The Soviet War Memorial in Berlin

I got the chance to visit this on a stop at the Brandenburg Gate.  It was built in 1945 with rubble from the nearby Reichstag and commemorates 2000 Soviet dead in the Battle for Berlin.  It ended up being in the British sector but still had a ceremonial guard of Soviet troops throughout the cold war.

I found it quite impressive.  The centrepiece  is a large statue of a Soviet soldier set atop a semicircular set of arches The area in front has two 152mm gun-howitzer artillery pieces and two T34 tanks on plinths

I am glad that this has been well maintained by the unified city authorities as the temptation must have been to take it down or at least let it crumble away – West Berliners were not over fond of the monument I understand.

Piccies

The Berlin Wall

Following the end of the Second World War Berlin which was occupied under the four power agreement between The Soviet Union, USA, UK and France.  The city lay deep within communist East Germany

Prior to the construction of the wall in 1961 3.5m Germans had fled from East to West Germany.   During that time border controls had progressively been tightened but it had proved impractical to close the border in Berlin itself.  For example it was possible to board an underground train in the Soviet sector and simply get out in a station in West Berlin.  However by 1961 the transport infrastructure had been put in place to allow West Berlin to be bypassed by road and rail and the decision was taken to close the border with a significant physical structure backed up with watch towers, bunkers and guards.

In terms of halting emigration the wall was a resounding success reducing it to a trickle.  The damage to the international reputation of East Germany and the Soviet bloc has a whole however was substantial, particularly after the border guards were issued with shoot to kill orders which resulted in between 100 and 200 deaths

The eventual fall of the wall in 1989 is an iconic image of the collapse of Soviet communism Very little of it remains with most of it being physically destroyed in 1990.  The line of the wall has been picked out in brick and snakes crazily across the city.

 Berlin today is a vibrant, unified city but the fragments that are visible act as a stark reminder of a troubled past.

Surviving section - ironically now protected by a fence!  It was generally about 12 feet high topped with a rubber cap to make it difficult to climb over

Myself and Angela in front of the wall

Germany Calling..........Germany Calling

Just back from a 12 day touring holiday of Germany.  Lots of photos to download.  I will do some short posts on the places of interest with piccies over the next few days.

Welcome to Allan and "biffing the enemy"

I’d just like to say thanks to fellow Falkirk club member Allan for becoming the latest Lead Warrior follower and take the opportunity to recommend his new blog

http://biffingtheenemy.blogspot.com/

Small beer to you mega bloggers I know but......

I hit 1000 page views in a month for the first time in June and am pretty pleased about it!

The big topic for me by a long chalk was the debate over PDF v hard copy rules.  Also featuring were the update on my 2012 master plan and a report on a game of Triumph and Tragedy featuring some strange sounding Ukrainians.

Still only 43 followers which is a bit disappointing and I would like to see a few more comments.  One real bonus however is that I am now following many more blogs and getting inspiration from other wargamers projects.

Finally a note to self - more piccies!

Freikorps v Revolutionary Insurrectionary Army of Ukraine

On Monday I had another go with the Triumph and Tragedy rules.  Allan has a fair sized Ukrainian army but just a couple of squads painted so he put out 2 x 10 man units, trained, each with a leader and an LMG.

To provide a bit of variety I had a veteran 10 man squad with leader, LMG and SMG and an HMG section.  The points were roughly the same.

I took my camera but have got out of the habit of taking photos at games so apologies – you will have to rely on my descriptions I am afraid.

From my side of the battle field there was a wood on my right and a wooded hill more towards the centre.  More or less dead centre of the board was a 2 storey house and on my left flank about 2/3 of the way towards the Ukrainian base line was another wooded hill.  There was also a fairly central wood in the Ukrainian centre.

We drew maps.  My plan was to take the far hill on the left and sweep around from that flank supported by the HMG which set up centre left.  Allan started with one squad in the wood with the aim of occupying the building and his other squad went for the same wooded hill as mine.

Allan made the hill first and engaged my squad from cover.  My superior fire power eventually told and I forced him to flee.  However my casualties were high and his guys rallied just before leaving the table.

In the centre my HMG initially had the better of it but the Ukrainians made it into the building and the value of the cover made them difficult to hit and my team started to take casualties.  I eventually threw 3 ones and the machine gun blew up.  My one remaining guy on the hill shot it out with the 3 survivors of the other squad until he also fell.

A victory for the Revolutionary Insurrectionary Army of Ukraine!

It was the first time either of us had played the rules without the support of a more expert player so despite the low numbers of troops on the table it was all rather slow.  Enjoyable nonetheless and we are both up for a rematch.

Warmachine - Khador

I have taken the plunge and purchased a small Khador force for Warmachine.  There are only 8 models (which need to be painted) but I believe there is enough for an entry level game.  I have no idea how far I will go with this, but, heigh – ho, it’s another project!