Rearguards of deaths - The Matrix Games version of East Front II

Ssalsk 165 km SE of Rostow (played as Axis only; with fog of war): By the end of the year 1942 it was obviously for everybody, that the german summeroffensiv "case blue" had failed and endet in a great disaster: The romanian, italian and hungary army were destroyed or on the run, the german 6th army still hopeless traped in Stalingrad and the remaining axis forced in the caucasus with no hope to reach Tuapse or Grosny anymore. In this situation the russians launched a new offensive southwest of Stalingrad to capture Rostov and cut of 800000 axis soldiers in the caucasus before they are able to retreat to Rostov. The bitter task to stop the soviets felt to the just renamed 5. SS Panzergrenadierdivision WIKING at Alagier who arrived on the 27. December in Simowniki 100 km northeast of Ssalsk by train and was immedatly attacked by the russian armored spearheads. In the following days the situation grows more and more desperative, because the battleweary SS-Panzergrenadiers were nearly outflanked and in danger of being cut of and completly destroyed or become POW - what means the same like death. With strong soviet troops in flanks and front the Vikings had only two choices: The first one was to stand, fight their last battly and become rearguards of death and the second to fight a delay action and reach Ssalsk with its relativ safe highway to Rostov. No question! The vikings choosed the stay alive: On the 5. February the WIKING reached Rostow - their starting point in the bloody, unsecessful 8-month-campaign for the oil of the caucasus. My grandfather was one of those survivers.