Fields of Battle: Berlin – Race to the Reichstag

This is the 3rd installment in the scenario campaign series Fields of Battle. Berlin Race to the Reichstag includes 16 platoon level/small unit skirmish scenarios, campaign decisions, a bonus multi-player "big battle" scenario, and a short tutorial on terrain, all centered in 1945 and the defense of Berlin. Disposable Heroes is needed for referenced information in this Scenario Book. On April 22, 1945 General Helmuth Weidling received a direct telephone call from the Fu¨hrerbunker in Berlin. For disobeying Hitler’s express order not to withdraw the LVI Panzer Corps in the face of certain annihilation, Weidling was told over the telephone that he had been condemned to death by firing squad. Instead of attempting to avoid his execution by escape or suicide, Weidling drove to Berlin and walked into the Fu¨hrerbunker. Adolf Hitler, so impressed by his general’s courage, not only canceled the firing squad—he ordered 53-year old Helmuth Weidling to take command of Berlin’s defenses.2 “You might just as well have me shot,” Weidling remarked dryly to a staff orderly. As Berlin’s newest commandant—the previous three had each been sacked by Hitler—Weidling faced insurmountable challenges. He lacked manpower and even the most basic supplies, such as food and small arms ammunition. Berlin also lacked proper defensive fortifications and to complicate the situation further, Hitler’s adamant refusal to evacuate non-combatants meant that key military bastions—like the impregnable Zoo flak tower—were clogged with thousands of panicked civilians. But Weidling’s greatest challenge loomed farther east. The Red Army. —description from the publisher