Tactics in White Eagles
Scenario 23: Polish Armor
Part 3: 1100 – 1145
By Doug McNair
April 2008

The Poles fight to hold the line near Piotrkow in today’s episode of my White Eagles Scenario 23 replay. As last episode came to a close, the light tanks that followed the German recon companies around the Polish left flank took control of the southern towns in the Polish rear. But they won’t be able to hold them against the Polish reserves unless the main German force can breach Polish lines. Polish lines are holding due to poor German artillery performance, the northern German infantry battalion is bogged down in a woods assault and the southern battalion’s morale is cracking under Polish artillery and opportunity fire. The Germans need to infiltrate Polish lines and grab the unguarded town hexes to the north before the Polish reserves can finish off the tanks and recon companies to the south.

The battle continues . . .

Turn Nine: 1100 Hours

The Poles win initiative by one activation, and a porucznik brings a fresh INF platoon into one of the northern woods assault hexes while the Polish HMG unit there tries but fails to recover. The lead elements of the southern German rifle battalion then make for the woods, trying to infiltrate between the assault hexes there and the Polish units in the fields to the southeast. They make it through opportunity fire and a demoralized INF unit recovers morale.

The Poles need to get their reserves north fast, so the kapitan just outside the southeastern town tries to finish off the demoralized MTC unit in the assault there. He continues to perform miserably, rolling a 1 on the 24 column and only scoring an M1 result. But the Germans fail the morale check by 3 and take a step loss from compound demoralization (1 Polish VP).

The PzII tank platoon that took control of the southeastern town then fires two shots point-blank at the Polish tanks in the assault hex, and one shot rolls a modified 11 to kill a Polish tank step and demoralize the other (2 German VPs)! Then the Poles in the assault hex northeast of town roll a 5 on the 13 column to kill the disrupted German armored car there and destroy the other through compound demoralization (2 Polish VPs), thus wiping out the last of the German armored cars. But the Polish leader and INF unit that wiped them out are both disrupted in the process. The German MTC unit outside the town recovers from disruption, but its sergeant doesn’t.

Polish mortar fire against disrupted German platoons from the southern battalion is ineffective, and trailing elements of that battalion advance. The Poles respond by pulling the center units in the field northeastward to where they can fire on the infiltrating Germans when they advance next turn, while the rest of the Polish units outside the field pull back into it. The disrupted German platoons west of the field recover morale, thus increasing the number of units that can infiltrate next turn. Polish offboard artillery fire hits the just-recovered units, disrupting one of them again.

The infantry company that piled into the central assault hex in the northern woods attacks the newly-reinforced Poles there, while the German major leaves his lieutenant in charge there and exits the hex so he can jump into the assault hex to the south next turn. The Germans no longer have morale superiority in the assault due to the new Polish arrival, so both sides roll on the 9 column and roll a 4 for an M1 result. The porucznik and the new Polish INF unit pass the check, but the disrupted HMG is again disrupted and becomes demoralized. One of the German INF platoons becomes demoralized but the rest pass the check.

The chorazy commanding the Polish left flank leaves the swamps along with his HMG platoon to join up with his kapitan and the two INF platoons at the south edge of the board. The reduced PzII tank unit holding the town hex at the south edge opens up with opportunity fire and rolls remarkably well, disrupting the HMG unit as soon as it leaves the swamp. But the AT gun in the swamps (which was activated by the chorazy before he left) gets some revenge by rolling a modified 10 against the thin-skinned PzJrI tank destroyers west of the swamp to kill one step and disrupt the other (2 Polish VPs).

The lieutenant commanding the HMG platoons of the northern rifle battalion has two HMGs fire at the north end of the Polish line in the woods while the third HMG platoon and two PzIIIF tank units advance on the woods. The porucznik and INF in the woods withstand the M1 morale check from the HMG fire, but the Polish tanks there hold fire to see what the other German units do.

The Polish tank unit in the central fields moves two hexes west to a firing position on the panzers that just advanced, placing itself dangerously close to the southern infantry battalion but also baiting the German infantry to move toward it and into opportunity fire range of the Poles in the southern swamps. The turn then ends abruptly on a Fog of War roll!

Turn 10: 1115 Hours

The Germans took many step losses last turn and their initiative drops to 2. But they win initiative by one activation anyway, and the lead units of the southern infantry battalion crash northeastward through the woods toward the unguarded town. Polish opportunity fire is ineffective, and the tanks that moved out of the fields roll a modified 9 and bounce shells off the panzers that advanced to the edge of the woods.

The other panzer unit takes two shots at the Polish tanks at the north end of the line, and panzer gunnery continues to prove exceptionally accurate, rolling a modified 10 to kill a Polish tank step and demoralize the other (2 German VPs). That’s very bad news for the Poles, who hit the lead units infiltrating through the woods with mortar fire and disrupt one of them. Fire from the HMGs of the northern battalion against the northernmost hex of the Polish line is ineffective.

Polish offboard artillery fire disrupts the other lead INF unit infiltrating through the woods, and then the major jumps into the southernmost assault hex in the northern woods and adds his leadership bonus to the assault. But German assault fire is ineffective while the Poles fire brilliantly on defense and disrupt one of the German INF units in the hex and demoralize the other. The turn then ends very early on a Fog of War roll. The Poles are very lucky that their artillery and mortar fire disrupted the lead German units in the woods — otherwise they’d have the jump on the Poles next turn and would be on the way to reaching the northeastern town before them.

Turn 11: 1130 Hours

Polish initiative drops by one to 2, and the Germans win initiative by one activation. The panzers at the edge of the northern woods take two shots at the Polish tanks in the open to the south, but this time they miss. Polish mortars keep hitting the lead German infantry in the woods and demoralize one of them. The German infantry in the kill zone west of the fields advances directly eastward to engage the Polish tanks and infantry in the fields. Opportunity fire from the fields disrupts one of the incoming units, and Polish offboard artillery fire disrupts another.

German offboard artillery hits the hex on the Polish extreme right in the woods and rolls a 3 on the 42 column for an X result. A Polish INF unit takes a step loss and the other step is demoralized, the already-demoralized tank unit in the hex is again demoralized and eliminated, and the leader in the hex is disrupted (3 German VPs).

The Poles need to free up their southern reserves, so the tank unit behind the southern swamps fires at the reduced PzII in the town at the south edge of the board and rolls a modified 10 to destroy it (2 Polish VPs)! That’s bad news for the remaining units fighting for the southeastern town, so the PzII tanks there fire into the neighboring assault hex to try and finish off the demoralized Polish tanks there. Their tank commanders all earn Iron Crosses, as they again roll a modified 10 and wipe out the Polish tanks (2 German VPs)!

The kapitan in the assault hex doesn’t want to wait around and get assaulted by the panzers next turn, so he activates and assaults the demoralized German MTC unit in the hex. He continues to perform miserably, rolling a 1 for an M result, but the Germans do his job for him and fail the morale check by 3 and die due to compound demoralization (1 Polish VP).

With the smoke clearing from the devastating artillery barrage on the north end of the Polish line, the Germans start sending units toward the Polish right flank. A captain takes a German INF unit forward to an assault position on the reduced,demoralized Polish INF unit at the north end of the line. The Poles respond by moving a reserve HMG and INF platoon northeast, with the INF reaching the northeastern town and the HMG nearly getting there. A PzIIIF platoon moves to join the German INF that moved adjacent to the woods, and Polish INF and HMG units in the southern swamps combine fire at the south flank of the southern German rifle battalion but are ineffective. The turn then ends on a Fog of War roll.

Turn 12: 1145 Hours

German initiative is still just barely hanging on at 2, but Polish initiative drops to 1. But it doesn’t matter because the Poles roll extremely well and beat the Germans by 2 activations. The exposed Polish tanks pull back into the fields, and then the kapitan by the southeastern town plunges in to assault the deadly-accurate PzII tanks there. The tankers continue to astound, rolling a 5 to disrupt the attacking Polish INF while Polish fire is ineffective.

German offboard artillery fire and Polish mortar fire is ineffective, and then German HMGs open fire on the Poles at the north edge of the swamp and disrupt a Polish INF there. Polish offboard artillery fire is ineffective, and then a combined German tank and infantry assault hits the demoralized, reduced INF unit on the extreme north end of the Polish line and wipes it out (1 German VP). The porucznik in the hex is demoralized but escapes.

The Polish tanks east of the swamp move south and retake the town hex by the south edge of the board before the Germans can send their MTC unit there (+3 Polish VPs, -5 German VPs). The German captain leading the infiltration through the woods tells his good-order units to advance while the rest try to recover, and two units do recover but two remain disrupted.

The pulkownik in command of the Polish forces sends an INF unit north on the road toward the northeastern town, and the Germans send three PzI platoons from the reserve eastward along the north edge of the board. More Polish units at the south board edge move toward the town there in preparation for a long march north on the road, and then a PzIIIF unit jumps into the failing assault at the southwest edge of the northern woods.

The AFV/Infantry bonus puts the Germans back on the 9 column along with the Poles, and the appearance of the tanks seems to do the trick since the Germans roll a 6 to kill one Polish INF step and demoralize all the remaining Poles in the hex (1 German VP)! But the Poles still do very well on defense, rolling a 5 for an M2 result that demoralizes the attacking German INF. But luckily, the already-demoralized German INF recovers, so it will be able to add the combined-arms bonus next turn if the Poles haven’t already fled the hex.

The Poles pull their INF and HMG units into the northeastern town, and three disrupted German INF units west of the central field all recover. The Poles in the field fire point-blank on one of them but fail to shake its morale, and three German HMG units head northeast toward the corridor around the northern woods. More Polish fire at the units west of the field is ineffective, but the kapitan commanding the field position recovers morale.

The Germans in the last remaining assault hex in the northern woods attack again, and they eliminate the reduced Polish HMG unit there due to compound demoralization (1 German VP). The Polish defense disrupts the German lieutenant but does no harm to the units there, but the already-demoralized German INF fails to recover and flees the hex.

The porucznik at the north end of the swamps combines fire on the south flank of the southern German rifle battalion, but the fire is ineffective. German offboard artillery fire hits the swamps and rolls a 12, killing a Polish INF step but failing to shake the morale of either target unit (1 German VP). Units on both sides make recoveries and ineffective bombardment fire, and the sergeant by the southeastern town is still unable to recover morale but sends his MTC unit to block the road north from the town at the south edge of the board.

The turn then ends on a Fog of War roll.

The third hour of battle has been the bloodiest by far, with the Poles taking numerous step losses but managing to slow the German infiltration through the woods long enough to get some forces to the northeastern town. This is a good thing, because the north flank of the original Polish line is all but gone, and there is nothing to stop German tanks from speeding eastward on the north edge to hit the eastern towns from the north while German infantry hits them from the west.

The Poles have recaptured the town hex at the south edge of the board, but the last of the German recon units and their supporting tanks are still doing a great job of tying up the Polish reserves down there. If the MTC unit can hold the road against the Polish tanks and infantry, the southern Polish reserves won’t make it to the main scene of action for at least another hour, and by then it may be too late.

The VP score stands at Poland 38, Germany 40. The Poles have closed the gap a bit, but they need to do a lot more damage to the Germans before they reach the towns if they’re going to win on VPs. Can they do it? Tune in next time and find out!

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