Chapter Fifty: Backs to the Wall
(20-31 January 1945)
Ursus A trucks being delivered to the newly formed Polish Army logistic companies that began to be introduced across most regular divisions from January 1945 onwards.
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Domestic Developments
The doctrine for specialised Polish Army logistics companies was introduced on 20 January 1945. Given the experiences of the Asian War, the benefits for supply sustainment and fuel efficiency were seen to be vital for that theatre but should also be of use if it came to war with the Soviets.
The next level of logistics research was pursued immediately, to leverage the hoped-for benefits. This would be implemented by the immediate introduction of logistics companies to around two thirds (65) of the 94 Polish divisions.
Adequate manpower and trucks were held in stockpile to achieve this, but there was now a significant deficit of support equipment. Production of support equipment was ramped up, but it was hoped the bulk of the shortfall might be supplied by willing Allied partners via lend-lease.
Just two days later, new Allied member Norway joined Belgium (the largest contributor) and the Netherlands in pledging equipment. The first deliveries were anticipated in a month’s time.
By the end of the month, another review of Poland’s ‘foreign political outreach’ program was provided. Slow progress was still being made in trying to keep Germany from going Communist at (or before, via coup) the next election. The pro-Polish DNVP was just behind Zentrum in the polls.
Romania looked to be safe from that fate and the Fascists were also in a small minority, as the Polish-supported FRN was the main opposition to the government democratic PNL government.
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Canada
By 23 January, the three main Allied pockets in western and central Canada were holding on grimly as supplies ran out. The Hudson Bay pocket even seemed to have briefly opened a narrow communication corridor to those trapped in the Plains, while the bulk of the remaining forces in the Rockies had been squeezed further east and even away from any unlikely coastal supply rescue.
In the east, British and German forces led the defence of Labrador, where a powerful new British fleet had recently based itself. A German division had pushed out north from St. Johns in Newfoundland, but the attacks from southern Labrador on the exposed US communications lines had failed.
A large Allied force of over 20 divisions was still holed up in Halifax. While they now easily outnumbered the four US divisions immediately to their front, the overcrowding seemed to now be having a negative effect of the Allied supply situation.
As the month ended, the Germans were attacking again from southern Labrador, where promising progress was being made, but the US had ejected the German incursion into Newfoundland. At sea, a French sub flotilla had run into and attacked what proved to be a large US carrier-led task force in the Newfoundland Sea.
So far, one French sub and two US transports were reported as having been sunk. The Royal Navy had not joined the fight.
The situation in the west had deteriorated, however, with three distinct pockets now being compressed by the Americans, who seemed to be able to do this with smaller troop numbers than the Allies, almost certainly due to the Allies’ parlous supply situation and lack of reinforcements for combat losses.
Mexico and the Atlantic
In Mexico, by early on 20 January the US had managed to consolidate a wide swathe along the northern border on behalf of their co-belligerents (but not Allies) the United Mexican States, whose exiled government sat again in Juarez. The Ensenada enclave in the north-west remained cut off but supplied and resisting strongly.
On the main front, the US was pushing the attack in the west and centre, the Allies in the east, with all those battles currently running in the Allies favour. US subs were raiding Dutch transports in the south of the Sea of Cortez.
Two days later, the Germans were still holding out strongly in Ensenada and had actually managed to counter-attack and retake Tijuana. But further east, the Americans had managed to cut off the Allied salient by reaching the coast of the Sea of Cortez.
Huge Allied troop convoys were still sailing across the Mid-Atlantic. Some troops were still being sent to eastern Canada, but the majority were heading towards Mexico.
A week later and the situation around Tijuana and on the Baja Peninsula had improved for the Allies. Not only had it and Ensenada been defended from the latest attacks, but German panzers had punched through to surround an American motorised division on the Pacific coast.
Progress had also been made in the east, with the Allies securing the southern bank of the Rio Grande from the coast to some distance in. The US was now attacking across the front, the Allied defenders meeting with mixed results.
But just as the month was ending, the US had sprung another surprise: a naval invasion of the Belgian-controlled Yucatan Peninsula! They had secured a foothold on its northern tip, taking an airfield but not yet a working port, still held by the Allies, who were now attacking the beachhead with some success.
Two more US divisions were trying to get ashore to the south-west, but were so far being defied by two Belgian divisions. And while new Allied formations continued to arrive by sea, they would need time to reorganise after arrival and it was unknown whether any large US Navy task force may be in the area to support the invasion or disrupt Allied reinforcement convoys.
The situation in Guyana was one again in stalemate, with ten French, German and Belgian divisions holding the last Allied outpost in Cayenne.
Overall, in the Americas the Allied situation was one of wary pessimism but not yet hopelessness. The troops trapped in western Canada were undoubtedly lost, though still occupying significant US attention as they raged against the dying of the light. Meanwhile, Labrador, Newfoundland and Halifax continued to hold out quite well, providing another distraction for the US, now effectively fighting on three fronts, all greatly separated.
Despite the recent US attack on Yucatan, the Allies had secured most of southern and central Mexico and should be able to shift more forces to the northern front as the Germans also performed well in holding on to the north-western Tijuana-Ensenada enclave. And more forces were arriving across the Atlantic convoy pipeline all the time. Whether the increased numbers could be effectively sustained or not was another matter.
To date, Allied casualties in the war against the US had been far heavier than for the Americans. On paper and in total the Allies had far greater troop numbers and industrial might than the US. But as in Asia, the problem for the Allies was applying those advantages effectively away from their homes bases at great distances.
Their own ‘home advantages’ in North America had been lost with the falls of Canada and Mexico, so sustainment and application of force remained their main problems. Interestingly enough, Belgium had born the brunt of the fighting against the US so far, followed by China (no doubt all those EFs), the UK, Germany, France and Yugoslavia as the major participants.
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The South-West Pacific
By the end of 20 January, reports filtered back to Warsaw that disaster had struck in Sulawesi, in the form of a large Japanese amphibious assault that had apparently quickly overrun the only Allied port of Manado some days before and then pushed the last remaining Dutch division in the vicinity in a rapid westwards retreat.
This left the four Allied divisions at the base of the northern peninsula completely cut off, with no port for supply or escape. It seemed the long, see-saw campaign in Sulawesi had finally been decided by the bold Japanese end-run.
In New Guinea, the Wewak campaign had been won by Australian and British troops, the last two Japanese divisions defeated and the survivors now lodged in POW camps. This provided at least a measure of good news to counter the terrible news coming out of Sulawesi.
Dutch and now the lead elements of a British push were moving through the jungles of Papua to confront the Japanese lodgement in the west.
By midnight on the 23rd, a Japanese attack had dislodged the main Allied defence in the south of Sulawesi, while in the north the exhausted Dutch were unable to offer meaningful resistance to the advancing Japanese.
Over in Papua, the Allies were now advancing in force but had yet to close up to the Japanese defensive lines. And their supply lines via Hollandia and Wewak would remain vulnerable to the lightning amphibious raids the Japanese had shown they were very prepared to make all around the region.
But the rapid Allied collapse in Sulawesi was now fast approaching its tragic denouement as the Japanese Peoples’ Army closed in from both directions. By the morning of the 25th.
By the afternoon of 28 January, it was almost all over, with the last Dutch division retreating south even as all their comrades in the south had already surrendered.
As the month ended, the long Sulawesi Campaign was over, but the fight in Papua was just gearing up as the Allies fanned out along the Japanese front lines.
The Asian Mainland
In Western China, the desperate battle to save the supply hub being built with Polish resources in Ganzi continued. By the morning of 20 January, the Polish KBK cavalry division and its south African colleagues were coming under heavy pressure as the PLA mounted a heavy offensive across the central sector.
While the defence seemed to be against the odds, the defenders still retained good organisation and 5 and 7 DPs were now
en route from the north.
To assist with the defence in the central sector, the gathered surplus of Polish TAC bombers was ordered to deploy to Urumqi as the new 5 DB, while 4 DB in Qinghai redirected its efforts closer to home rather than in Western China, which 2 DB would continue to cover from Urumqi while 5 DB completed its setting up.
By midnight on the 21st, the extent of the latest MAB general offensive was plain to see. The Allies were still resisting strongly as MAB casualties piled up, but the initiative seemed firmly in the enemy’s hand at this time.
5 DB was operational by 0800hr on 22 January and were sent to support operations in the north of the Western China front (as some battles in Qinghai were approaching their maximum range). While fighting had also continued steadily in Indochina during this time, the battles were somewhat smaller than in Western China and no more territory had changed hands.
The largest battle involving Polish troops of the month to date ended at mid night on 22 January, where a PLA attack on central Gannan was defeated with 4,430 enemy and only 238 Allied casualties. But this did not stop the PLA starting a new assault there soon afterwards. Next came another heavy repulse for the PLA in south-west Golog at 1600hr on the 23rd, with 270 Allied and 3,730 PLA troops killed.
By the night of 23 January, the South Africans had routed from Ganzi as relief closed in from the north and the KBK stood alone, its defence now rapidly wearing it down. They could not hold out before reinforcements arrived, forced to retreat at 1700hr on the 24th after a hard fight.
But Ganzi was not yet lost. 5 DP arrived on the morning of 25 January, before the PLA could take possession of the key province and its building works. They were immediately under severe pressure but a little more time had been bought and defensive air support began to be flown again.
A day later 5 DP was still alone and the PLA had added another division to the renewed attack, but the gallant Polish defenders were already starting to turn the situation around.
Enough time had been bought and 7 DP reinforced the defence on the morning of 27 January. That battle would not end for another two days, with a heavy defeat for the human wave attackers for few Polish casualties this time.
Another large and more deliberate attack was beaten back on the 30th, then a third probe was snuffed out on the morning of 31 January with barely any effort. Ganzi had been secured again for now, though the constant attacks had continued to impede progress on the much-needed supply hub.
Meanwhile, to the north-east the PLA offensive continued, with a huge attack on north-east Gannan defeated at 1600hr on the 27th, with 607 Allied and 7,570 PLA casualties. But all the pressure finally told. Despite good defensive terrain, a large Allied defensive force and disproportionate enemy casualties, a PLA attack on the city of Lanzhou finally succeeded early on the 28th, with three Polish divisions, including two of its crack mountain formations, forced out.
This prompted the remaining Polish division in north-east Golog to be withdrawn as well: it was already almost exhausted anyway and there were fears of a PLA breakthrough if a strong new defensive line could not be secured west of Lanzhou.
As the month ended, the line in Indochina remained static and temporarily quiet. Two Polish divisions remained at the front in the centre and on the Tonkin coast.
Two more were resupplying in reserve along the coast, while another was camped in reserve on the east bank of the Mekong, where the French defence had been looking a little shaky.
Overall, apart from the setback in Lanzhou, which had not yet been reoccupied by the enemy at the end of the month, the Front in Western China remained largely unchanged, though the fighting had often been ferocious and bloody. The same applied, to a smaller extent, in Indochina. The war here resembled the trench lines of the Great War more than anything else and was quite different in character to the more mobile campaigns fought recently in North America.
Polish casualties for the last month sat at a little under 2,500. Total war casualties for both sides (not including the separate toll for the war against the now defunct fascist Asian League) numbered over 5 million combined for the MAB and non-aligned US and 6 million for the Allies. And it seemed there was no end in sight to the effusion of blood, which only looked likely to intensify. Should the USR intervene, being left alive would seem more of a rare privilege than a human right.
