Rage Against the Machine

For nearly one month, heavy rain and mud had prevented further Russian offensives against the German army trapped in the Courland pocket. When a sudden heavy frost returned the roads to passable conditions in mid-December, a forbidding atmosphere of expectation swept over the defenders. In the front line …

1944-12-21

J157

For nearly one month, heavy rain and mud had prevented further Russian offensives against the German army trapped in the Courland pocket. When a sudden heavy frost returned the roads to passable conditions in mid-December, a forbidding atmosphere of expectation swept over the defenders. In the front line near Stedini, Leutnant Biderman was part of Kampfgruppe Zoll defending a key road junction towards Liepaja. On 21 December, a massive bombardment swept over their lines, then moved to continue pounding their flanks. Bidermann caught sight of several landsers running past in panic, rasping "Panzer! Panzer!" Near company HQ, he found an anti-tank unit frantically preparing its panzerfausts for close combat. Grabbing one of the long gray-green tubes, he shouted "Come on! Let's go! They're coming!"

Courland Pocket, Latvia

The Courland Pocket was an area of the Courland Peninsula where a group of Nazi German forces from the Reichskommissariat Ostland was cut off and surrounded by the Red Army for almost a year, lasting from July 1944 until May 1945.

Russian

German

Scenario Type = Standard