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Over in the position east of Oran, a long attack the Italians had been conducting since late July finally ended that morning, the enemy again taking heavy casualties (Poland 72, Italy 1,750 killed).
This time the convoy would not get through unscathed. They were attacked twice by Italian naval bombers on 19-20 July, repelling them once but losing one of the convoys in a second attack.
The battle results says you lost one out of six convoy ships, so logically you'd think the four divisions should have lost about the same proportion of their men and equipment. Fortunately, the actual damage sustained seems rather light.
The Italian naval bombers in the Central Med next managed to strike the patrolling Polish subs, sinking the ORP Wilk on 24 July. The other two were withdrawn back to port, not having achieved much (if anything) during their mission.
In early August 1941, the Allies continued to do it tough in Asia, with China edging ever closer to defeat and the Japanese apparently having broken through in Borneo, also attacking some other islands in the Dutch East Indies.
I was hoping the Allies would hold in Borneo but it looks like that front failed quickly and a lot of those divisions are completely cut off from supply now.
Thank you for the well wishes. Unfortunately, the health emergency I mentioned earlier has become a bereavement, so my full re-engagement will be further delayed as my brother and I make the necessary arrangements for our mother, may she Rest In Peace.
But please feel free to continue any further AAR comments in the interim, as I’ll still be looking at those when I can and will get around to replying in due course. They remain a pleasure and by no means any kind of unwelcome distraction or burden.
Looking like the AI has had enough of Italy and is pulling out all the stops to get them gone fast. Can't see Italy responding or being able to respond to all those landings and keep a dogged defence in the east up too.
Iran is down and nearly put, but then again so is China for the most part. Then again again, the UK and France have crushed everyone else by this point and have massive naval and air superiority when they eventually move everything east, so Japan is going to die...just might take a while and some nukes.
The festering sore of China has gobbled up a lot of French, German and British effort thus far, not to mention Indochina and Borneo too. It will mbe interesting to see if/how the major Allies (including Germany) apply their combat power to the double-headed Fascist and Communist monster in the east.
Yes, that. And then what the US might do, too. Plus whether the Fascists and Communists in the east eventually go at each other as well, for a three-sided real World War.
Here's hoping you can do that Madagascar focus, now with the springboard in North Africa it is about time you start a proper and glorious Polish African Empire!
It has been an interesting one and something to keep the Poles occupied and gaining battlefield experience. We will see whether their strategic patience ends up paying off (for the benefit of the Greater Allied/French Good, anyway).
The crew of the Wilk are entitled to feel a bit unlucky about that. The Italian navy was terrible at ASW, worse even than the IJN, so they were unfortunate to be sunk by them.
Give how complex and disaster prone amphibious landings are, you would think there would be some kind of limit on which nations could carry out that sort of landing. This is the sort of thinking that gets one sacked at Paradox.
The Rats are basically safe at this point, so I suppose the question is will Poland try to fight in the Far East or leave it to others? Baring some horrific logistics problem, which I'm sure HOI4 just handwaves away, I suspect they will. The jungles of Borneo and Indonesia will be quite a change from the North African desert!
Correct about the Rats. As for the Far East ... my jury is out there for now, especially while the Soviets are lurking with menaces on the eastern border. If they do attack, we're likely to need everything to hang on OK, and that might be just too far for a substantial detachment to be stranded. The supply would be provided by our Allies, so that wouldn't be a problem ... ahem.
Not sure about their draft law options, but they must be running on vapour by now in most areas of their war economy. If we can take more of those major centres remaining in Tunisia, they should presumably be toast. Even if it's cold by the time we consume it.
The battle results says you lost one out of six convoy ships, so logically you'd think the four divisions should have lost about the same proportion of their men and equipment. Fortunately, the actual damage sustained seems rather light.
I was hoping the Allies would hold in Borneo but it looks like that front failed quickly and a lot of those divisions are completely cut off from supply now.
Thank you. It was more discomfort than pain, I believe and she seemed not to be in any outright distress. She fought to the end but mind could not triumph over flesh. It is the way of things.
All: Next chapter (basically done) will be up later today, I hope. It remains a good distraction while we go through the usual arrangements one must at these times, so the schedule will still be a bit slower than usual.
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Chapter Seventeen – The Torch of Freedom (September - October 1941)
Chapter Seventeen – The Torch of Freedom (September - October 1941)
Polish infantrymen preparing for the ‘final push’ against the Italians in North Africa, October 1941.
Author’s Note: I have cut the research reporting and will only mention it now if something out of the ordinary or significant is completed.
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1-15 September 1941 – Breaking Out
As September began, the French had landed an infantry division in Algiers to support the two Yugoslavian formations then fanning out east into the Algerian countryside and secure their supply port. Otherwise, the Poles in Tunisia were holding fast, with virtually no supply and low organisation.
In Borneo, the Allied position had collapsed by 2 September, with six divisions from assorted countries trapped in the west, while more fell back to the last port in the east, which was already under attack.
In southern Tunisia, while the Poles remained on the defensive, the French moved to eliminate the Italian cavalry division trapped in the desert. After a six-hour fight, the Italians had surrendered to their attackers.
Across North Africa, the Yugoslavians were expanding their lodgement east though had run into tough resistance from Italian mountain troops west of Constantine, as it appeared more troops were on their way by sea to reinforce Algiers.
By late on 7 September, gaps began to appear in the Italian line in Tunisia: the Poles began to march their troops into the gap, inland and west of Sfax, looking for open spaces rather than combat due to their still fragile supply and organisation levels.
The German siege of Leningrad began on 8 September 1941.
The upgrade of mines in Upper Silesia was completed on 9 September, with the Polish government switching its focus to expanding the University of Warsaw.
Another Polish division was added to the breakthrough advance in Tunisia on 10 October, though the Yugoslavian 50th Division would beat them there on the afternoon of the 12th.
8 DP joined them early on 14 September and followed the Yugoslavians north into a widening gap. By that afternoon, the Allies had five divisions in the Algiers lodgement (three Yugoslavian and two French).
By the end of 15 September, four Communist divisions remained holed up in Durango, Mexico as the leftist rebellion still held out. In the east, only a few doomed pockets held out in Borneo, China clung on and France had lost most of Laos and northern Vietnam.
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16-30 September 1941 – Keep Driving Hard
As the thinness of the Italian defence in Tunisia became clearer on the evening of 16 September, Poland funnelled more divisions through the gap opened up by the Yugoslavs and 8 DP. Two days later, the 50th would be on the approaches to Batna.
The Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran concluded on 17 September. Great Britain and the Soviet Union set up a joint occupation of the country. The Germans captured Kiev on 19 September and took 500,000 Red Army soldiers prisoner.
On the diplomatic front, the Polish government decided to make a concerted effort to improve relations with the democratic Tatarescu government in Romania, which at that stage were languishing somewhat. There were hopes they could become a future ally against possible Soviet aggression.
In Africa, the Poles accelerated the Allied push to seize all the key towns of Italian-occupied Tunisia and Algeria.
And after many months of siege, on 22 September there was movement in the Oran sector. The French had advanced east towards Algiers, so the Poles moved to follow them up with an attack by 6 and 18 DP, while 17 WD moved to fill in behind them.
By the next morning, a general advance was under way in Tunisia as the Italian line near Sfax dissolved and withdrew north.
The next day, Poland expanded its influence campaign in Romanian to influence the like-minded non-aligned political party there, the FRN (then on about 11% support).
Early on the 25th, the advance of 8 DP was checked south of Bizerte as the withdrawing Italian divisions pulled in there. Though both sides were low on supply, 8 DP was in no state to attack and soon called off the encounter battle after a four-hour fire-fight.
Over the next few days, French and Polish forces pushed forwards from Sfax towards Bizerte and Tunis with no opposition.
Yugoslavia’s 17th Division took Constantine from the east just after midday on the 29th, further isolating the Italian units remaining in northern Tunis.
The Germans launched Operation Typhoon, the assault on Moscow, when Heinz Guderian's forces attacked along the Bryansk Front.
As the month ended, the civil war in Mexico had been won by the Allied-backed Republican forces.
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1-15 October 1941 – Encirclement
The northern Tunisian pocket was enclosed on the afternoon of 1 October, though the 17th Division had run well ahead of any follow-up forces in Algeria.
The French 57ème Division had advanced to the outskirts of Bizerte and Tunis late on 2 September, with the Poles following up from the south.
East of Oran, the Poles won their long battle on the evening of the 3rd, in what would be the hardest-fought battle of the period.
The next move into an abandoned position began on 6 October in the vicinity of Tlemcen, where two Polish divisions (still short of supplies) would later encounter and easily defeat an Italian division trying to re-enter their old positions.
Yugoslavian forces had taken the last province between Oran and Algiers by the afternoon of 7 October and were attacking south strongly. This meant all three Allied fronts in North Africa, from Oran to Tunisia, were now linked.
Early the next morning, 2 DP took Tunis and began moving on along the coast to port of Bizerte. The Allied campaign had now reduced residual Italian strength in Africa considerably, though they still fought on obstinately.
While the Allied offensives in Africa were progressing well, the Chinese front remained very difficult. The last Allied pocket on the coast around Xiamen had been compressed and was in big trouble: it was unclear whether any of the Allied forces there could or would be evacuated.
On 8 October, the Siege of Odessa (and would end 8 days later), while the Germans captured Mariupol on the Sea of Azov [in eerie parallels to events over 80 years later].
But in central China, the Allies had managed to create a pocket with a couple of Fascist divisions trapped in it.
The French were the first into Bizerte on the evening of the 10th. A day later, the Polish cavalry division (the KBK) had passed through the French and was advancing rapidly west, heading to take the last port in the area at Annaba.
Meanwhile, Polish divisions probing west towards Batna came up against an Italian division and put in an attack they made good initial progress, both sides badly short of supplies and low on organisation.
But the attack was called off the next day when another Italian division arrived, tipping the scales in favour of the defenders. The Poles would bide their time and wait for more units and supplies to arrive before resuming the offensive there.
Back in Poland, a new mountain division was deployed into 3rd Army, on the Czech border, on 12 October, bringing Poland up to 63 divisions in total strength. That night, French and Polish troops in Bizerte came under Italian attack, but it was beaten off the next morning with heavy Italian and no Allied casualties.
By 13 October, the Allied supply situation in North Africa had improved considerably with the adding of new ports in the logistical chain. From this point, unit supply and organisation in the more northerly units would begin to rebuild steadily, as the KBK closed in on the fourth port, Annaba.
Annaba was taken early on the 14th, completing the encirclement of the two remaining Italian divisions in northern Tunisia. The KBK then headed back east to ensure the pocket remained closed but came under attack at 0400hr on 15 October. Despite Italian supply shortages, the light KBK outfit came under heavy initial pressure.
To relieve the KBK – and close the pocket down – a spoiling attack was launched from the south. In coming days, they would be joined by three more Polish divisions closing in from the east, following up an earlier French victory. Both the defence of the KBK and the attack south-east of Constantine would eventually be won at 0700hr on the 17th. The latter saw over 9,000 Italian troops either killed or captured.
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16-31 October 1941 – Operation Torch
A new ‘standard’ infantry division went into training on 16 October. All its infantry equipment and anti-tank gun needs could be met immediately from stockpiles but support equipment (0/10) and artillery (0/12) would be needed to fully equip it. Military production was adjusted to help meet the shortfall.
By 17 October, Romanian opinion of Poland had greatly improved (+59) as the charm offensive continued. In Africa, supply had now been re-established with all Polish units, though some still had some way to go to fully reorganise and re-equip. The Polish units freed from closing the Tunisian pocket were making their way to the new front around Batna.
Hideki Tojo replaced Fumimaro Konoe as Prime Minister of Japan.
A whole week was taken to allow reorganisation, repositioning and restocking before the next major Polish attack was launched. This time, Batna was struck by five fully restored divisions attacking from four directions. Italian resistance crumbled after just nine hours of resistance.
In the previous few days, the French had launched ‘Operation Torch’ to retake the latest makeshift Italian capital at Casablanca and were advancing on Mussolini’s latest refuge in Marrakech. This was another example of good Allied coordination of naval landings along the North African coast that would hasten the demise of the Italian rump state.
The German drive on Moscow was almost completely halted due to bad weather.
With Batna occupied on 26 October, the Poles kept the rolling offensive going with an attack to its south. Italy resisted until early on the 28th but suffered hundreds of casualties without being able to inflict any on their attackers.
In China, the morning of 27 October saw the Allied pocket south-west of Xiamen on its last legs and without any port to allow an escape of the last five doomed Allied divisions. But in central China, the Allies looked to have pinched off a Fascist advance and had nine enemy divisions surrounded and under concerted attack.
The next Polish attack near Tlemcen went in on 29 October, another corps-strength assault of fairly fresh troops on a single poorly supplied Italian mountain division. They would resist for a day before withdrawing with heavy casualties.
Late on the 30th, the KBK had completed an inland hook, passing through French formations to cut off at least six Italian divisions in another pocket south-west of Batna. They soon came under a heavy attack as the enemy tried to break out westwards.
Their comrades were soon dashing west to relieve them, but they all remained some distance away. The KBK would have to hold out as best it could and were still hanging on as the month ended, even as their task got steadily harder.
Situation in North Africa as at midnight on 31 October 1941.
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The Wider War – as at 31 October 1941
In Asia, the combined Fascist and Communist attacks had made more grinding progress over the last two months. Borneo had been fully conquered.
The French had been pushed back somewhat in Indochina, now holding Cambodia and southern Vietnam, with some additional Allied support (German and Australian) filtering in.
Polish relations with Romania had further improved (to +77), while support for the non-aligned ‘pro-Polish’ FRN had increased slightly to around 13%, but still well behind the ruling PNL and opposition Fascist parties.
On 8 October, the Siege of Odessa (and would end 8 days later), while the Germans captured Mariupol on the Sea of Azov [in eerie parallels to events over 80 years later].
This was another example of good Allied coordination of naval landings along the North African coast that would hasten the demise of the Italian rump state.
In China, the morning of 27 October saw the Allied pocket south-west of Xiamen on its last legs and without any port to allow an escape of the last five doomed Allied divisions. But in central China, the Allies looked to have pinched off a Fascist advance and had nine enemy divisions surrounded and under concerted attack.
Thank you for the update and we patiently await the next episode of AAR therapy. The Italian cat has used 8.88 lives. What infamy awaits the US in December? Will the Soviets ever appear from their bunkers?
Watching a campaign using so much maneuver is wild. It's changing as territory changes hands and more forces arrive, but I'm so much more used to long fronts filled with divisions.
And this extra space was wisely used to make the update longer, in accordance with ancient tradition.
It is good to see the Italian position finally collapsing, at some point the complete lack of industry or support had to take effect and it finally has. In real politik terms if Stalin has managed to avoid stabbing everyone in the back up until now, he's hardly going to wait until after Italy is defeated and the distraction removed to launch an attack. However we all know Paradox AI's laugh in the face of such logic, so keeping an eye on the Bear seems prudent.
While the loss of Borneo is unfortunate once North Africa is finally wrapped up the massive Allied military and industrial advantage should start to tell in the Far East. While Poland may very wisely not want to stick it's troops into the meatgrinder of mainland China there are opportunities for a decent sized expeditionary force to make a massive difference. Such a moderate sized force would also allow a large Home Army to watch the Eastern borders, so ticks many boxes.
In real politik terms if Stalin has managed to avoid stabbing everyone in the back up until now, he's hardly going to wait until after Italy is defeated and the distraction removed to launch an attack. However we all know Paradox AI's laugh in the face of such logic, so keeping an eye on the Bear seems prudent.
In Borneo, the Allied position had collapsed by 2 September, with six divisions from assorted countries trapped in the west, while more fell back to the last port in the east, which was already under attack.
Another Polish division was added to the breakthrough advance in Tunisia on 10 October, though the Yugoslavian 50th Division would beat them there on the afternoon of the 12th.
Yugoslavian forces had taken the last province between Oran and Algiers by the afternoon of 7 October and were attacking south strongly. This meant all three Allied fronts in North Africa, from Oran to Tunisia, were now linked.
By 13 October, the Allied supply situation in North Africa had improved considerably with the adding of new ports in the logistical chain. From this point, unit supply and organisation in the more northerly units would begin to rebuild steadily, as the KBK closed in on the fourth port, Annaba.
I was really hoping the additional ports and railways would have the desired effect... and the chronic lack of Allied supply was the only realistic hope the Italians ever had of holding out in North Africa.
In the previous few days, the French had launched ‘Operation Torch’ to retake the latest makeshift Italian capital at Casablanca and were advancing on Mussolini’s latest refuge in Marrakech. This was another example of good Allied coordination of naval landings along the North African coast that would hasten the demise of the Italian rump state.
In China, the morning of 27 October saw the Allied pocket south-west of Xiamen on its last legs and without any port to allow an escape of the last five doomed Allied divisions. But in central China, the Allies looked to have pinched off a Fascist advance and had nine enemy divisions surrounded and under concerted attack.
Cutting off a bunch of fascist divisions is welcome news, but I can't begin to guess how many Allied divisions have been lost like this in China over the course of the war.
Late on the 30th, the KBK had completed an inland hook, passing through French formations to cut off at least six Italian divisions in another pocket south-west of Batna. They soon came under a heavy attack as the enemy tried to break out westwards.
Their comrades were soon dashing west to relieve them, but they all remained some distance away. The KBK would have to hold out as best it could and were still hanging on as the month ended, even as their task got steadily harder.
OK, I'm preparing to play the next session through and hopefully get another chapter written up before heading off to our annual veterans' national cricket championships for around a week, followed by another family visit, both interstate. First, some traditional comment feedback from the last episode.
At the moment, a stalemate rather than Chinese surrender is a bet I'd take. If it falls, it may well be very hard to get the AI Allies to take it back. Our best hope is for war between the Fascists and Communists, but I've no idea how likely that is while theyre both fighting the Allies.
Thank you for the update and we patiently await the next episode of AAR therapy. The Italian cat has used 8.88 lives. What infamy awaits the US in December? Will the Soviets ever appear from their bunkers?
No worries! Yes, the Italian cat's next option is full zombie mode! It will be interesting indeed to see if either the US or USR do finally enter, and if so against who? If it's us, we should be able to hold reasonably well for a while, but will really need some Allied support, specially from Germany and France in Europe and Britain and France in Iran-South Asia.
Watching a campaign using so much maneuver is wild. It's changing as territory changes hands and more forces arrive, but I'm so much more used to long fronts filled with divisions.
Ah well, to be fair I still wanted to fit two months into the one chapter. I could have gone for two far shorter monthly ones, I guess, but wanted to push through with the North African stuff.
It is good to see the Italian position finally collapsing, at some point the complete lack of industry or support had to take effect and it finally has. In real politik terms if Stalin has managed to avoid stabbing everyone in the back up until now, he's hardly going to wait until after Italy is defeated and the distraction removed to launch an attack. However we all know Paradox AI's laugh in the face of such logic, so keeping an eye on the Bear seems prudent.
Yes indeed. It took some time and patience, plus some useful Allied contributions, but we now have them on the run. Trotsky has been pretty meek so far. Not sure if there are any likely triggers to hasten their involvement, against us or the Fascists left in Asia. In which case leaving Europe alone could make sense. But we must of course remain vigilant on our eastern border.
While the loss of Borneo is unfortunate once North Africa is finally wrapped up the massive Allied military and industrial advantage should start to tell in the Far East. While Poland may very wisely not want to stick it's troops into the meatgrinder of mainland China there are opportunities for a decent sized expeditionary force to make a massive difference. Such a moderate sized force would also allow a large Home Army to watch the Eastern borders, so ticks many boxes.
You'd hope so. I too thought Borneo may have held out longer against those Commie Japanese! Still debating re a sizeable EF to Asia: player intervention would definitely assist the Allied cause, but it's a long way off should the USR invade.
I was really hoping the additional ports and railways would have the desired effect... and the chronic lack of Allied supply was the only realistic hope the Italians ever had of holding out in North Africa.
Cutting off a bunch of fascist divisions is welcome news, but I can't begin to guess how many Allied divisions have been lost like this in China over the course of the war.
Chapter Eighteen – Rolling Along (November – December 1941)
A Polish Pt31 locomotive, December 1941.
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1-15 November 1941 – Watch Your Fingers, Musso!
By midday on 1 November, one of the Italian divisions attacking the KBK cavalry division had pulled out and the battle was now evenly balanced as the Poles closed in from the east on the three pocketed Italian divisions south of Algiers.
By that evening, the relieving Polish divisions were attacking the pocketed enemy from the east, improving the KBK’s position further. At 2200hr the Italian armoured division there dissolved, then an hour later one of the infantry divisions followed.
The Italian breakout attack failed at 1500hr on 2 November and the last Italians in the pocket surrendered at 2000hr. A total of just over 19,000 Italian troops were killed or captured in that pocket.
By 3 November, Italian strength in Africa was ebbing away, with about four divisions left in the field, while their remaining ships and aircraft were in unknown locations. As was Mussolini: the door had slammed shut on his last bastion but he was nowhere to be found, with no capital left to occupy.
Later that night, France cut off a final new pocket south of Oran and Algiers, while Polish troops moved into position to seal it off and prepare for another encirclement attack.
The twin hammer blows fell on the evening of the 5th and both battles would be won by the following afternoon.
Meanwhile, on the morning of the 6th it was clear that Polish units could start to be pulled back for redeployment. Five divisions were sent back to Algiers, to also let them escape the severe attrition they were suffering in the Algerian mountains.
On 6 November Joseph Stalin made a radio address broadcast worldwide declaring that Hitler's "crazy plan" to draw Britain and the United States into a coalition to destroy the Soviet Union had failed. Stalin said that a coalition of the United States, Britain and the USSR was "now a reality" and expressed his hopes that a "second front" would be established "in the near future." [Things have turned out rather differently so far in the ATL.]
The Italian divisions dislodged from their positions in the pocket were attempting to retreat to each other’s locations. But by the morning of 8 November the southern province had been secured by the Poles, quickly bouncing the Italian 3a Alpina back, where they were attacked by 6 DP advancing from the north-east. They would surrender just three hours later, their comrades to the south an hour after that.
With this last pocket eliminated and the Allies advancing steadily both east and west of the remaining Italians, on 11 December another two divisions were sent north, while the first five were already resting in Algiers.
Another quick attack was put in south of Oran on the evening of 12 November, won without Polish casualties by 1100hr on the 14th.
By the 15th, those Italian’s retreat was blocked to the west by the Yugoslavians, with the Poles renewing their attack at 1400hr and forcing the Italians to surrender four hours later.
This ended all Italian resistance in Africa.
The last five Polish divisions were sent north to Oran, leaving the final mopping up to the French and the other Allies.
The Germans renewed the drive on Moscow on 15 November after a three-week lull. The Soviets were pushed back from the Volga Reservoir north of the capital but with temperatures dropping to -20 Celsius across the Eastern Front, the German advance was very slow.
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15-30 November 1941 – Next Steps
With the end of combat operations in North Africa, Poland had to decide what to do next. Return the Korpus Polski Afrykańskiej (KPA) to the homeland to await a possible Soviet onslaught? Or deploy to assist the main Allied fight against Fascism and Communism in Asia?
At that time, the factional holdings in Asia, China especially, had become less chaotic. South-western China was hemmed in by the Fascist Asian League to the north and south and the Communist Mutual Assistance Bloc to the east. Nationalist China was still holding out, as were the French in southern Indochina. Borneo was fully in Communist Japanese hands.
In the rump of Nationalist China, their main support was being provided by Germany, with a few French divisions in the north-west. The British were providing support by their long-standing but ponderous attack in the west of Sinkiang, with support from Germany and the Raj. China was hanging on – just.
President Mościcki, his Cabinet and High Command met to decide their course: the current KPA would be sent to the east to assist their Allies, while the bulk of the Army remained at home to ready themselves to defend the homeland.
Naval intelligence suggested that an attempt to send unescorted troop transports to any Indian port would have a “100% chance of being detected and intercepted”. And the location of the Italian Navy remained unknown, not to mention the potent Japanese Navy.
The strategic redeployment would instead be done overland, by train and truck. First, the five divisions resting in Algiers would be sent all the way to Sinkiang, to lend some heft to the British drive there.
Next, the three divisions then in Oran would be sent initially to Baluchistan, on the border of the Raj. When they arrived, they could either be sent to reinforce the Sinkiang front or further east across India to perhaps reinforce the main front in China. More would follow later.
These treks would take many days. Back home, the expansion of the University of Warsaw was completed to increase Poland’s research potential. The next focus would be to abolish segregated seating, to broaden education and manpower while boosting national stability. The extra research capacity would be used to develop Poland's first medium battle tank.
By 20 November, the Fascists seemed to be making slow inroads into the French-Allied lines in Indochina.
The Siege of Tobruk ended in Allied victory on 27 November when the besieged garrison was relieved by the British 8th Army.
General Władysław Sikorski visits Tobruk and reviews Polish troops as Prime Minister of the Polish Government in Exile, November 1941.
As November 1941 came to a close, Europe and Africa were at peace, though the Italian Navy and Air Force and Mussolini himself remained at large.
In China, the pressure had increased a little but the Nationalists were still holding.
And the first group of Polish divisions heading to the east were just passing Derna in eastern Libya.
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December 1941 – The March to the East
As the bulk of the Polish 4th Army headed east, things remained fairly quiet in Europe.
On 5 December the Soviet Red Army launched a massive counter-offensive against the German Forces during the Battle of Moscow which effectively put Operation Typhoon to an end.
Operation Typhoon, the German drive for Moscow, August-December 1941.
On 7 December, the main news for Poland was in civil construction, with fuel infrastructure continuing to be improved.
On 7 December Japan launched its invasion of British Malaya, at Kota Bharu, at 7:15 am Hawaiian Time (1:45 am 8 December Malaya time). The Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor began at 7:55 a.m. Hawaiian Time. 21 American ships and over 300 aircraft were sunk or damaged and 2,418 Americans were killed. Japan lost 29 planes in return. Japan declared war on the United States, Great Britain, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa.
Japan attacks Pearl Harbor, 7 December 1941.
President Roosevelt made the Infamy Speech on 8 December (with its famous opening line "Yesterday, December 7, 1941, a date which will live in infamy,") to a Joint session of Congress. Within one hour the United States declared war on Japan. The United Kingdom also declared war on Japan. The Japanese invasion of Thailand occurred. A ceasefire was reached in only a few hours; Thailand formed an alliance with Japan and declared war on the Allies. The Malayan Campaign, Philippines Campaign, Dutch East Indies campaign, Battle of Guam, Battle of Wake Island and Battle of Hong Kong began.
On 10 December, another four Polish divisions began their long journey east to the transit point in Baluchistan.
On 11 December Germany and Italy declared war on the United States. Mutual declarations were exchanged between most of the Allied and Axis members during this period.
Then on 19 December, another diplomatic surprise was sprung, with Bulgaria joining the Fascists of The Asian League! Once more, Yugoslavia would be at the forefront of combat in Europe.
But they would not be fighting alone. Poland’s reserve in Warsaw, consisting of one ‘heavy’ infantry division, five standard ones and a cavalry division were despatched by the roundabout route to rally near the Bulgarian border, near Nis.
The Bulgarians were formally dragged into the wider war by Iran on the morning of 21 December, with two attacks under way in the south (in occupied Greece) against the Yugoslavians the following day.
By that time, the first two contingents of 4th Army divisions were nearing the Asian Front.
When they arrived in Baluchistan early on 24 December, the next three were sent further east towards Bengal: the supply situation in western Sinkiang looked poor enough already, even before the five new Polish divisions reached it.
In Europe, [for reasons I couldn’t quite figure out, having explored lack of trains but that didn’t seem to explain why SR kept disabling itself] the seven-division expeditionary force under 3rd Army command was making slow progress through northern Italy to the new front in Bulgaria as the year was drawing to a close.
On the domestic front, it was decided that another round of railway improvements would be made to help bolster resupply and lateral troop movement on the Soviet border.
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Year-End Situation
The brief peace in Europe had been broken by the reckless-seeming entry of Bulgaria into the Fascist camp and the wider war. But otherwise, the Middle East and Africa were secured and the rest of the Europe at peace, with no obvious moves by Trotsky’s USR to break it.
The two-side Bulgarian Front seemed to be in stalemate after the first days of that new ‘side-war’. The Germans were providing considerable assistance to their Yugoslavian allies – a promising indicator should Poland ever be threatened by its far bigger eastern neighbour.
The last four Polish 4th Army divisions (3 x INF, 1 x CAV) making their trek east were passing through El Agheila in Libya by train. The easternmost three were approaching Bihar in eastern India. While the corps of five divisions sent up to the Sinkiang Front would arrive on the front line early the following day, where they would begin to recover organisation and then move out to reinforce the Allied line and hopefully push the offensive onwards, to help secure the embattled Chinese northern flank.
In broad terms, the fighting in the east of China, where the Allies seemed to have attempted to go on the offensive, appeared to be swinging more in favour of the Communists. But China itself had stabilised and a land bridge had been opened north of Tibet to the British-led offensive in western Sinkiang.
The French were under increased pressure in Indochina, including from a new Japanese amphibious landing just south of Saigon. Offshore, an Allied task force had engaged the Japanese fleet supporting the landings – and were heavily out-gunned by the enemy, who boasted a battleship, battle-cruiser and three aircraft carriers against light cruisers and destroyers.
The Japanese had also invaded Dutch Sulawesi in recent days, making quick progress against a couple of weakened Dutch divisions.
This was the strategic situation into which the Poles had now intervened in the Asian War, where their contribution would be proportionally far smaller than in had been in North Africa. But maybe they could make themselves useful.
Whether any more troops might be sent in the future depended on a range of variables: the actions (or continued inaction) of the USR, progress of the new war in Bulgaria and how the Allies fared in Asia. The year 1942 should prove an interesting one and quite different to Poland’s experience in 1941.
Well, at least Bulgaria declaring ends the final hole in a unifed European front against the Soviets (presuming Hungary was dealt with? I can't remember). Defeat them and the whole continent is on the same side.
Italy down and out at least frees up a ton of French and British troops to go east, and the entire navy and airforce of the allies to ditch the west althother and converge on Japan.
Hopefully 1942 will be a lot smother as the entire world can concentrate every resource on one theatre specifically.
Then on 19 December, another diplomatic surprise was sprung, with Bulgaria joining the Fascists of The Asian League! Once more, Yugoslavia would be at the forefront of combat in Europe.
In Europe, [for reasons I couldn’t quite figure out, having explored lack of trains but that didn’t seem to explain why SR kept disabling itself] the seven-division expeditionary force under 3rd Army command was making slow progress through northern Italy to the new front in Bulgaria as the year was drawing to a close.
Whether any more troops might be sent in the future depended on a range of variables: the actions (or continued inaction) of the USR, progress of the new war in Bulgaria and how the Allies fared in Asia. The year 1942 should prove an interesting one and quite different to Poland’s experience in 1941.
