The Germans have still not recovered from collapse. We are beginning to wonder if they ever will, as when they do they will not have many – if any morale points remaining. After taking cycle losses into account the German morale is at -63, with the Austro/Hungarian empire now only 27 points from total surrender. The French have enjoyed their respite, and since the 50 morale point bonus in Jul II, and are still well over 80 points, as the German war effort has lacked purpose and direction on the western front in recent turns.

The rolls for American Reduced Effectiveness units – of which there were over 20 – went very well:. The dice smiled at me tonight. Only 9 US units are now at Red Eff state!

The balance of this turn will probably be one of manoeuvre as the various Entente forces will need to take a turn to redeploy HQ’s, rebuild the army and generally deploy for what will be the final push, as we want to conclude the campaign before the onset of bad weather. One or two weeks should see the end!

With the German forces still feeling the effects of collapse, they took steps in the previous turn to shorten their front line and make as many corps as possible Stoss Corps. The forces driving on Paris were recalled, only 20 miles from their ultimate goal.

The Entente, who had been carefully husbanding their armored assets, opened the turn with a bang in Belgium. 2 Hexes in the north were vaporised with DE’s, while the American divisions – finally almost all at full combat strength (although it should be pointed out that 1 of the American divisions that began the game at Ref Eff state is still Red Eff) lurched into overdrive and hit the German line hard, inflicting additional casualties. German national will dropped to – 83.

In the reaction phase the Central Powers, desperate for reactions on the Ita;lian Front failed with all combat rolls thus were denyed a chance to inflict more harm on the Italians.

They would not be denied in their regular turn and launched a front wide offensive south of the mountains, inflicting heavy casualties on all combatants – Germans, Austro-hungarians and Italians.

In the Entente reaction phase there was again some success on the western front and the partially patched line was again pummelled. By the end of the phase the Entente had gained possession of 8 hexes of Belgium.