Episode 4 - Dealt a Bad Hand in Poland
TURN 60 (2/13/45)
BERLIN: Reinforcements are an ID, an IB, and an Inf Btn. Good news! The US 28 ID has withdrawn to parts unknown. The TF Linden/42 ID has disbanded.
POLISH INTERIOR: A horde of partisans has materialized near Konin. However, they are in a bad position and may be trapped against the river if I move quickly.
NETHERLANDS: The pocket has largely been reduced. There's a diminished battalion with a 50mm AT gun, a StuG platoon, and 6 halftracks. I had the battalion charge a Wolverine battalion. Those who weren't killed or captured immediately actually managed to disable a platoon.
The first bulge has been evacuated. Almost everyone, including almost all the artillery, is marching north.
WEST 2: Moving out. One of the American divisions has too.
WEST 3: With my position steadily worsening, I had my strongest division in the sector advance into lightly defended Pforzheim. I don't know what I was thinking; it could easily be surrounded now. A retreated ID and Pz Btn attacked a vanguard Cav Btn to improve its position. Air support allowed them to drive it away. Apparently, it is in a sorry state: most of it was mortars and transport vehicles. The only AFVs were 8 M8s and an M24.
There are 2 ID on the other side of the Rhine. If these are meant to cross into the combat zone, the US will have 12 ID, 3 AD, and the equivalent of a Cav Div in the bridgehead.
BUDAPEST: Both Panzer divisions on the Balaton flank have been attacked. Moderate reductions in both attack and defense, on both sides. Looking at my records, the Soviets have come off worse: most of the reduction is associated with the loss of stockpiled "extra" supplies.
Some probing around Buda. Soviets aren't doing too well.
HUNGARY: As predicted, the ID failed. Polizei withdraws to the rear.
The last Hungarian hex along the line is in danger of collapse.
The Slovak partisans are being driven back, but reinforcements to the next sector have been delayed by a blow bridge.
POLAND 1: The weakest point in the line was demolished, but the Soviets failed to exploit it. Realzing that the next logical step for the enemy was to attack the other weak point to encircle it, the ID moved against the RC caight in the rear. It was so damaged that it fled back to its own line in headlong rout. Hundreds were captured. Of course, this means the ID loses its defense bonus. And there's still a gap in the line.
Up top, another bridgehead is imminent.
POLAND 2: SS Nordland and an ID were pushed out of their positions, though they were quickly regained from the vanguard armor. Both have suffered grave losses, such that their effectiveness has been cut nearly in half.
A bulge here is to be evacuated as well. Preliminaries have begun. This should free up at least a Pz Div.
Elsewhere, the situation is getting worse even faster. NW of Radom, I have only scraps until the curve in the line.
POLAND 3: Warsaw holds, but the Soviets still have a lot of fight in them.
Walter Girg has finally gotten into a sticky spot too sticky for him to get out of. His back to main-line Soviet corps, pressed by armor to the front - will he find a way? He did manage to fight his way north, where only a supply column blocked his path. He left a fifth of the trucks burning.
North of Warsaw, a fresh fortified division was dislodged, forcing Totenkopf to relocate.
The reinforcement ID engages the Mtr Bde occupying a small breach in the swamps. The Soviets lost about a battalion or two, and 5 dozen aircraft. I was mauled: the division had 2/3 of its assets shredded, and over 2 dozen planes were shot down. It did recapture the position, though.
East, what was a troublesome situation ended as a crushing rout just a couple of days later. Catastrophe moves swiftly on the East Front. And the West Front too, come to think of it.
In the Soviet rear, there is a stack of 5 artillery divisions and a tank brigade.
POLAND 4: They're pouring into that breach. An ID from the capital is being railed in, though the situation is equally desparate in many other sectors. I don't think this sector can expect more reinforcements for a few weeks - in other words, never.
North, at Goldap, my defenses are being overwhelmed. One of the ad-hoc divisions simply vanished.
PRUSSIA: That hex has been attacked again, but the Soviet corps are gaining attack and defense. They are losing less than their replacement rate here. That doesn't hold for my units, unfortunately.
Two other hexes nearby are being probed by the tank corps. They're not strong enough to last for long. I need to abandon the bulge so as to shorten my line, but all the good defensive terrain is too far away; my men will quickly be caught out of their trenches and cut up.
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