Background
The Battle of the Seelow Heights (German: Schlacht um die Seelower Höhen) was part of the Berlin Strategic Offensive Operation (16 April–2 May 1945). A pitched battle, it was one of the last assaults on large entrenched defensive positions of the Second World War. It was fought over three days, from 16–19 April 1945. Close to 1,000,000 Soviet soldiers of the 1st Belorussian Front (including 78,556 soldiers of the Polish 1st Army), commanded by Marshal Georgi Zhukov, attacked the position known as the “Gates of Berlin”. They were opposed by about 110,000 soldiers of the German 9th Army, commanded by General Theodor Busse, as part of the Army Group Vistula.
This battle is often incorporated into the Battle of the Oder-Neisse. The Seelow Heights was where some of the most bitter fighting in the overall battle took place, but it was only one of several crossing points along the Oder and Neisse rivers where the Soviets attacked. The Battle of the Oder-Neisse was itself only the opening phase of the Battle of Berlin.
On 19 April, the 1st Belorussian Front eventually broke through the final defensive line of the Seelow Heights and now nothing but broken German formations lay between them and Berlin. The remnants of the 9th Army and the 4th Panzer Army were enveloped by the 1st Belorussian Front and by elements of the 1st Ukrainian Front which had broken through and turned north. Other armies of the 1st Ukrainian Front raced west towards the Americans. By the close of 19 April, the German eastern frontline had effectively ceased to exist. All that remained were pockets of resistance
The Game
We had a short game night, so I opted to keep it simple and run a tank on tank game. I set up the game to represent some of the initial fighting of the Panzer Regiment Brandenburg trying to slow the Soviet breakthrough after the Battle of Seelowe heights. The game pitted Brandenburg’s Panthers broken up into two kampfgruppes fighting the remnants or two Tank Brigades of Konev’s exploiting armor in front of Kustrin. We played the game using Donner and Blitzen rules on a 4’x6′ table.
The Germans started the game with one kampfgruppe on the table. The second kampfgruppe was off table and would arrive between turn 1 and 3, depending on a die roll each turn (roll of a D3 had to be equal or less than the turn number). The force would arrive on one of the entry roads (chosen by the German player before set up).
The Soviets had two brigades of T-34/76s. One had a SP regiment of SU-85s and the other ISU-122s attached. The force was also supported by Sturmovicks that would arrive each turn on a roll of 5+ on 1D6. As the tanks had left behind their supporting elements during the exploitation, only armor would be used.
The Soviets would win if they could clear a road off the table or eliminate the Germans forces. The Germans would win by stopping the Soviet attack.
The German plan was to set up in the center and hold as long as possible, then fall back to the heights. The reserve armor would enter from the left flank and direct to where the Soviet main attack was heading.
The Soviet plan was to rush up the middle with one brigade and take position to support the Soviet brigade attacking on the right flank. The flanking brigade would move forward to the center and then make a hard left turn to try to catch the Germans in a vice to destroy then in detail. These attacks would be supported by the Soviet airpower that was responsible for breaking up an German armor concentrations.
The Soviets executed their attack as planned. The initial maneuvers were supported by very effective air strikes that knocked out two platoons of Panthers. Things started out well, but then things started to unravel… The German reserves entered right in front of the Soviet flanking force, eliminating many of their SU-85s. This also caused the Soviets to start their turning action early. This did cause the final destruction of the first Kampfgruppe, forcing the other to fall back. However, Soviet losses had been very heavy. To add insult to injury, the Soviets were now stuck in their plan that had been overcome by events. They desperately tried to change orders, but were having little luck. This gave the Germans time to sort out their remaining forces and start to reposition. Only with a timely and lucky strike by the Soviet airforce, was the German position unhinged and a German withdrawal called. This left the field to the Soviets, who managed to get their remaining tanks moving forward again to clear the road off the table.
- Manteuffel