History Line: 1914-1918/Candl

Map
"Candl" is the twenty-third map on the German side of the campaign.

Strategy
This is a tough map to play on the German side. To win, you will have to exploit the computer’s inadequacy. Fall back with your northeastern units, including the armored train, the anti-tank gun and the cavalry, to your HQ and defend its gates. Your forces southeast of your HQ are doomed one way or another, just like the bunkers; forget about building depots. Here the mission is to move in and quickly destroy the enemy rail artillery, then inflict as much other damage as possible. Meanwhile, defend your HQ, and here it comes: after a while, the enemy will start moving his units over the bridge, attempting to gain control of the western river bank, instead of attacking your HQ. Your HQ garrison can sit and watch as the enemy tanks and artillery roll right past them - do not engage. Your units in the northwest corner of the map should repel the initial attack and break through to the south of the west bank; the more units make it the better, and try taking at least one transport train with you. Keep them moving south and let them take up defensive positions somewhere north of the western depot. Meanwhile, let your factory build a massive offensive force with lots of armor, trucks, a lot of light and some heavy artillery to put on those trucks, and move it north to those positions (take the woods, not the road, to avoid the rail gun on the other side of the river). You cannot build airplanes, and neither will the computer. Repel the enemy assaults on the defensive positions and start racing forward, back to the north, when enemy medium artillery starts coming within range. Move in with armor, deploy light artillery from trucks right behind them, fire, then pack up again and keep moving. At some point your HQ garrison, if it still has its maximum-experience armored train and anti-tank gun, can start intercepting enemy reinforcements with hit-and-run attacks as they try to cross the bridge to the west bank. This way, you will be back in control of the west bank in no time. Deploy heavy artillery at the river to fire at the road and bridge north of the enemy’s northernmost factory. Regroup at the railroad bridge, the armor catch up, make sure that the trucks with light artillery and infantry are near the front; put heavy artillery on the railroad bridge and then cross the river fast, with everything you have, and let the HQ garrison join the offensive. From that point onwards, your main problem will actually be traffic jams as tanks, trucks, light artillery and infantry race south to capture the enemy’s factories one by one.