WARGAMESOSD

Bitter End - Attack to Budapest 1945


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
The Besieged City
The Wider Game
On 7 November 1944, Soviet and Romanian (yellow tiles) troops entered the eastern suburbs, 20 kilometers from the old town.
The wider picture in January, 1945 with the Red Army pushing west along the whole front, where Bitter End begins.
wargames.wilkey.org.uk
Game Mechanics

Time Scale: 1 day turns (1st - 26th January, 1945)
Map Scale: 2 miles per hex
Unit Scale: Division to battalion
Players: Two - Intermediate complexity
Solitaire Suitability: High complexity
Playing Time: 125 hours

Scenarios

1) Historical scenario (26 game turns)
2) The northern attack scenario (6 Game turns)
3) The ultra-historical scenario (26 game turns)

The game includes optional rules and a number of variants'

Game components:

456 Die-Cut Counters (for full scenarios and varients)
2 map sheets
1 rules booklet
2 order of battle organisational cards
3 player aid cards
1 die

Game Strategy

Classic hexagonal game play.

Game published in 2005 by Compass Games (not a regular producer). Some play rules differ from a number of other well-established games, esp. the CRT which reflects more accurately the varied terrain and its impact on combat.

The Siege of Budapest
The Siege of Budapest or Battle of Budapest was the 50-day-long encirclement by Soviet and Romanian forces of the Hungarian capital of Budapest, near the end of World War II. Part of the broader Budapest Offensive, the siege began when Budapest, defended by Hungarian and German troops, was first encircled on 26 December 1944 by the Red Army and the Romanian Army. During the siege, about 38,000 civilians died through starvation or military action. The city unconditionally surrendered on 13 February 1945. It was a strategic victory for the Allies in their push towards Berlin.

The Red Army started its offensive against the city on 29 October 1944. More than 1,000,000 men, split into two operating maneuver groups, advanced. The plan was to isolate Budapest from the rest of the German and Hungarian forces. On 7 November 1944, Soviet and Romanian troops entered the eastern suburbs, 20 kilometers from the old town. The Red Army, after a much-needed pause in operations, resumed its offensive on 19 December. On 26 December, a road linking Budapest to Vienna was seized by Soviet troops, thereby completing the encirclement. The Nazi-supported "Leader of the Nation" (Nemzetvezeto), Ferenc Szálasi, had already fled from the city on 9 December.

As a result of the Soviet link-up, nearly 33,000 German and 37,000 Hungarian soldiers, as well as over 800,000 civilians, became trapped within the city. Refusing to authorize a withdrawal, Adolf Hitler had declared Budapest a fortress city (Festung Budapest), which was to be defended to the last man. Waffen SS General Karl Pfeffer-Wildenbruch, the commander of the IX Waffen SS Alpine Corps, was put in charge of the city's defenses.