As the defending Polish regular army units all fall to the German advance, Polish Notional Guard units shoulder the burden of defending their own homes and families. The people of a small village on the east bank of the river Wista decide to make a fort of their beloved river. The barricades and minefields seem invincible at first but the Polish biggest problem is their lack of manpower and combat savvy. But all is not lost as three NCO’s are send from HQ to help set up the defensive line.

The following morning, the Germans launch yet another attack to try to cross the river. The Major decides on a three pronged attack with an armored assault group going for the bridge and a north and south attack led by pioneers. Rather oblivious of possible pending doom, the German infantry simply drive towards the river, not knowing that a nearby 37mm unit has them in its sights. Immediately all hell breaks lose. Lt Nutzlos is the first casualty and is hauled badly wounded from his staff car. The engineer of the southern group has a narrow escape which would have decapitated the river crossing right from the start.

As the center group approaches the bridge they drive straight into a minefield, after some casualties they are forced to regroup to rethink their strategy. The northern German assault group gets peppered by Polish HMG fire and lose their Engineer unit! Major blow to the German morale, which now have only 2 ways of crossing the Wista. The German Major adjusts and decides to use Group North to help the armored companies in crossing the bridge.

At that bridge, a murderous situation develops. The Germans are trying to get close to the bridge, but the going is tough: the Germans are being shot at by enfilading HMG fire from Lubanskis men, the tanks are being fired at by AT from the 37mm company and all this is going on while they are maneuvering in the middle of a killing minefield! After an hour of incoming fire, the assault of the bridge peters out, the defenders weren’t even scratched.

So it was left to Group South to find a crossing point and they actually find one. But since the 2 other attack points were useless, the Polish Major sends all his available troops to contain the German bridgehead. With a WW I approach of defense in depth, the German push is very slow and at teatime, the Germans decide to lick their wounds and have another go next morning.

VP: Poland 57 – 10 German

An unhoped for resounding German butt kicking! Unlucky for the Poles, nobody from HQ will ever believe the heroism of this days fighting and again, no medals or promotions are awarded. But there was some serious heroism on the battlefield: the gunners of the 37mm guns deserve several medals and statues, after narrowly missing a game breaking engineer’s truck; they had 4 hits on 6 shots at max range of 1800m (read 11+ rolls). Lubanski and his HMG’s not only killed the other Engineer, they also massacred every German infantry unit that even looked at the bridge and finally put a PzII unit out of action just by shooting puny bullets at them from 600 yards away! But after the battle, smiles faded when the mutilated body of Por Kowalski was found; the brave man was executed as retaliation by the frustrated Germans.

On to the gates of Warsaw with a 30VP lead for the Poles, who would have thought that?

In this scenario, the Polish player has inferior troops holding a river line while the Germans not only have superior troops but also have plenty of armor to help keep things honest.

The Poles set up with their entrenchments and minefields to disrupt the potential crossing sites. A strong force of ON, HMGs and the 37mm AT are in the town with the bridge and the remainder of the troops are scattered to defend the three other crossing sites where there is only one hex of river to cross.

The Germans enter entirely in the south, with the clear intention to cross the river there. While the crossing site is remote from many of the victory point hexes the Germans have a trick up their sleeve. Two companies of infantry remain in their vehicles, waiting for the Polish response to the crossing attempt to materialize.

The Poles have to start moving quickly as they have no real transport. Troops are pulled from the two other crossing sites (one by the small town and one north of the larger town on Board 20) and also from the bridge garrison. The initial entry of the engineers into the river is contested by the southern crossing garrison of 2 ON units along with a leader character (Rejewski, just returned from a serious wound). These forces will prove to be a major thorn in the German's side throughout the scenario. The engineers lose a step and are disrupted. Over the next several turns they recover and remove the mines in the crossing area under the direction of Lt. Ascher and Cpt. Stresseman. Kapitan Rozycki brings up the Polish heavy weaponsry (HMGs) and sets up a strong position in the woods to the north of the crossing point.

As more and more Poles are committed to fighting against the crossing attack the German major springs his trap. The still mounted infantry are sent to attack the bridge which is held by two platoons (an HMG and an ON). While the fight continues for 5 turns before the Poles are pushed away from the bridge, the Polish force cannot reverse its position as it has committed to the defense of the southern crossing. Despite the control of the bridge and the surrounding towns and entrenchments the Germans are barely able to squeak out a victory 28-23. The breakthrough came too late for any effective pursuit leading to greater VPs.

Nevertheless a win is a win and this was a first for the Germans in this campaign. I really enjoy river crossing scenarios in PG and this is an interesting one as the Poles have no artillery whatsoever. Their defense is entirely based on being forward and attacking the crossing units repeatedly. Since the ON troops only have a range of 2, the Poles in essence have to defend at the water's edge. I greatly enjoyed this one and give it a "4".

In leader character news, Rejewski falls again with a serious wound and Cpt Stresseman finally leads sufficient assaults to reach the infantry assault badge. No promotions occur so both sides have one Captain. Rejewski will not be available to the Polish force in the upcoming scenario. Unfortunate as he has the rural assault skill. Ascher remains a mess given his inability to maintain his own morale while Wels is slowly improving. The less said about Zygalski (a 7-0-0 Lt. for the Poles) the better. Rozycki with a plus 2 on the promotion roll remains the primary threat to become a Major although Stresseman with a plus 1 now has a theoretical chance.