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 British Campaign: To the Rhine The Germans launched an offensive in winter, at a time when our core is trying to rebuild.  High Command apparently doesn't wish to acknowledge the German offensive any more than the Americans did. British Campaign: To The Rhine December 26 , 1944  The hope for us is this: our strongest units should still be able to make a dash for the objectives and get to Bitburg. Newly-created units will be tasked with holding the initial position and stopping the Germans from moving north. It'll be key to protecting our advance that the flank of our spearhead is secure; that means we'll likely need to take St. Vith. The American auxiliary is sufficiently large that they ought to be able to squeeze the German units to the point that the few harder units can be taken care of. We'll let them use some air power as needed for this, though the bulk of it is naturally supporting our advancing core or protecting new units.  There is no question about it - the core is hurting. We begin the battle with 5 open unit slots. Our infantry aren't that bad, but we desperately need armor. Lack of experience will make it difficult to deal with the tough German heavy tanks.  An experienced Firefly can engage even the Tiger II on an almost-equal footing, though it had to dodge artillery fire to get close to the tanks.  I don't know if I show off results like this often enough. A strength-15 Mosquito is not just unthreatened by most flak, it's often the best way to eliminate it.  The core is rebuilt with better tanks. We go for a Sherman Firefly, a Comet, and even a Churchill VII. The last which will serve us well for this defensive location, and can be replaced when need a more rapid advance. We also add one HW infantry unit, and a mobile Cromwell gun.  The Germans move at first to engage our tanks, but as we make breakthroughs elsewhere they are forced to draw their forces apart, and we even cut off the Tiger.  The Americans do a good job wearing down the weaker Germans, and liberate Bastogne early on.  The new Spitfire model arrives. It is a deadly machine in air-to-air combat, with its main weakness only being a low-ish amount of ammo.  Although some of the tanks had to stay behind to defend our supply lines, we run into little resistance advancing and capture Prum on January 4.  The remaining group sows chaos in the German lines; their strongest units here are mostly gone.  Advancing forces stalled out once stronger German tanks arrived. But the Achilles manages to hold them off, allowing the AEC to sneak into their rear.  The Americans have done well. Almost all of the pocket is in our control. They only need to cross to Dasburg and Trier to complete their objectives.  It takes a week for the rest of the core to catch up and finally make some progress toward Bitburg.  The Americans cannot in any way harm the Super-Jagdtiger. (It's not much of a problem given that they can just surround it and wait out the rest of the battle.)  However, they are running into problems with the assault on Dasburg. We've sent troops south on the road to attack it from behind.  January weather has been quite mild for us, and there is actually a chance that Bitburg can be taken before the end of the month.  The AEC III was a worthwhile upgrade from the Daimler.  We do capture Dasburg. We will leave it for the Americans to defend.  With some of the American air units freed up to focus on Trier, it falls fairly quickly.  A paradrop and our attack along the river has Bitburg's defenses in poor positions. Their best AT guns are to the south, their artillery is exposed, and the flak is the only thing standing between us and the city proper.  Overwhelming air power reduces the city to rubble, and we are able easily fight our way in. So, in a surprising result for such a banged-up unit, the depleted British core could actually finish this battle quickly. Not shown, but I actually held off the win since if you get a Major it skips ahead in the campaign. This couldn't be played out as it was, because if I didn't win immediately I'd have lost the paratroops. I chalk this win down to very good weather, and the fact that the British have a straighter shot to Bitburg. I think it also helped that I played the American side first, and so had a better idea of what to do. Ending prestige: 4403 Result: Minor Victory (2600 prestige awarded) 
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