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.

Battle Report: 1500pts American Armour Vs German Panzergrenadiers

The Americans kicked off the 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 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.  

The edge of Gatow airport - Shermans massing by the trees while the Germans defend the buildings.

American AA halftracks getting too close to the StuG's.

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.

Panzergrenadier counterattack.

Of course he missed.

The Yanks lost their cavalry recon and infantry platoon, while the Germans lost their last heavy AT guns in the PaK43’s but in the subsequent Allied retreat they gained a large swath of woodland to the West of Berlin.

Four Days In Berlin - Campaign Report - Day 3

‘Day 3’ of the campaign saw the commander of German forces in Berlin vanish in a haze of dust, possibly heading towards a rendivue with a U-Boat on one of Berlins many canals while seeking to escape the territory of the newly conquered ‘Dennis Land’.  Indeed Dennis’ Romanians have been most busy; surrounding the Reichstag before moving in for the kill while swatting away the attempts by Peters SS to prevent them reaching this icon of German defiance.  They followed this up with a comprehensive defeat of the 18th Panzergrenadier Division (what little was left of Rick’s division!) as they attempted to force a crossing over a canal near the Reichstag.  

The Russians now hold much of central Berlin, while the Allies, bereft their Yankee leader, procrastinate around the West of the capital, and the Germans reel from one defeat after another.

3rd Hand account of Commander of Berlin; Andy Von Paulus, last words;  “I was last seen disappearing into the smoke and flames with a suitcase stuffed with negotiable bonds and the details for several Swiss bank accounts.  Rumours of my reappearance in various far flung and exotic locations will persist for many years, until it emerges that I have been proprietor of an expensive hotel in Torquay that has hosted various Tory and Labour party conferences, not to mention providing key funding and technical advice to NASA.  Zer I vill liff until ze UKIP getz elected unt I vill vunce again rule ze vurld.  Guten tag!”

Players & Timetabling:

Germans: Andy (CO), Rick, ‘Tiger’ Phil and Peter.

Allied: James (CO), David, Ian and Aidan.

Russian: Dennis (CO), Luke, Ben and Red

We now enter Campaign Turn 4, the home stretch!   Turn 4 lasts until Sunday the 19th of April when I plan to finish off Germany and declare VE day after a nice big FOW punch-up on the gaming weekend on that Sunday. 

Campaign Turn 1 - 4th December - 8th January

Campaign Turn 2 – 15th January - 5th February

Campaign Turn 3 – 12th February - 12th March

Campaign Turn 4 – 19th March – 19th April

This being the last campaign turn players can play as many games as they like, with the restriction being they can only play each opponent once.

Peter's SS in a wonderful looking city scape taking on Dennis' Romanians - Germans near side.

My (Ricks) panzergrenadiers mass to try and force a crossing over the (oddly wiggly) canal.

Romanian heavies.

The panzergrenadiers try to force the issue, having made it over the bridge more by luck than judgement.  Too many Romanian machine guns and rifles around however,

Romanian infantry.

Main map - end of Turn 3.

The Reichstag captured!

Four Days In Berlin - Campaign Report - Day 2

The Romanian contingent (Dennis) of the Russian attack to the North and East of Berlin began a drive towards the area of Dahlem, where they were met by a blocking force of panzergrenadiers led by the Commander of German forces in Berlin; Andy Von Paulus (Andy).  Von Paulus launched an aggressive German counterattack with halftracks and panzer IV’s which met a hail of fire from well positioned anti-tank guns, and then suffered when the Romanian armour was unleashed.  The German company was decimated with burning vehicles littering the city streets and the Romanians marched on to claim Dahlem.

With the Russian offensive limited to the efforts of the Romanians on Day 2 it fell to the Western ‘front’, and the clashes between the attacking allies and the Germans there.  Elements from the British 11^th Armoured (Ian), equipped with the excellent new British-built heavy tank the Comet, were rushed to the newly captured airport of Gatow on the Western side of Berlin in response to an aggressive thrust from the 18^th Panzergrenadier division (Rick).  However upon arrival they found the airport buildings had already been recaptured by the German infantry, and no amount of Typhoon air strikes or point-blank firing by the Comets main armament could shift them.  In return German anti-tank guns flanked some of the Brits armour and armoured and truck mounted infantry advanced across the runways to push out the Allied troops and reclaim the airport.

More troops from the 11^th armoured (Aidan this time) were also in action to the north of Gatow, as they attempted to capture the area around Spandau.  ‘Tiger’ Phil was sent to defend it, and even when surrounded he refused to give an inch – mostly because his infantry had gone all foxhole norman and his Jadgtigers had broken down.  British shooting proved hopeless, with many, many Cromwells firing many, many shells at panzerfaust-armed infantry who steadfastly refused to die.  Even when the Jadgtigers (inevitably) ran out of fuel the resulting flank shots were not enough.  Both sides withdrew, exhausted, to their starting positions – Phil’s men having the least distance to go.

An unsurprising breakdown in Wehrmacht communications led to an SS company (Peter) being issued with orders to attack Gatow airport.  Unaware that it had already been captured by the 18^th Panzergrenadiers they set off, only to run into the super heavy armour of an American tank company – the Yanks turning up late for a war as usual.  The SS were stricken with despair as every one of their shots bounced off the heavy front armour of the Yankees Jumbo Shermans, and the Americans were able to cruise to a victory, succeeding where the Brits had failed in capturing the area just south of Spandau.

 

The 18th Panzergrenadiers fighiting 11th Armoured over Gatow Airport - the road pieces being a rough and ready runway.

Comets!

Panzergrenadiers crossing the runways to victory.

Airport buildings.

'Tiger' Phil using, um, Tigers against Aidans Cromwells.

M10's couldn't manoeuvre to get a decent shot on the multiple Jadgtigers.

Phil's artillery.

Big cat in wood.

Cromwells taking potshots.

Andy Von Paulus and his attack against the Romanians.

Romanian defenders.

Campaign map at the end of Campaign Turn/Day 2.

A General Overview:

Campaign turn 2, or Day 2 as I prefer to call it, is over, and the winners so far are the Russians who have dug deep into the underbelly of Berlin, nearly surrounding Tempelhof Airport.  The Allies attempts to move Eisenhowers drinks cabinet closer to the Reichstag suffered a blow with the loss of Gatow airport, but the Yanks got them moving again towards Spandau.

The list of players has a notable changes as that dastardly fiend Ben has defected to the Russians!  All it took was a five minute conversation with ‘Tiger’ Phil and he was off….

Germans: Andy (CO), Rick, ‘Tiger’ Phil and Peter.

Allied: James (CO), David, Ian and Aidan.

Russian: Dennis (CO), Luke, Ben and Red

We now enter Campaign Turn 3, do not forget to scratch those casualties from your possible army options.  If you’re company is looking as numerous as the cups in the cupboards rather than the grains of sand on the beach then don’t forget you can disband them and start afresh. 

Campaign Turn 1 - 4th December - 8th January

Campaign Turn 2 – 15th January - 5th February

Campaign Turn 3 – 12th February - 5th March

Campaign Turn 4 – 12th March - 2nd April

Rules, Rules, Rules……

Commanders; don’t forget to allocate those free platoons and air support out, no free air support for the Allies this turn unless they capture Gatow back!

Petrol; slight change – as pointed out last night nobody (except possibly Phil) would go into battle with no petrol, so we’ll assume that the Germans start with enough fuel for the first 3 turns of each game, and then have to start rolling to see if they run out after that.

Four Day In Berlin – Campaign Report - Day 1

Day 1 (or rather Campaign turn 1 which had lasted a month) and the customary slow start to a campaign over the festive period (not to be mistaken for Christmas, they do things differently in Germany).  The British  fought an inconclusive action around Gatow airport while the Russians made inroads into the interior of the city.  The Americans, in keeping with tradition, are late to the party.

Under (increasingly irrational) orders from the Fuhrer bunker the 18^th Panzergrenadier division (Rick) began the ball by launching an attack in the direction of Gatow airport.  This stalled when they met Cromwells from the British 11^th Armoured division (Aidan) coming the other way, and only sterling work by a solitary FlaK36 8.8cm artillery piece prevented the British from overrunning the German positions – its expended six shells at the cost to the enemy of six tanks!  A stalemate ensued and the 18^th returned to its starting positions.

They were soon to be rushed Eastwards however as the Russians of Comrade General Red threatened Mitte in the centre of the city.  A fierce rearguard action was not enough to prevent the Germans being surrounded (the convenient title of the scenario) and this was followed by some heroics by the Russian infantry which saw them force a crossing of the canal and claim the territory.  A lack of petrol at a key moment or two didn’t help.  Not to be outdone the Russian CO (Dennis), and his Romanian troops disposed of a chunk of ‘Tiger’ Phil’s heavy armour on its way to claiming the region of Schmargendorf to the south of the city centre. 

The map at the end of 'Day 1'.

Red's Russians storm the bridge in Mitte.

The 18th Panzergrenadiers unsuccessful attack near Gatow airport.

We now enter Campaign Turn 2, do not forget to scratch those casualties from your possible army options, I’m now missing my Panthers, my armoured grenadiers and my panzergrenadier AT platoon.  Its not been a good day!

Campaign Turn 1 - 4th December - 8th January

Campaign Turn 2 – 15th January - 5th February

Campaign Turn 3 – 12th February - 5th March

Campaign Turn 4 – 12th March - 2nd April