Against the Odds 56. Hitler's Stalingrad: Breslau 1945

Edición en inglés.

After being cut off and isolated in mid-February 1945, the German garrison at Breslau, some 50,000 men, defied all odds holding onto the city for almost a week AFTER Berlin fell! Hitler had ordered the city be held at all costs, believing Soviet forces tied up there were thus not taking part in any assault on Berlin. The defending garrison finally surrendered just days before the war officially ended (with the Gauleiter in charge fleeing the city by air to escape capture).

Taking the city fell to the Soviet Sixth Army, comprised of some eight divisions with 80,000 men between them, plus four tank regiments and two artillery divisions. An entire Air Army, the Second, was also assigned to provide ample destructive power from the sky. The task facing the Soviets was daunting; urban warfare plus a very determined defender. Terrain too was critical - the Oder River flowing through the city sliced it up into many parts. Taking a major sector of the city could mean nothing more than occupying an "island" in the end.

Hitler's Stalingrad: Breslau 1945, by designer Perry Moore, looks hard at this defiant siege. The game captures the flavor of planned, grand assaults quickly degenerating into gritty, street-level fighting, with players alternating conducting operations during the turn. Skillfully positioned reserves and sharp counterattacks can blunt massive thrusts, but at possibly a too frightfully high rate of casualties.

Maps - One full color 22"x34" hex mapsheet
Counters - 324 full color 9/16" die-cut pieces
Rules length - 15 pages
Charts and tables - 1 page
Complexity - Medium
Playing time - Up to 4 hours
How challenging is it solitaire? - Average