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Couple of quick thoughts.

1. Start with a rumour of a difficult road block to the west, see if that encourages them to go east
2. If they start heading west anyway, put increasingly larger roadblocks in their way (I'm not in favour of this option)
3. Have the PCs discover a rumour of an attractive item to the east, to see if that entices them in that direction. Or perhaps an intercepted radio transmission from friendly forces asking for help to the east.
4. Do the PCs have vehicles? If they lost their vehicles or ran out of fuel would they still go west?

If it were me, I would have some (random or personal favourite) scenarios drawn up and just use them in sequence or as called for as the PCs cross Germany. Germany is just a "name", I wouldn't try to be too specific to the location.

Or you could just use the random encounter generator and link those encounters into a game hook as you go.

To the north and west from where the players start there are Soviet forces, forces that have an combat effectiveness of yellow no less. Those unit placements on that map (p.14 in the Reference Guide) mark where the core of the unit is, there are forces in the hexes around this, so there are Soviet forces on all northern and western hexes.

If the players try to go north they will face Soviet forces from the 35th Guard Air Assault Brigade (and they are quite many). If they try to go west they will face Sovet forces from the 3rd Guards Spetsnaz Brigade or if they try to go west further south, they will face Soviet forces from the 11th Tank Division.

Pretty much regardless of how many PCs you have, the number of Soviet solders and also vehicles will be overwhelming. Even if you count that the resources these Soviet forces have are limited, they still have plenty compared to a handful of PCs. This means that since the 35th Guards are extremely close and even 3rd Guard are close from where the PCs start, they probably should head south. To stop the PCs from heading west, use these forces, especially the 10th Tank Division and again, just because the unit icon is places in a certain hex, doesn't mean that all soldiers and vehicles are in that hex, that's just where the HQ of the unit is and sure probably a big bulk of the forces as well, but forces also are around this hex to the north (to form a front with 3rd Guard and of course further south. Further south you have some polish units that may or may not be friendly. But the PCs should probably go south to southeast because running into the Polish units there is probably better than running into Soviet units.

It may be too late for your particular game, but I would cover this in the initial briefing, assuming you are starting with the escape from Kalisz:

5 ID has retreated west from the area of Sieradz to find the Prosna River bridges at Kalisz in Soviet hands. Reconnaissance also suggests the Warta River crossings to the north are in Soviet hands. It is spring (April) of a cold year and the rivers are in full late-winter flood. The terrain around the rivers is flat, with a broad, marshy floodplain, and the going is treacherous. The Warta is impassible and the Prosna can be forded only by tracked vehicles, and even then with some difficulty given that the river is deeply incised with soft, steep banks. The division commander assessed that the intent of pursuing Soviet forces was to push 5 ID north into a pocket formed by the two rivers and then to destroy the division in detail. He therefore ordered a breakout to the south, turning to the west when suitable crossings were found - but the Soviet attack into the division flank as it formed up for the breakout attempt put an end to that.

The players get all that as background. It's cold, and getting soaked crossing a river is a quick route to hypothermia. They also get told their initial location, after escaping the mayhem, is just northeast of Kalisz. So their choices are:
1. North to the Warta, where they must locate a boat, abandon their vehicles, and make a risky crossing by night;
2. West to the Prosna, where they must likely abandon their wheeled vehicles, risk losing any tracked vehicle, and make a dangerous crossing by boat or by wading at a suitable point;
3. South into Kalisz, which is now held by the Soviets; or,
4. East, sneaking and peeking their way through Soviet patrols, and thence south.

The choice is up to them. They shouldn't feel like they're being railroaded (a river crossing will be an adventure in itself), but if they do choose to go west, they will end up on foot, wet, hypothermic, and dodging Soviet patrols, which will keep them busy for a while and slow their attempts to escape to Germany.

I suggested to my players that heading south would be a good idea because, like the others have mentioned, that there are just too many Soviets north and west of Kalisz.
I also gave them the idea that salvation and help could be found to the south east.
I have planted a NPC with the group who is dropping hints of a mission in Lodz.
You can find our campaign here:
https://twilight2000campaign.wordpress. ... paign-log/

Maybe there is something that can help you help your players

The last game I was in along with a couple i have run I started the group outside of lodz which is further east which could help also. The one game we spent around two weeks west of lodz scouting and shooting up Russian units.