Death Before Dishonor
Chapter I: Blitzkrieg
Part I - Fall Weiss
Chapter I: Blitzkrieg
Part I - Fall Weiss
Early morning of September 1st, 1939. The assault on Poland. The German Armed forces involved in the task of conquering Poland were split in to three military regions each governed by a different Heeresgruppe command. The southern district around the plains of Kracow is goverened by Heeresgruppe Sud led by General von Kluge. Heeresgruppe Sud contains the I, XXII, and Sud Armeekorps and also contains the whole of the 14. Armee. Heeresgruppe Sud has a large amount of reserves at their disposal including the III Armeekorps and the newly formed 4. Armee mainly consisting of elite gerbirgsjager divisions. Their mission is to capture Kracow and the surronding areas and then to procede North to aide in the capture of Warsaw.
The next Heeresgruppe involved in the attack concerns the other half of the western front with Poland governed by Oberkommando der Wehrmacht itself. The main elements include XXIV, VI, XIX, and IV Armeekorps and the 8th and 10th Armees. This is the main group involved in Fall Weiss tasked with taking the key cities of Lodz, Danzig, and eventually the encirclement and destruction of Warsaw.
The last Heeresgruppe involved in Fall Weiss is comprised of all military units in East Prussia: Heeresgruppe Nord. Elements include the XI, Wodrig, and Nord Armeekorps as well as the 3rd Armee. Heeresgruppe Nord is led by General Von Bock who is tasked with the assault on Torun and capture of territories northeast of Warsaw.
Plans for Fall Weiss
One soldier, as verified by many others, agreed that the war was over before iafter the first battles. In Kracow the large enemy force was litteraly overrun within one day by Heeresgruppe Sud. Up north Danzig was quickly captured by Rommel's 10th Panzer Division. The battle at Poznan was also a pushover. With I Armeekorp sent to capture eastern provinces the rest moved north capturing everything to Warsaw. Torun was subsenquently captured and now the Polish capitol was in real trouble. The German advance was so fast that pockets of enemy battalions, even brigades were cought miles behind the front line of soldiers. Warsaw and Lomza were encircled by 10th, 4th, and 14th Armees. The 14th Armee was then tasked was capturing the last main city in Poland: Brest-Lotovsk...
The Battle of Brest-Litovsk was the last major battle in the war. A Heer colonel at the time of Brest-Litovsk reported on the sorry state of the Polish troops: "As they (Polish POWs) marched to the back I could see they had been running from our troops since the beginning. The morale among the men was low, but you could still see the fighting spirit in their eyes." - The main motive for the capture of Brest-Litovsk was to prevent elements of 11 divisions (most of the divisions were down to less than 40% strength) from regrouping after multiple defeats. To take Brest-Litovsk was to save many German lives that could of been prevented. 4 ragtag divisions supplemented with militia that were holding the city and were quickly encircled, and the city taken just hours before the 11 undermanned divisions arrived. Many of them were taken into captivity.
Battle of Brest-Litovsk: End of September 1939
Even with their capitol surronded and their army broken the Polish fought on. A ragtag army made from elements of divisions and volunteers was organized in Kowel. They were able to fight back a major attack by the 4th Armee. The situation differed up north. They were making quick advance down the eastern border with the CCCP. Rommel's 10th Panzer along with elements from surronding corps were given the order to attack Warsaw in early October. It fell late on the night of October 12, 1939. Rommel's panzer grenadier kompanie was the first to reach Warsaw town center. Lomza was soon after conquered. Soon after all resisting armies laid down their arms to either the Soviets or the Germans. October 17, 1939 it was made official, Poland was no more.
The victorious Germans outside Lomza: October 15, 1939
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