The Struggle for Poland

WARGAMESOSD

The Struggle for Poland

Axis forces (green, grey air force counters): Polish (red counters); Lithuania (yellow counters);
and Soviet forces (brown counters) - Byelorussian Front seen here top right

Sample of Play - Optional Rules Used

D. German transfers to the East. Germany can make transfers to the East to support the attack on Poland from Turn 4, or earlier if Poland captures any major German city. Germany can also make transfers to the Westwall. Note that France could attack the Westwall from Turn 4 - French Intervention rule (See link on previous page 'Westwall & Lithuania').

F. Lithuania (for details go back one page and see link to 'Westwall & Lithuania').

Poland - key defensive areas

The North - Army Modlin faces the German 3rd Army and must protect Warsaw from the north - defences fortified	Army Poznan will protect Warsaw to the west, if and when it falls, a defensive line in depth will be drawn at Lodz
Helping Army Poznan, Polish forces to the south of the city defend the more southerly gateway to Lodz & Warsaw	The strategic defence of Katowice and Krakow will help prevent the Axis forces from attacking Warsaw from the south

The Attack Begins - Katowice Falls

Turn 1: 1 September 1939 - Katowice falls when it is attacked
by the 11-6-10 1st Panzer Division, areas around it are
fortified but it is not enough to prevent the Axis advance

Turn 2: 4 September 1939 - Army Group South (14th Army)
consolidates its position and hold on the city, Axis reserves
(the 6-6's) move forward to support strong panzer divisions

Turn 1 & Turn 2 - 1 September - 6 September 1939

Turn 1 the Axis Forces open up their attack, however, Army Group North fails to make any significant impact, with die rolls going in favour of the defenders, Army Modlin. North west a gap is beginning to appear in the Polish defences, however. Katowice in South West Poland falls to the German 14th Army, strong panzer divisions supported by infantry.

Turn 2 Army Group North has failed to break Polish defences despite heavy ground support from attack and bomber aircraft. Large gap north west of Bydgaszcz (dot city) - no attackers or defenders in this area. Danzig is still a free city.

Army Poznan to the west stuggles to defend the borders and German troops pour over the border and begin to threaten the city.

Turn 2 Army Group South - Reserve divisions of Army Group South move to the front line (8 infantry divisions, 2 mountain divisions and artillary). Germany received 4 x He111P1 Bombers (2B3) as reinforcemnets. Assault on fortresses south of Katowice with partial success, and foothold by SS infantry regiment on western edge of Carpathians. Two mountain divisions are rebuffed, however, in the Carpathians by Polish defenders and have to retreat 1 hex.

Turn 2 Polish Offensive - German garrison attacked at Danzig (Free City), with air support is contested by 4 squadrons of Luftwaffe fighter aircraft. One Polish fighter gets through to support ground attack, 3 are aborted - the city is occupied by the Poles, German border guards remain outside the city (no attack strengths).

The defence of Northern Poland - Army Modlin manages to survive the initial attacks from Army Group North's 3rd Army Group attacking from East Prussia	The gap in the Polish defences in the north west (top centre of picture), note also the break-up of defences in the west and in the south - the Polish defenders regroup
Army Poznan struggles to defend the western borders and to the south of the city Axis forces begin to break through, though with heavy losses - note units flipped to their cadres	Poland fights back - the offensive at Danzig, Poland fields more than half its air force squadrons in support of the attack. Note axis unit is Police unit and underneath is a 0-1-4 static SS unit

Turn 3 - 7 September - 9 September 1939

Army Group North is beginning to frustrate the Polish Army and there have been some losses. Howver, two Polish divisions counter attack and achieve some success.

Army Group South consolidates its hold on Katowice and now threatens Krakow with 3 divisions and 3 battalions, assault engineers and an assault artillary battery. The Poles have 3 infantry divisions and another in reserve, as well as the Krakow Cavalry division.

The Polish Army has some success in the central west where Army Poznan successfully defends the city against a spearhead attack by several divisions from Army Group North. Krakow to the south west is well defended but could fall in the next two turns.

German Army expected to reinforce from the Westwall Holding Boxin next turn, especially if France does not intervene on Turn 4

The Defence of Warsaw

Artillary, a tank battalion and infantry units lie to the south of Warsaw. Lodz is well garrisoned to the south-west and in
the north Army Modlin moves to protect the capital

Warsaw is fortified and has seige artillary as well as anti-tank capabilities. The capital must resist evacuation which will
trigger a Soviet invasion of Eastern Poland

Turn 4 - 10 September - 12 September 1939

No French intervention.

Germany transfers 16 divisions and 2 artillary regiments from the Westwall to the East (at a cost of 114 pts, the Westwall is reduced from strength 271 to 157)

Lithuania enters the war on the Axis side (Die roll 1), reinforcements due on Turn 3 are entered into the order of battle, Lithuanian sphere of operations may only extend up to 3 hexes outside Lithuania (Rule 31F).

Lithuania invades north-eastern Poland.

Krakow falls at the end of Army Group South offensive.

c/m Units consolidate hold on Krakow in the Exploitation Phase, with the over-run of a Polish cadre unit retreating from Krakow.

Turn 4 - Lithuania Enters The War

Turn 4 - The Lithuanian Order of Battle, as at set-up. Lithuania
has a number of infantry divisions, an artillary division and
a fighter squadron based in the capital Kaunas

Turn 4 - Lithuanian forces invade north eastern Poland, but
with little or no strategic gain as this stage - she can only
progress a maximum of 3 hexes in support of Axis troops

Turn 4 - Krakow Falls

The attack on Krakow by heavy panzer divisions
and infantry opens the way north for the German
10th and 14th Armies

Polish forces, although strong, are pushed north after a heroic
defence of one of Poland's key cities. The Axis forces also
have c/m (combat/motorized) divisions (5-10's) to secure.

Turn 5 - Polish Forces Retreat North - Protective 'Shield Lodz'

Turn 5 - 13 September - 15 September 1939

Germany transfers another 10 infantry divisions and 2 artillary brigades from the Westwall to reinforce its northern offensive, which is not going as well to plan, due mainly to very poor die-roll results.

France launches offensive against the Westwall (Die roll '6' modified to a '5'). The Westwall is beginning to crumble.

Polish forces retreat north from Katowice and Krakow, 5 hexes, to provide proctective 'Shield Lodz', the last stronghold before Warsaw. 6 divisions (xx) to be committed to the Battle of Lodz and 2 mountain brigades (x) plus all available Polish aircraft, apart from those protecting Warsaw itself. Lodz = 4 formations of aircraft (2 attack squadrons, 2 fighter squadrons and 1 French night bomber squadron, which came as reinforcements when France attacked the Westwall).

In the north-west 3 divisions pull back 3 hexes to form a defensive front in the north-west gap.

8 divisions (xx) from pull back 5 hexes to form defensive positions in the west.

Polish forces withdraw from Poznan to form defensive front (west) , 5 hexes to the east.

Turn 5 - The Polish Forces Regroup

Army Group South makes the Polish defenders feel very unwelcome in the area north of Krakow. The Poles decide on a strategic withdrawal - 5 hexes to the north	Polish forces from Army Krakow retreat north to join the defence of Lodz 'Shield Lodz'. Note the aircraft based at Lodz that includes the French night-bomber (black text on red)
Army Poznan is in an impossible position with huge forces bearing down on the city. With such impossible odds this army group decides to retreat 5 hexes east towards Lodz	After the retreat, Poznan is abandoned and left for the Axis forces on their blitzkrieg east. Poland fought well in this area but reinforcements from the Westwall were too strong

Turn 6 - Westwall Weakens as Lodz Prepares

Turn 6 - 16 September - 18 September 1939

French attack on Westwall, strength now down to 13 points, transfers will be required from the east to support the Westwall. Westwall strength brought up to 50 points bvy transfers from the east - 12 divsions and 2 artillary.

Army Group North and Army Group South gears up for what it believes will be the final offensive in Poland, as the Westwall is too weak and may fall in next turn.

Army Group North and west suffers a number of retreats and stand-offs.

Army Group South has more success - one significant retreat though with a 12-7-10 Armour Division humiliated.

Attacks with 2 Stuka squadrons (JU87B's) on Polish mountain units in a 6:1 ratio combat - defender halved (Die roll = 3)

Four divisions of Army Group South have broken through north of Czestochiowa and will now threaten Lodz.

Army Group North has suffered constantly from bad die-rolls and has struggled to break through the fortified Polish held lines	Army Group South prepares its attack on Lodz, the last strong- hold before Warsaw. If Lodz is captured this will immediately trigger the evacuation of the Polish Government
Lodz, before Poland prepares its defence, troops are retreating from the west and will fill the gap to the south of the city, ready for the attack	Polish defenders in place, ready to resist the attack. Note strong panzer (11-7-10) divisions which will pound the defenders, but also note Polish Air Force squadrons and French night-bomber

Turn 7 - A Polish Decisive Victory

Turn 7 - 19 September - 21 September 1939

The French attack the Westwall and roll a '3', with only 50 points needed to end the game - the Westwall is reduced to zero and therefore the game ends in a decisive victory for Poland.

Endgame - The Luftwaffe Blitzkrieg Offensive

The Luftwaffe in the west, note fighters (7F5's, 4F4's), bombers
(2B3's) and dive bombers (2D3's), it was not enough to
prevent a German catastrophe

The Luftwaffe in the north did not contest Danzig after it was
exclusively occupied by the Poles, however, more Blitzkrieg
tactics could have been employed elsewhere in hindsight

The End of a Nightmare

You can often postulate the 'what ifs' of the Polish campaign, there are many. What if Poland had fully mobilsed? The 'no blitzkrieg' option in the game (Polish Fantasy Option)? What if France had attacked from the west (The 'Westwall' employed in the game above)? And so the choices could continue.

There were two things in my view that led to the failure of the Axis forces to win through in the game above, these were:

The Westwall

The German player drained the Westwall to send reinforcements to the east to fight in Poland, because its own troops were failing in the blitzkrieg offensive; bad die rolls plagued the German player and by the time it was realised that the Westwall would not be able to survive another attack, it was too late to do anything about it. This therefore brought about an abrupt end to the game and in accordance with the game rules gave a decisive victory to the Poles, and not the historical victory for the Axis forces.

The Luftwaffe

The Luftwaffe could have organised itself better, and rather than continually supporting ground attacks, which were not as effective as they could have been, more focus should have been made on the attack-bomber role of the aircraft, attacking ahead of the panzer and infantry divisions and clearing the skies of any Polish aircraft. Instead the Luftwaffe did not have air-superiority, as was evident at Danzig during this game.

Blitzkrieg Tactics

This game has showed the importance of the Blitzkrieg offensive in the German order of battle, and to win the game this tactic should be used to its fullest potential. Germany has many aircraft, and not to use these effectively is a great failing on the part of the Axis player.

So, a view on how things could have been different, but to explore these alternatives sheds great light and contemplation on the history of the Polish Campaign, or 'Case White' as it is known.