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One Last Blitz for Old Time's Sake

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Title
One Last Blitz for Old Time's Sake
Description
Marshall Zhukov's drive to Berlin had been very successful. By the end of January Russian forces were only 60 miles from the Nazi capitol. Units of the 1St Belorussian Front had bypassed German resistance within the fortress city of Kuestrin, …
Publisher
Date
1945-02-09
Scenario#
AP08
Scenario Description
Marshall Zhukov's drive to Berlin had been very successful. By the end of January Russian forces were only 60 miles from the Nazi capitol. Units of the 1St Belorussian Front had bypassed German resistance within the fortress city of Kuestrin, and had established a bridgehead over the Oder River. This was an extremely valuable piece of property, since the major east-west conduits for rail and road transport were situated there. Hitler once again went on a madman's tirade and ordered a counterattack to relieve the men at Kuestrin. The 21st Panzer Division had just been re-equipped with new vehicles and men after a fighting withdrawal from Normandy to the homeland. The division was chosen to assault the bridgehead at all costs. Just like old times, Stuka dive bombers took out many of the dug-in Russian tanks, while German tanks and grenadiers followed closer behind. - Dale Holmstrom
Location
Kuestrin, Poland
Battle Narrative
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.
Narrative Source
Combatants
Russia
Germany

Geolocation