After disrupting Christmas Eve day with a massive attack, the Soviet 1st and 3rd Guards poke a sizable hole in the German lines. In Pursuit to Kazatin, your job is to disrupt the German armor and convoys as they retreat to the south. The Tigers and Panthers are gone, so your only resistance comes from Panzer IIIs and IVs, and an occasional half track.

Proskurov-Chernovitsy

In Pursuit to the Dnestr, you are in a race with the Panzer IVs and Panthers of the 1st Panzer Army to secure the bridge crossing. If you stop the German army here, they will be unable to reach Germany. Enemy tanks come at you from all directions, and you should respond to each threat. However, it is a long drive to the bridge, especially if you go off road. Destroy as many tanks as possible, but don't run out of time.

Lvov-Sandomirez

You are spearheading the Soviet summer offensive in Breakthrough. Point your new T-34/85s and IS-2 'Josef Stalins' to the south and punch through the German armor massing at the Polish-Soviet border. Continue south behind enemy lines and destroy as much armor as possible.

Graphic 4.37 Lvov-Sandomirez area of operations map

In Hold That Tiger, you must defend the western bank of the Vistula River as two divisions of Tigers, Panzer IVs, and Panthers swarm to your position. After defeating the vehicles on the road west of the river, lead your formation in a southwesterly direction into the meadow. Scan the horizon for the tops of enemy tanks and stop when they first appear in your magnified gunner's sight (see Figure 4.13). Once you see their turrets, it's a turkey shoot and Panther is the main course.

Figure 4.13: Don't shoot until you see the tops of their turrets!

Next: Vistula-Oder, Pomerania, and Berlin