Battle Report - The Final Battle For Berlin

Four days of fighting (or four campaign turns if you so wish), and the Russians were well on top, nothing short of a miracle could derail them, and with such as an aim the Germans went into the final battle.  It was to be a fight for survival against Russian forces coming from the East, intent to forcing them out of the remains of the centre of Berlin, and Allied tanks arriving to the West, looking to cut off the Wehrmacht’s escape route there.  The battle began around 10am and lasted until approximately 3:30pm.  Each of the eight players involved (list below) took a 1750pt army, and fought over the 8 objective markers.  Each marker represented a territory on the map, and the side holding that marker at the end of the battle held the territory.  The Germans began on the board, the Allied/Russians got first turn and moved on.

For the devious baddies:

Andy Von Canham – Head of Defence of Berlin

‘Tiger’ Phil – Grenadiers

Rick – 18^th Panzergrenadier Division (remains of)

Peter – SS Totenkof Panzergrenadiers

For the doo-gooders and empire builders:

Dennis – Russian CO and Chief Romanian

Ben – Russian; artillery and some Romanians

James – Eisenhower in the making, and US Tank Company

Ian – Stiff upper lip and British heavies (Comets)

The Germans began holding most of the objectives, and orders went out from the Jerry CO to bring many AT weapons, max out on the number of troops, and prepare to sit tight and weather a storm.  They would, however, have to move out to attack to the West to secure the woodland there which would enable them to escape the marauding Russian armies.  The Western edge of the battlefield was lightly wooded, with fields and hedges which contained two objectives for Heldane and Grunewald, while the centre was mostly clear (Spandau and Charlottenberg), and the East heavily urbanised; including the opportunity to recapture the Reichstag from the Romanians, and objectives for Schoneberg and the Kroll Opera House.  To the South (geography not perfect) lay the airport and objective of Gatow, currently in Germans hands but key to the Allied efforts.

Orders from Russian high command centred around capturing the centre of Berlin, and this meant that ‘Tiger’ Phil (minus his tigers) would face a heavy and sustained attack from both Dennis and Ben and the entire Russian front.  The Allies had decided they did not need to go near Gatow to capture it when securing the easier target of the Grunewald woods towards the centre of the board would cut off the airport and its 18^th Panzergrenadier defenders and they would capture it anyway.  They chose to mass their tanks near the woods and ignored the airport, looking towards the centre instead.  The Germans had left Phil to counterattack and regain the Reichstag in the urban east, Andy was making good his escape in the wooded west and trying to open the corridor, and my (Rick) troops were at the airport.  Finally Peter was guarding the hinge between all the German forces to prevent the Russians or Allies slipping past and gaining the central objectives.

The Whole Table - Trees to the West, City to the East, Airport to the South.

'Tiger' Phils Panthers in a side street.

Andy Von Canham's troops in the West.

SS Totenkof troops.

The Battle

Onto the fighting, and in the West things started very well for the Germans, with armoured cars capturing and holding the key woodland territories of Grunewald and Heldane which linked their forces to Berlin and the escape route in the West.  The Allied response was sluggish, with the Americans trying to drive through the fields and getting bogged down frequently, and the British being overly cautious with their new (and obviously expensive and precious) Comet tanks.  The hedgerows slowed both allied players, as did the railway line (slow going), and they took their time moving up, choosing to engage in a long ranged duel with Andy Von Canhams few Panzer IV’s.  The Panzers were left burning, but still the Allies were fearful of the 88mm guns waiting in ambush and moved slowly.  They also found they couldn’t move more eastwards without entering into a serious fire fight with a unit of PaK40’s allocated to the 18^th Panzergrenadier Division by ‘Tiger Phil’.

Comets arriving.

America armour crosses the railway line.

To the East ‘Tiger’ Phil was in trouble.  Heavy duty comments were being passed his way by his fellow Germans about his tardiness in failing to secure the Reichstag building immediately, and the moment had passed.  Dennis’ Romanians had advanced methodically through the ruins and into the symbol of German political power, while Ben’s Russians (complete with Spetznaz) moved more swiftly onto Phils flank.  Phil was heavily outnumbered and in trouble and even he probably knew it.  The 18^th Panzergrenadiers (Rick) sent their StuG G ambush platoon to guard his flank against Bens forces, combining with the SS Totenkof (Peter) to defeated one of Bens infantry companies as it tried to move into position.  However a second company had already reached the objective marker for the last German territory in the centre of Berlin; the Kroll Opera House!  Sweeping over it they assaulted into the overlooking building, driving out Phils confident trained grenadiers at the point of a bayonet.  Phils response was to crank round his 15cm infantry guns and give the building both barrels; bringing most of it down around the Russians ears in a stunning display of Bunker Busting technology which left 15 Russian teams dead, including almost all of their remaining infantry and their company commander!  Ben, not to be outdone and still holding the Opera House, unleashed his heavy Katushya rocket launchers, firstly against the Totenkof crippling their nebelwafer artillery, and then onto the centre of Berlin, causing massed casualties amongst Phils infantry in the craters.

Ben's Russians on the attack, only to be cut down by StuG's and Totenkof.

Ben's light AT guns, also fell foul of Totenkof.

The Building Of Death - The grave of near 600pts of Russian veterans as Phils 15cm guns destroy it despite the smoke barrage laid by the Russians.

Phils infantry.

The remains of Ben's infantry after the bunker buster hits.

18th Panzergrenadier StuG's in the city.

At Gatow airport the remains of the 18^th Panzergrenadier division (it had been a hard campaign) realised early on that nobody was coming to attack them, and leaving their fallshirmjager allies to hold the airport (the only unit without transport) they jumped into their trucks, racing towards the city.  Their AT support; 3 Marder III H’s, were sent Westwards to try and prevent the British armour from spilling out into the open centre of the battlefield, a task which they were helped in by the Totenkof mobile artillery, StuG’s, and the PaK40’s already there.  The Brits sent a couple of Comet platoons, but despite wiping out the Marders and StuG’s they lost both platoons and having off worst were restricted to operating solely to the West.  Frustratingly for them Phils heavy artillery; positioned facing the wrong way to help him, was positioned the right way to drop high explosive on the Allied tanks.  The feared 88mm FlaK36 guns put in an appearance, and cost the Brits two more Comets, with a vicious fire fight erupted afresh amongst the hedgerows.  Neither side were gaining the upper hand, but the Germans were already in possession of the objectives.

Marder III H's in the open coming off worst against the Comets.

Andy's 88mm guns arrive.

Back to the city and the 18^th Panzergrenadiers and the SS Totenkof had reached a decision during the lunch break that they should try to rescue Phil and his grenadiers.  Ben, despite his offensive capability being curtailed, had other ideas however, and defeated the 18^th’s StuG’s; destroying 3 out of the 5 with his near-invincible ISU-122’s.  Phil’s singular ungrateful attitude towards the efforts being made to help him resulted in the Totenkof calling it a bad job and moving back to their trenches in distain.  The Panzergrenadiers had already committed their pioneers, mortars and heavy machine guns, and their Nebewafers were also firing upon the Reichstag, so they had no choice but to remain. 

Phil, still under heavy bombardment, finally attempted to launch a counter attack towards the craters he had just been evicted from by Dennis’ advancing infantry.  However his armoured support (3 Panthers) bogged down as soon as it tried to move in the rubble-filled streets, and the Romanians had filled the Reichstag and surrounding buildings with heavy machine guns so the grenadier assault was driven back by a hail of bullets and was unable to start again.  Phil managed to get most of his Panthers going, but their position saw them take a lot of artillery fire which decimated the units around them, including the 18^th’s pioneer platoon.  This bunch of worthies moved into a building to the South of the open area next to the Panthers, only to find the Romanians had infiltrated every building to the East of them, and had brought up flamethrowers.  

Dennis' ISU-122.

Romanian troops at the rear of the Reichstag.

Phils troops in the streets of Berlin.

Totenkof artillery firing on the Allies.

The Panthers come out to fight, but the counter attack fails.

At this point, with Phil and Ben’s troops bled dry, and my attempts to help being unsuccessful, the battle for the city was pretty much over.  The Russian/Romanian alliance had conquered the Reichstag (again), gained the Kroll Opera House (the last territory in the very centre of the city), and the Germans lacked the troops to drive them back.  On the contrary the expert in urban warfare, Dennis, had husbanded his forces and was preparing to drive onwards towards the Schonberg objective and the West.  We decided to call time, and the last actions were left to the battle between the Allies and Andy’s troops in the West, where James Yanks had finally managed to outflank the German defenders, but lacked the firepower to defeat them and drive them away from the objective.  The British had taken numerous casualties, and the Germans took advantage; sending forward their final reserve, an armoured panzergrenadier platoon, to wipe out the British armoured infantry.  The British were in disarray and failed their company morale check, leaving the Germans in control of the objectives and the way to the West clear.

Mole problem.

The British in trouble.

American armour trading fire with German infantry.

Last action of the battle - German armoured panzergrenadiers drive off the British infantry.

Post-Battle Script

A hard fought battle indeed, with the big winners being the Russians who claimed what they came for in the shape of the centre of the city of Berlin.  The Germans were next happiest, with the airport of Gatow and an escape route to the West seized and held open, while the Allies will curse their tardiness, and wonder what-if they had gone hell-for-leather and attacked.  Phil, despite his refusal to counterattack until it was too late, held on for a long time against heavy odds, while Andy faced even worse, but against a foe which didn’t press its advantage.  Dennis had had recent experience of city fighting and it showed, while much of my 18^th Panzergrenadiers and Peters Totenkof struggled to get into the fight.  With this battle the campaign is over, and anyone who has followed any part of it will suspect correctly that the Russians are the victors, I will just have to tot up the totals and produce a final report.