Tolling of the Bell

Read the Tolling of the Bell Game Spotlight article here!

Tolling of the Bell depicts the last German offensive during WWII, “Operation Spring Awakening” and its sub-operations ‘Icebreaker’ and ‘Forest Devil’ and the start of the Soviet Vienna offensive (from the perspective of the 3rd Ukranian Front) in Hungary from 6th – 25 March, 1945.

This game start with a German thrust against the depleted Soviet 3rd Ukrainian Front which was holding the Soviet extreme left flank. The German Main goals were to secure their last oil reserves, the Donau crossings and to the encirclement of the 57th Soviet and 1st Bulgarian Armies. A second targets was to create a starting ground for a new Budapest offensive. An even wider stretch was the oilfields at Ploesti, Romania. SS-Oberstgruppenfuhrer Josef Dietrich’s 6th Army attacked Marshal Fyodor Tolbukhin’s 3rd Ukrainian Front in the north, while General Maximillan de Angelis 2nd Px Army attacked in the west (‘Icebreaker’) and Generaloberst Alexander Lohr’s Army Group E in the south (“Forest Devil’). The Germans gathered 80% of their available Panzer forces for this battle, thereby risking all with the last roll of the dice.

Game Components:

A full colour map A1 (594 x 841 mm), (23.2/8 x 33.1/8 inch)

Game rules (16 pages)

286 die-cut 15mm counters

2 Player Aid Cards with charts and tables