Battle for St Vith

With the introduction of TO&Es, the importance of towns as opposed to the importance of brigades has been a long debated topic. It seems to be a generally held belief now, though, that brigades are key to wearing down the enemy's line. When the opportunity arises where a town holds value above brigades, then that town must be something special.

St Vith was that town. The Allied Side took control of St. Vith yesterday and with the capture of this town forced Axis Command to place Brigades in each of the links. As well, with an enormous amount of supply against it, the town served as a major battlefield before the counter-AO had even been placed. One would think that with three towns, and approximately seven brigades 'stacked' against it, that its fall would be imminent. However, with expert skill Allied commanders swapped brigades in and out, ensuring supply was available to troops at all times.

My own game time last night led me to St Vith for what was a battle of epic proportions. The forums today report the battle raged for over fourteen hours - so my insight is only a fraction of that time. With air raid sirens blaring, the Luftwaffe posed a large threat to Allied supply. Their efforts throughout the night need to be mentioned, as they were able to successfully keep the Allied Forces within the confines of the town for most of the battle.

Supply was moved to Wiltz and Allied bombers and fighters responded well, however the sheer number of Luftwaffe pilots made this an unenviable task on the best of days. The ground troops were faring better, and while the game of ping-pong was seemingly played with the Prum depot, overall morale and spirits were high, and the Axis were not able to gain a foothold. This continued long into the night as we fought tooth and nail for St Vith, to keep the Axis forces spread thin on a large front, and to hold onto St Vith with all we had.

It was a battle that made commanders realise towns could still be just as important. An exciting battle, it proved to be popular amongst both sides, who have reported in their forums on the events during their own experience. To all soldiers who fought at St Vith, the Allied High Command thanks you! Well done on a great defence!

Check out the Allied Open forum post here