Looking at the scenario statistics I don't feel bad about losing as the French, but then again I do...

I read the victory conditions carefully and noticed that, not only do the Germans have to take both bridges they have to clear the French away from within three hexes of each bridge. So I assumed that the best thing would be to defend both bridges with enough force to get the Germans caught up in assaults. While the Germans were only able to complete their victory on Turn 11 of 12, it was clear that with any decent rolling it would have been over quite a bit earlier.

I think the best approach may well be to defend only one of the bridges and to permit the Germans to attack on both shores. In that manner the French will have enough force to delay the Germans on the west bank while protecting themselves from the later arriving Germans on the other shore. Even better, use some troops in the woods on the west bank near the bridge to threaten the bridge tying down a number of Germans in a search and destroy mission while using the bulk of your force in the urban terrain to the south.

In any event, my defense was, in retrospect, pretty darn uninspiring. I give this one a "3" but with a better defense concept it could rank higher.