In order to make the attacks in the Aachen sector and the Saar, the Western Allied front had necessarily been left thin in the Ardennes. It was there that Hitler decided to launch a desperate counteroffensive. Aided by poor weather conditions, they attacked on December 16th. Although the German penetration reached 80 kilometers, it never reached the Meuse due to the speed and power of the Allied response. By January 25th the original frontline had been restored. After the battle, the 6th SS Panzer Army departed for the eastern front, virtually removing the last German threat on the western front.

Eisenhower then resumed his maneuvers to destroy the Germans west of the Rhine. Operation "Veritable" (Canadian 1st Army) was launched on February 8th followed by Operations "Grenade" (US 9th Army), "Lumberjack" (US 1st Army), and "Undertone" (US 3rd and 7th Armies). The US 1st Army, on March 7th, opportunistically crossed the bridge at Remagen, the one bridge over the Rhine not yet demolished. By March 25th all organized resistance ceased west of the Rhine.

On March 23rd, the British 2nd Army crossed the Rhine near Wesel. The XVIII AB Corps was then dropped across the Rhine north of it. Farther up the Rhine, the 3rd Army crossed at several points, followed by the US 7th Army on March 26th and by the French 1st Army on April 1st.

Armored elements of the US 9th Army swung round the north flank of the Ruhr and made contact with US 1st Army, which had swept around the south flank of that area. This cutoff the industrial heart of Germany. On March 30th the US 15th Army had moved into the line at the Ruhr. Leaving it to contain and reduce the Ruhr pocket, 9th and 1st Armies swept eastward. On April 18th the Ruhr pocket was finally liquidated.

Western Holland was bypassed due to German threats to open the dykes.

On April 18th the US 3rd Army set foot in Czechoslovakia. On April 25th elements of the US 1st Army met Soviet patrols in the vicinity of Torgau. Meanwhile, Montgomery's forces were sweeping the north German plains. Bremen was captured April 19th and Hamburg one week later.

Rumors of Hitler intending to move to a "national redoubt" in the Alps prompted a move by 6th Army Group into this area. 7th Army captured Munich April 30th. On May 4th 7th Army elements met elements of the US 5th Army in Vipiteno, Italy.

In Italy, throughout the winter the Allied air forces continued their attacks on the German communications through the Alps. On April 9th the 15th Army Group opened its offensive to break into the Po valley. In the east, the British 8th Army crossed difficult swamp country to reach the Po on April 15th. On April 14th, the US 5th Army attacked and, after a week of heavy fighting, advanced to the Po, and crossed it April 23rd. Both armies now raced Northward towards the Alps. 5th Army took Verona April 26th and Milan three days later. On April 28th, Italian partisans captured Mussolini and summarily executed him. On May 1st, 8th Army elements contacted Yugoslav partisans at Montalcone.

On the eastern front, the year 1945 opened with a German counteroffensive to relieve Budapest. This did not succeed and was made with armored divisions that had formed the main reserve available to meet a Russian offensive in Poland. Yet Hitler, while dictating this abortive attempt in Hungary, would not permit any withdrawal from the Vistula line to forestall the expected Soviet offensive there. He thus played into Stalin's hands.

After nearly six months of preparation, the offensive was initiated on January 12th, by Koniev's front. A breach was soon made and armored corps poured through it. On January 14th both Zhukov and Rokossovski joined in and the breach became 320 kilometers wide. Warsaw was isolated and fell on January 17th, by which time Zhukov's spearheads were close to Lodz. Two days later Koniev's spearheads crossed the Silesian frontier, driving into Cracow, while Rokossovski reached East Prussia. Too late, Hitler allowed forces to be rushed north from Slovakia but they were too few to fill such an immense gap.

Rokossovski reached the Baltic on January 26th, isolating all German forces east of Danzig. Meanwhile, Koniev had already reached the Oder, isolating the industrial area of Silesia. Between these, Zhukov's armored columns drove through the corridor between the Vistula and the Warta, and, on January 30th crossed the Brandenburg frontier, barely 100 kilometers from Berlin. Next day, one of his spearheads reached the lower Oder, only 40 kilometers from Berlin.

But the advance had gone so far so fast that it no longer had the momentum needed to overcome this great river. The Germans were helped at this stage by the fact that their front had been forcibly contracted to only a fraction of its former extent. Although the Soviets were balked, it was the menace of their imminent approach to Berlin that led Hitler to direct most of his fresh drafts to the Oder, whatever the risk to the Rhine. The way was thus eased for the Western Allies.

Soviet progress on the far flanks continued. Budapest finally fell on February 13th. Vienna was entered in early April. Also in April, Tito's forces freed the remainder of Yugoslavia.

On April 16th Zhukov resumed his offensive, in conjunction with Koniev. The Soviets burst out of their bridgeheads and within a week were driving into the suburbs of Berlin, where Hitler chose to remain for the final battle. By April 25th the city had been completely isolated. But in Berlin itself desperate street-by-street resistance was put up by the Germans and was not completely overcome until the war ended, after Hitler's suicide on April 30th, with Germany's unconditional surrender.

The scenario will continue until both Berlin has been captured and the "Adolf Hitler" unit is destroyed, at which point a normal victory determination will be made. (Exception - the Allied PO only has to capture Berlin). Historically this occurred on turn 21 (May 5th, 1945). However, if the Allied player is unable to achieve this by the end of turn 35 (August 11th, 1945), the game will end with an automatic German victory.

The German player receives 4 VPs per turn that the game lasts. So it is in his interest to keep the game going as long as he can.

He has a Theater Option to release the Hitler unit, if he wishes to move it to a secret location. There is a 6 VP penalty for exercising this option (not imposed until the end of the game, for secrecy purposes), unless the Allied side is the PO.

But if he does, he must follow the following house rule: The Hitler unit may not voluntarily leave Germany as he defined it (which includes Austria and Czechoslovakia). The idea is that it must remain where Hitler could retain some control of the Reich. This will still allow it to move to the rumored "Alpine Redoubt" if desired.

The scenario begins on the eve of the Bulge offensive, and the German player is required to execute it or suffer a morale collapse as follows: The German player must attack both hex [6,17] and [6,18] on turn one or suffer a one-turn 10% pestilence penalty on turn two. Note that both of these hexes are marked on the map with the label "T1". If this is achieved, then he must attack hex [5,18] by turn two or suffer a 5% pestilence penalty on turn three. Note that this hex is marked on the map with the label "T2". But there is no turn three penalty if the turn two penalty has been suffered. Note - a German PO is not subject to these requirements.

To model the aircraft-grounding weather that this offensive began with, Allied air units are unavailable (in reserve) for the first turn.

Note that exclusion zone one is in place in western Holland. This represents a tacit agreement by the Allies not to enter western Holland in exchange for the Germans not opening the dykes. The Allied player has a theater option to cancel that agreement and remove that zone if he desires. But note that there is an 8 VP penalty for doing so. This represents the damage to Holland due to German opening of the dykes. Note that the VPs in the zone only total to 4. Thus, exercising the option will result in a net loss of 4 VP, but it may facilitate the Rhine crossing.

The German player also has a theater option to remove the zone as well. It remains available for the duration, except that if the PO plays the Allies it expires on turn 5. Doing so would free the units in the zone for use elsewhere. There is no VP penalty for exercising it. But note that it would most likely result in the loss of the 4 VPs in the zone. Historically, neither side exercised their options and western Holland remained in German hands for the duration.

Note that exclusion zone two covers the Kurland peninsula area. This is to prevent the German player from disbanding the forces trapped there. The Allied player has another theater option to remove this zone, if he desires. This would release the Soviet fronts covering that area (as well as the Germans). But he should note that if he does, the German player would then be free to disband the forces there, returning their equipment to the frontline units defending Germany. Furthermore, the German player will get some seacap as well, allowing him to transfer some of the Kurland units to the main fronts. It will expire upon Allied capture of the Kurland port hex. There is no German option to remove the zone.

Loss of German production centers has an impact on German supply and replacements as follows:
(Figures are reduction in replacements, followed by drop in force supply level).

Note that some replacements arrive on turns 7-18 via disbandments of Wehrkreis and are therefore not affected by any of this.

In addition, both sides' replacements automatically drop (Germans by 33%, Allies by 25%) on turns 8, 16, and 24 each.

In addition, loss of Berlin will sock the Germans with a permanent 25% shock penalty due to collapse of morale.

After turn 9, the loss of Budapest will cause all Hungarian units to be withdrawn. In other words, if it falls before turn 10, they will still hang around until turn 10.

The cold will deepen a bit in January but will steadily warm after that.

The Luftwaffe has been omitted. By this time, it was primarily occupied with the strategic bombing campaign. But to represent the small effect they did have on tactical air operations the Allied side starts with an air shock penalty of 25%, dropping to 12% on turn 4, to 6% on turn 8, 3% on turn 12, and to neutral on turn 16. In addition, the Soviet airforce is not received until turn 5.

Note that rail-repair units don't arrive until the spring. Rail repair was not possible during the winter.

The Germans have 0% theater recon and the Allies have 3% theater recon. The Allies' force movement bias is 87% and the Germans' is 58%. The Allied adjustment is to correct for movement distortion of this environment. The German adjustment also includes an adjustment for the effects of the Allied air interdiction of German movement. The attrition divider is 2.

Both sides' units in Western Italy are released upon Allied approach to within two hexes of Torino (8,28).

Players should note that all HQ units lack command or support squads. This was intentional so that all such units can function as combat units. They actually represent their formation's reserves, and are often some of the best units available. They are also the only units with artillery ranges. The German player, especially, should make good use of this fact in designing his defense.

Note that Western Allied units in Italy have lower replacement priority and formation supply distribution efficiency than other Western Allied units. This represents the low priority this front had. This may make delaying the offensive on this front desirable until German replacements and supplies have been reduced by territorial gains elsewhere. Launched too soon, the initial German supply and replacement rates may turn the tables on the Allies here. In general, the Allied player's cause may be better served by slow, cheap victory rather than fast, costly victory.

This scenario was inspired by the 1975 SPI wargame included in S and T issue 50. But that game was far too crude by today's standards to serve as much of a reference. I relied on the research I had done on my "France 1944" scenario, in addition to fresh material on the Soviets provided by Jim Pool. Although the scenario is intended as a "beer and pretzels" treatment, the work required for the forces was incredible. After all, this was almost the entire ETO in its most complicated period. I did the best I could, but in the end there remained a lot of unknowns. But I feel that I've already sufficiently sacrificed at the "altar of historical accuracy minutia" in previous efforts.

At this scale, units aren't really "units" per se. The contents of a Corps or Army come and go. A Corps can fill up with divisions or it can spit them out until it folds up shop altogether. As such, I didn't get too concerned about what each unit contained on December 16, 1944, since that was transient. I made an effort to normalize the units somewhat by redistributing the contents in a rational way.

Note that most units consist of two elements - the frontline part and the rear-area part. This was done for several reasons. First, engineer elements needed to be separated out to allow bridge repair without tying down the entire corps/army. Second, a lot of a corps' equipment was intended for the rear areas and this allows that to be modeled. Allied rear-area equipment will not usually see combat unless the Germans attack into their rear areas. And third, TOAW only allows 24 equipment slots per unit. That just wasn't enough for the corps/army-sized units of this scenario.

All rear-area units have the "RES" icon. Note that, while German RES units are mobile, Allied ones have movement allowances of only one. This was to keep Allied RES units out of the front lines. The Germans were more tactically flexible, are generally on the defensive, and are generally more desperate.

Also due to the 24-slot equipment limitation, I often had to share slots between units. This meant that, for example, one Corps would get the Tigers of both Corps, while its sister Corps got the Jagdpanthers of both Corps.

Neither side has airlift so neither can perform airdrops. German FJ units have the parachute icons for information purposes only. Allied AB units have Special Forces icons instead. After Arnhem, the few jumps that occurred were very short-range only. I felt this was best modeled with the Special Forces infiltration ability.

The map was once again designed from scratch using the same "latlong" techniques I've used before in CFNA, France 1944, and Okinawa 1945. Cities over 100,000 were urban, over 750,000 were dense urban.

I am once again grateful to Major Chet Pool and his son Lt. Col. Jim Pool for their help in TOE research.