Panzer Grenadier Road to Berlin Scenario 60 Ego Unleashed April 16, 1945 1st Ukranian Front across the Neisse River

The Soviets are in full beast mode in this scenario. The objective is to clear two corridors along both road from west to east. Failing in that, they can claim a minor victory in exiting 60 or more units off of the west board edge. Standing in their way is a german force that is armor heavy with little artillery support. The Soviets are rolling deep with motorized infantry and are very armor heavy as well, with 6 platoons of JS-2s as well as air support. The terrain is dead flat open and favors the Germans. They have several platoons of King Tigers and Tigers which look to make some scrap metal out of the Soviet tanks, especially the Sherman contingent. Losses are not an issue. Step losses will only count towards initiative.

Turn 1. Both sides move on to the map. The Soviets are pushing more armor to the center and the right. The Germans are moving two separate combined arms groups, one in to each town.

Turn 2. The Soviets push nearly all their infantry on the left with some armored support. Three platoons of Soviet infantry go with the armor on the right. The Soviet armor in the center split between the left and right. The Germans, seeing this split, still leave an armored screen across the woods in the center, not wanting to leave a hole in the line. German armor has a line covering the front from town to town. The only weak spots are just south of the southernmost village across the swamp and north of the northern village behind some woods. Those areas will have to be covered so as to not allow the Soviets to exit.

Turn 3. The Soviets mass their motorized infantry and armor on their left just out of range of the Germans. The Soviets lose some T-70s and armored cars. The Soviets also mass armor on the extreme right, obviously heading for the gap behind the woods in the north.

Turn 4. German infantry and armor move towards the gap in the north, attempting to block the Soviet armor. This is going to be a close in fight in a very narrow area. The Soviets have gave up room to maneuver, choosing instead to attempt to bludgeon through a small area with much greater numbers. The Germans are digging in with their infantry, hoping to hold both roads, as well as block the northern thrust on the Soviet right. The Soviets are looking to bypass the greatest concentrations of German armor in an attempt to go around both flanks.

Turn 5. The Germans get dug in across from the Soviet left. It will be a tall order to blow open a corridor along the southern road. German armor, wary of the Soviet air threat, has remained in woods or town hexes. The Soviet infantry company on the right gets caught by opfire on the move. The halftrack carrying its leader is eliminated. The other 2 platoons are virtually useless as all the other infantry leaders are on the other side of the battle.

Turn 6. The Soviets are moving deeper on the flanks and German armor has to move out of cover to be able to position itself to block the Soviet onslaught. Soviet air takes out a step of Tiger IIs. Even so, the Germans are making a mess of the advancing Soviets and losses are high.

Turn 7. The slaughter gets in full swing as the Soviets attempt some cover fire, but are more intent on firing smoke to cover their dash to the western map edge. The Soviets suffer a leader decapitation as the Colonel and the Kommissar are with an infantry platoon in a halftrack at the rear of the Soviet column. The halftrack is hit and eliminated. Six units are halted until the next turn.

Turn 8-11. The carnage reaches a crescendo as the Soviets race to the western edge. In the south, covering fire is foregone and units only push for the edge. German losses are relatively light in the south. In the north it is a grind as Soviet armor, without infantry support, attempts to assault through the small gap, which is now crowded with German armor and infantry. As the column drives in deeper, the German Tigers move around to the Soviet rear.

Turn 12-16. The Soviets on the right had made a tragic mistake and have paid. The T-34s and Shermans were cut to pieces by the German Mk IVs, Stugs and then the Tigers. The JS-2s were too few in number to make a difference. The Soviet air caused a few losses, but they were at this point irrelevant.

Turn 16-36. All went by fairly quickly. The Germans hunted down the unlucky few Soviets who were left.

The end result was the Germans held the field but the Soviets had pushed through. The final count was 52 Soviet steps having exited the western map edge, not quite enough for a minor Soviet victory.

This was a fun, fun game. With losses having no bearing on victory, it made for a different scenario. It took som wow the tactical considerations out of play, though I do admit that if I had kept those considerations the Soviets would have done better. This will be a good one to revisit!