Battle for the Reichstag Flames Of War Battle Report and Mission by Jokull Gislason In Berlin on 30 April 1945, eighty years ago, the climatic end of World War II in Europe took place. It was a symbol for the victory over Germany. Stalin had issued an order that the symbolic building should be captured before the International Workers’ Day on the 1st of May.

The Reichstag itself was of little value as it had not been repaired since the Reichstag fire in 1933. Yet its symbolic value was unquestionable. The Germans gathered some of their best units they still had, and they knew it would be a fight to the last. Retreat and surrender are not options. The Red Army had also amassed some of their best units and The War Council of the 3rd Shock Army had ordered Red Banner flags for nine divisions to carry into battle and raise over the Reichstag. For the Soviet soldiers it was an honour to take part in this battle and everyone wanted to take part. The battle cry of the Soviets since 1943 had been “From the fields of Kursk onto the Reichstag”. The day before, the Soviet 3rd Shock Army crossed the Moltke Bridge. The defending Germans had fortified the nearby government buildings. In the morning of April 30th, the Soviets attempt the first assault which is repelled by fire from the Reichstag and surrounding buildings. At 11:30 the Soviets attack the Kroll Opera House to reduce the defending fire and prepare a new assault against the Reichstag. This time they reach the flooded anti-tank ditch but cannot advance any further against the German defensive fire. At 13:30 a combined assault is made from the front and to the north of the Reichstag, but this assault too is repelled with heavy losses. This time the Germans are assisted by the guns of the Zoo flak tower that fire a barrage against the attackers. It is clear another attack against the Reichstag during the daytime will not succeed. So, the Soviet commanders decide to pause further attacks until darkness. To make matters worse General-polkovnik Vasily Shatilov, commander of the 79 Corps had erroneously announced that a red flag had been hoisted on the Reichstag, and this had carried up the chain of command. The Reichstag had to be captured before the 1st of May. The dust and smoke from the battle means that darkness comes early, at the final assault starts around 18:00. This is that final assault.

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THE SETUP Playing historical battles is my favourite way to play Flames Of War. To study an exact time and place, modelling and painting the right forces for a certain time and place. Then playing out the battle. Win or lose, it is fascinating to get the feel of history. For this one the key feature is the Reichstag building made by Italeri. This is a 1:72 Set, but in my opinion the building is much better suited to the 1:100 scale. Since the mission focuses on the building, I made up a set of house rules for it as can be seen in the mission. It is a fantastic model with nice details and just the right centrepiece for playing out the Battle for the Reichstag. There is a photo taken just after the battle that I used to set up the battlefield. Descriptions from the battle describe trenches, barbed wire, craters and a long flooded anti-tank ditch. The ditch had been part of the construction of the Berlin subway but had been filled with water to stiffen the defence. Then there were a few stubbles left from trees and ruins from a few temporary buildings that had been set up to assist workers in the repair after the Reichstag fire. This is the battleground.

The table shortly after setup

MISSION I used the Mission: Buying Time from the book Berlin: Soviet as the basis for this mission. I felt it was quite appropriate to have the Germans only having half the points that the Soviets have. The assault was made in darkness and so is this battle. I made a few tweaks but for the most part it is the same mission.

FORCES I selected both forces from the Berlin German/Soviet books. For the Germans I selected a Berlin Battle Group. The defenders were some of the best units still available to the Germans and there were no badly trained units there. The commander was SS-Obersturmführer Gerhard Babick and with him were men from LSSAH, Fallschirmjäger from the 9. Fallschirmjäger-Division and Sailors from the Dönitz Contribution. For this battle I used Berlin Fallschirmjäger Platoon and Ardennes SS Panzergrenadiers. I also had two 8.8cm AA guns that are mentioned in the history texts and a Machine-Gun platoon. Historically about 550 men formed the final defence. I didn't have any Kriegsmarine soldiers but that may be a modelling project for the future. There are rules for them in the Berlin: German Command Cards.

Berlin Battle Group Reichstag 30 April 1945 45 points Card: Lucky Berlin Battle Group HQ 2x StG44 assault rifle team with Panzerfaust - 4 Start in Trench COMBAT PLATOONS – 35 Ardennes SS Panzergrenadier Platoon 7x MG 42 team with Panzerfaust – 10 Inside the Reichstag Ardennes SS Panzergrenadier Platoon 5x MG 42 team with Panzerfaust – 8 Inside the ruins Berlin Fallschirmjäger Platoon 7x MG42 & K98 rifle team with Panzerfaust, 1x Panzerschreck – 10 Start in Trench sMG34 SS Machine-Gun Platoon 4x sMG HMG - 4 Card: Machine-Gun Nests – 2 Two Independent Teams in the Trench, One Independent Team in either side section of the Reichstag. SUPPORT – 6 8.8cm Heavy AA Platoon 2x 8.8cm AA gun – 6 Dug in – in front of the Reichstag

Facing the Germans are the Soviet infantry of Colonel General V.I. Kuznetsov's 3rd Shock Army’s 79th Rifle Corps, commanded by Major General S.I. Perevertikin. Estimated to be around 5,000 men with heavy artillery support and a few tanks. The obvious choice is the Red Banner Rifle Regiment, which is the best Soviet infantry in Flames Of War. The only soviets to be veteran and careful. Of course, one unit must have the Red Banner Colour Party card and, in this game, it can be very useful for charging those final steps of the Reichstag.

Red Banner Rifle Regiment Reichstag 30 April 1945 90 points Red Banner rifle Regiment HQ 2x PPSh SMG Team - 2 COMBAT PLATOONS – 61 Red Banner Rifle Company 10x DP MG & M1891 rifle team, 1x Komissar Team, 1x Flame-thrower team, 2x Maksim HMG Team - 17 Card: Red Banner Colour Party - 5 Red Banner Rifle Company 10x DP MG & M1891 rifle team, 1x Komissar Team, 1x Flame-thrower team, 2x Maksim HMG Team - 17 Red Banner SMG Company 10x PPSh SMG team, 1x Komissar, 1x Flame-thrower team – 16 82mm Mortar Company 9x 82mm mortar – 6 SUPPORT – 27 Hero T-34 Tank Company 3x T-34 (85mm) – 13 160mm Mortar Battery 4x 160mm mortar – 6 122mm Artillery Battery 4x 122 mm howitzer – 8

BATTLE REPORT This is a game to play at the end of April and even more special now on the 80th Anniversary! The Battle is a frontal assault, there will be serious casualties and the Soviet Forces are pressed for time. There is no time for fine tactics.

As in the real assault, night fighting is essential to the Soviet forces if they are to reach the Reichstag. The Red Banner Rifle Regiment gives the Soviet player the best infantry the Soviets have and here most importantly they are careful, so they are hit on a 5+ at night. Night also means that you can at best terrain dash so remember the orders Blitz and Follow Me.

TURN 1 The Soviet forces advance as fast as they can, using Follow Me to get further. Their artillery starts to range in, but it is hard as they are trained, there is concealing terrain and night. So 6‘s are needed to range in. Luckily the 160mm mortars range in on the centre building of the Reichstag. They do no damage, but they will stay on target. The Fallschirmjäger platoon and HMG in the forward trenches manage to find their targets but the night saves the Soviet infantry from the worst of it. Nevertheless, the first teams are destroyed.

TURN 2 The Soviet infantry reach the trenches but several teams get entangled in barbed wire. Two flamers hit the defenders and take out a HMG team and an infantry team. The defenders are still intact. The Soviets attempt an assault on the right flank but are thrown back by defensive fire. Light mortars range in on the 8.8cm Flak but fail to hit. The Germans poured fire into the now stuck Soviets and did a fair amount of damage.

TURN 3 The failed assault is costly and now the Soviets throw in all their troops. Flamers keep the Germans pinned, as well as fire from the T-34 tanks and in the following assault the Soviets capture the line and the Fallschirmjäger and command team retreat. The survivors race towards the Reichstag and the HMG and defenders in the ruins manage to take out a few teams. The Flak guns take out a T-34 and bail another.

The Soviet forces advance as fast as they can, using Follow me to get further. Their artillery starts to range in, but it is hard as they are trained, there is concealing terrain and night. So 6‘s are needed to range in. Luckily the 160mm mortars range in on the centre building of the Reichstag. They do no damage, but they will stay on target.

TURN 4 The Soviets catch a few of the fleeing Germans in the open and take a couple of teams out before they can reach the Reichstag building. The main attack goes against the 8.8cm Flak and the Soviets take both out with flamers. This turns out to be unfortunate as they miss the assault and the follow up, wasting precious time. In the ruins a Red Banner Rifle Company tackles the SS platoon in assault. The Soviets win but suffer losses. The Germans now pour heavy fire into the Soviet ranks. The Soviets have faced serious casualites by this point and all their infantry companies are at half strength or less.

TURN 5 The Soviets need to regroup for the final assault. All of their artillery has now ranged in on the Reichstag, but the building offers good cover and only a few teams are lost, but one is a HMG team and that gives the infantry much needed reprieve. The sole T-34 fails its morale check so it is left to the infantry to finish the job. The Germans make good use of this pause and continue firing at the Soviets whose forces are by now dangerously thin.

TURN 6 The Soviets are running out of time! They must assault. Only the Red Banner SMG Company makes it but the defensive fire pushes them back. Another turn wasted. The Germans make good use of this break and cause more casualties against the Soviets, who by now only have 1 flamer remaining.

TURN 7 Now the Soviets attack with two companies. Both seriously depleted, but one has the Red Banner Colour Party and this might make or break the assault. The third company manages to take out the last HMG with its flamer, reducing the defensive fire. The following assault carries into the Reichstag. There are precious few Germans remaining and they do their best to repel the invaders, but now the Soviets are inside and benefit from bulletproof cover.

TURN 8 There is now floor to floor fighting inside the Reichstag and the Soviets have just enough push left to take the right wing of the building and raise the flag over the Reichstag!

I am lucky to have the Tournament Objective model from 2015, so once an objective is captured it is replaced with the objective!

CONCLUSION This is such a tense and fun battle to play out. There is also a lot of history to be experienced. There is no room for subtleties in this battle, it is a headlong dash against time. The Soviets won but were actually pretty close to being defeated. Out of 40 infantry teams they started with, only 12 remained at the end of the game. As for the defenders, they were completely destroyed. As this mission is based on house rules, feel free to tweak it to your needs. The main thing is to enjoy it. Jökull Gílsason has been playing Flames Of War since 2005. He has designed 7 Firestorm campaigns for Flames Of War. He is also the author of 4 books. A policeman for 26 years, he has recently left the Reykjavík Metropolitan Police Force to join 1939 Games, the developers of the World War II digital collectable card game KARDS.