Introduction

A classic infantry action. The Germans must secure a vital in the face of tenacious Polish resistance. The Poles have time and distance on their side, but the Germans have tough, hard-hitting Mountain troops and solid company-level artillery support. The Polish 75/97s can be dangerous, but spotting is problematic for the Poles.

The Plans

For the Poles, the decision is how to hold the bridge and town hexes. The immobility of Polish forces makes a flexible defence infeasible, so the choice comes down to putting up resistance forward to delay the German assault on the bridge and town hexes in Board 3, using a light screen to detect and bring the Germans under fire early with the bulk of Polish forces holding the river line, or a concentrated defence of the river line. The Germans must decide how to move against the Poles, and what objectives the feel are the most important. Time is critical to the Germans, but they do not have so great a numerical superiority that they can afford to disregard casualties, either. And those Chemical mines are worrisome.

The Polish Plan

The Polish player elects to use five of his mines to delay German capture of the northern Town (road hexes 0806 and 0805, town hexes 0804, 0803, and 0704) on Board 18, and then digs in an infantry platoon and an HMG platoon under a Porucznik (can anyone pronounce that?) on the road in Board 18 just ahead of the two woods (hex 0906). He then deploys four infantry platoons in holding the town hex at 1208, with the 37mm AT gun in the outskirts of the long woods on Board 3 (hex 1210). The bridge is defended by three infantry platoons to the West of the River, with the HMG on the bridge itself. The five mine counters left are deployed in a 3-counter field in front of the infantry holding the bridge (hexes 1107, 1108, and 1110), and two more mines on and immediately East of the bridge itself (hexes 0909 and 0809). The 75/97s and the 81mms are deployed in the Town on Board 3.

The Polish player has compromised between a delaying action and a strong defence of the bridge, keeping all of his strength West of the river. He has created a series of roadblocks which should both slow down and wear down the German advance, while his bombardment strength is ideally sited to protect the main line of defence around Town hex 1208.

The German Plan

Although I obviously do not know the details above, the Polish plans is fairly clear from the size and distribution of his deployments. I see a classic application of Fire and Manoeuver for light infantry here. Once I mop up the inadequate roadblock at 0906 and move my Engineers through the northern Town hexes, I will advance to hold the Poles of the main defence line and the river line in place, while using the cover of the Woods to mask a powerful flanking movement.

The German plan relies on the relatively slim margin of numerical superiority to pin the Poles in place until it is too late for them to react without collapsing. The elements forcing the main defence line must be strong enough to force it and threaten the river line, while the strength of the assault teams must be sufficient to capture Town hexes against Polish artillery batteries and single infantry platoons. Once again, German superiority in organsiation will be critical, with ample Leaders to execute Fire and Manoeuver once the main line of defence is cracked or broken.

What Happened

The German plan played out almost perfectly. The strong attacks of the German Mountain troops on the Polish main line at 1208 held Polish attention even though the movement of German troops into the Forst had begun well before that. By the time the Polish player recognised that the Germans could not only ford the river but take the town on its East bank in plenty of time, they were already threatened by powerful forces to their front. An attempt to disengage and recross the river brought disaster, as the high morale German Mountain troops simply risked the minefields to pursue the Poles and capture the bridge. The Poles spent three turns wavering between holding the bridge and reinforcing the Town, and so lost both.

The Germans advanced directly on the roadblock at Hex 0906, and held it in place with Fires while Engineers neutralised the mines and rolled through the northern Road and Town hexes. These are very nearly free VPs. Once the town was cleared, the Engineers joined with other Mountain platoons to flank the Polish roadblock and eliminate it. To encircle and eradicate the roadblock at 1208 required most of the German strength, so the German player spent the extra Turns to achieve concentration and position reserves before launching simultaneous Assaults. Once the main line was forced, although the town hex remained untaken, the German player moved on. Two assault groups, each comprising engineer-Mountain platoon teams, battered their way through the long woods and moved upriver (Northwards). The rest of the Mountain platoons, their HMGs, and the 81mm mortars cleared up the road hexes and moved up towards the bridge to threaten and suppress by fires the Polish defences of the river line. The assault teams, initially two teams of one Engineer and two Mountain platoons each, concentrated at the edge of the long wood, where the Poles could not bring fires to bear on them, prior to fording the river. The Poles sent a pair of Porucznik (Poruczniki?) to "spot" the Germans in the woods for their 75/97s. Because of a mis-reading of the Rules, the Polish player insisted that the German units could not fire on the Leaders with Direct or Bombardment Fire. Annoying, but in the end, not fatal.

The German player detached another three Mountain plantoons to move across the river at an intermediate crossing, incidentally chasing off the Poruczniki for a while. Once these troops began to cross, the main group also forded the river. With the river line compromised, the Poles attempted to pull their river line back from the West bank, but this failed in the face of strong German pressure and Polish uncertainty as to German objectives. By the time the Poles were sorted, the Germans were in the town and across the bridge. Two Polish infantry platoons wqere destroyed before they could reach the Town hexes, and the remaining Polish units fell quickly to the powerful assault teams.

Note

The Polish Player actually conceded once it became clear that his hesitation at the bridge had been fatal.

Conclusion

A good fight. Losses were fairly heavy on both sides, the Poles losing 18 Steps, the Germans 9 Steps. The Germans won an overwhelming victory, but the fight would have gone much differently if we had switched sides.