Chapter Seventy-nine: Determination
(July 1946)
Polish President Ignacy Mościki addresses troops on the Eastern Front, 1 July 1946. A count of the words used in the speech showed that ‘determination’ featured more prominently than any other concept. Hope was for the faint of heart: determination and persistence were now the order of the day as the ‘endless war’ just kept rolling along without quarter or mercy.
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The Americas
The US landings in the Yucatan area remained out of supply and contained all through the first three weeks of July 1946. But in the north, the situation had deteriorated steadily for the Allies, who had lost San Antonio in the east and Phoenix in the west, retaining only small footholds in the US in both areas by 22 July.
It was in this context of the worsening Allied position in Mexico that Poland received a very surprising offer from Germany on 24 July: a corps of six Wehrmacht divisions was offered as an expeditionary force – but they were all scattered over the Mexican theatre! The offer was accepted the divisions grouped under a new 7th Army, commanded by General Stanisław Sosabowski
[an exquisite irony, German troops under Polish command in WW2].
They were in turn placed under Field Marshal Rydz-Śmigly’s renamed Expeditionary Army Group, along with the 4th army in Iran and the small 6th Army (more a small corps strength now) in Sinkiang. For the rest of the month they would broadly try to assist the Allied delaying defence in northern Mexico, while the High Command decided what to do with them in the longer term.
By 27 July the Allied front in the east was collapsing, with a dozen divisions surrounded on the Gulf Coast as the Allies tried to break them out in the south with an attack that did not look to be strong enough.
In the centre and west, four of the new EF divisions were trying to help the Allies hold back the enemy as they risked another pocket forming along the border towards the end of the month. And in an ominous development, two Japanese divisions were spotted, assisting their Mexican allies east of Tijuana.
Little had changed in Canada over the month, with a few indecisive smaller scale battles fought, while the US and its partners (Mexican, Philippine and now Japanese troops) kept up the pressure in northern Mexico.
The Gulf pocket was still holding out, but it looked like half the trapped divisions must have surrendered and no serious attempt was being made to rescue them.
The Yucatan beachheads remained well contained, with more Allied troops (including one of the expeditionary divisions) now in the vicinity.
But in sad news, after many months of resistance, the French foothold of Cayenne in Guyana had been lost during the month to American occupation.
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Asia
The Japanese landings in Malaya were still active early in the month, but they were unable to capture a port and would eventually wither on the vine later in the month.
The US would remain stalled in Bali, unable to cross into Eastern Java by the end of the month. But the Japanese once more managed to get ashore in Papua late in the month. This time they were able to capture a port to provide resupply. It remained to be seen whether the Allies would be up to responding to this latest landing effectively.
And in Western China, a number of Allied divisions were also in danger of being cut off after the MAB broke through to the Tibetan border: they were not quite cut off yet, as Tibet had joined the Allies some time back.
Georgia
The somewhat Quixotic Dutch-led invasion of Georgia carried on into July 1946 with a surprising revival. By 5 July, another province was won back to deepen the bridgehead to the east and the Allies were attacking into the mountain while they resisted the latest Soviet attack west of Tbilisi.
A week later, the Allies had carved out a salient into the mountains but were being counter-attacked strongly north-east of Sukhumi.
However, twelve days later all of these gains had been eroded and the Soviets were again closing in on Sukhumi, this time from the north-west. The Allied beachhead was now being controlled by the British in the north around Sukhumi and the Dutch around the port of Batumi in the south.
By the end of the month, the Soviets had compressed the beachhead back to the Batumi enclave, where a largely Anglo-Dutch force continued to hold out. This time at least they had viable escape routes either by sea or through neutral Turkey, where the Allies had military access.
Eastern Front
The Eastern Front was relatively quiet through July 1946. The Poles launched no attacks of their own and there were relatively few Allied or Soviet offensives during the month. Only three large battles involving Polish troops were resolved, two in the south around the Khmelnytskyi hotspot, the other to the north in Wilejka. The front line remained static and as the month ended the only fighting in the east was up in Estonia.
Iran
This month, by far the heaviest Polish involvement in fighting occurred in Iran, concentrated around Kerman and Birjand in the east and Yasuj-Ahvaz in the west. This was a mixture of defensive and attacks designed to just do enough to keep Iran in the war. The battles were far smaller in scale than those on the Eastern Front, so while the fighting was fierce and more even, the overall Polish casualties for the month were considerably lower than previously.
The month started with three Polish generals, led by the redoubtable Lucjan Żeligowski, racking up some new combat skills on 1 July. Unfortunately, within a week old Żeligowski was wounded as he got a little too close to the fighting in Kerman and would be recuperating for the next three months.
Józef Haller was transferred to command the 4th Army in Iran, while the experienced Marian Kukiel (injured months before and then forgotten about after his recovery) came in behind Haller to take over the much-reduced 6th Army in Sinkiang.
[Note: had I realised that before moving Haller over, I would have swapped him in straight for Żeligowski. This was also well before Sosabowski was drafted in to command the new EF in Mexico.]
Another determined Soviet attack on Yasuj was defeated on the morning of the 1st (471 Allied, 2,100 Soviet casualties) though it would be far from the last for the month. But for the newly appointed Haller, most of the action at this time was concentrated in the east. A counter-attack to retake the recently lost north Kerman province encountered a recently arrived Soviet mechanised division early on 2 July but brushed them away easily after a three-hour skirmish.
North Kerman was reoccupied that night, coming under immediate heavy counter-attack by three Soviet divisions. 18 DP was the first to arrive and had to soak up the punishment until their comrades could reinforced them. By the following morning, the defence had at least been stabilised.
And with Birjand apparently unguarded, Haller risked a quick probe with 6 DP from north-east Kerman, to see if they could slip in without the Soviets noticing.
However, that evening 6 DP ran into a recently arrived Soviet division, which was significantly disorganised and with poor supply but occupied good mountain defensive terrain. 6 DP pushed on, hoping for a quick victory dash.
Unfortunately, the Soviets had strong air support and 6 DP soon began to run low on supplies and the momentum of the battle flipped completely. Despite a victory in north Kerman, the attack on Birjand had to be abandoned by the evening of the 4th after turning into an expensive failure.
Over in Yasuj, the Allies won another big defensive victory in Yasuj on the afternoon of 5 July (2,900 Allied, 5,290 Soviet casualties; one Polish out of 10 defending Allied divisions, some of the others having been forced to retreat earlier) but the pressure was kept up by a determined enemy after that.
In north Kerman, the Soviets took advantage of 6 DP’s weakness after their Birjand probe. An attack by three divisions from Birjand badly defeated them and a co-located British division at 1300hr on 8 July (1,360 Allied, 373 Soviet casualties). Relief was on the way though and 28 DP was able to resume the defence on the morning of 10 July.
Their prospects were improved when four Polish divisions struck Birjand from north Kerman that evening. The defence of north-east Kerman would be won by midday on the 11th, while the larger fight for Birjand continued.
While this dynamic situation played out in the west, the previously strong Allied defence of Yasuj had been worn away by constant Soviet attacks and by 12 July their hold was becoming precarious. A three-division Polish relief column of now rested troops was sent to relieve their comrades.
They would not arrive in time to save the current defence, which was lost on the 13th with heavy casualties on both sides. Then a British division managed to arrive in time to set up a fragile defence while the Poles rushed to reinforce them.
Meanwhile, the Polish attack on Birjand was proving tough going, with momentum flagging by the morning of 13 July: two of the four attacking divisions had been forced to abandon the assault.
The recently arrived 2 DP in north-east Kerman then made a flank attack on Birjand, breaking the deadlock and leading to an expensive victory by the afternoon of the 14th.
The Poles arrived on the morning of 15 July to join British and South African divisions in the defence of Yasuj, swinging the battle back in favour of the Allies. Both sides would rotate troops through over the following nine days.
But in the end Soviet numbers and determination prevailed, one of the hardest-fought battles of the Iranian campaign ending in an enemy victory on 24 July.
In the interim, Birjand was re-occupied on 16 July by the Polish advance guard of 32 DP – who were quickly overpowered by a three-division Soviet counter-attack (just 31 Polish casualties taken before they fled). More Polish troops were arriving piecemeal, with 2 DP renewing the defence on 18 July before again losing on the 20th.
By that time, another four divisions were on their way to Birjand, including a recently transferred mountain division from Sinkiang. Haller was determined to retake Birjand, in part to offset the expected loss of Yasuj in the west.
Those troops would arrive progressively in the coming days, the first two re-establishing the defence of Birjand on 21 July and then finally winning the defence on the 29th after more reinforcements assisted.
In the west, Yasuj still held out on 26 July, despite the earlier enemy victory, with 15 DP mounting a desperate defence after pulling in to the ruined town early that morning. Only 1 DP was sufficiently recovered by that point to be sent to their relief from the south-west, but it would take them some time to complete the march.
It was not quick enough to save Yasuj from being occupied soon after 15 DP was defeated on the morning of 27 July. Then the advancing 1 DP quickly defeated the Soviet advance guard and desperately tried to retake the key town that had been fought over so hard for so many weeks. A plea was put out for Allied support to help hold Yasuj.
At midday, disturbing reports were heard from Ahvaz: the previously secure Allied defence was now under heavy pressure from a Soviet attack. This risked the loss of the nearby oilfields and a threat to the narrow Allied land corridor running through Iraq and Kuwait to the rest of Iran, plus the two ports at the top of the Persian Gulf.
Two recovered divisions that might otherwise have been sent to support 1 DP in Yasuj were instead sent north-west to assist the defence of Ahvaz. Things were becoming ever more precarious in this corner of the front.
1 DP was able to retake Yasuj on the evening of 27 July, even as 15 DP was still retreating. Of course, they came under immediate Soviet counter-attack. With the situation worsening in Ahvaz, those two divisions were kept on course.
But the cupboard was bare: no more Allied units would arrive to assist and the Poles had no ready units to send into what now looked increasingly to be an impossible situation. 1 DP was forced to flee early on the morning of 29 July. The long Allied defence of Yasuj was over.
As the month was drawing to a close, Ahvaz fell to the Soviets: 16 and 29 DPs were still en route, delayed by an irritating series of Soviet holding attacks. They did manage to defeat the worn out Soviet troops that had occupied Ahvaz at 0700hr on 31 July but were still some way off.
The other three Polish divisions were sent to secure the port south of Ahvaz, to ensure it was defended and able to provide both supply and a fall back position and escape route in case the Poles made it to Ahvaz but were not then able to hold it.
As it happened, 23. Pz Div was able to retake Ahvaz a few hours later, though by the end of the day they had almost been defeated by the Soviet follow-on force. The Poles were still stuck in a new holding attack, this time from Yasuj.
The second half of the month had been relatively quiet in eastern Iran, where the defence of Birjand and northern Kerman was being consolidated. Iran remained in the war but teetering close to capitulation, Kurdistan somewhat less so. The Eastern Front was quiet, as we have seen.
The Allied position in Western China continued to gradually erode, especially in the south, as noted previously, though with Tibet still available for a long delaying defence if the Allies could avoid encirclement and destruction in the south.
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Domestic and International Affairs
By 1 July all the equipment demands had been met for the new mountain division – 113 DPG – under training in Warsaw. While a majority of the infantry equipment requirement had been met from a mix of older and newer Polish gear. All that was left now was their training time.
A growing shortage of AT guns led to offers of lend-lease equipment being made by Ireland and Australia on 18 July. The other area of equipment deficit remained AA guns, where production was slowly ramping up and little or no LL support was available.
A small sliver of good news came on 25 July with the entry of Denmark into the war as a member of the Allies: every little bit would help, though it was hardly a game-changing development.
As the month ended, a new military factory came on line in Warsaw and it was tasked to increase AA production (now 4/34 factories). Construction output was directed to another military factory for Warsaw, which should be ready towards the end of August (bringing it to 19/20 building slots used).
The Allied-Communist-US War had now seen over 27 million killed with about the same total manpower (or slightly less) fielded in the militaries of both sides. Total Allied casualties were 70,000 higher during the month than for the enemy. Poland had only suffered 13,100 in losses, all to the Soviets, causing around 27,300 to them. This lower ratio was due to the nature of the fighting in Iran, which made up the bulk of Soviet-Polish combat in July.
According to the available figures – which may be a little rubbery for the Soviets – Poland had seen a net growth in manpower reserves of over 139,000 during July. The Soviets had lost around 170,000 men in fighting but had seen a decline in reserve manpower of over 350,000 to about 1.735 million. It was presumed this must have been accounted for by the recruiting of new units (perhaps the equivalent of around 10-15 new divisions). With their current conscription laws, the Poles figured they were now in a state of low manpower and would be forced to either widen the draft (at the expense of domestic industry) or start suffering shortages at the front in coming months.
