"All Hitler wants me to do..." - TOAW III AAR

Crécy · 10-09-13, 02:21 AM

"All Hitler wants me to do is to cross a river, capture Brussels, and then go on to take Antwerp. And all this at the worst time of the year through the Ardennes when the snow is waist-deep and there isn’t room to deploy four tanks abreast let alone armoured divisions. When it doesn’t get light until eight and it’s dark again at four and with re-formed divisions made up chiefly of kids and sick old men – and at Christmas."
-Sepp Dietrich, commander of Sixth SS Panzer Army

16th December, 1944 - 16th January, 1945.

Battle of the Bulge time it is in The Operational Art of War III. Scenario's map scale is 2.5km per hex, time scale half-day turns and unit scale battalion/regimental level. Game length is 60 turns. I'll be playing the Germans.

I'll be doing daily updates while the pace will be regularly irregular. Goal is to actually finish this in some time frame and I know I would feel pressured if I'd promise a certain pace and it would lead to not completing anything.

In short, this scenario covers the German offensive through Ardennes forest which goal was to cross Meuse and take Antwerpen, which would cut off the British troops in the north from American units in the south, and the eventual allied counter-attack. Victory points will be received from different towns and citys marked in the map with American flags as well as all crossing points at Meuse. There will also be permanent victory point locations which means (I assume) that if I take them I will receive the points from then even if the allied forces captures them afterwards.

* * *

Plan for the first days is to stretch the scattered allied forces to the limit by attacking and exploiting in every direction. I will have the upper hand as well as more troops for a week and a half at least and I should try to advance as far and as fast to the West as possible. Unfortunately Panzer divisions will be delayed for two or three turns before they are released which represents the historic delay in preparing the crossing sites for them or decisions to lead the initial attack with infantry divisions.

Legend:
Dashed lines: army boundaries
Red arrows: attack directions
Black circles: key objectives
Blue circles: if captured, Germans get a boost to supply

Initial goal is to capture the objectives marked with black circles as they are vital crossing points or crossroads. If allied forces manage to hold them too long, advance to Meuse -at least in force- can be forgotten as my forces will get stuck in traffic jams. Plan is to create a gap between Trois-Ponts and Houffalize so the armoured divisions coming in few days can be channeled through quickly. But I will roll with the punches as more intel is gathered on whereabouts of allied forces. In that regard, Trois-Ponts - Houffalize sector should be quite lightly defended.

6th SS Panzer army will exploit the Losheim gap and drive West for Trois-Ponts. Leading unit will be Kampfgruppe Peiper composed of different armoured elements. Meanwhile other divisions will try to capture Büllingen with its supplies and push the enemy behind the river running from Trois-Ponts to Büllingen thus widening the corridor.

5th Panzer army is tasked to take St.Vith and Vielsalm and the roads leading to Houffalize and Bastogne. If the fight for Bastogne is getting too heavy, it will be bypassed and pocketed.

7th Army is quite weak with almost no armoured elements. Its goal for the first days is to take Ettelbruck and ultimately stall the allied reinforcements coming from the South and screen the Trois-Ponts - Houffalize gap.

Initiative is mine for the first week and a half or so but after allied reinforcements start to come in and especially Patton's forces from the South, I will lose the initiative and I have to get defensive. But, we'll see how it goes. Probably not very well.

* * *

Table of Contents

December 16th
December 17th
December 18th
December 19th
December 20th
December 21st

Crécy · 10-09-13, 07:55 AM

December 16th, 1944

In the early hours of December 16th, three German armies launch an attack against weakly defended Ardennes forest region. The allies are almost completely surprised as German divisions cross Our river and start a swift advance to the West.

In the north Operation Greif, led by the infamous Otto Skorzeny aka Dr. Sola, was at least partially successful and the 150th Panzer brigade disguised as an American unit slipped through American lines and advanced near St. Vith. Meanwhile 3FJ Division pushed American troops troops towards Büllingen and opened a road for Kampfgruppe Peiper. In the afternoon Operation Stösser was launched and Von der Heydte's fallschirmjägers were dropped north of Malmedy to secure a crossroad and stall the American reinforcements.

In the center engineers are tasked to repair the blown bridges crossing river Our for panzer divisions while infantry divisions advance across the river. 2.Pz division and Pz Lehr division are waiting for the bridges to be built.

In the South 3FJ division captures Diekirch five kilometers North-East of Ettelbruck. Three other Volksgrenadier divisions advances south with ease.

Positions at the end of the day.

Crécy · 10-09-13, 01:52 PM

[Maps got quite messy. Hopefully not too multicolored and cluttered... Also, I don't know why place names are not showing up properly.

December 17th, 1944

6th SS Panzer army sector

3FJ division cleared the road and captured Büllingen with its supplies. KG Peiper, 1SS Pz division and 12SS Pz division advanced almost unopposed towards Malmedy. Elements of Skorzeny Brigade captured Schönberg East of St. Vith and thus closes the Schnee-Eifel pocket. 1SS, 12SS and KG Peiper will not participate in the battle for St. Vith - it will be left for the 5th Panzer army - but slide around it and take Malmedy, Trois-Ponts and Vielsalm. Vielsalm might be a tough not to crack as an American armoured division just passed through it to reinforce St. Vith.

In the far north Americans made their first attack with their newly arrived armoured division and forced a regiment of 272. VG Division to retreat. This forces me to direct just arrived 3. Panzer Grenadier Divisions there. Otherwise things are looking reasonably good. 3FJ Divisions might be tasked with taking Elsenborn, even though that wasn't the original plan, as it seems to be lightly defended.

5th Panzer army sector

116. Panzer division and Führer Begleit division will take the important crossroad town of St. Vith and then turn West for Vielsalm to support 1SS division.

Clervaux withstood the morning attack of the 2. Panzer division and the attack conducted by the Panzer Lehr in the afternoon. It should fall next morning. Otherwise Lehr will be gravely delayed. Speed is the key here and any delays, even half-day delays, might cause us to lose the race for Bastogne. 26. Volksgrenadier division is waiting for supplies and gathering its strength before moving towards the town of Wiltz, South-East of Bastogne.

7th army sector

5FJ Division didn't manage to dislodge the American troops in Ettelbruck. The three other infantry divisions pocketed a mechanized and an armoured battalion around Beaufort. After taking care of the pocket and the town of Ettelbruck, 7th army will move South-West and start preparing a defensive line. The army is too weak to accomplish any significant advances.

Positions at the end of the day

St. Vith is a bottleneck. The speed of the advance to the West is partly tied to the question of how long St. Vith will hold. One option might be pocketing it, but I fear it woud tie up too many units. In the North the 6th SS Pz Army has advanced more quickly than expected. Hopefully they will keep their pace.

Stealhead · 10-09-13, 02:42 PM

Is this the Bulge scenario that comes with TOAWIII?

Mine does not have the mountain/hill icons.

Or maybe you are using the optional icons.

Oh this is the Ardennes secnario.Pretty good one.

Oberon · 10-09-13, 05:48 PM

I must get TOAWIII one of these days, I had some sort of version of it a veeeery long time ago on a CD with Grigsbys Battle of Britain and...I think Gettysburg. Stupid me lost the damn disc back before I came to realise what I had. It confused the heck out of me back then, and I'm sure it'd confuse the heck out of me now, but the scenarios look fantastic.

Stealhead · 10-09-13, 08:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Oberon

It confused the heck out of me back then, and I'm sure it'd confuse the heck out of me now, but the scenarios look fantastic.

Honestly TOAW does not have an overly complex set of rules.You just have to remember to give each stack their orders(dig in,reserve,that sort of thing).I find it much easier than HOI3 to attack and defend.You can also very easily order units to be in reserve.Also the stacks much more logically support each other.It seems pretty easy to me not to say that wining is easy but I can defend and advance as I want to/need to in order to deal with the developing situation if I begin to loose it is not due to failure to use stacks properly.

Crécy · 10-10-13, 02:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stealhead

Oh this is the Ardennes secnario.Pretty good one.

Yes. It seems to be quite well done. I'm not sure how it will handle the fuel and ammo shortage, though. Is it just reduced supplies or is it not represented. Or can it even be accurately represented in this game.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Oberon

I must get TOAWIII one of these days, I had some sort of version of it a veeeery long time ago on a CD with Grigsbys Battle of Britain and...I think Gettysburg. Stupid me lost the damn disc back before I came to realise what I had. It confused the heck out of me back then, and I'm sure it'd confuse the heck out of me now, but the scenarios look fantastic.

It's not too expensive even now, around £33, but I if you are not in rush to get it I'd recommend waiting for the matrixgames' holiday sales which begins in November. I'm waiting for it to grab WitE, which is way too expensive for me now.

As Steelhead pointed out, TOAW is not too complicated. Basically you can learn the fundamentals in a day but it will take some time to learn to use your forces effectively. I haven't learned to use them effectively. As it might be seen in the updates (and perhaps that's the reason I haven't delved in particular battles but have been only reporting in larger scale

)

Raptor1 · 10-11-13, 07:37 AM

If you run into dug-in units which are particularly troublesome, it might be a good idea to bombard them with artillery for a few rounds before assaulting, since heavy guns can cause units to lose entrenchment.

Do you have any units capable of repairing railroads? The rail (and road) junction in Bastogne looks like it could be quite useful for keeping units heading towards the Meuse in supply. Though of course that wouldn't be very useful if you have no supplies to send in the first place...

Crécy · 10-11-13, 12:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Raptor1

If you run into dug-in units which are particularly troublesome, it might be a good idea to bombard them with artillery for a few rounds before assaulting, since heavy guns can cause units to lose entrenchment.

Do you have any units capable of repairing railroads? The rail (and road) junction in Bastogne looks like it could be quite useful for keeping units heading towards the Meuse in supply. Though of course that wouldn't be very useful if you have no supplies to send in the first place...

Thanks for the tip. I tend to only use artillery when attacking. For some reason I've thought it to be ineffective when only bombarding. Even though preparatory barrage is quite basic tactic. Mandatory even if possible.

I do have a few engineer companies but I'm not sure of their railroad repairing capabilities.

Stealhead · 10-11-13, 02:58 PM

One thing I really like about TOAWIII is that making AARs is fairly easy as the game automatically records the data for you.All you have to do is compile it and take some larger screens at key points.

Crécy · 10-13-13, 03:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stealhead

One thing I really like about TOAWIII is that making AARs is fairly easy as the game automatically records the data for you.All you have to do is compile it and take some larger screens at key points.

That's true. I only yesterday realized how to get access to the log files game generates. News and battle reports. Quite handy, especially the battle reports as it seems to be impossible to take a screenshot from the game, at least with Fraps.

Crécy · 10-13-13, 05:09 AM

[Apparently it is only possible to open up the latest sitrep CSV file. Using the CSV processor found in the matrixgames' forums. Output file is in html format, but the guy made a file to make it possible to have it in .txt format instead. The instructions are so vague that I didn't get it how to do that.]

December 19th, 1944

6th SS Panzer Army sector

In the morning of December 19th, a motorized regiment from 1SS Pz division and an armoured battalion from Führer Begleit regiment launched an attack against St. Vith and took it with ease, finally connecting the 6SS Pz Army with the 5Pz Army beyond Our river. The attack left a pocket South of St. Vith including a mechanized battalion from 9th Armoured division.

12SS Panzer division eliminated the small engineer company located in Malmedy and captured it in the afternoon, while KG Peiper moved westwards. Skorzeny's 150. Panzer brigade was turned into a normal combat formation and it advanced towards Vielsalm with 1SS. 9SS and 2SS Pz divisions will be forwarded to Vielsalm. After taking it, the 9SS Pz division will turn North and take Trois-Ponts.

Near Monschau, 326. Volksgrenadier division pushed back 746th Tank battalion and trapped the 38th Cavalry squadron. 3PzGrn division made a move in the far north and started advancing towards Rötgen. Rötgen approach should relieve some pressure from the weaker line East of Monschau and Höfen.

Also Von der Heydte's Fallschirmjägers finally got in touch with own troops.

5th Panzer Army sector

116. Panzer division dashed West thirty kilometers ending with taking the important town of Manhay. Advancing further West would only result in getting cut from supply so the division will be used to either help taking Vielsalm or Trois-Ponts.

Most of the American troops of 106th Infantry division in the Schnee-Eifel pocket East of St. Vith surrenderd during the day, freeing the two infantry divisions keeping the pocket closed. They will be sent to close the St. Vith pocket. In the Southern half nothing really happened. Panzer Lehr will attack the heavily bombed Clervaux in the morning and hopefully make some progress in that regard.

7th Army sector

5FJ division cleared some ground around Ettelbruck. In the East the American combat command took the railroad bridge East of Echternach. Those sneaky combat commandses...

Positions at the end of the day

Things are looking reasonably good for now. I have around two days before Patton's first major reinforcements start to arrive from the South. Capture of St. Vith and Malmedy was a huge relief. Unfortunately Panzer Lehr's failure in Clervaux has bogged down the attack in the center too much and bastogne can be forgotten. For now on Panzer Lehr and 2. Panzer division will act as a buffer between Patton and the divisions advancing West North of Houffalize.

The gap between Houffalize and Trois-Ponts is starting to open up and after Vielsalm is taken dash to the West is a go. Trois-Ponts might prove to be strongly defended and might be thus bypassed but we'll have to see how 9SS Pz Division fares. The Americans have to be pushed across Werche river to screen the gap.

Allied forces have made only few attacks, mainly in the North and South. They've mainly settled for bombarding the German forward positions.

Stealhead · 10-13-13, 06:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Crécy

That's true. I only yesterday realized how to get access to the log files game generates. News and battle reports. Quite handy, especially the battle reports as it seems to be impossible to take a screenshot from the game, at least with Fraps.

My EVGA card came with a GPU control program it allows me to take screen shots.With a game like TOAWIII I just fully expand the window as it takes a desktop screen with this game.Most other games it just takes a shot form the game not the desk top even if it is windowed.

You could try pressing ALT+PrintScreen that should a take a screen of your active window that is default Windows no extra program needed.Maybe try that in a fully expanded window and you can zoom in on a certain point when you want to.Of course after you take the screen you will have to open Paint or a similar program paste and then save the file.But you could do that to take screens of a battle as it happens.Though arrows have this same effect without taking lots of screens.

10-09-13, 02:21 AM	#1
Crécy Grey Wolf Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Dark forest Posts: 793 Downloads: 316 Uploads: 0	"All Hitler wants me to do..." - TOAW III AAR "All Hitler wants me to do is to cross a river, capture Brussels, and then go on to take Antwerp. And all this at the worst time of the year through the Ardennes when the snow is waist-deep and there isn’t room to deploy four tanks abreast let alone armoured divisions. When it doesn’t get light until eight and it’s dark again at four and with re-formed divisions made up chiefly of kids and sick old men – and at Christmas." -Sepp Dietrich, commander of Sixth SS Panzer Army 16th December, 1944 - 16th January, 1945. Battle of the Bulge time it is in The Operational Art of War III. Scenario's map scale is 2.5km per hex, time scale half-day turns and unit scale battalion/regimental level. Game length is 60 turns. I'll be playing the Germans. I'll be doing daily updates while the pace will be regularly irregular. Goal is to actually finish this in some time frame and I know I would feel pressured if I'd promise a certain pace and it would lead to not completing anything. In short, this scenario covers the German offensive through Ardennes forest which goal was to cross Meuse and take Antwerpen, which would cut off the British troops in the north from American units in the south, and the eventual allied counter-attack. Victory points will be received from different towns and citys marked in the map with American flags as well as all crossing points at Meuse. There will also be permanent victory point locations which means (I assume) that if I take them I will receive the points from then even if the allied forces captures them afterwards. * * * Plan for the first days is to stretch the scattered allied forces to the limit by attacking and exploiting in every direction. I will have the upper hand as well as more troops for a week and a half at least and I should try to advance as far and as fast to the West as possible. Unfortunately Panzer divisions will be delayed for two or three turns before they are released which represents the historic delay in preparing the crossing sites for them or decisions to lead the initial attack with infantry divisions. Legend: Dashed lines: army boundaries Red arrows: attack directions Black circles: key objectives Blue circles: if captured, Germans get a boost to supply Initial goal is to capture the objectives marked with black circles as they are vital crossing points or crossroads. If allied forces manage to hold them too long, advance to Meuse -at least in force- can be forgotten as my forces will get stuck in traffic jams. Plan is to create a gap between Trois-Ponts and Houffalize so the armoured divisions coming in few days can be channeled through quickly. But I will roll with the punches as more intel is gathered on whereabouts of allied forces. In that regard, Trois-Ponts - Houffalize sector should be quite lightly defended. 6th SS Panzer army will exploit the Losheim gap and drive West for Trois-Ponts. Leading unit will be Kampfgruppe Peiper composed of different armoured elements. Meanwhile other divisions will try to capture Büllingen with its supplies and push the enemy behind the river running from Trois-Ponts to Büllingen thus widening the corridor. 5th Panzer army is tasked to take St.Vith and Vielsalm and the roads leading to Houffalize and Bastogne. If the fight for Bastogne is getting too heavy, it will be bypassed and pocketed. 7th Army is quite weak with almost no armoured elements. Its goal for the first days is to take Ettelbruck and ultimately stall the allied reinforcements coming from the South and screen the Trois-Ponts - Houffalize gap. Initiative is mine for the first week and a half or so but after allied reinforcements start to come in and especially Patton's forces from the South, I will lose the initiative and I have to get defensive. But, we'll see how it goes. Probably not very well. * * * Table of Contents December 16th December 17th December 18th December 19th December 20th December 21st __________________ “Every generation laughs at the old fashions, but follows religiously the new.” -Henry David Thoreau Last edited by Crécy; 10-31-13 at 02:02 AM.

10-09-13, 07:55 AM	#2
Crécy Grey Wolf Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Dark forest Posts: 793 Downloads: 316 Uploads: 0	December 16th, 1944 In the early hours of December 16th, three German armies launch an attack against weakly defended Ardennes forest region. The allies are almost completely surprised as German divisions cross Our river and start a swift advance to the West. In the north Operation Greif, led by the infamous Otto Skorzeny aka Dr. Sola, was at least partially successful and the 150th Panzer brigade disguised as an American unit slipped through American lines and advanced near St. Vith. Meanwhile 3FJ Division pushed American troops troops towards Büllingen and opened a road for Kampfgruppe Peiper. In the afternoon Operation Stösser was launched and Von der Heydte's fallschirmjägers were dropped north of Malmedy to secure a crossroad and stall the American reinforcements. In the center engineers are tasked to repair the blown bridges crossing river Our for panzer divisions while infantry divisions advance across the river. 2.Pz division and Pz Lehr division are waiting for the bridges to be built. In the South 3FJ division captures Diekirch five kilometers North-East of Ettelbruck. Three other Volksgrenadier divisions advances south with ease. Positions at the end of the day. __________________ “Every generation laughs at the old fashions, but follows religiously the new.” -Henry David Thoreau

10-09-13, 01:52 PM	#3
Crécy Grey Wolf Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Dark forest Posts: 793 Downloads: 316 Uploads: 0	[Maps got quite messy. Hopefully not too multicolored and cluttered... Also, I don't know why place names are not showing up properly. December 17th, 1944 6th SS Panzer army sector 3FJ division cleared the road and captured Büllingen with its supplies. KG Peiper, 1SS Pz division and 12SS Pz division advanced almost unopposed towards Malmedy. Elements of Skorzeny Brigade captured Schönberg East of St. Vith and thus closes the Schnee-Eifel pocket. 1SS, 12SS and KG Peiper will not participate in the battle for St. Vith - it will be left for the 5th Panzer army - but slide around it and take Malmedy, Trois-Ponts and Vielsalm. Vielsalm might be a tough not to crack as an American armoured division just passed through it to reinforce St. Vith. In the far north Americans made their first attack with their newly arrived armoured division and forced a regiment of 272. VG Division to retreat. This forces me to direct just arrived 3. Panzer Grenadier Divisions there. Otherwise things are looking reasonably good. 3FJ Divisions might be tasked with taking Elsenborn, even though that wasn't the original plan, as it seems to be lightly defended. 5th Panzer army sector 116. Panzer division and Führer Begleit division will take the important crossroad town of St. Vith and then turn West for Vielsalm to support 1SS division. Clervaux withstood the morning attack of the 2. Panzer division and the attack conducted by the Panzer Lehr in the afternoon. It should fall next morning. Otherwise Lehr will be gravely delayed. Speed is the key here and any delays, even half-day delays, might cause us to lose the race for Bastogne. 26. Volksgrenadier division is waiting for supplies and gathering its strength before moving towards the town of Wiltz, South-East of Bastogne. 7th army sector 5FJ Division didn't manage to dislodge the American troops in Ettelbruck. The three other infantry divisions pocketed a mechanized and an armoured battalion around Beaufort. After taking care of the pocket and the town of Ettelbruck, 7th army will move South-West and start preparing a defensive line. The army is too weak to accomplish any significant advances. Positions at the end of the day St. Vith is a bottleneck. The speed of the advance to the West is partly tied to the question of how long St. Vith will hold. One option might be pocketing it, but I fear it woud tie up too many units. In the North the 6th SS Pz Army has advanced more quickly than expected. Hopefully they will keep their pace. __________________ “Every generation laughs at the old fashions, but follows religiously the new.” -Henry David Thoreau

10-09-13, 02:42 PM	#4
Stealhead Navy Seal Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Kentucky Posts: 5,421 Downloads: 85 Uploads: 0	Is this the Bulge scenario that comes with TOAWIII? Mine does not have the mountain/hill icons. Or maybe you are using the optional icons. Oh this is the Ardennes secnario.Pretty good one. Last edited by Stealhead; 10-09-13 at 03:29 PM.

10-11-13, 07:37 AM	#8
Raptor1 Navy Seal Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Stavka Posts: 8,211 Downloads: 13 Uploads: 0	If you run into dug-in units which are particularly troublesome, it might be a good idea to bombard them with artillery for a few rounds before assaulting, since heavy guns can cause units to lose entrenchment. Do you have any units capable of repairing railroads? The rail (and road) junction in Bastogne looks like it could be quite useful for keeping units heading towards the Meuse in supply. Though of course that wouldn't be very useful if you have no supplies to send in the first place... __________________ Current Eastern Front status: Probable Victory

10-09-13, 05:48 PM	#5
Oberon Lucky Jack Join Date: Jul 2002 Posts: 25,976 Downloads: 61 Uploads: 20	I must get TOAWIII one of these days, I had some sort of version of it a veeeery long time ago on a CD with Grigsbys Battle of Britain and...I think Gettysburg. Stupid me lost the damn disc back before I came to realise what I had. It confused the heck out of me back then, and I'm sure it'd confuse the heck out of me now, but the scenarios look fantastic.

10-11-13, 02:58 PM	#10
Stealhead Navy Seal Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Kentucky Posts: 5,421 Downloads: 85 Uploads: 0	One thing I really like about TOAWIII is that making AARs is fairly easy as the game automatically records the data for you.All you have to do is compile it and take some larger screens at key points.

10-13-13, 05:09 AM	#12
Crécy Grey Wolf Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Dark forest Posts: 793 Downloads: 316 Uploads: 0	[Apparently it is only possible to open up the latest sitrep CSV file. Using the CSV processor found in the matrixgames' forums. Output file is in html format, but the guy made a file to make it possible to have it in .txt format instead. The instructions are so vague that I didn't get it how to do that.] December 19th, 1944 6th SS Panzer Army sector In the morning of December 19th, a motorized regiment from 1SS Pz division and an armoured battalion from Führer Begleit regiment launched an attack against St. Vith and took it with ease, finally connecting the 6SS Pz Army with the 5Pz Army beyond Our river. The attack left a pocket South of St. Vith including a mechanized battalion from 9th Armoured division. 12SS Panzer division eliminated the small engineer company located in Malmedy and captured it in the afternoon, while KG Peiper moved westwards. Skorzeny's 150. Panzer brigade was turned into a normal combat formation and it advanced towards Vielsalm with 1SS. 9SS and 2SS Pz divisions will be forwarded to Vielsalm. After taking it, the 9SS Pz division will turn North and take Trois-Ponts. Near Monschau, 326. Volksgrenadier division pushed back 746th Tank battalion and trapped the 38th Cavalry squadron. 3PzGrn division made a move in the far north and started advancing towards Rötgen. Rötgen approach should relieve some pressure from the weaker line East of Monschau and Höfen. Also Von der Heydte's Fallschirmjägers finally got in touch with own troops. 5th Panzer Army sector 116. Panzer division dashed West thirty kilometers ending with taking the important town of Manhay. Advancing further West would only result in getting cut from supply so the division will be used to either help taking Vielsalm or Trois-Ponts. Most of the American troops of 106th Infantry division in the Schnee-Eifel pocket East of St. Vith surrenderd during the day, freeing the two infantry divisions keeping the pocket closed. They will be sent to close the St. Vith pocket. In the Southern half nothing really happened. Panzer Lehr will attack the heavily bombed Clervaux in the morning and hopefully make some progress in that regard. 7th Army sector 5FJ division cleared some ground around Ettelbruck. In the East the American combat command took the railroad bridge East of Echternach. Those sneaky combat commandses... Positions at the end of the day Things are looking reasonably good for now. I have around two days before Patton's first major reinforcements start to arrive from the South. Capture of St. Vith and Malmedy was a huge relief. Unfortunately Panzer Lehr's failure in Clervaux has bogged down the attack in the center too much and bastogne can be forgotten. For now on Panzer Lehr and 2. Panzer division will act as a buffer between Patton and the divisions advancing West North of Houffalize. The gap between Houffalize and Trois-Ponts is starting to open up and after Vielsalm is taken dash to the West is a go. Trois-Ponts might prove to be strongly defended and might be thus bypassed but we'll have to see how 9SS Pz Division fares. The Americans have to be pushed across Werche river to screen the gap. Allied forces have made only few attacks, mainly in the North and South. They've mainly settled for bombarding the German forward positions. __________________ “Every generation laughs at the old fashions, but follows religiously the new.” -Henry David Thoreau