Comrade Trapp Posted October 13, 2003 Share Posted October 13, 2003 Strategic and Operational Doctrine The Polish Armed Forces (Polskie Sily Zbrojne) or PSZ incorporated the Polish Army and Polish navy. The Polish Airforce was part of the army, but was distinguished by its own uniform and command structures. After 1926 the organization of the PSZ was on a peculiar two-track system devised by Pilsudski (Zaloga and Madej, 1991) in order to cope with war and peacetime operations. Like all armies during peace, PSZ war games and strategic planning simulated invasions from the Germany (Plan N) or from Soviet invasion (Plan R). The Poles even simulated a two front invasion (Plan N + R). In each scenario, the role and support of the French and Romanians were critical to any success or survival, therefore, all the post 1918 conventions with these countries encompassed strategic support being put into action should invasion occur. In March 1939 the Pole estimated they would be facing an invasion of 70 German divisions. According to Zaloga and Madej (1991) the Polish fighting doctrine as to split the armies into two smaller operational units, fight at night and use improvisation in order to counteract numerical weakness. Tactically, this approach was more akin to the Franco - Prussian War rather than an army about to face the Blitzkrieg. Each army was to cover up to a 200Km front with each infantry division covering 12 to 25 Km depending upon terrain and the opposition's tactics. The main defensive belt would be 2 Km deep with conventional linear defences. The cavalry would provide scouting and a mobile defence for up to 9 Km in front as a screen to the main defences. Artillery would typically be positioned about 3 Km behind the main defensive curtain. The September Campaignb Analysis of the September Campaign is all too easy with hindsight. Liddell Hart (1970) expounded the proposition that the Poles should have made its main fortifications behind the Vistula and San, abandoning the country's main industrial area. He saw the Poles military strategy as being over weighted by pride and an over-confident military making their military planning unreal by placing huge concentrations in the 'corridor' and ill-equipped to deal with a mechanized war. It was not an easy victory and the Germans took heavier casualties than the longer campaign in France (Ascherson, 1987). By the end of August 1939, Poland had secretly being mobilizing its army to a strength of 700,000. On 25th August the Wehrmacht despatched orders for 'Case White' (invasion of Poland), unfortunately, the negotiations between Hitler and Mussolini were not going well, therfore the orders were rescinded, but not all units received them in time. Border raids by the Abwehr, increases in reconnaissance flights and an intrusion at the Jablonka Pass were noted and not necessarily acted upon by the Poles, not through 'over-confidence' as Liddell Hart saw it, but through sheer inability due to lack of resources. The Germans did not achieve tactical surprise as many English and German historians would us believe (Zaloga and Madej,1991). On the 30th August 1939, Marshal Rydz-Smigly put the country on war footing. The Navy was instructed to activate Operation Pekin. The destroyer flotilla left for Britain and had time to clear the Danish Straits before war was declared. General Mobilization had to be delayed in order to meet agreements with Britain and France not to inflame the diplomatically tense situation. To may historians, this action has been interpreted as the Poles being taken by surprise. The Wehrmacht were going to war on the 1st September irrespective of what the Poles, English or French thought or did. When General Mobilization took place, the English and French protested despite the evidence supporting the presence of a massed German army on its borders. The Poles were outnumbered by about 10:1 (Ascherson, 1987). For Lieutenant - General Anders, the opening stages of the war had an element of irony. As the commander of the Novogrodek Cavalry Brigade based at Lidzbark, just a few kilometres from Grunewald, where in 1410 the Poles achieved a brilliant victory over the Teutonic Knights, Anders knew the defence of Poland was hopeless. On the 31st August, the Polish Airforce was ordered to disperse to secret airfields. Hitler correctly anticipated the poor response by the English and French and issued the armed forces to be deployed for Case White. No one knows why Smigly -Rydz thought England or France would come to immediate assistance - they had indicated a two week period would be needed for France to mount a full counter offensive. Smigly -Rydz also did not heed the Pilsudskian policy of considering measures for the defence against the Soviets. The source for this has a lot of info about Poland and it's military prior to and during WWII. It has a lot of nice pics so you AAR guys might want to take a look at it. Source Comrade Trapp Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Panzer39 Posted October 13, 2003 Share Posted October 13, 2003 I enjoyed reading Von Manstiens's account of the Polish defense in his "Lost Victories book". Once you get past his statements about how Poland could have defended itself had it not been in an offensive posture,he gives a good account of how he would have set up the Defense of Poland and tried to hold out till the French went on the offensive. I tried using his strategy in Hearts of Iron and surprisingly it worked Though that gives absolutely 0 credibility to his argument, it was fun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liam Posted October 13, 2003 Share Posted October 13, 2003 What hurts even more is that their neighbors in Czechoslovakia were mobilized to fight the Germans before they were annexed. Which despite some German population in Sudeten had no love for Germans... I think that a big deal is that the Allies in France and England only said no once Poland was slated as next! Foolish move... Costly for both nations as Poles and Czechs may have not fought together but it would definitely given the Poles an idea of just how adept the Wermacht was! On top of that would've given the Germans less places to penetrate the Polish Lines [ October 12, 2003, 08:17 PM: Message edited by: Liam ] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CC Baxter Posted October 13, 2003 Share Posted October 13, 2003 Good stuff, Comrade. The Polish side of things often gets overlooked within the wider context of the war in Europe. Poland was always going to have a tough time in any European conflict, given her geographical position: hemmed in by both Germany and the USSR and with no land connection to France or the UK. Her one chance was probably holding out long enough for the western European allies to mobilise and then attack Germany. Unfortunately for the Poles the German blitzkreig gave them no chance for this to happen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JerseyJohn Posted October 13, 2003 Share Posted October 13, 2003 Comrade, Great subject, best I've ever seen it covered. Poland was in a hopeless situation militarily, they couldn't use the Germans against the Russians or the Russians against the Germans because their ally would be as much a manace as their enemy! The only chances they had were Diplomatic. Origianlly they wanted a broad Mutual Defense Alliance that would have included Baltic and Balkan nations, but nobody would sign whit them. The odd thing is they were perceived by their neighbors as being too friendly with Germany! Prior to the Sudetanland France seemed like it wouls be the catalyst for Poland and some of Germany's other Neighbors to form alliances around, but they were too lethargic and, after Munich, were obviously not to be relied upon as Czechoslovakia was it's Ally and they sold them down the river without looking back. Militarily I don't think Poland could have held out much longer than two months against Germany with perfect mobilization and excellent fortifications, of which she had neither. The only hope for her continued existence was to line up with an overwhelmingly powerful coalition that Germany would not want to take on after having successfully invaded Poland. The USSR would have needed to be included, as only the prospect of a two front war would have deterred Hitler. Which loops back the orignal problem; once in, Poland could never have evicted either Germany or Russia, so that Alliance option was never a serious possibility. [ October 13, 2003, 02:39 PM: Message edited by: JerseyJohn ] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liam Posted October 13, 2003 Share Posted October 13, 2003 Mmmmm, Poor Poland. You're absolutely right John. She was stuck inbetween a rock and a hard place. Though she gets a little bit of what she deserves for going along with what happened to the Czechs, I'm sure though she didn't have much of a say-so in that matter??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Comrade Trapp Posted October 13, 2003 Author Share Posted October 13, 2003 Just so eveyone knows, I copied and pasted my above post, so I can't take credit for it. Comrade Trapp Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curry Posted October 13, 2003 Share Posted October 13, 2003 Thought this related to this thread. I quote from William Manchester's The Last Lion concerning how the Pole's fought. "Their government (Polish government) and high command had left Warsaw for Rumania, leaving orders to fight to the bitter end. The Poles did; fuled by patriotic fervor, they barricaded streets with streetcars, stopping Reichenau's tanks, his infantry was forced into the ugliest and most dangerous close combat - house to house, room by room. By that myterious process which telegrahs news throughout a country, even after its communications system has been destroyed, all Poland knew what was happening in Warsaw, and thousands of Poles folloed its example. Guderian plunged deep though the Polish rear to Brest-Litovsk, but when he tried to storm the town's ancient citadel, he found and obsolete Renault tank had been jammed, and welded, into the doorway. Warsaw, starving, lacking water, pounded around the clock by Nazi planes and artillery, finally capitulated ten days after the Russian invasion. Pockets of resistance fought on, though the last major stronghold, 17,000 men in Kock, did not lay down their arms until October 7. Menwhile, 100,000 Polish soldiers and pilots had escaped to Rumania and made their way to England, where they would fight in Free Polish battalions beside the British, French and later, the Americans; Polish destoryers and submarines reached the Orkneys and joined the Royal Navy." end quote. [ October 13, 2003, 05:53 PM: Message edited by: Curry ] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liam Posted October 14, 2003 Share Posted October 14, 2003 It's alright Trapp, 99.9% of everything everyone writes is plagiarism on some level. Even when one fancies up their writing with what they feel are their own word combinations<it's what they've learned in school/from books/and from other writers period> so there is no original works anymore or very little of it... The Original Works are long Dead and in Non-Fiction WW2 information, quoting or paraphrazing or whatever is a non-factor. Only Poets and some Fiction writers who're brilliant come close to Independant creativity of some form. BTW: I don't think the French put up that sort of Fighting!!! Viva La Poland [ October 14, 2003, 10:19 AM: Message edited by: Liam ] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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