Four Days In Berlin - Campaign Report - Day 4 - Campaign End

The Americans (James) kicked off the final Allied attempts to move Patton’s whisky cabinet one step closer to the Reichstag with an armoured assault towards the recently lost Gatow airport.  Running into the remains of the ever present 18^th Panzergrenadier Division (Rick) they stalled on the edges of the outlaying airport buildings.  With German resistance stiffening the footsloggers were sent on a flanking manoeuvre while the armour demonstrated in front, only to be cut to pieces by MG fire from the buildings they had hoped to capture. 

German StuG assault guns and PaK43’s arrived to duel with the American armour, with the AT guns swiftly put out of action, but the Yanks armour piercing ammunition proving a dud with the StuG’s improbably surviving shot after shot.  In return they knocked out several Shermans, and when the panzergrenadiers began to advance through the ruins; hunting down a Sherman Jumbo with panzerfausts and a panzerschreck, the American CO decided it was time to cut and run before his losses became more than he could bear.

In the subsequent Allied retreat the Germans gained a large swath of woodland to the West of Berlin.  This success sparked a farce worthy of a Carry On film involving the heavy armour of ‘Tiger’ Phil.  Firstly the Germans jadgtigers completely collapsed and were wiped out by Ian and his new age Comet armada – every Jadgtiger destroyed by the speedy British.  This defeat closed the corridor of woodland (the Grunewald forest) that had linked the 18^th Panzergrenadier Division around Gatow airport and the bulk of the German forces in Berlin.  Facing criticism from several quarters Phil rallied magnificently to lead the remains of his troops in a sharp counterattack which reopened the corridor and defeated the American troops (James) which had been standing in their way.  He then had to about face to take on a Russian thrust (Ben) coming in from behind, and was promptly wiped out to a man.  In the confusion and power vacuum that followed as Phil scrambled to recruit a new company the Russians claimed Templehof  airport, and, even more critically, the Grunewald forest, cutting off Gatow and the bulk of the 18^th Panzergrenadier Division again.  Elements of the 18^th were still located centrally near the Reichstag, but suffered another stinging defeat at the hands of the Romanians (Dennis) as the pro-Russian forces solidified their grip upon central Berlin. 

Americans falling on the outskirts of Gatow.

The final conflict of the campaign was a major battle that saw the Russians enter with a commanding victory point lead.  See the previous post on the 19^th April 2015 for the full battle report; in short the Germans succeeded in breaking out to the West through the allied tanks, while the Romanian/Russian alliance crushed the remaining German fanatics in the centre of Berlin, claiming the Reichstag for the third and last time, and putting a golden gleam to their campaign victory.

The campaign map before the final battle.

The map of inner city Berlin - a wave of red.

The Final Result:

Time to add up the points, remembering that urban areas gain the holder 4pts each, woodland 2pts, open areas 1pts and airports 6pts.  The five territories surrounding and including the Reichstag were worth 8pts each.

1. The Russians were clear winners, with 15(!) urban areas, 3 woodland areas, 5 open areas and 2 airports.  They also held the entire of the centre of Berlin, and gained an additional bonus 14pts for capturing their ‘secret’ objectives of the Reichstag and Dalhem (the nuclear research facility).  129pts in total.
2. The Germans came second, with a mere 7 urban areas, 3 woodland,1 open and Gatow airport.  They succeeded in stopping the Allies uncovering the nerve gas facility at Spandau (which would’ve lost them 6pts), and gained an additional 12pts for breaking out Westwards.  53pts in total.
3. In third place the Allies failed in their aims of capturing Berlins airports, and were restricted to 7 urban areas, 5 woodland and 9 open for a total of 47pts.

The final positions on the map.

Total red domination.

Conclusion:

And so the Four Day Battle For Berlin is over.  Much to my (and the rest of the Germans) disappointment neither the Allies nor the Russians were able to overcome their mental blocks about attacking each other, and despite the rules being written to enable such a three-way contest to exist the fighting was restricted to everyone vs. the besieged Germans.  We also lost a few players to various ailments, jobs, training courses etc which restricted the number of games played but hopefully all those who took part enjoyed themselves.

The Russians swept into the centre of Berlin in an unstoppable wave with the Romanians to the fore.  The Germans managing to fight the Allies to a standstill to the West of the city, restricting them to the open and wooded areas outside of the urban areas, and even managing to break through to the West to open an escape route.  However they had no answer to the Russians in the East.  The war is over, the Russians control Berlin and much of Europe and Churchill’s fears have come true.  The Cold War is here.