitze of the 2. SS-Panzerdivision has penetrated almost as far as Francorchamps, but on a very narrow front. I have seen the enemy do this before-advance an amored spearhead without support. These guys have but the road, and it is covered almost back to the Warche by ZOCs of units of the Big Red One. The northern shoulder is held by the 29th Infantry Regiment and some British scout cars. The British 29th Armoured Brigade is securing the left flank of the 1st behind Francorchamps; the British 43rd Division is coming up through the forest from La Gleize as reinforcement. The British 53rd Division is moving up from northwest just in time to occupy Spa itself, afterall not only 1000 VP worth but also Lt. Gen. Hodges' HQ. The penetration will be completely sealed off in a turn or two. Still, but for the weather and the forest, these Panzers may have thought they could roll right into Spa on the road.

December 26, 1800 (Turn #97). It has turned into World War One in the West alright. In my judgement, and considering that the front has hardly moved an inch for 20 turns now, the Germans' chance of ever penetrating my lines is definitely zero now. My positions are four to five successive and entrenched lines deep in the north, where XXX Corps is now up completely, deployed from the map edge all the way to Trois-Ponts, taking over from the American 1st, 30th, and 84th which are finally falling back through the British lines. The enemy seems to be completely exhausted and can only advance where by some chance one of my frontline units disrupts, but that has happened at the rate of one to two units along the entire front per turn for 20 turns now. Mike is over 5000 VP back, i.e. the score is -1672 at this time, with the Axis holding objectives 3500 VP worth, and we gain 100 VP or more every turn. I say it's over. Yet Mike is playing on …

How could you ever penetrate such a front?

December 27, 0200 (Turn #99). Quiet night and back to mud conditions. The front isn't moving an inch.

December 27, 1000 (Turn #102). Elements of the 1. SS-Panzerdivision have crossed the Salm by means of a new engineer bridge south of Trois-Ponts. An odd spot to bridge the river actually--with a heavily wooded hill on the far bank and no roads anywhere. Easy to contain such a bridgehead even when the troops have to be brought up first. But we have also already succeeded in cutting it off from the river by routing the bridging engineer unit with massed artillery fire. I find that a very effective tactics in all such cases.

December 27, 2200 (Turn #107) Yet another crossing. Elements of the 5. Fallschirmjägerdivision, again at Ettelbruck. Instead of enjoying a quiet night, the 5th Infantry Division is moving out to contain this new threat. Shouldn't be too difficult, given the precarious situation of the troops in the bridgehead, but still ... can't the Germans just sleep at night just like everybody else?

December 28, 1200 (Turn #112) The Ettelbruck bridgehead is almost completely reduced, yet there is a new one at Vielsalm where the remnants of the earlier crossing by the 1. SS-Panzerdivision are still not completely eliminated (someone remind me to never play with the alternate fire and assault resolution tables again!). 18. VG and 3. Fallschirmjaegerdivision are involved. 7th Armor is moving forward to the river to contain the new threat; the advance elements have already succeeded in cutting off the first stack and throwing another back over the river. Each of these assaults is more costly to the enemy than to us. The score is now more than 6,000 VP in our favor. Shouldn't Mike surrender?

Meanwhile I am building up a counterattack force around III Corps HQ at Bastogne. Presently the completely unused 2nd Armor, 6th Armor, 75th and 83rd Infantry are assigned to it, and most of the Bastogne defenders could probably be added. Maybe if this complete stalemate continues I may send them in just to have some fun, as the sector between the Ourthe and the Wiltz looks only lightly defended.

December 28, 1600 (Turn #114) It is over. Mike has surrendered. A rather wise decision it seems to me. :-)

I found this my very first large campaign game (MG'44 doesn't really count) a rather overwhelming and intimidating experience and I am glad I had the stamina to live through it. The campaign took is over a year to finish (from February 1, 2004 to March 22, 2005).