The Lorraine Campaign II, Nov. 1944 Designers Notes
Patton at the Moselle


Bridges:
	There needed to be some way of reflecting the overall importance of bridging efforts across the rivers in the area. While many of them would not usually be considered 'major rivers', they did present major obstacles to the wheeled and tracked vehicles of the US Army. The neccesity to bridge several rivers for several divisions put a huge strain on 3rd Army's engineering abilities. While it is odd in the scenario to have these little bits of rail at crossing points, they accurately represent the innability to move across these obstacles at will. Note that supply is not traced across major rivers that are bridged by rail lines that are not connected to a Supply Point, so the player must make good use of the two Heavy Bridge units. 
	These 'bridges' have an 80% chance of being destroyed when occupied by a US unit. The US player gets 2 automatic rail repairs each turn [although this is based on a percentage chance, so there is no guarantee that two will take place each turn]. IMPORTANT: Vacant hexes will not be repaired. A hex with a damaged rail line must be friendly occupied in order for a repair to take place.
	So, if a player occupies a bunch of these rail hexes, it will take several turns to get them all repaired. It is often better to concentrate on one or two areas at a time. Also, when a unit moves onto a bridge hex and that bridge is destroyed, do not move the unit further unless another unit can take its place, or else the vacant bridge will not get repaired. 
	As the German side had occupied the area for several years and was very familiar with the terrain they were much better prepared to meet these challenges. This is reflected in many of their units having fording capability. On the US side intelligence was very poor. Large scale Michelin road maps were relied on, and these had no terrain features. Therefore the recon units were usually the first to report about conditions at the various waterways. 

Bridge notes and Tactics:
	Rail only Major River hexes are considered Bridges. Use US Infantry and Recon units to initially enter them (other unit types cannot enter them). There is an 80% chance that the bridge will be destroyed. If destroyed, there is a percentage chance they will be repaired on any subsequent turn that their hex is occupied by a friendly unit. Once repaired you can use the rail capacity to ferry units across. 
	This works well enough in the scenario but is not perfect. The inability for the rail line alone to provide supply is a hassle. However, the overall effect is to limit the US in what they can do, and also creates the need for a little planning in the use of the Heavy Bridge units. There are three of these (one for XX Corp at 26,31, one for III Corp at 24,9, and one for XII Corp at 36,40) but they will allow any unit and supply to cross at their location. 
	None of the above are 'house rules', they are all built-in functions of TOAW and the scenario.
	Note that most German units contain Ferry-Bridge Teams, so they will not face these restrictions (and the PO will cross major rivers, a lot).


News items that are specific to one side appear as Theater Options. These TO's will begin with 'News' and require no action, they are information generally taken from intelligence sources. See the News sections for each side below. 


Notes Specific to the US Human:

	As the offensive was staggered, many US units won't become active on turn 2 while others remain in reserve status until later turns. Check the Formation Reports for Activation Turns.

Headquarters Units:
	Units tend to retreat towards the closest friendly supply point or cooperative HQ unit. In some cases retreating toward a supply point can be detrimental to US units. There are three US HQ Units [one for each corp] which can be used in an effort to encourage retreating units to move in an appropriate direction. 


Attachments:
	Most US divisions had independant battalions attached to them. Tank (Tk) and Tank Destroyer (TD) battalions are shown below. Anti-Aircraft Automatic Weapons (AAAW) battalions are included in the Heavy Weapons companys of each division as are Chemical Mortar battalions. 	
	Historical attachments are as follows -
XX Corp		26th ID		761 Tk [-Dec 12]	602 TD [-Dec 12] M18
							691 TD [-Dec 12] M36
		35th ID		737 Tk			654 TD	M10-M36
		80th ID		702 Tk			808 TD M36
		4th AD			none
		6th AD			none
		12th AD			none

XII Corp	5th ID		735 Tk			774th TD [-Nov 22] M36
							818 TD M10-M36
		83rd ID		774 Tk			802 TDt
		90th ID		712 Tk			773 TD M10-M36
		95th ID		778 Tk [Nov 11-]	607 TD M36
		10th AD					609 TD M18		
		
III Corp	87th ID					610 TD [Nov 12 to Dec 14-] M36


Air Units:
	US Air Units begin the scenario at the airfields located at 4,33 to 4,38. Weather will affect air operations thru increased or decreased Shock levels (see below). Most air units are in Garrison Mode so that their support will not always be a sure thing, as was the case historically.
	The US Player has one unit that is not in Garrison Mode, the 365th Heavy Sqn, which arrives on turn 4. This unit may be used freely but it has a low Supply Rating and therefore once used it will take several turns to return to 100% effectiveness. This should curtail the player from flying the heavies in tactical missions day after day [which would be unhistorical]. 
	Historically the US Ninth Air Force committed eight bomb groups to support the drive thru the West Wall. Of those eight groups only four found their targets due to poor visibility. In the scenario, when the US player gets within four hexes of either Saarlautern [50,17], the Saarbrucken bridge [58,21] or the hex north of Saarguemines [60,25], four bomb groups will arrive and be available for two turns. Note that this may occur on turns when the weather is poor and the bomb groups will then be inneffective. 
	

News:
	Patton was promised Bomber Support for the opening phase of the offensive, but poor weather canceled the mission. A second attempt was made on day 2, but again poor weather had an effect, causing many bombers to miss their targets. Surveys after the battle indicated that the bombing on day 2 had no effect on the German defenses, although communications were smashed. The only effect in the scenario is that some formations of the 17SS PzGr Div will not be released until one turn later than the rest of the division.
	News for the Day 1 and Day 2 bombing missions will appear in the Theater Option list for the US player. This is news only, no action need be taken by the player.


Weather:
	Rain, low clouds and fog obscured the area and prevented air support on several occasions. Therefore, on turns 11, 14 and 15, US Theater Recon will be zero and US Air Shock will also be zero. 



Notes Specific to the German Human:

	The German player will get a Theater Option on turn 1 that will enable him to pick the type of US Advance, either Historical or Alternate. The Historical advance will be rather easy to defeat, the Alternate Advance would assume that Patton opted to concentrate his effort. Pick one option only. These have no effect on a pbem match.

	The 243.StuG Bde arrives at Neunkirchen [63,16] on turn 2. The three units of this formation do not reconstitute. The German Player can choose to disband these units in order to provide StuG Replacements for other units, or to keep them intact and commit them where desired.


Steve Sill, September 2015


