Battle of SEELOW Heights - Combat Mission: Barbarossa to Berlin

Title Seelöwe Höhen (Battle of Seelow Heights) Type Russian attack Date Apr 1945 Region East of Berlin Weather Cool Terrain Rural Wind East Turns 40 variable Play recommendation 2 players only Author Bert “Owl” Wijnhoud (Okt 2013) Play-test Mr Yormshire / Sphinx

The Battle of the Seelow Heights (German: Schlacht um die "Seelower Höhen"), was a part of the Seelow-Berlin Offensive Operation (16 April-2 May 1945), one of the last assaults on large entrenched defensive positions of World War II. It was fought over three days, from 16–19 April 1945. Close to one million 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,[4] commanded by General Theodor Busse, as part of the Army Group Vistula.

The defensive line on the Seelow Heights was the last major defensive line outside Berlin. Gen. Heinrici had said before the battle that the Seelow Heights could be held for only three or four days without reinforcements, which he did not have. From 19 April, the road to Berlin—90 km (56 mi) to the west—lay open. By 23 April, Berlin was fully encircled and the Battle of Berlin entered its last stage. Within two weeks, Adolf Hitler was dead and the war in Europe was effectively over.

After the war, Zhukov's critics asserted that he should have stopped the 1st Belorussian Front's attack via the direct line to Berlin along the autobahn and instead made use of the 1st Ukrainian Front's breakthrough over the Neisse. This would have bypassed the strong German defences at Seelow Heights, and avoided many casualties and the delay in the Berlin advance. However, the 1st Belorussian Front was drawn up on a very narrow front, so such a maneuver may not have been possible. The other front commanders could and did bypass the main defenses.

(WIKIPEDIA)

In this scenario Russian Mechanized Guard units attack Axis positions in the vicinity of Seelow, the final defensive line before Berlin.