This was another interesting battle from Road to Berlin. The Russian beat the Germans to the Bridge hex, but at night, the Germans were able to take advantage of the situation and basically destroy the Russians first force, pushing the small remnant into the woods with nothing to do but wait for reinforcement to arrive, as they were far too weak without them. Next the Germans went on an aggressive defense by placing armor far ahead into two forces, into two layers of ambush defensively, waiting on the Russian reinforcements. The Russian Reinforcements didn’t arrive until almost turn 0715/turn #37. Now visibility was up 8 hexes followed by 10 the next turn, perfect for the Germans plan. It was an armored battle but left the Russians with very little armor and only truck mounted Infantry to make it all the way across two boards, to attack a well defended town and some German armor still alive. No chance, I throw in the towel for the Russians with 7 turns left and the Germans to celebrated a major victory!

This was actually played out like two separate battles. I knew the Russians were in big trouble when the first group was ground up but when the first JS-2 from the second group was shot at the entry point by a couple platoons of Panther tank, it was a sign of the beginning of the end. I should have sent Infantry to assault them in the town hex first. My play as the Russian was poor and my dice rolls for the Germans was hot, as normally, I think the Russians would have the advantage here.