On September 1st 1939, German invasion forces blitz into Poland while stalwart Polish units try to block the avalanche of troops. At 8.00 AM, German trucks roll down the main road towards the three Polish towns that need to be cleared first. In their arrogance, they completely ignore the Polish AT units deployed in the marshes just west of the first town. However, both AT shots miss the loaded trucks filled with battle eager fighters and their campaign leaders. Immediately, German artillery silences the Polish AT guns and the German invasion force continues to roll on the field forming a massive column of vehicles of all sorts. Polish hearts sink upon seeing this array of formidable fighting formations who are lead by some of the best leaders of the Reich.

Within the hour, most of the marshes are cleared of Polish resistance, only a single HMG nest defies all incoming fire and shows some signs of stubbornness. First casualty of the war is Por. Lato who is dragged from the field by his comrades. He only suffered a light wound while his unit gets completely annihilated trying to defend the southern marshes. Of all the Polish vanguard troops, not one leader or unit gets back towards the towns.

At that time, the Polish commander is on the brink of forfeiting the battle but his command post gets bombarded and the surrender order is never given. Following the bombardment of the most Western town, the first wave of Germans assault. And here, things change when the Germans reach the best Polish defense line. German casualty rates skyrocket when assault after assault fails. In this chaos, Lt Hartmann gets fatally wounded and the German commander retreats his troops out of the Polish mousetrap to change tactic. Artillery support arrives and the town gets blasted to smithereens. When finally, the shells stop falling, only a few Polish defenders remain and the Germans start mopping up what is left standing. During the bombardment both Polish special characters faced terrible ordeals. Por. Kowalski is reported missing while Por. Lubanski flees from the horrors of war never to rejoin the fight again. During the mopping up, the German Lt König shows enough bravery to earn the Infantry Assault Badge but when he decides to take a little breather, a Polish cavalry unit overruns his position and wounds the Lt.

Meanwhile, a second wave of Germans reaches the second town where Polish cavalry and cyclists try to stop them. The Polish cavalry major spots a few straggling Panzers and foolishly decides to attack them. Initially, the cavalry charges are not entirely a failure, but when the German commander ruthlessly bombards his own tanks to wipe out the Polish horsies, the Kozacy morale breaks and they head for the nearby woods, never to recover again. With the cavalry gone, village 2 is now on the brink of falling as well. An hour before end of battle, the most western town is finally completely secured by the Germans and all those Germans now rush forward to aid the attackers of town 2. Polish remnants are ordered to retake key roads and as such draw troops from helping the assaults, but again, German artillery proves murderous and all attempts at anything that might improve the Polish situation remain futile. During the last couple of minutes, all Polish resistance gets crushed and at game end, all key towns and roads are secure in German hands.

VP’s are counted: German: 61 VP, Polish 18 VP. After all still a devastating blow to the Polish morale which was pretty intact until turn 20.