Chapter Eighty-nine: Winter Wolves
(1-19 January 1947)
Polish troops prepare another attack in the forests of Gomel, January 1947. The latest Polish propaganda campaign has christened them the ‘Winter Wolves’.
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The Second Phase Begins: 1-5 January
As the new year of 1947 began, after a month of
Operacja Zimowa Burza (Operation Winter Storm) the Polish High Command had completed its first phase after heavy fighting across the front. The difficult winter conditions hampered both sides in terms of attrition, slowing down combat and movement, but still the Poles were happy enough with the progress made. They had stepping off points for the next phase of operations and had helped – along with other Allied efforts on this front and further east – to severely deplete the Soviets’ manpower reserves.
The purpose of the operation remained to break through and begin to roll up the Red Army through attrition to weaken their front-line units, disrupting set defences and then sweeping through any gaps that could be forced to encircle and destroy many of the enemy’s most experienced divisions.
To try to improve supply distribution, once the current infrastructure upgrade was finished in eastern Poland, construction priority went to building new rail lines and repairing damaged ones in the northern salient.
At the front, in the southern sector a powerful new Polish attack began south of Vinnytsia early on New Years Day, with the best part of three corps attacking four Soviet divisions. Man-for-man, the Poles had the better of the fighting mainly due to superior weaponry, good night fighting gear and better leadership and tactics. The Soviet General Chuykov still being injured did nothing to help the defenders’ cause.
Despite bitter weather, a tough battle would be won just under two days later, though Polish occupation was delayed until the night of 4 January after the Soviets rushed in reinforcements for a quick defence.
As that attack went in and the Soviets in Vinnytsia tried to counter-attack the Polish breakthrough to their north, spare Polish forces began advancing from the west and south into gaps that had appeared on the eastern approaches to the key town of Zhytomir, supporting C-Y operations in the area. It was hoped such operations could help rupture the enemy line severely enough to allow an advance all the way to Kiev: in other words, the southern pincer that had been envisaged before OZB began. A late arriving screen would be brushed aside west of Zhytomir early the following morning.
At this stage, with air superiority over Belarus in the balance, the PAF began to switch a number of its fighter wings from interception to air superiority missions, a trend that would continue in the first half of January. It was estimated that the almost constant snow degraded the efficiency of air operations (for both sides) by 10%. Early on 1 January, both sides had thousands of aircraft operating in the skies of Belarus.
By that evening, the PAF commanders received a report on estimated casualties on both sides since the Winter Offensive began. In recent days, the rate of loss of PAF fighters had increased, however this seemed to be the result of intense combat against Soviets tactical bombers and CAS, who were being knocked out of the sky in ever increasing numbers.
Overall, since the start of the offensive, it was estimated the Poles had lost 178 aircraft to all causes, the 4thInt 291. For now, with good reserves and other Allies also chiming in, it was a rate of exchange the Poles could put up with. And a massive amount of enemy bombing sorties seemed to have been disrupted, which was crucial to the ground offensive.
Another excellent boost for the air war and its switch to superiority tactics came at that time with the adoption of improved offensive formation doctrine (the last advance available), giving a significant boost to the offensive operations of the Polish fighter arm.
These changes (or blind luck) seemed to have worked very quickly, as the next day the Allies won back air superiority in the Belarus air zone. And a new fighter ace was promoted the following day, which would have boosted support for the war had it not already been at a bloodthirsty 100%!
To complement the attacks in the south and in the hope of driving the Byelorussian SSR out of the war, early on the 3rd a new assault was launch towards Gomel by a corps of infantry and militia divisions to the east of the enemy’s provisional capital.
The fighting would be hard and relatively even against entrenched enemy positions, with Polish experience, intel, night vision gear, commander skill and tactics evening up the tactical odds.
Meanwhile, in the south the Poles arrived west of Zhytomir on the evening of the 3rd and were straight away thrown in to support the Czechs, who had encountered two Soviet divisions sent to hurriedly plug the gap south of Zhytomir. Their intervention would see that battle won the following afternoon.
On the Gomel front, a major defensive battle was finally won in the north on the evening of the 3rd, while the attack south-east of Bobruysk had run into some trouble by the morning of the 4th, though it would eventually end in a Polish victory that night, at some expense in the difficult battlefield conditions.
While that was unfolding, the casualties in the air were mounting on both sides but the Polish-led Allied air forces retained the upper hand. The PAF now fielded the bulk of the Allied fighter force in the zone and it was decided the new Orzeł Mk1 jet fighters would get their first taste of battle: a wing of 72 was deployed. It would take them a few days yet to be operational for missions.
Only seven Soviet divisions remained in the city of Vinnytsia itself by the morning of 5 January. They were assessed to be rather low on organisation (average 58%) and somewhat under-strength (average 88%). There would be no mass encirclement here as the previous concentration had spread out across the line. Up in Estonia, that evening the Allies were making a strong counter-attack on Narva, which had fallen to the Soviets in December.
The Czechs and Poles had occupied the south-eastern approaches to Zhytomir by that time and were facing a Soviet counter-attack. A spoiling attack was launched with six largely ‘second string’ formations (Lithuanian and militia formations and one armoured division); it would be called off three days later after fierce fighting after its purpose had been fulfilled.
The first five days of the year had seen the Poles press the enemy hard, with some incremental gains made and air superiority being maintained. Nonetheless, it was clear much hard fighting remained ahead if a genuine breakthrough was to be forced.
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The Zhytomir-Vinnytsia Gap: 6-14 January
The Soviet defence of the key rail hub of Vinnytsia had been thinned sufficiently by 6 January for the Poles to throw 16 divisions against its trench lines in what would be another heavy but successful fight, with the Poles eventually defeating a last-minute blocking move on the evening of the 8th.
As that fight began, six recovered mobile divisions (including three lighter Czech EFs) from 1st Army were shifted from depth to the north, into the ‘Zhytomir-Vinnytsia Gap’, ready for the next planned pincer operation, as both attacking and defensive battles raged to hold and expand recent gains there.
The Polish AA inventory got a welcome update to its capability on 6 January – just at the right time. It coincided with the long drive to fully equip all main line divisions AA batteries was almost completed by now, despite the attrition of recent heavy fighting. With fuel reserves beginning to drain again, refining methods would again be improved.
When those 1st Army reserves reached the Z-V gap on the evening of 8 January, they were hurled into the attack south-east of Zhytomir, while the ‘P-C-Y’ defence to their north continued.
The Czechs and Yugoslavs had been particularly active of late, strong enough together across the front to allow the Poles to leave them to run entire sections of the front themselves, where they were often able to mount serious attacks of their own. This allowed ever greater Polish concentration in selected breakthrough areas in the north, centre and south.
More general Allied materiel assistance was also being offered, with new lend-lease offers of AT guns (now in deficit due to combat losses) accepted from Australia, Czechoslovakia, Denmark and British Malaya on the evening of the 8th. Another advantage of being in a large faction with good productive capacity – older surplus gear to help replace battlefield losses was better than nothing!
In the air, the Allies continued to prevail over Belarus, with Poland contributing half the fighter strength by the evening of 8 January. The 4thInt had temporarily almost abandoned the skies, giving comprehensive Allied air superiority for now.
A closer analysis of air casualties to date showed the majority of Polish losses had been in air battles, while on the Soviet side more than half their bomber and CAS losses had actually come from AA fire. That pre-offensive AA investment seemed to have paid off handsomely!
Fighting around Gomel and Zhytomir-Vinnytsia continued through 9 January and by the morning of the 10th, the Poles were in position for a big assault by three full corps on the eight Soviet divisions defending the north-western approach to the city of Gomel, from four directions.
The fighting would be hard and initial estimates by General Anders that ‘it will all be over in a day’ proved to be grossly optimistic and were soon revised. The balance would swing to the Soviets early on the 11th, then back to the Poles by midday. Nearly 10,000 men from both sides would fall before the enemy broke on the evening of the 13th.
In the southern sector, a full Polish corps south of Zhytomir was finally free to join the attack into the Z-V gap on the night of the 10th, leading to a victory on the early afternoon of the 11th, as fresh troops were rotated into the assault.
Some moderately good news came from the Allied commanders in Estonia on 11 January with news that Narva had been reclaimed, Pskov taken and an offensive had pushed to the outskirts of Luga in the centre, though the Allies again seemed to be on the defensive.
And the useful Anglo-French diversion in Archangelsk still soaked up at least three Soviet corps and seemed to be holding on solidly enough in the terribly cold conditions. This front would continue to remain largely static all month.
After the victory in the Z-V gap, the light Czech cavalry and Polish militia advance guard divisions came under heavy Soviet counter-attack on the night of the 11th as more troops kept arriving.
Four more divisions arrived by midnight, but still the Soviets pressed hard. Even though 11 Polish and 2 Czech divisions were in place by early on the 13th, the Soviets kept up the attack, desperate to repel this dangerous Allied incursion as the battle raged on.
The jet-equipped 14. Dywizjion Myśliwski joined the air war at 1900hr on 12 January in the air superiority role, though it would take some time to work up their mission efficiency (9.9% at first, including a 10% snow penalty).
As the fight for the Z-V gap continued, a Polish assault to its south was heavily reinforced on the morning of the 13th and there too the fighting would swing in favour of one side and then the other over the next day as the Soviets held on strongly.
North-west of Gomel, by midday on the 14th the province had been taken though was under heavy counter-attack by eight Soviet divisions. To aid their defence, a spoiling attack had been launched from the north-east, though it was having problems making headway.
While down in the Z-V gap there was heavy fighting to hold the initial breach (where it would take until 17 January and over 3,000 casualties for the victory) while a supporting attack to its south to try to widen the breakthrough would result in another six days of heavy fighting with even more casualties on both sides.
A P-C-Y Effort: 14-19 January
It was at this point that the ever-helpful (and numerically significant) C-Y Allies launched yet another concerted offensive along the front in support of the main Polish effort.
At this time, the C-Y armies on the Polish section of the Eastern Front had around 104 divisions between them and the Poles another 88, up against an estimated 159 Soviet and Byelorussian counterparts. The other main Western European Allies seemed to have focused their efforts in Turkey and the Middle East.
A Yugoslav division had joined in on the attack north-east of Gomel, but by the end of the 14th it was still running against the Allies; their comrades to the west were still being held up by the enemy counter-attack, so could not assist yet. C-Y attacks had also begun east of Mogilev, though all three were making limited headway.
Things then hotted up in the northern Belarus sector around Vitebsk on 15 January. A powerful C-Y attack was in progress north-west of Vitebsk. And a Polish militia division was ordered to support another attack south-west of Vitebsk, which yielded a victory by the 17th. That battle showcased the greater impact of Allied air power on the Soviets, with a little over a third of their losses coming from air attacks.
Six Polish divisions joined the battle north-west of Vitebsk as the C-Y attack ran into trouble, giving an initial boost. As had happened elsewhere, the balance swung to and fro over the next day, with the Allies back on top by the end of the 16th as the fight continued.
And east of Mogilev, the most promising of the three C-Y attacks was reinforced by three Polish divisions, improving the odds (from 39 to 51%).
A C-Y attack on the city of Zhytomir was also making progress (42%), despite only three Allied divisions assaulting seven Soviet divisions, though the odds had evened up by that evening. However, many of the P-C-Y attacks were going quite well.
With field artillery now running short, Germany made a new (and potentially large) lend-lease offer of surplus 150mm guns. An inventory of equipment holdings showed battlefield damage (or the original AA shortfall) had resulted in deficits in AA, AT, artillery, light tank and light SP artillery. This effectively meant any new divisional recruitment was on hold, as the ancillary equipment needed to complete them would not be available.
Heavy fighters were no longer being built, so that deficit would continue to climb as the aircraft type was phased out. The same went for CAS, though a few older models remained in stockpile, while older fighter models were still available to replace losses in the piston-engine fighter wings (also now discontinued). Tactical bomber reserves remained strong, while the jet fighter reserve was being built up (with the deployed wing being kept at 72 strong for now).
The 150 CAS based in Nowogródek now only had partial coverage of the front in Belarus, so were moved forward to the airfield in Gomel. This (plus the weather conditions) reduced their mission efficiency to just 6.8% initially and it would take time to recover as they settled in. The Allies retained air superiority in that zone, though over 1,000 4thInt fighters and 1,200 bombers had returned to contest the skies there.
The Zhytomir salient remained under enemy counter-attack, with a Polish militia and Czech EF tank division forced to withdraw on 16 January. Fighting continued on in the same vein for the next couple of days across the front.
Up in Gomel, the Allies had finally prevailed in the north-western approaches to the Byelorussian capital on 16 January and then in the north-east on the 18th after inflicting heavy casualties on the Soviet defenders.
Early on the 19th they rushed to support a single-division Yugoslavian attack on Gomel itself, but were unable to fully reinforce before a heavy loss was suffered on the morning of 20 January.
Otherwise, by midday on 19 January, the P-C-Y forces were on the offensive on the Eastern Front and ahead in most of the battles that continued. In this phase of the offensive, some limited territorial gains had been made and the fighting had been tough, but in Belarus Allied air superiority was having a positive impact and the Poles believed the enemy defences were beginning to fray in Ukraine.
