Holding the Line - The Matrix Games version of West Front

Losheimergraben, Belgium (Best played versus human opponent). The US 99th Infantry Division had arrived on the Continent in November of 1944, and was subsequently assigned to the US V Corps. The 99th was positioned on the right flank of the Corps, holding a 19 mile line stretching from Monschau (in the north) to an area just north of Lanzerath (in the south). Across from the 99th's lines were thought to be elements of the 277th, 18th, and 326th VG Divisions. Unlike other sectors of the Ardennes in mid-December, this portion of the front was not entirely a quite sector: On December 13th , elements of the 99th participated in a renewed offensive by V Corps (the Germans had failed to identify other units being brought to bear by the Americans for this attack). The attack began slowly, but by the evening of the 15th, was showing promise. Then, during the pre-dawn hours of Decemner 16, a tremendous artillery barrage erupted all along the front of the 99th ID. The immediate impression was that this was a reponse to the V Corps attack, but as the coming hours and days would prove, the German effort was nothing short of an all-out effort to break through the American lines and plunge westward. Unknown to the men of the 99th at the time, the Battle of the Bulge had begun. During the opening salvos, it would fall on the shoulders of the 99th to hold the line.