Recently withdrawn from the horrors of the Russian Front, the 1st SS Panzer Division Liebstandarte Adolf Hitler, are ordered to Belgium for a complete overhaul and refit of its war-torn troops and panzers. Due to growing uncertainty they are redirected on this journey eventually arriving in Innsbruck. With only a few weeks respite, they find themselves stationed in Italy along the Po River Plain to carry out the disarming of several Italian army units, following the capitulation of Italy as allies to the Third Reich. It is not long before they are embroiled in deadly anti-partisan operations during most of their stay in the country, and then they are directed back to face the colossal Red Army tidal wave of men and machines once again along the Eastern Front. Still waiting for their panzers to arrive, the 1st SS are forced into bloody hand to hand trench warfare heavily outnumbered each day. Intelligence reports indicate the Russians are planning a huge attack, which threatens to wipe out the 1st SS and other defending German Divisions, unless they can thwart this advance with a plan of their own, using the limited, heavily outnumbered troops and panzers at their disposal.