Tactics in White Eagles
Scenario 23: Polish Armor
Part 1: 0900–0945
By Doug McNair
April 2008

Now that Island of Death is done and on the way to the fans, I’ve finally got some time to catch up on all the Panzer Grenadier book supplements we’ve been publishing lately. First up is White Eagles, our book on the German invasion of Poland in 1939.

White Eagles is packed with articles and illustrations giving lots of detail on the Polish Army, and the countersheets include the full array of Polish tanks, infantry and other specialized units (like a Polish armored train). The forty scenarios run the gamut from German armored assaults, counterattacks by Polish cavalry and armor, and finally the remnants of the Polish Army trying to break out to neutral countries after the fall of Warsaw.

The scenario that probably gives the quintessential Blitzkrieg experience is Scenario 23: “Polish Armor,” so that’s the one I’ll be running for this article series.

Game Situation

“Polish Armor” is played on four boards laid horizontally in two tiers. There is plenty of forest and field terrain for cover, and two roads cross the board running north-south.
It happens on the fifth day of the German invasion, when elements of the Polish 19th Infantry Division were massing for a counterattack. First Panzer Division made a surprise attack on the Polish 19th before their counteroffensive could begin, and the Polish infantry had to hold the line against a German combined-arms assault while calling for reinforcements from the Polish 2nd Light Tank Battalion.

The Poles set up on-board, anywhere on or east of the north-south road that crosses the two western boards. The Germans enter on the west edge. The Germans score victory points for destroying Polish steps and taking town hexes, and the Poles score victory points for destroying German steps and keeping control of town hexes. The Poles also score large numbers of victory points for keeping the Germans from cutting the north-south roads.

Polish Tactics

The main challenge facing the Polish player is the classic one: how to hold a broad front against overwhelming numbers of highly mobile Germans? The Polish player gets 20 VPs for each north-south road that has no undemoralized German units anywhere on it at the end of play. All town hexes are east of the western north-south road, so at first glance the Poles might want to dig in on the western road and try to hold it against the German onslaught.

The problem here is that the Poles have only 16 x INF and 4 x HMG plus mortars and AT guns to hold a two-board front, and if the Germans breach the Polish line they can send motorcycle units and armored cars with a movement allowance of 12 through the breach. Those units will outdistance the retreating Poles and get to the eastern towns long before them, and the Poles will have a hard time taking the towns back since they’ll be dispersed by the advancing Germans before getting there. The Poles do get reinforcements in the form of four relatively powerful 7TPj tank platoons, but they are slow and won’t be able to keep the German MTCs and armored cars from grabbing several of the town hexes on the eastern boards.

So, the Poles have to setup closer to the eastern towns, but they probably don’t want to set up in the towns because there’s a big, beautiful kill zone in the middle of the board that they won’t be able to hit from the towns. There’s plenty of woods, field and swamp terrain west of the towns where the Poles can setup, and while the swamp is worse than useless for units being hit by direct fire, it’s good protection against the powerful German offboard artillery. Setting up the majority of their units in the woods, swamps and fields will give the Poles concealment and let them hit the advancing Germans well before they reach the eastern towns.

It will also force the Germans to hold back their thin-skinned PzI, PzII and PzJrI tanks and tank destroyers, because the Polish 37mm anti-tank guns can destroy them at a range of up to nine hexes. The Poles must hope to break up the German advance with direct and bombardment fire while knocking off any Panzers that break from the western woods, and then execute a fighting withdrawal to the eastern towns before any German units get there. They must then hunker down and hold the towns against German assaults, hoping to win on victory points by making the Germans do all the attacking and thus take more step losses in the town assaults than the Poles do.

German Tactics

The Germans have superior numbers, numerous leaders and plenty of offboard artillery support, so time is on their side. They can afford to leave their lighter tanks in reserve and let their infantry advance on the Polish lines with just the heavier PzIIIF tanks supporting them. The main German infantry force should hit the Polish center or flank while the German recon companies (3 x MTC and 3 x SdKfz222) attempt an end run around the other flank. If the recon companies can get behind the Polish line and into the eastern towns, the Poles will have to commit their reserves to fighting them off. That will allow the German infantry to dig out the anti-tank guns, breach the line and send the lighter tanks through the breach to occupy the rest of the eastern towns.

Game Summary

With that, here begins a turn-by-turn replay of Scenario 23: “Polish Armor.”

Turn One: 0900 Hours

The Poles roll one die to see if their armored reinforcements arrive. They roll a 6, so the 4 x 7TPj tank platoons will arrive on the board this turn. The Germans win initiative by one activation and bring a motorized rifle battalion onto the board near the north edge. The Poles pass to see where the next German units will enter, and another motorized rifle battalion enters just south of where the first entered.

The Poles pass again, and the four German PzI tank platoons enter on the north flank of the first rifle battalion. The Poles respond by bringing in one of their four tank platoons near the northern woods by the Polish right flank.

The Germans then bring in their two PzIIIF platoons on the south flank of the first rifle battalion.

The Poles pass, and then the two German recon companies enter on the west edge near the road and drive to the south edge.

The Poles bring in two more tank platoons and send them south along the eastern road.

The PzII and PzJrI platoons enter the west edge near where the recon companies did and make for the road, and the final Polish tank unit enters the north edge and takes up a reserve position in the northeastern town. All German units have activated and are outside Polish spotting range, and the Poles hold the line so the turn ends.

Turn Two: 0915 Hours

The Poles win initiative by one activation and move the tank platoon by the Polish right flank southwest to where it can get line of sight on both sides of the nearby field. The Germans send their two PzIIIF platoons northeast to oppose it, staying out of range of the Polish AT guns in the woods and keeping a field hex blocking LOS between them and the Polish tanks.

The Poles pass, and the Germans activate the northern motorized rifle battalion and send trucks east. They take an unoccupied town hex (5 German VPs), and some INF and HMG units unload while others plus the mortars stay loaded outside Polish spotting range. That prompts a brave but expendable Polish major (who has no morale or combat bonus) to break out of the woods and run westward to a spotting position on a three-high stack of German INF units loaded on trucks.

The Germans respond by raining offboard artillery on him before he can call in a strike. They hit him with 3 x 16 offboard artillery factors, and the M1 result disrupts him. But he’s not demoralized so he can still call in the strike, and what little Polish offboard artillery there is (3 x 8) rains on the stack. With +2 column shifts for hitting a three-high stack loaded on trucks it scores an M1 result, and the truck carrying the German captain becomes disrupted (he and an INF unit bail out), but the other two trucks make their morale checks.

Then the southern battalion drives forward to the other unoccupied town hex near the western road (5 German VPs), unloading the lead INF and HMG units and keeping the rest loaded and out of Polish spotting range. The Poles have no offboard artillery left, so the kapitan that could have sprinted out of the swamps to spot for a barrage on the just-moved German column stays put.

The Poles pass to see where the remaining German units go, and the recon companies charge eastward along the south edge of the board. That puts one of the SdKfz222 armored car platoons at 150% of the range of a Polish AT gun battery in the swamp, but the Poles hold their fire to keep from revealing their position to German artillery (they’re waiting for a better shot at closer range).

Instead, two Polish tank platoons move south toward the advancing recon units, and the German PzII tanks and PzJrI tank destroyers split left and right so that 2 x PzII and 1 x PzJrI each end up at the north and south edges of the southwestern woods. The Polish tank unit in the northeastern town moves southwest to support the Polish center, and the PzI tanks take up a reserve position on the road behind the northwestern woods. The Poles pass and the Germans hit the exposed major with the last of their offboard artillery, and the roll of 11 on the 30 column scores an X result, which kills him! The Poles hold the line and the turn ends.

Turn Three: 0930 Hours

The Germans win initiative by one activation, and the two PzIIIF platoons take advantage of their superior AT range by moving two hexes southeast to a firing position on the Polish tank platoon near the northern woods. The panzers are outside the AT range of the Polish tanks and AT guns, so the Polish tanks withdraw one hex into the woods to gain concealment.

The lead elements of the northern German rifle battalion then advance eastward toward the Polish positions in the northern woods, and Polish offboard artillery hits the two trailing German INF platoons who aren’t adjacent to a leader that gives a morale bonus. The roll of 11 on the 21 column scores an M2 result that demoralizes one of the INF units, but the other holds morale.

The German recon companies then continue their dash eastward along the south edge of the board and come up even with the Polish left flank. The Polish INF and HMG units in the swamp open up with opportunity fire on the three German MTC units, but the +2 morale bonus given by the elite lieutenant in charge of the recon units gets them through some excellent Polish shooting unscathed.

Two Polish tank platoons drive south on the road to a blocking position ahead of the German recon units, and 2 x PzII tank platoons plus a PzJrI tank destroyer platoon move eastward to oppose them. Then the AT gun battery in the swamp on the Polish left flank opens fire on a SdKfz222 armored car unit but misses. German offboard artillery responds by firing on the newly-spotted AT guns, but the guns pass the M1 morale check (being dug in in a swamp is great protection against bombardment fire).

Then all the INF and HMG units of the southern rifle battalion activate and head eastward, unloading from their trucks and preparing to advance across the kill zone. A Polish tank platoon moves to join with the infantry in the Polish center, and German mortars ride their trucks forward to join with the southern rifle battalion.

The Polish reserves stay in place for the moment, and the disrupted German captain who bailed out of his truck sends the other two trucks forward to join the northern rifle battalion while he and the INF platoon and trucks with him all recover morale. The turn then ends on a Fog of War roll.

Turn Four: 0945 Hours

The Germans win initiative by one activation, and the two recon companies try to cut behind the Polish left flank and into the Polish rear. But opportunity fire from HMG and INF units in the swamp hits the lead MTC unit (with the elite lieutenant riding in a sidecar) and rolls a 2 on the 16 column, doing one step loss to the MTC (1 Polish VP) but failing to kill the lieutenant. Both the MTC and the lieutenant make their morale checks and press on, but continued opportunity fire from the same HMG and INF in the swamp scores an M result, and this time the lieutenant and the now-reduced MTC both fail their morale rolls and become disrupted. The remaining units of the recon companies follow their sergeant and cut behind the Polish right.

Polish offboard artillery hits the HMGs of the southern rifle battalion before they can advance, and the roll of 10 on the 30 column (+1 column shift for a 3-high stack) scores an M2 result that disrupts all three HMG platoons! German offboard artillery responds by hitting the Polish AT gun battery in the swamp again, but once again it passes its morale check.

The AT gun then fires on the lead German armored car that cut behind it but misses with a roll of 3! The PzII and PzJrI units advance toward the swamp, and the Polish tanks both roll 7s and miss the armored cars again!

The INF platoons of the southern rifle battalion advance, the battalion’s mortars ride trucks forward and unload in a field within range of the Polish line, and the disrupted HMG platoons all recover morale. Then the second AT gun battery in the swamps (near the Polish center) opens fire and finally hits the lead armored car platoon, killing one armored car step (1 Polish VP) and disrupting the other. That brings the remaining German offboard artillery raining onto that AT gun, which makes its morale check exactly. But the HMG unit in the same hex with the gun is disrupted.

Polish mortars fire at the lead motorcycle unit of the recon companies but miss, and then the northern rifle battalion advances on the Polish right flank in the northern woods. Opportunity fire erupts from the woods and scores an X result on a German INF platoon, doing one step loss (1 Polish VP) and demoralizing the other step!

All but one of the remaining German INF and HMG units advance unmolested, with the Polish tank in the woods holding fire to see what the PzIIIF tanks do. The remaining German INF unit is demoralized and fails to recover, and flees west to the woods. Two Polish INF platoons move into the same hex with the Polish tank unit in the northern woods to form a fire team. The two PzIIIF platoons advance one hex into the fields where the Polish tanks can’t spot them, but where they’ll have a shot once the Polish tanks reveal themselves by firing.

A kapitan leads a Polish INF unit out of the swamp to an assault position on the disrupted German lieutenant and reduced MTC that got stopped while trying to round the Polish flank.

The turn then ends with German stragglers bringing up the rear and Polish units recovering morale and redeploying.

So at the end of the first hour of battle, Poland’s INF and HMG units plus her offboard artillery are doing a great job of breaking up the German advance, but the Polish tanks and AT guns haven’t gotten the hang of this hitting-the-target thing yet. The German recon companies’ flanking action is doing its job, drawing the Polish reserves southward so the main German thrust can have the best shot at a quick breach of the Polish line.

The Polish reserves need to deal with the recon companies quickly so they can get back to the main action; failure to do that will allow the Germans to rack up more VPs by taking the two exposed town hexes near the southeast corner of the board. As it stands, Germany controls two town hexes for a score of 10 VPs, and Poland controls 10 town hexes (3 Polish VPs per hex) and has killed three German steps for a total score of 33 VPs.

Can Poland hold back the German advance and lengthen her VP lead? Tune in next time and find out!

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