Between The Devil And The Deep Blue Sea

On 26 January the breakout attempt of the now-encircled 4. Armee began. The main blow fell on Russian 53rd Rifle Corps of the 48th Army. Two Russian rifle divisions were enveloped and two more driven to the rear. The 131. Infanterie-Division supported by Jagdpanzer IVs and Jadgpanthers of Panzerjager-Abteilung 563 …

1945-01-27

BOF20

On 26 January the breakout attempt of the now-encircled 4. Armee began. The main blow fell on Russian 53rd Rifle Corps of the 48th Army. Two Russian rifle divisions were enveloped and two more driven to the rear. The 131. Infanterie-Division supported by Jagdpanzer IVs and Jadgpanthers of Panzerjager-Abteilung 563 seized the village of Scharnigk after heavy fighting. During the next day the division would attack Liebstadt, heavily defended by Russian infantry and armor.

Liebstadt, Germany

The Vistula–Oder offensive was a Red Army operation on the Eastern Front in the European theatre of World War II in January 1945. The army made a major advance into German-held territory, capturing Kraków, Warsaw and Poznań. The Red Army had built up their strength around a number of key bridgeheads, with two fronts commanded by Marshal Georgy Zhukov and Marshal Ivan Konev. Against them, the German Army Group A, led by Colonel-General Josef Harpe (soon replaced by Colonel-General Ferdinand Schörner), was outnumbered five to one. Within days, German commandants evacuated the concentration camps, sending the prisoners on their death marches to the west, where ethnic Germans also started fleeing. In a little over two weeks, the Red Army had advanced 300 miles (483 km) from the Vistula to the Oder, only 43 miles (69 km) from Berlin, which was undefended. However, Zhukov called a halt, owing to continued German resistance on his northern flank (Pomerania), and the advance on Berlin had to be delayed until April.

German

Russian

Scenario Type = Standard