Diary entry of Josephine Lefèvre (USEAAR, #26)

This post is part of an after-action report of Unconditional Surrender! (Salvatore Vasta, GMT Games) and therefore entirely fictitious.

Brussels, December 21, 1942

I know I should not be euphoric. We have been liberated before. But that was a heroic dash which worked on surprise. This time, the Germans knew what was coming – and so did we: Brussels was shelled and bombed for over a month before the German resistance was broken and they left, the great multi-national host which is the Eighth Army at their heels. British soldiers, of course, but also South Africans, Poles, and Free French. Allegedly, there is also a Free Belgian artillery battery attached to the army, although I have not seen any soldier from there, nor has anyone else.

Citizens of Brussels cheer for their liberators. Photograph BU 479 from the collection of the Imperial War Museums.

But euphoric I am now, enjoying the cheer at the Allied motorcades at day and the silence without bombs and shells at night. I feel that the war is coming to an end, and that we will be free.

You can see the current state of affairs in the game in the Twitter thread:

The Soviets mop up the pocket in Austria. Two German armies surrender, but only after engaging much superior Soviet forces. #USEAAR pic.twitter.com/tIvKAMOY2A

— Clio's Board Games (@cliosboardgames) May 21, 2020