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In fact the cause for the mess was caused by the commanding structure of the Communist forces. Its CO was a Polish general who hated his Soviet staff, that, in turn, did not trust his superior while the NKVD commissars were patiently waiting for Moscow's order to shot either the general, his staff or all of them.

I am not sure why, but I found this part to be hysterical. :rofl:
 
Chapter forty-one: As hard as it gets

Lodz, 11 January 1940.

Heedless of the enemy shells exploding around him, Feldwebel Günther Schütz confronted the Polish armour head-on. His tank, the Wrath of Prussia, sped forward with a clank of treads and fired its gun. The round hit the nearest of two enemy BT-5 and exploded into the rear mantlet of the turret with such force the entire turret mount spun round through two hundred and ten degrees. The tank clearly retained motive power, because it continued to advance, but its traverse system was crippled and the turret and weapon swung around with the motion. The Wrath fired again but missed.

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Günther and his Wrath of Prussia charging against the enemy.
The disarmed machine was trying to get out of the way while the other enemy tank attempted to pull around its wounded comrade a clear shot knocking down on its way a row of small trees. Heavy shelling from as yet unseen Communist units continued to punish the position. Günther ordered his gunner to fire against the other tank coming around the first, but re-aiming the gun took a vital second. In that time, the second tank fired again and hit the Wrath. Even if the shell was unable to penetrate the armour, the impact dazed the crew and destroyed most of the forward scopes.

Then a shell comming from nowhere raked past the Wrath and cut through the assaulting vehicle below the turret. Internally stored munitions went off and the enemy tank exploded with such force that the main body and track assemblies cartwheeled over in a blistering fireball.

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One of the BT-5 armed with 132-mm rockets which were used by the Red Army to provide heavy support for the armored units.

The crew of the Wrath recovered their wits and swiftly nailed the remaining aggressor hard at short range, blowing out its port track sections with the shell impact. It began then to burn. 'Break off and retreat!' the radio shouted then. Günther immediately acknowledged and began to signal his remaining tanks to withdraw. From his position he counted at least ten good-size targets moving up towards their position from the village.

The Wrath of Prussia reversed hard and traversed its turret to the rear to cover his back. Deafened and a little bloodied, the German tanks withdrew while the heavy guns continued firing against the village and its surroundings for some fifteen minutes after they had withdrawn. There was no sign of pursuit.

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One of the Büssing-Nag 5-tons haltrack chassis armed with 75 mm guns used experimentally by the Heer as mobile AT weapons.

@H.Appleby: It couldn't be otherwise...

@Mr. Santiago: Did you underestimate the claws of the Red Bear? Bad boy...

@Sumeragi: Blame Donald Sutherland and Clint Eastwood for that...

@Natham Madien: Well, perhaps because I aimed to give that section a bit of feeling of madness everywhere... I'm glad to have achieved it.
 
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rbt5dq7.jpg

One of the BT-5 armed with 132-mm rockets which were used by the Red Army to provide heavy support for the armored units.

@Mr. Santiago: Did you underestimate the claws of the Red Bear? Bad boy...

Commies armed with rockets?!
I've been a bad boy indeed
 
Those Panzer IIIs, how many have the long -50?

And when the IV comes, will it get the long 75 from the start?
 
...blowing out its port track sections and shunting it away lame with the shell impact. It began then to bum.

I am sorry Kurt, but I don't understand this part. :mellow:
 
Peti speaking: good old Kurty had no idea what happened in that sentence. Mistake corrected, I hope.

Sorry for the mistake, Nathan.
 
Peti speaking: good old Kurty had no idea what happened in that sentence. Mistake corrected, I hope.

Sorry for the mistake, Nathan.

I am still not sure what "It began then to bum." means.
 
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It's "to burn" :(
[/QUOTE]
 
It's "to burn" :(
[/QUOTE]
 
It's "to burn" :(

Ah, I see.

Don't feel bad, Kurt. It's only rare that one of your typos take on a life of its' own. For the most part, they don't distract from your otherwise excellent storytelling. :)
 
Chapter forty-two.: Armored knight

Lodz, later that same very day.

The colonel had been quite clear about it. He did not want another failure. So he told to his command that they were to launch a head-on assault following the roadline that very day, even if nightfall was quite ner, as the defenders won't expect it. The Panzers would come out of the woods with the infantry behind.

Thus, hardly two hours before sunset, Günther Schultz and the rest of the Panzer Division attacked again the enemy positions. Under Schultz twelve tanks charged towards the village from the south while another group, made by eleven tanks, attacked from the west.

vickers_pol10.jpg

Polish Armour near Lodz prepares to move forward to the front-line.

By then, the enemy had seen them and had launched out in force: thirty-two BT-5s. Schultz chuckled when he saw them as they were more than Colonel Bierkamp's estimate of 'at least' ten tanks and five self-propelled guns. This was going to be a chance to snatch glory from the din of battle. A chance to find death, too, he added, gloomy. The German field guns, dug-in and locked out, sprayed their shells over the town from the tree-line while two thousand Landser fanned out over the open approach in the wake of the charging armoured cavalry.

The tank fight began in earnest. The enemy mass, in no ordered formation, pressed forwards to meet them, kicking rock chips and dry soil out behind them as their tracks dug in. In the turret of his tank, Günther checked the distance with the Polish tanks. Then he gave an order to his section:

-Fire at will.

The armored phalanx began to fire. A dozen main weapons blasting and then blasting again. Bright balls of fire flashed from their muzzles as black and white smoke streamed back from their muzzle brakes. Three BT-5s sustained direct hits and vanished in flurries of metal and fire wile two more were crippled and began to burn.

The enemy mass began firing back with fury.. Shells rained down across the charging tanks. Günther was slightly disgusted. The enemy was chucking hundreds of kilos of munitions at him (well, at them), but, thank God, most of it was going wide or overshooting. Even so, more by luck than good aiming, the enemy scored some hits. The Pz III known as Moltke was hit simultaneously by two rounds from different adversaries and ended with greasy black smoke pouring out of the hatches. Thüringen, under the command of Leutnant Klausmann, was hit in the starboard tread section and lost its tracks in a shower of sparks and steel fragments. It lurched and came to a stop, but continued to fire.

Pzkpfw4.jpg

The problem of this (and of any) armour charge is when to halt, break or break through. Günther knew that moment was at hand. The dream intention of any armour charge was to utterly crush the target formation. But the Polish tanks outnumbered them three to one and were in no mood to break, apparently. Then the left wing of the German tanks charged forwards, crashing past and between the Communist machines while the the right one spread wide and slowed down.

Another six BT-5s blew out as they were caught in the German crossfire. The fields close to Lodz were becoming a tank graveyard. Flames and debris covered the ground, and burning wrecks littered the area. New Polish tanks rushed forward to be blown apart by the crossfire. The front formation of the Communist armour was overrun and slaughtered.

Then, as soon as they had shown up, the few Polish tanks that had survived to the German onslaught vanished from the field. The way to Lodz was open wide.





@Mr. Santiago: Since when Commies haven't loved to play with rockets?

@trekaddict: The 5 cm KwK 38 L/42 is going to appear after the Polish campaign and both the Pz III and the Pz IV will get the 7.5 cm KwK 37 L/24 ASAP.

@Nathan Madien -1-; Don't need to apologize, Nathan. It's my fault... Thank you sfor spotting it.

@Nathan Madien- 2-: Hi, Peti speaking.

I think that Kurt's typos are God's way to punish him for being too interested in a quite charming and bodilicious French lady. As women are the only thing that keeps God from blasting France, I can understand Kurty's mistake. But God's punishment is too well deserved :p
 
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"Ob's stürmt oder schneit.."

"What are you on about, mate? It's bloody warm enough to fry an egg on your Panzer!"
 
Chapter forty-three: New problems, old solutions

The raids of the Luftwaffe and the RAF had cut Warsaw from the rest of Poland since the very beginning of the war. The constant attacks against the railroads and the roads were making difficult to the Red armies to move from the east to the west, but the arrival of more and more VVS units were beginning to balance the situation. Nevertheless, Stalin was not happy. Seeing the pace of the German advance he had 'suggested' to his Polish puppet to begin at once the transformation of Warsaw into a fortress. Thus it was decided that Warsaw was to be used to make a rallying point for the Communist forces and an example of courage and determination to the world. Thus countless Engineers units of the Soviet army began to race to the Polish capital, followed by some token examples from the Romanian and Bulgarian armies.

ScreenSave160.jpg

The evacuation of the city was forbidden. To ensure this the NKVD deployed in the city several hundreds of Bulbovitsi, that is, ultrarightist Ukrainian nationalists known for his viciousness and cruelty. Spared from the gulag just because of their capacity to torture their own fellow mates, Stalin had found them useful during the Purges. Thus the Bulbovitsi became an 'special branch' of the NKVD and soon they made themselves known to the world. As some Red Kommissar proudly boasted during those days, "Warsaw fears more our Bulbovitsi than the Luftwaffe". Furthermore, the civilians were to help with the construction of fortifications in and around Warsaw. Thus there was no need for any evacuation plans.

300px-Warsaw_siege2.jpg

Volunteer fire-fighters watching an air duel over Warsaw. Propaganda poster reads "To Arms - United, we will defeat the enemy"
The defences of Warsaw were to be reinforced. Stalin had ordered to send AA guns to Warsaw. He had been shocked when he was told that the anti-aircraft artillery and anti-aircraft machine guns detachments, under colonel Kazimierz Baran, had just 86 pieces of anti-aircraft artillery, as well as an unknown number of anti-aircraft machine guns, to defend the whole city. Meawnhile, the four rings of defences around the city were being reinforced. Trains carrying 37 mm AT guns and 75 mm field guns began to flood the city, as it had been ordered that every single corner of Warsaw had to be protected with one of those weapons. Ironically, the frontline units were being overrun because the lacked the same guns that were deluging Warsaw.

ScreenSave177.jpg

Meanwhile, the British were pouring reinforcements to the Continent.

The old zarist forts (Bem, Wolski, Mokotow, Dobrowski and Cerniakow) plus the Citadel were also strenghtened with heavy guns brought from Leningrad, even if one of the Polish commanders, general Juliusz Rommel, stated that they were "so old-fashioned that I doubt theat they would be of any use and Fritz is going to ran rings around them". Just in case, the RAF and the Luftwaffe began to bomb the forts.

Meanwhile, the Panzers were still on the move.



@Sumeragi: You're welcome!

@Nathan Madien :p

@trekaddict: And it's going to get warmer still...

PS: I'm sorry about the delay in the update and its shortness. I'm a bit out of ideas about how narrating this, so I'll try a small change.
 
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I didn't know the Soviets were Bronies, one more reason to defeat them I suppose.

In any event, this was a fascinating update and I really liked the detailed description of the Warsaw defenses. As for the Ukrainians, perhaps they can be persuaded to defect with promises of an independent, fascist Ukraine? Not now but in the future.

EDIT: Are the French even IN the war? And if not can we get a Thorez lead coup and another Comintern ally to be dispatched?
 
The old zarist forts (Bem, Wolski, Mokotow, Dobrowski and Cerniakow)

Dunno what I was thinking, but I originally read it as zarist farts, and wandered how would those generals survived to this day..... And as far as I know I'm not drunk :p

Anyhow, the Russians are stocking old guns in old forst while their frontlines are collapsing due to the lack of said guns. Warsaw will surely be an interesting battle to watch.
 
Chapter forty-four: Walther is coming to Warsaw

On January 13rd, 1940 the Polish armies which covered the center of the front reported that they possessed the equivalent of nine infantry divisions and barely two weak armored brigades and that they were outnumbered ten to one in tanks, three to one in artillery and absolutely in aircraft. The fall of Bydgoscz provoked the "Mad Day" when Polish and Soviet troops fell back in chaos towards Warsaw. In these circunstamces, an accurante count of enemy troops opposing the German armies was impossible, but it was estimated that there were no more than 150,000 trops and 50 tanks by January 10th. Amazingly, Zukhov, recently arrived to the front, managed to form a coherent defence in three days. Altogether he managed to gather 252,000 men, 200 tanks by scrapping together all kind of small and big units together to reinforce the frontline. Even soldiers virtually untrained and reserve units were rushed to Warshaw and grouped together in improvised formations.

Thus, when the German army attacked on January 13th, the basic enemy fighting unit found by the Ländser were battlegroups of no fixed size or strenght. Some were smaller than battalions, but other were as big as having the size of wrecked and reconstituted divisions, very weak in infantry but strong in artillery and mortars, with a size and combat power roughly equal to a German brigade.

large.jpg
Polish soldiers of the Warsaw garrison marching to the frontline.

Exhausted, routed or untrained, the Polish and Soviet troops were indeed prepared to fight, although most were perfectly aware that they could not resist the incoming onslaught. Some, particularly the Soviet soldiers, as the German and the recently arrived BEF pushed closer to Soviet soil, most were ready to defend their homeland against an invader which had bowed to utterly destroy the Soviet regime.

Against these forces Unthernehem 'Walther' was released when three divisions under General von Witzleben began a feint attack against Lodz. On the very next day, the French army began to mobilize its units and to send them to Germany, to regroup their ranks and then move to the front line.

ScreenSave171.jpg

Apparently, the army had found the French army on the wrong foot as it was beginning to modernize its units. For instance, the 1st Light Division was supposed to become the 1st Light Cavalry Division in March and be, thus, a fully motorized division. But in February it contained a cavalry and a light mechanized brigade and the modernization was still goin on, of course. The 2nd and 3rd Light Cavalry Divisions were following a similar reorganization and their order of battle was quite similar to the 1st. Meawnhile, the 4th and 5th Light Cavalry Divisions had been formed in 6 February 1940 at Saint Rémy de Bouzement and it has hoped that they would become trully light divisions by early March. Meanwhile, the two existing Light Mechanized Divisions (1) were also moving to the front line while another one had been recently created on 1 February 1940 in Paris. The two armoured divisions also departed to Germany, even if the 1st Cuirassier (armoured) Division lacked half of its motorcycles and artillery caissons (2).

ScreenSave176.jpg



(1) As it uses to happen with France, this is a lovely misunderstading as the Light Mechanized Divisions were not so "light" and, at least in organisation, resembled more closely the German Panzerdivision of the Panzerwaffe, though it would be more "tank-heavy", not so much the Leichte Kavalleriedivisionen of the German Cavalry, whose units in the thirties were only partly mechanised.
(2) French generals and his famous sense of humour, methinks.




@H.Appleby: I was lucky to find some information about the OTL 1939 defenses of Warsaw :D About the Ukranians... we shall see. Germany as some ideas about an independent Ukraine but London doesn't like too much the idea.

France AND Italy (no joking) are in the war. They are in no hurry to reach the front. Perhaps when Warsaw falls Rome and Paris may feel the urge to move quicker. And don't give Thorez any idea. I've already trashed Paris twice in my AARs. A third one could be apocaliptically lovely. Don't tempt me.:D

@Nathan Madien: A new meaniong for "Warsaw"? I'm lost, sorry.

@Mr. Santiago: As Peti may tell you, a zarist fart is a force to be reckoned... If you drink, don't fart at the same time, please.

Yes, Warsaw is going to be an interesting battle... but Free Poland is going to need a new capital and I don't think that they would like the idea of seeing a lunar landscape and say "you know, that was Warsaw."


By the way: I promise that by Wednesday you'll have another update.
 
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