Scenario

For this event we are portraying the members of Nr. 5 Kompanie, Gren. Regt. 89 / 12th Volksgrenadier Division during the fight in the Ruhr Pocket. 

The 12.Volksgrenader-Division was formed on October 9, 1944 from the 12.Grenadier-Division that was destroyed in July, 1944.  The newly formed 12.Volksgrenadier-Division served under the I.SS-Panzerkorps during the Ardennes Offensive of December 1944. American Intelligence called it the best formation in the 6.Panzerarmee at the time. 

Later attached to the II.SS-Panzerkorps as 6.Panzerarmee was diverted to Hungary, the 12.Volksgrenadier-Division fought at the Roer river against the advancing US 9th Army, and eventually found itself encircled in the Ruhr pocket along with the rest of Heeresgruppe B in 1945.

On 1. April 1945 the Ruhr area was encircled by American troops at Lippstadt.  Inside the “Ruhr pocket” about 320.000 German soldiers of Army Group B as well as 4 million civilians had been encircled.  While the main battle events of the “Western Front” gradually became transferred to northern and central Germany, American troops compressed the Ruhr pocket to a few kilometers.  It is this time frame we will be portraying.

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