Escape Hell's Gate: Korsun Pocket 1944

The battle of Korsun began on the 25th January with an attack by the Soviet 2nd Ukrainian Fronts forces spearheaded by the 5th Guards Tank Army from the eastern side of the Korsun salient; followed a day later by a second attack form western side of the salient by 1st Ukrainian Fronts forces. The forces of the two Soviet Fronts met each other near Zvenigorodka three days later. The Pocket that Soviets thus created, centered on the airfield at Korsun, encircled most of the units of two German Corps and was the largest encirclement the Soviets had achieved since the Battle of Stalingrad in November 1942.

Escape Hell’s Gate covers the final attempt of the German 3rd Panzer Corps formations to reach those German units that were encircled within the Korsun Pocket between 10th and the 17th February 1944. Hell’s Gate is a two-player game using the standard Fire and Movement rules and a set of exclusive rules that model the actual campaign. The game presents some unique challenges to both the German and Soviet player as the German relief forces attempt to break thru to the pocket, while the German forces within the pocket struggle to survive the Soviet onslaught. The Soviet player will be faced with moving his forces to block the relief attempt while making a final attempt to reduce the pocket. Both players will be fighting two battles and how well each player allocates his forces will determine the victor.

Game Scale:

    Game Turn: ? days
    Hex: 1 mile / 1.6 km
    Units: Battalion to Brigade

Game Inventory:

    One 34 x 22" full color map
    One dual-side printed countersheet (280 1/2" counters)
    One rulebook (including Fire & Movement Standard & Korsun exclusive rules)

Solitaire Playability: ? (? out of 5) Complexity Level: ? (? out of 5) Players: 2 Playing Time: ?

World at War #57, December 2017 to January 2018 edition.