Tactics in White Eagles
Scenario 23: Polish Armor
Part 4: 1200–1245
By Doug McNair
April 2008

Polish lines start falling back to the eastern towns while the advancing Germans try to beat them there in today’s episode of my White Eagles Scenario 23 replay.

As last episode came to a close, the Polish right flank had all but collapsed and several German infantry platoons were moving through the woods toward the northern towns in the Polish rear. Polish artillery had slowed the advancing Germans at the edge of the woods long enough for a few Polish platoons to get to the northeastern town, but German light tanks and recon units were still tying up a good chunk of the Polish reserves near the south board edge.

With Polish reserves nearly tapped out and plenty of German forces ready to circumvent the northern woods and drive into the Polish rear, the Poles need to pull their lines eastward into the towns and hope that the German attack will lose steam in house-to-house fighting there.

The battle continues.

Turn 13: 1200 Hours

German initiative is still just barely 2, but Polish initiative drops to zero due to all the step losses they took last turn. The Germans beat the Poles by two activations and begin by hitting the center of the Polish line with offboard artillery. The roll of 9 on the 42 column scores an M2 result which disrupts one Polish INF unit in the central fields and demoralizes another! That eliminates most of the opportunity fire threat from the field, and the German infantry company west of the field advances northeast, with one platoon initiating an assault against a dug-in Polish INF unit to pin it down while the other two make for the edge of the northern woods. Neither side takes any damage from the assault, and the Poles respond by moving a northbound reserve INF unit into the northeastern town.

German HMG fire against Polish units in the swamps is ineffective, and then the Kapitan in the central fields pulls back one hex northeast along with his disrupted INF while the demoralized INF in the hex he left recovers morale. German offboard artillery hits the Polish mortars in the eastern town, and one of the mortars becomes disrupted. Then the Porucznik at the north end of the swamps moves east along with an INF and HMG unit, but the reduced, disrupted Polish INF he left behind fails to recover.

The German captain leading the infiltration through the woods sends two INF platoons to the east edge of the woods and sends another southeast into the field to head off the Polish units withdrawing through there. He also helps two disrupted INF units in the woods recover morale. The Poles respond by pulling their only remaining good-order unit in the center — the 7TPj tank platoon — northeast to block the German advance.

A German combined tank-infantry force then assaults the two demoralized Polish units at the southwest edge of the northern woods. The Poles are lucky that none of the German infantry is good-order, but the one disrupted INF is still able to combine with the Panzer unit to get the combined-arms bonus. That plus higher morale, a leader and demoralized enemies pushes the assault up to the 24 column. They roll a 4 for a 1 result that destroys the reduced Polish INF there (1 German VP), but the other demoralized Polish INF only fails the M2 morale check by 2 and does not suffer another step loss. The Poles do no damage in return and the demoralized German INF in the hex recovers morale.

The southern Polish reserves then start moving north, with a Kapitan moving into spotting position on the German MTC blocking the road near the south edge. German tanks and infantry start making their way around the northern woods toward the Polish rear, but a demoralized German INF unit that exited an assault hex fails to recover and flees north. Polish offboard artillery hits the MTC blocking the road and disrupts it, and more German units start circumventing the northern woods. Polish tanks move east from the southernmost town to a firing position on the PzII tanks in the assault hex in the southeastern town, and three PzI tank platoons join the infantry force circumventing the northern woods.

A Polish INF unit joins the tank at the south board edge, making it through opportunity fire from the disrupted MTC. Then the Germans in the remaining assault hex in the northern woods demoralize the last Polish INF unit there while one German INF becomes demoralized in the process. The disrupted Porucznik outside the southeastern town sends his INF unit into the town so it can join the assault on the PzII tank there next turn (retaking a town hex for Poland in the process; +3 Polish VPs and –5 German VPs), and he recovers morale. The disrupted German sergeant outside town once again fails to recover morale.

Polish mortar fire is ineffective but the disrupted Polish mortar unit recovers morale. German mortar fire hits the disrupted Polish INF unit still visible from the west in the central field, and the Poles roll terribly on the morale check and become demoralized. The disrupted Polish infantry then assaults the PzII tanks in the southeastern town, but fire from both sides is ineffective. The demoralized Polish INF unit in the assault hex ath the southwest edge of the northern woods fails to recover, exits the hex and gets obliterated by a free shot on the 30 column from the Germans (2 German VPs). The turn then ends with recoveries and redeployments, and units on both sides pulling out of assault hexes voluntarily (the dug-in Polish unit that got assaulted in the field pulls out eastward and makes the morale check from the German free shot, and the PzII unit in the southeastern town assault pulls out westward to avoid almost certain death next turn from tank fire and more assaulting Polish infantry). The Poles take control of another town hex for +3 Polish VPs and –5 German VPs.

Turn 14: 1215 Hours

German initiative keeps hanging on at 2 and the Germans once again win by two activations. The Captain commanding the infantry companies that infiltrated the woods activates, sending one platoon to assault the Polish units withdrawing through the field (to pin them down) and sending the rest due east to try and cut the road linking the two towns there. Neither side does any damage in the assault, but opportunity fire from the Polish tanks that pulled east of the field disrupts one INF platoon while fire from the northeastern town disrupts the Captain and the INF unit with him.

More HMG fire against the Polish units retreating from the swamps is ineffective, and they retreat farther eastward. German offboard artillery fire and Polish mortar fire are also ineffective, and more German offboard artillery disrupts a Polish reserve INF unit near the south edge of the board. Polish offboard artillery is again ineffective, and German tanks and infantry move east along the north edge. Polish tanks and infantry assault the German MTC unit blocking the road near the south edge, but all that happens is the Chorazy leading the assault gets disrupted. More German tanks move east along the north edge, and the Pulkownik moves his last INF unit to the northern hex of the eastern town to guard it and the mortars there against the incoming Germans.

Three German HMG units head eastward along the north edge while their Captain helps a demoralized INF unit recover morale. A Polish INF unit from the southeastern town moves adjacent to the PzII that left the town, but point-blank opportunity fire from the PzII disrupts the INF. However, another INF in the town recovers to good order so one INF will be in an assault position next turn if the tanks don’t retreat.

A good-order German captain moves out of the northern woods to replace the disrupted captain leading the advance toward the road, and a Polish HMG moves north from the south edge while the disrupted INF unit that was with it fails to recover. Trucks carrying German infantry and mortars move east along the north edge, and the two Polish INF units in the field pull out of the assault hex there along with their Kapitan to join the Polish tank platoon east of the field (the German free shot as they leave is ineffective). More German tanks move east, and the turn ends on a Fog of War roll.

Turn 15: 1230 Hours

German initiative remains at 2 and once again they beat the Poles by two activations. German offboard artillery hits the three-high-stacked northern hex of the eastern town, and the roll of 11 destroys a mortar unit (1 German VP) but does not shake the morale of either remaining unit. Then the replacement captain activates and sends a German INF platoon to once again assault the Polish units withdrawing from the field while the rest of the infantry rushes the eastern town. The stack of units withdrawing from the field has gotten quite strong (a tank unit, one good order INF unit and a disrupted INF), and the Poles all pass the M morale check while the assaulting German INF unit becomes disrupted.

But once again the Poles are pinned down and can only creep eastward by withdrawing from the assault hex. The lead German INF platoon rushing the town takes it in the teeth from point-blank opportunity fire from the Polish INF there — it loses a step to an X result (1 Polish VP) and the other step becomes demoralized. Then the captain leads another INF platoon toward the town, but opportunity fire from the northeastern town is equally deadly, rolling a 3 for an X result that kills another German INF step (1 Polish VP). But the Captain and his reduced INF both make the M2 morale check and keep moving, and they make it through continuous opportunity fire right up to the town with their morale unshaken. Another platoon brings up the rear, and a third fails to recover from disruption.

The Porucznik retreating from the Polish center sends his INF unit northeast into the town (before German offboard artillery can hit it) and pulls back to the road with an HMG. The PzII unit that pulled out of the southeastern town then drives up to a new roadblock position just two hexes south of the retreating Porucznik.

Polish offboard artillery and German HMG fire is ineffective, and a German INF near the center of the board fails to recover from disruption. The Polish AT gun at the north end of the swamps misses the PzII that just moved north on the road. German tanks and infantry then round the bend near the northeastern town, and opportunity fire from the town is ineffective. Polish mortar fire is ineffective, and more Germans come around the bend. With reinforcements reaching the southern town, the Poles who have been withdrawing from assault hexes for the last two turns decide to just let the 7TPj tank unit withdraw (to gain a firing position on the PzII tanks blocking the road) while the INF units in the hex counterassault the Germans there and act as a rearguard for the tank. Neither side scores any damage in the assault, and the turn then ends abruptly on a Fog of War roll. That’s very bad news for the Poles, who did not get a chance to move any of their southern reserves northward.

Turn 16: 1245 Hours

German initiative drops to 1, but they beat the Poles by two activations anyway. German offboard artillery fire is ineffective. The reduced good-order INF unit that made it to the edge of town has little hope of hurting the Poles in the town in an assault, but if it just sits there it will get demoralized or worse by point-blank fire. So the Captain sends it into town to pin down the Poles there while bringing another INF platoon adjacent to town and trying to get the demoralized INF unit in the next hex to recover. The demoralized unit does recover, but the defending Poles roll extremely well, scoring an M2 result that disrupts the assaulting Germans.

The Polish AT gun battery at the south end of the swamps fires long-range at the PzII tanks on the road and misses. The Germans know they’re just setting up a crossfire bonus for the Polish tanks to the north, so the panzers take evasive action and move northeast to try to put the field between them and the Polish tanks. The Polish tanks use opportunity fire against the moving Germans but miss.

The Poles then send a Porucznik and an HMG unit north on the road into the eastern town, and German offboard artillery is ineffective. The Pulkownik commanding the Polish forces then takes a fresh INF unit into the assault hex at the north end of the eastern town while the Polish mortars pull out of the assault hex. Neither side does any damage in the assault. The German tanks and infantry near the northeastern town then activate, with the one PzIIIF platoon moving past the town to hunt Polish tanks while the three PzI platoons, a German INF and a captain dive into the only unoccupied town hex there (for +5 German VPs and -3 Polish VPs). Point-blank Polish opportunity fire against the advancing infantry in the town scores an M1 result, but the Germans pass the morale check.

Polish reserves to the south start recovering morale and moving northward on the road, and German HMGs make their way around the northern woods while a German INF northwest of the woods recovers to good order. More Polish reserves head north, and German trucks carrying mortars and infantry head east on the north edge. The turn then ends on a Fog of War roll.

So at the end of the fourth hour of battle, the Poles have chased the Germans away from the southeastern towns and have made a successful fighting withdrawal into the northeastern towns. But the Germans have cut he road linking the two northeastern towns, so the three platoons holding the northernmost town are on their own with German forces rapidly arriving from the north. The Poles are holding strong in the next town to the south and the German infantry rushing that town has taken a beating. So, the panzers will need to take out the Polish tanks to the west and then join the assault on the towns to dig the Poles out of there.

The Poles are still at a big numerical disadvantage, but with the current VP score at Poland 43, Germany 39, they can still win if they score more VPs by killing German units assaulting town hexes than the Germans gain by taking town hexes. Can they do it? Tune in next time and find out!

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