The battle for Berlin hardly needs any introduction here. It is one of the most famous actions of the Second World War, and the one that effectively destroyed the Nazi state and so brought peace to Europe once more. The difficulties of fighting in a major urban environment already badly damaged by bombing, plus the fanatical resistance of some Germans, made it a particularly costly encounter for both sides.
This set includes soldiers, tanks, guns and a building, so we will start with the figure sets to be found here:
In addition, the set includes the following tank kits: - 2 of Italeri T34/85 (7515)
- 1 of Italeri Pz. Kpfw V Panther Ausf.G (7504)
A further component is the Italeri set of Urban Accessories (6146), which includes some lovely items of street furniture like lampposts and benches. However all these are dwarfed by the final item, a complete (but obviously unpainted) two-storey Berlin house kit (6173). That is a pretty impressive lineup of elements for this set. The infantry sets have some issues concerning their design, but they are accurately clothed for this climatic battle, and make good choices here. The German anti-tank gun is a pretty good model, not massively detailed, but plenty good enough for many, and with a good number of crew figures too. It more than deserves its place in this set, and the inclusion of the three tanks is of course a vital component too. The street accessories are great, but it is the house, a plastic injection-moulded kit (rather than wooden) which is the centrepiece here. A great piece to emphasise the urban nature of the battle, it comes with internal floors, walls etc, making it easy to use as a display device for troops and even guns.
While all these components are available individually, this is still a really nice collection, and Italeri made it even more appealing by putting photos of the usual well-made examples of everything assembled on the box, as below. Of course, to make your own copy of this scene would require items not found in the set, most notably the cobbled street base, but the posters are included as decals with the house. It is a set with a lot in it, and it does well to recreate one small skirmish such as the many there must have been in the streets on Berlin during that final battle.