General, it is pleasant to see you again.  I hope you are recovered from your wound?  I apologize for summoning you from your convalescence, but the need is urgent.  As I'm sure you've read in the papers, once we started to suffer reverses in Russia our faithless allies began to abandon us.  We were fortunate to retreat out of the Ukraine with our army intact, and since then we have been forced all the way back through Germany.  Now the Russians and Prussians have crossed the Rhine and invaded Alsace.  They have trapped a considerable French force in Strasbourg, which is now under siege.  You must break through to the city and re-establish its supply lines.  Good luck.