SOE6 The Long Treck

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 _____STORM OVER EASTPRUSSIA 06*
__________The Long Treck**

__________Germany Defend*
________________vs*
___________USSR Assault**

__________Frische Nehrung,*
____________Ostpreussen*
__________10 January 1945*
____________0700 hours**

___________SPWAW 8.403*
___________ENHANCED NL**

________Best played as: GER*
_______Scenario Size: Medium*
_____________Turns: 35**

____________Version 2*


HISTORICAL NOTES*
For more than two million Eastprussians, the Frische Nehrung, a small piece of land between Koenigsberg and Gotenhafen, was the only way out of the most eastern parts of Germany before the onslaught of the Red Army. It led tens of thousands of refugees to death. Either by the freezing weather or by the relentless attacks by Soviet artillery, airplanes and tanks.*
For months the Nazi Gauleiter Koch and his followers had pushed the inhabitants to stay in their homes. They even forbade them to flee to safer places for fear of crushing morale. Only when the first shots of the Soviet artillery could already be heard, the panic hit and the Eastprussian exodus to the west began. Mostly women, children and old people tried to flee to safety with only their clothes and the few things they could carry - on foot or on horse carriages. Temperatures sank to minus 20 degrees Celtigrade. And there always was the fear that the frontline would catch up with them.**

SCENARIO NOTES*
You have to try your utmost to get the refugees across the Frische Nehrung to Danzig. The Soviets will try to hit the refugees with all they have. Buy them time - at all costs.**

While playing this scenario, you have two tasks. First and foremost, lead the treck with refugees and wounded from the left of the map via the small strip of land to the topside of the map. If you notice any soldiers in the treck of refugees, order them out and put them at your work in your frontline.*
The Frische Nehrung is surrounded by the frozen waters of the Frische Haff and the Ostsee. The ice is supposed to be almost one meter thick. In places, however, the layer is very, very thin. So be careful if you take your refugees off that tiny strip of land. Your second task is to defend the refugees with the available forces at the entrance to the Frische Nehrung. Use the first few turns to deploy them in such a way that they will provide the best cover for the streams of refugees from Ost Preussen.**

DESIGNER NOTES*
The story of the Eastprussian refugees has always intrigued me. Why, you might ask. Well it is very personal. But I will tell the story anyway. In January 1945 my grandmother, together with her three children, fled the little village of Nickelsdorf, situated slightly to the northeast of Koenigsberg. She fled all the way to Poland, where she was able to catch a boat to Bremen. The freezing cold on the long treck west was excruciating. Grandma, my father and my aunt reached Bremen in relatively good health. Her youngest son however died somewhere between Nickelsdorf and Bremen.**

This scenario is no fun in terms of normal playability. However, it gives you the opportunity to get an impression of the fear and the stone cold panic these refugees - and wartime refugees all over our world - have lived through on their long treck to relative safety. You will probably not be able to win this one. I hope, however, that you will appreciate the feelings I wanted to convey with this scenario.**

Sources:*
Die grosse Flucht, Guido Knopp*
So Fiel Koenigsberg, General Lasch*
Gustloff, ZDF Fernsehen*