III German Army and its German elements reappear in Going Home as being on the Jutland Peninsula with all their heavy equipment, so back in the day I took advantage of that to devise my own explanation. In my old campaign, I had the 2000 offensive being a cover for the withdrawal of the German forces from their cantonment areas east of the Oder. I had the Germans being in constant conflict with the occupied Polish population and a target for incursions by the Polish army, in contrast to the relative peacefulness and cooperation between the Americans and Poles in the XI Corps area. Disgusted with the whole state of affairs, and needed back home with Magic Carpet imminent, the Germans plan on returning West with their vehicles and equipment, which necessitates a Baltic naval evacuation as the heavy equipment is cut off by the lack of bridges across the Oder.
To facilitate this, 50th Armored, 2nd Marines, and 8th Mech were to sweep east along the Baltic coast to the Vistula to both disrupt and shove back the Pact, but also to clear out coastal naval facilities and assets that could be used to both spot and interdict the shipping of the Germans and their equipment to Jutland. The Germans were to mount localized attacks to push back Pact forces from their frontlines, so as to buy time for the withdrawal and the assumption of their forward positions by elements of the Free Polish Army. 5th Mech was to drive deep into the rear to disrupt Pact elements from reinforcing and resupplying units opposing the other advances, which ended up being the perfect opportunity for Operation Reset, as well.
All the elements suffered from the same problem of faulty intelligence by launching them right into the teeth of the Soviet offensive and 4th Guards Tank Army. The German attacks were both halfhearted and more stiffly opposed than anticipated, but they were able to complete their evacuation west in good order due to the American covering operations. The Baltic sweep achieved its objective of covering for the German withdrawal and the destruction of Pact naval assets sufficient to secure control of the Baltic, but at the expense of the near destruction of the 2nd and 50th who were barely able to conduct a fighting retreat back to their fortified cantonments. The 8th was cut off by sizable Soviet forces to its rear and compelled to keep moving east to avoid destruction, with their sole hope resting on seizing suitable facilities for a naval evacuation.
As an aside on the 8th, I had them in my campaign being a disgruntled, shell shocked, poorly led, and ill-disciplined unit that were referred to as "The Meatballs" by the other, more professional, XI Corps units (as opposed to the divisional nickname of "Eight Ball"). [The canon module "Behind the 8 Ball" is utterly ridiculous, btw, mainly because they provide the division with an aviation element. How the heck can you be out of communication when you have helicopters that can fly all the way back to Germany?
] In any event, the only thing maintaining the 8th as a cohesive fighting force is being deep behind the notional frontline, and the lack of any significant remaining Soviet forces in the area after the destruction of the summer battles to roll them up. I have the 8th barely maintain its cohesiveness through the winter, but they begin to break up and suffer mass desertions in the spring, and effectively disintegrate and dissolve into the countryside by the autumn.