Chapter V – The Road to Warzaw
Countries played by humans: UK, France, Poland, Soviet Union, Germany, Italy, Japan
Recap: The Poznan pocket saw five Polish divisions being captured. Now, with the Krakow pocket sealed, Warsaw is the target, with Lodz in the middle of the road. RAF has been helping the Poles but more than that, the Brits have been absent. The French have made a few probing attacks but without and success.
June 4th, 1939
While the fight continued for Krakow in the south, Wehrmacht pressed on for Warsaw, and in order to take the capital they had to capture Lodz. Lodz contained a quite big contingent of Poles and even if it mostly consisted of HQs, the German leadership did not want to allow them to reach Warsaw. This dilemma gave birth to the first airborne operation of the war. The 1st Fallschirmjäger Division was dropped north east from Lodz, effectively blocking the shortest route to Warsaw. At the same time, the 1st Panzer Division fought south east from Lodz, in Warka, to seal off Lodz eastwards and to connect with the paratroopers.
::Heinrich Hahn hadn’t seen too much battle yet. Model’s 3rd Panzers had taken the heavier battles in the opening of the campaign and Rommel’s 1st had been behind the line waiting for the right moment to breach. The battle in Warna was similar to the earlier battles. They met an enemy, a HQ or infantry weakened from earlier battles, and crushed them within a few hours. They continuously moved forwards and did not get much sleep. The weather was good, however, and the battles hardly dangerous. It was a perfect way to drill your skills to perfection without risking your life too much. Even though the crew started to get tired after a month of offensives, Heinrich liked the life as a panzer crew man.::
::Lucas Bauer trained hard every day in base camp. So far they mostly trained their physical strength and endurance, and practiced ground combat tactics. The 4th of June was a special day as they got the news that their brothers in the 1st Fallschirmjäger Division had made their first combat jump which had been a success. Many of Lucas friends longed for their first combat jump and discussed how it would feel, but Lucas himself was quite happy if it would wait a little bit longer. Real battle still seemed so distant to him.::
June 6th, 1939
This glorious date, both the cities of Lodz and Krakow fell. In Krakow (lower picture), the fighting had been hard and long, while in Lodz, it was more a short and methodic slaughter. The battles of the Krakow pocket would continue yet for a while and in the north, the road to Warsaw lay open.
June 4th, 1939
France now initiated their second attack on the West Wall. This time, they found a slightly weaker spot and attacked with abandon – shocking the militia.
June 8th, 1939
The attack on Pirmasens intensified and the Grenztruppen had a very hard time defending themselves. They got reinforced by a motorized division, but the trucks had difficulties to get into position in the woods.
Pirmasens is one very beautiful spot by the river Rheine. The forests and the river also made a suitable defensive position.
June 10th, 1939
Pirmasens fell without the motorized reinforcements ever reaching the front. German forces immediately counter-attacked the French troops who conquered Pirmasens, but without really getting the best out of the situation. Lörzer’s Bf 109s had been grinded down and needed reinforcements and reorganization after severe losses, and all other branches of Luftwaffe were occupied in Poland. This gave the Allies the upper hand in the air and also the initiative on the ground.
The French push had little strategic value and the German leadership was not very worried. Several new infantry divisions had been deployed in the area and just needed some time to organize. Poland would not last very long and then more forces could be directed to the West Wall.
Still, to lose land to France was a distinct loss of prestige and Goebbels blamed it all on the militias who, in fact, were the only non-regular force in the entire Third Reich. He managed to make fun of the French army by stating that “the frog-eaters can only win when they attack men to old to serve as regular soldiers”.
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Authors note: I was a little bit (but just a little) surprised that UK did not try anything nasty during my offensive against Poland. Sure, they have based fighters and bombers in Poland and my still fairly weak Luftwaffe had problems to cope – but that even fight did not do much to stop my ground troops. And no Brit has been visible in France either. I guess he have chosen to play safe and preserve strength to what’s to come. Still, it was a relief to not have a third front (like I opened in “Years of Jolly Carnage” during “Operation Trident”).
June 13th, 1939
The last part of the plan - Warsaw. The troops in Königsberg have been lashing out and pressed the Poles back from the north. Coming from the south on the east flank, the two Panzer divisions under Rommel and Model are pressing forwards east of Warsaw while infantry secure the provinces west of Warsaw.
June 18th, 1939
5 days later, Warsaw and Ostrow are surrounded and under attack. In the east, Grodno is captured. A huge contingent of Polish troops and HQs are surrounded and surrendered just north west of Warsaw. Partly thanks to the paradrop, these troops are not in Warsaw now.
Author’s note: If I have calculated things right, Poland will surrender after the fall of Warsaw without me having to take Danzig as well. Grodno gives 2 vp and had to be taken, but just as expected, it was weakly defended by some militias.
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Poland is more or less doomed. Even with Pirmasens lost, the Allied pressure must be described as quite low. With Poland gone, the war will enter a new phase. The question is - how will that phase look?
