Poles Apart – an HOI4 Ahistory

Bullfilter · Dec 13, 2022

Chapter Twenty-One – Déjà vu All Over Again
(June 1942)

Polish armour and infantry in northern Italy, June 1942.

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With the irritatingly Mussolini having encouraged a massive revolt in Italy, yet another Polish Expeditionary Force was soon being readied to defeat this menace. Note: with the Italian front active again for Poland, we resume the ‘standard’ one month per chapter format, to keep them short and sharp.

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1-7 June 1942: Faceless Men and a New Challenge

Now fully apprised of the situation in Italy, the same expeditionary of seven divisions that had recently returned from the victorious lightning war in Bulgaria was soon embarking the troop trains for the trip to Turin.

Over in Sinkiang, troops were also making a strategic redeployment. But this time, other than two divisions left in place to guard a few key points, exhausted Polish were being moved away from the front to where they could get supply, reinforcements, new equipment and some respite from the severe attrition of the front line.

But the headlines read over breakfast that morning all came from the USR. Trotsky had authorised the breaking off of four newly independent Soviet states. Of most direct significance was the creation of the Byelorussian Independent SSR, which occupied more than half Poland’s former border with the USR.

Byelorussia remained part of Trotsky’s 4th International, but this did not stop Poland launching a diplomatic and political offensive straight away, to see if the new regime could be brought to a more convivial relationship – and its Communist government’s political dominance loosened a little.

The three Caucasian republics of Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan were simultaneously given their ‘independence’, on the same conditions as Byelorussia. And either the leaders of these four new countries looked remarkably similar to each other, or the pictures on file in the Foreign Ministry in Warsaw of these ‘Faceless Men’ had simply been duplicated by some lazy researcher

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While he was at it, Foreign Minister Józef Beck renewed the improvement of relations with Romania, which were just starting to erode a little (+69%). The attempted popularity boost for the like-minded non-aligned party in Romania continued. At this time, the Foreign Ministry assessed Sinkiang to be at 40% towards capitulation and the ‘Vapid Vapsids’ in Estonia 85% in the face of the French onslaught there.

A few days later, it was assessed Italy was around a third of the way towards surrender (again), with Mussolini fielding somewhere around 40 divisions.

The Battle of Midway began on 3 June. The Japanese sought to deliver another crushing blow to the U.S. Navy to ensure Japanese dominance in the Pacific, but American codebreakers had determined the time and place of the Japanese attack in advance, enabling the U.S. Navy to prepare its own ambush. By the next day, the Japanese aircraft carriers Akagi, Kaga and Sōryū were crippled and scuttled. The Hiryū was crippled by American dive bombers on and scuttled on the 5th.

L: The Hiryū under attack by B-17s at the Battle of Midway. R: The USS Yorktown at the moment of impact of a torpedo from a Nakajima B5N.

The Battle of Midway ended in a decisive American victory on the 7th, marking a turning point in the Pacific War, though the American aircraft carrier USS Yorktown sank the day after being torpedoed by Japanese submarine I-168.

The Hiryū, shortly before sinking.

Just before midnight on 4 June, the first Belgian division was sighted entering the north Italian theatre in Turin. But there would be no further influx of forces from there as France, Germany and Yugoslavia were doing most of the fighting. Nine Italian divisions remained pocketed on the Swiss border north of Turin.

In Sardinia, the German amphibious landings had succeeded, with a two-province lodgement secured, with a whole German corps ashore.

The Polish EF then arrived in Turin on the afternoon of 7 June and began the process of reorganising. But by that night, one of the attacks on the pocket (now reduced to two provinces) was running into trouble. Three Polish divisions, including a ‘heavy’ division, started heading to the front and across the Po River, in case they were needed later to hasten the destruction of the pocket.

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8-17 June 1942: Retracing Past Steps

In the east, the initial resting places for the evacuated CSE divisions were essentially stripped of available supplies by 8 June, so the men were sent to new garrisons further south, where the logisticians of the British Raj could hopefully assist their rebuilding better.

The British reported that their earlier invasion to seize Truk from Kwantung had succeeded. A small victory in a theatre that had seen many losses of late.

By the night of 9 June, the Swiss Pocket had been constricted to just one province. The first Polish detachment had yet to cross the Po, while the other four divisions were given orders at midnight to march north-east from Turin to be prepared for a final storming of the Italian defenders. Who it was discovered classified themselves as ‘resistance fighters’.

By the 10th the German advance in Sardinia had secured half the island as they drove on Cagliari.

And the Swiss pocket was reduced and destroyed by 0800hr on 12 June – just before the first Polish units could engage. The nine Italian divisions had surrendered one by one as they ran out of supplies and morale. The two Polish groups immediately started heading south-east towards Genoa, where the Allies had broken through. The plan was, as in the previous campaign, to help drive along the Tyrrhenian coast towards Rome.

The recent diligent exercising of the Polish Air Force had cost a few airframes but on 12 June led to an advance in their fighter doctrine.

In Estonia, the leadership was proving a little less vapid than had been expected: by mid-month the Estonian Fascists were still hanging on as the Franco-German invaders closed in on their makeshift capital of Pärnu.

In Poland, another national focus was achieved on the 16th, allowing the development of Upper Silesia to be started.

The 2nd Italian War continued steadily for the Allies, with a tough battle for Cagliari was meeting heavy initial resistance, despite a complementary French naval landing and shore bombardment from the south.

On the afternoon of the 17th, the last Polish division left on the northern flank near Urumqi was withdrawn for R&R, after a Nationalist Chinese division arrived to hold the province. At the same time, the first of the rebuilt units –10 DP – was sent up to plug a gap that had arisen near the enemy salient to the south-west.

That afternoon, yet another Iraqi revolt broke out but this one was particularly insipid, with no partisan units actually taking the field.

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18-30 June 1942: The War Grinds On

Both the German and Italian troops fighting it out over Cagliari were nearing exhaustion as the bitter battle dragged on through the morning of 20 June.

On 21 June Tobruk fell to Axis forces, completing victory in the Battle of Gazala. The Germans claimed 25,000 prisoners.

Battle of Gazala and the advance of Panzer Army Africa to from 21 January to 30 June 1942.

By the 23rd, the Poles were in position and both corps launched a combined attack on La Spezia. It would take five days of heavy fighting to force the victory.

With an eye always on the possibility of conflict with the Soviets, the Polish aircraft industry moved to once again upgrade its increasingly obsolete fighter arm to the new PZL.56 ‘Kania’ model.

Having secured La Spezia on 28 June, the Poles beat off a hasty Italian counter-attack in a two-hour firefight. Yugoslav armour had taken Bologna as the Allied offensive quickened after crossing the Po River on a broadened front.

And Cagliari was finally secured on the evening of the 28th after a savage battle, completing the a victorious Sardinian Campaign for the Wehrmacht. But the occupation reverted to France.

Over in China, the Communists and their allies in Shanxi were engaged in widespread combat on all fronts against ‘imperialists’ of all stripes, though the Japanese were only assisting against the Nationalist Chinese.

On 28 June the Germans began Case Blue on the Eastern Front. The summer offensive opened with the Battle of Voronezh.

In Sinkiang, 10 DP arrived back at the front on 29 June in time to assist a German attack in western Urumqi, sharing in a decisive victory a day later.

Mersa Matruh fell to Axis forces on 29 June. Benito Mussolini flew to Derna, Libya in anticipation of leading a triumphal entry of Axis forces into Cairo.

The drive resumed in Italy with the Poles reinforcing an Allied attack into Tuscany on the late morning of the 30th. A victory would be achieved a day later, with no recorded Allied casualties incurred as the Italian resistance fighters fled south. The Germans and Yugoslavs were on the outskirts of Florence by then.

As June 1942 came to a close, the reconquest of Italy was progressing well, but the invasion of Estonia seemed to have stalled somewhat. And the new states of the 4th International showed Trotsky was willing to surrender some direct control in order to keep restless minorities with the broader Soviet family.

In Asia, the war’s biggest front remained aflame to the north, west and south, while things remained fairly quiet in Sinkiang.

The font line in Indochina had seen little change, with the Fascists still giving the Allies plenty of fight.

One province had been lost to Japan in northern Sulawesi, but the Allies now seemed to have stabilised the situation.

The Polish inventory was in fairly good shape, with only AT guns in deficit and the new Allied participant Belgium offering some lend-lease assistance there. The fighter deficit had been gradually repaired, while many new bombers could be deployed. The key areas of field artillery, infantry equipment and trucks now all had healthy surpluses, as did light tank holdings.

Bullfilter · Dec 19, 2022

Chapter Twenty-Two – Giving Musso the Boot
(July 1942)

Naples back under Allied occupation, July 1942.

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1-16 July 1942: Will the East be Red?

Rommel attempted to break the Allied line and push through to Alexandria when the First Battle of Alamein began 1 July. It would last for most of the month, ending on 27 July in a tactical stalemate but a strategic Allied victory.

The First Battle of Alamein, 1-27 July 1942.

The Slovak Academy of Sciences (Slovenská Akadémia Vied, or SAV) was founded on 2 July 1942. It was the main scientific and research institution in Slovakia fostering basic and strategic basic research. [One for @El Pip]

On evening 3 July, the Allied drive in Italy continued with the Polish reinforcement of a German attack in Tuscany, which soon saw them take the upper hand. It took until the morning of the 6th to win, but by then the two defending Italian divisions had been surrounded. Those not killed in the fighting surrendered in another major Allied victory.

On 4 July, the Germans were being assisted again, this time in Sinkiang, with victory coming the following morning.

Polish radar and electronic development was some way behind contemporary practice in 1942. On 6 July, researchers were directed to improve decimetric radar technology for the two recently expanded radar stations in eastern Poland. [This area of research had been asked about previously, so I’ve included it here.]

The 7th saw the continued expansion of Polish industry with building for a new military factory in Warsaw commencing.

In the Sulawesi campaign, the Allies had reinforced their lines and now handily outnumbered the Japanese.

And that afternoon, the UK announced that Luxembourg had joined the Allies. They would join the war six days later, at Belgium’s invitation.

The next day saw the Allied push in Italy drawing close to Rome, where at midnight the Poles advanced on the apparently undefended Italian capital.

Rome was occupied easily by 2100hr on 9 July. A futile Italian counter-attack was defeated early on the 11th, the enemy taking heavy casualties and inflicting none. Italy was pushed closer to surrender, but fought on after Mussolini shifted his capital all the way south to Palermo in Sicily.

Case Blue (German: Fall Blau) was the German Armed Forces' plan for the 1942 strategic summer offensive in southern Russia between 28 June and 24 November 1942. On 9 July, Adolf Hitler made the fateful decision to modify Case Blue, dividing Army Group South into two groups.

Army Group A was to seize Rostov-on-Don and then continue through the Caucusus, while Group B was to drive on Stalingrad through to Astrakhan. Hitler also ordered Hermann Hoth's forces to head south in the hope of encircling the Red Army units still west of the Don River. [We all know how this ended].

The Case Blue offensive, showing progress to from 7 May to 23 July 1942, as the Axis closed up to the Don River and Stalingrad.

After a period of consolidation in and around Rome, as the Italian defence slotted into place again, Polish forces helped defeat another heavy but doomed assault to the north in the hills of Abruzzo by the morning of 12 July.

Then came an announcement from China, with much fanfare and perhaps a bit ahead of itself, that their civil war had been won and the People’s Republic of China was declared. Whether this would have any material effect on the ground was uncertain.

All the PRC’s partners in the Mutual Assistance Bloc were supposedly at war with both the Allies and the Fascists. This must mean that the Japanese had at some point rejoined the war against Kwantung (who they sought to annex) despite earlier reports of a separate peace treaty.

No further major events or outcomes were recorded from 14-16 July.

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17-31 July 1942: The Campanian Breakout

The ‘Vapid Vapsids’ were making their last stand by 17 July, having lasted far longer than initial predictions indicated they would.

But by the following morning, they had capitulated, with Estonia going under French military occupation. This was also good news for Poland, with an Allied-held front now active along the northern border with the USR. Though the garrison left behind by the end of the month seemed rather puny for the task!

The middle of the month saw the Allies grinding forward in the Apennines and then pushing past Rome towards Naples, with two victories in Latium on 18 and 19 July.

The Poles again reinforced a weak German attack in Campania, towards Naples, on the afternoon of the 20th, with hard fighting resulting in Allied victory by the morning of the 23rd. Progress was slower inland, to the north.

Benito Mussolini returned to Rome on 20 July after Rommel's failed offensive at El Alamein. [Happy to be making him even more miserable here in the ATL.]

With the smaller scale development of Upper Silesia finished on 21 July, the way was opened for the culmination of industrial expansion plans: a major investment in Eastern Poland.

By the evening of 24 July, the Poles were ready to launch the next major city assault on Naples. It was taken after two days of fighting.

Over in Sinkiang, with the PRC declared a Nationalist China slowly being ground down, the bulk of the largely recovered CSE began a strategic redeployment to the Allied line south of Urumqi, to see if another approach to the enemy’s capital could be found and also getting Polish forces closer to providing direct aid to the beleaguered Nationalists.

At midnight on 27 July, with Naples secured the Poles supported a struggling German attack in the mountains, while also pushing ahead in an attack along the coast. The coastal attack witnessed a day of even fighting, but victory was won on the morning of 29 July.

The inland fighting was some of the toughest of the campaign so far, but the Allies also prevailed on the morning of the 30th.

Joseph Stalin issued Order No. 227 on 28 July with its famous line "Not one step back!"

Next came another hotly contested Polish attack on four Italian divisions holed up in the mountains east of Naples on the afternoon of 30 July. The battle would still be going as the month ended.

In Sinkiang, by midnight on the 31st the bulk of the CSE was approaching its new destination. Given the healthy surplus of trucks now held in stockpile and in the hope that it might improve supply further, the 4th Army’s motorisation priority was raised to the highest possible level.

In the ‘Boot of Italy’, much of the heel had been taken by Australian forces which had made an amphibious landing and were currently attacking Taranto from the south.

While this welcome distraction went on, hard fighting continued east of Naples in the Campanian breakout, as a large concentration of Italian divisions traded attacks with the advancing Allies ( a mixture of Polish, German, French and Yugoslav formations).

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31 July 1942: Summaries

Italy was being pushed closer to the brink of surrender. It was not yet clear whether a final invasion of Sicily would be required to extinguish the Italian uprising.

In Poland’s immediate region, things remained in good shape. Despite their many external commitments and heavy casualties in China, Germany was maintaining a few more divisions in the area than the Poles were at home, which was reassuring. Between these two Allied powers alone, the USR forces visible along the border would be heavily outnumbered. How much Trotsky held in depth was a matter for guesswork.

The Middle East and Central Asia were once again quite and fully secured by the Allies.

In Asia, the newly declared PRC remained heavily engaged on all fronts. Allied progress in Sinkiang had been small and incremental only during July.

Nationalist China remained under heavy pressure and was slowly conceding ground, mainly against the Communists.

The Kwantung-led Fascists were also slowly gaining ground in French Indochina, having occupied a large slice of northern Cambodia.

But in northern Sulawesi, the Dutch and British had regained some ground and were still attacking.

Eurasia and Africa saw the Allies dominant in the west, the Communists strong in the east and the Kwantung Fascists still causing some problems for the Allies, but also under mounting pressure from Mao and his partners, who sought to paint the east red.

On the home front, Polish research sought to modernise itself in the fields of electronics, fighter and medium tank design, plus improvements to infantry equipment.

Poland’s military stockpile was in good shape, with only AT guns in significant deficit and now large surpluses held in artillery, infantry equipment, trucks and light tanks.

This led to an immediate move to beef up the existing motorised divisions with an artillery regiment for each of the infantry brigades.

Bullfilter · Dec 22, 2022

Chapter Twenty-Three – That Sinkiang Feeling
(August 1942)

Mussolini once again tries to escape his Allied pursuers, August 1942.

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1-8 August 1942: The Trains Will Run on Time

August began with news from Sinkiang: 4th Army and CSE commander General Lucjan Źeligowski had succumbed to the same kind of problem many of his men had. He would carry on in his role, but with limited capacity.

With plenty of artillery now in the equipment stockpile, a support battery was added to the militia division (really just a basic brigade at the moment) template. With only two produced so far and a large excess of manpower, this was easily managed.

The symbol and insignia for these militia formations was updated to distinguish them from the much heavier standard infantry divisions. And two more began training, for deployment around Kraków. The plan would be to use them to provide a light guard on the Czech border to augment the current very light screen manning it.

The opportunity was also taken to adjust production priorities, with light tank production discontinued (due to a great excess in the stockpile), while light SP artillery production was restarted and support equipment and AT production increased.

This required an increase in tungsten importation, which was sourced from nearby Sweden.

Of interest, liaison officers reported that the large German troop presence noted earlier was largely deployed along the Austrian and Czech borders. The Poles were unaware of any plans by either side for imminent action. It was assumed for now that the strong border presence was merely a precaution on both sides.

On the night of the 1st, the Allies inched forward in western Yarkand district over in Sinkiang, but otherwise there was little action in the sector as the bulk of the Polish CSE headed east by truck.

In Italy, the tough battle in central Campania ground its way forward. Early on 2 August, an enemy spoiling attack was defeated allowing the four northern divisions of the Polish expeditionary force to join the large attack in the mountains that continued for late July.

By the end of the following day, the Australians were making progress in their attack on Taranto, while two strong German panzer divisions had just landed to support their invasion, but were not yet taking part in the fighting.

In Sinkiang, the chronically poor supply situation at the front had not improved as the Polish CSE arrived in its forward position.

This was unlikely to change, so the Poles started to disperse into new locations, with an infantry division and the trusty KBK cavalry striking east into the unoccupied desert while another two divisions reinforced Chinese lines to the north.

The next major action in Italy came with victory in the major battle in central Campania on the afternoon of 5 August. By that time, despite the Allies taking heavy casualties, the enemy’s position had almost been surrounded.

The next day, the Australians had occupied Taranto and were in the process of beating off a desperate Italian counter-attack, as other Italian units were either cut off on the Adriatic coast or were being herded south by the main Allied advance in Campania.

It was all too much for the Italian resistance, with Mussolini capitulating yet again on the morning of 7 August 1942. He again went on the run and evaded apprehension, while British forces took the surrender but the peninsula was handed back over to French occupation.

Something that had not been noticed at the Foreign Ministry in Warsaw at the time was that, although the Fascist puppet state of Mengukuo still existed on operational maps, its government had capitulated to Mao back on 16 July. It was not known whether any of their armed forces remained in the field, under the command of a government in exile.

The Polish troops were soon back on the trains again and heading back to Warsaw.

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9-31 August 1942: The Crimson Tide

By 10 August the three-way war in China met in the corner of the front north of Nanning. To its east, the Communists were now pushing over the border into Guangxi in places. To the west of that point, the Allies fought forces from Kwantung, Yunnan and Guangxi. To the north, the Allies and Communists were engaged.

Back home in Poland, a new heavy infantry division (containing 80 27TP heavy tanks) was deployed to the northern 2nd Army, where it would form part of the reserve facing the Byelorussian SSR.

The Communists were by 12 August pushing well into Kwantung territory in Manchuria. Notably, Korea remained neutral so was being bypassed. Their current government was technically democratic and run by Syngman Rhee’s Liberal Party, but large fascist and communist parties also existed.

With the first objective of the new advance in Sinkiang secured without a fight on the morning of 16 August, the Poles continued to drive north-east while another division dispersed along the front to the south.

But the advance was soon checked by a holding attack in Kunlun Shan, which although heavily defeated in the end delayed the Polish cavalry by four days.

The Battle of Stalingrad began on 23 August. Below, German infantry and a supporting StuG III assault gun during the opening stages of the battle.

The KBK secured its next objective late on 25 August as the Poles kept trying to feed more divisions into the salient. As the cavalry moved from desert to mountain, their attrition would become worse, so it was vital that the infantry caught up and then passed through them on the planned hook towards Urumqi from behind.

Once more, the enemy sought to block the move of Polish reinforcements in the breakout area with another holding attack early on 28 August, which would ultimately not be defeated until the morning of the 30th.

The AT deficit was noted by New Zealand, whose offer of QF 2-pounder guns was gratefully accepted on 29 August.

At midnight the same day, a spoiling attack was launched on the Sinkiang forces who in turn were attacking Kunlun Shan. It was this attack that broke the enemy holding attack, with another division from Kunlun Shan being thrown into the attack to the south, which was proving to be quite hard going.

The Battle of Alam el Halfa began south of El Alamein on 30 August.

The southern attack was still going as the month ended, while other Polish units still tried to complete the encirclement of Urumqi in the rough terrain to the north-east. The Poles had the numbers but were poorly supplied and thus organised, while the Sinkiang defenders were entrenched remained well organised and supplied.

Overall, in Sinkiang the situation remained challenging with slow progress, as reports of the Communist advancing quickly through Xibei San Ma were coming in.

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Summaries - Asia and the Rest of the World

The overall map of current front lines in Asia showed how far the Communists had advanced in recent months. It looked like the days of the various Chinese fascist regimes may be numbered. Though once they were defeated, Mao and his Japanese backers would be even stronger.

There was still heavy fighting in the north, though no specific details were available.

In the main NatChi sector, the Allies were attacking along much of the front with the Communists, while the fighting along the Yunnan front was more sporadic. Still, the Nationalists with help mainly from the UK and Germany were still maintaining a fairly stable front.

The Allies (predominantly Franco-German formations) were now pushing back in Indochina, where the failing fascist war against the Communists must have started to affect their resistance.

And the small campaign in Sulawesi also seemed to have turned in the Allies’ favour as they pushed the Japanese back into the centre of the island.

Peace had once again come to Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia.

While the US remained neutral in the war. Their current focus was on Willkie’s policy of ‘Intervention in the Americas’, though it was not fully understood what this might mean.

Polish military research progressed steadily, though no new advances had been recorded that month.

The Polish Army was currently training one armoured, one infantry and two militia divisions (brigades).

Bullfilter · Dec 27, 2022

Chapter Twenty-Four – Marking Time
(September 1942)

Troopers of the Kresowa Brygada Kawalerii (KBK) advance behind enemy lines in Sinkiang, September 1942.

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1-19 September 1942: Inching Forward

On 2 September, the KBK’s scything run behind the main enemy front defending Urumqi saw them occupy the hills to the east of the Sinkiang capital. Here they would hold while the slower infantry divisions made their way forward along the narrow salient. Not only did their supply lines need to be secured, but past experience had shown the vulnerable cavalry brigade would suffer badly in the mountain terrain that now lay in front of them.

To the south, the big attack in Kunlun Shan, which started on 30 August, continued.

The Battle of Alam el Halfa, begun on 30 August, ended in Allied victory. Panzerarmee Afrika (Generalfeldmarschall Erwin Rommel), attempted an envelopment of the British Eighth Army (Lieutenant-General Bernard Montgomery). In Unternehmen Brandung (Operation Surf), the last big Axis offensive of the Western Desert Campaign, Rommel intended to defeat the Eighth Army before Allied reinforcements arrived. Montgomery did not exploit his defensive victory, preferring to continue the methodical build up of strength for his autumn offensive, the Second Battle of El Alamein.

Battle map of positions during the Battle of Alam El Halfa, 30 August – 5 September 1942.

That attack still ground on by the evening of the 8th. Despite progress made, the attacking Polish divisions were being forced out one by one as they exhausted themselves. With the enemy also failing, 6 DP was thrown into the battle from the north and was in reserve behind 8 and 18 DP by midnight.

But by 0400hr the following morning 18 DP had been forced out. 8 DP followed at 0900hr, before 6 DP could reinforce. The hard-fought battle was lost after ten days of bitter fighting.

Back in Poland, research was finished on the new 14 TP medium tank design on 10 September, along with some improved infantry support weapons. Research team were assigned to longer term industrial project (improved fuel refining) and better infantry weapons.

And at the same time, a new light armoured division was deployed into General Anders’ 2nd Army, in the Byelorussian sector.

Later that morning, as both Polish and other Allied divisions pushed into the breakthrough, Sinkiang launched another delaying attack in Kunlun Shan, where NatChi troops were assisting their Polish comrades.

The attack was eventually heavily defeated but had imposed a delay of almost two days on the troops passing through.

The Wehrmacht began a massive ground assault on 13 September to try to take the city of Stalingrad, marking the beginning of the house-to-house fighting that most characterised the battle.

On the night of the 14th, a relatively fresh Chinese division launched a new attack in Kunlun Shan from the south. Briefly rested but still badly disorganised, at midday on the 16th a full Polish corps was thrown in to reinforce this attack. The hope was that the Chinese formation would be strong enough to lead them to victory against this stubborn stronghold that threatened the south of the breakthrough.

By early on 19 September all but one of the Polish divisions had reinforced the attack, which was making slow but steady progress. By that evening, one of the enemy divisions had been forced from the field exhausted – but so too had one of the already worn-out Polish divisions supporting the Chinese 15 Juntuán.

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20-30 September 1942: Another Bitter Autumn Closes In

During the entire campaign, casualties and disorganisation caused by attrition in the harsh terrain and weather had caused far more casualties than had combat. By the end of the month, it would have the commander of the CSE considering another round of rotations to the rear to allow some divisions to recover. But before then, there was work to be done – as the Communists closed in from the east through Fascist Xibei San Ma.

Little new happened on 20-21 September, as the attack on Kunlun Shan continued grimly. But by the early morning of the 22nd, the remaining enemy were finally weakening against the determined Allied onslaught.

The Germans occupied the centre of Stalingrad on 22 September. Two days later they broke through to the Volga River and cut the 62nd Army in two.

Battle map, German drive to the Volga, Stalingrad, 22 September 1941.

Finally, after another long battle, victory was won in Kunlun Shan on the afternoon of 23 September, as Polish reinforcements continued to plod forward into the breakout zone, with the KBK having been joined by the lead infantry division which now pushed towards Urumqi from the east.

The next day, the Chinese began an attack south-east of Urumqi. Both they and their opponents seemed both well-organised and near full strength. The exhausted Poles in the breakout area left them to it as they tried to envelop Urumqi by manoeuvre.

On the main Chinese front, reports were received that communist (Shanxi) forces had encroached to the outskirts of the makeshift Nationalist capital of Chongqing by the morning of 28 September. The Allies were trying to push them back there, even while being attacked by the communists to the north and south of the battle.

A major national objective was completed on the 29th with the completion of four new factories in eastern Poland. This completed all the projects of the Four Year Plan the government wished to at this stage.

The next focus would be directed at improving relations further with Romania.

The outflanking march on Urumqi was interrupted by a strong spoiling attack that night.

Both battles would continue as September ended, as would an Allied attack against the tip of the Sinkiang salient south-west of Urumqi. All Polish units remained disorganised and badly under strength, thanks largely to the terrible terrain, climate and supply conditions.

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Monthly Summaries

The current map of Asia showed the continued advance of Mao’s PRC on all three Fascist fronts (Manchuria, XSM and Guangxi), with slower progress against the stubborn Allied resistance in the remaining territory of Nationalist China and modest Allied advances in Sinkiang.

The heaviest fighting was concentrated in the south, where the PRC and its allies confronted both Allied and Fascist forces in heavy fighting across both sectors.

China was still largely in the same state it had been a month ago and was no closer yet to capitulation (92%).

The Allied recovery in Indochina also continued as the fascists, now beset to the north and south, slowly lost ground against the Franco-German led revival.

Sulawesi had returned to stalemate as the Japanese reinforced their front line in the middle of the island.

With no significant developments in international relations during September, Poland concentrated on building its capability and infrastructure within its own borders. It would do this through research …

… and a new program to improve transport infrastructure along the eastern border.

While at the command level, the defensive expert Field Marshal Władisław Sikorski was given command of the newly created Army Group East, which commanded the 44 divisions of the powerful 1st and 2nd Armies that guarded the border with the Communists.

Bullfilter · Jan 2, 2023

Chapter Twenty-Five – The Road to Urumqi (Part 1)
(October 1942)

Left, southern Urumqi looking towards the mountains, c. 1920s. Right, the Southern City Gate, c. 1910.

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1-6 October 1942: Small Steps Forward

In early October, the Polish political campaign in Romania had seen popular support for the non-aligned FRN increase to over 21%, with the democratic PNL still well ahead of the fascistic Garda de Fier. The parallel diplomatic campaign saw Romania’s opinion of Poland riding high as well.

In Sinkiang four exhausted Polish divisions were withdrawn from the font line to recuperate in better supplied territory to the west on the night of 1 October.

In the ‘Urumqi Hook’, 5 DP secured the eastern approaches to the enemy capital early on the 3rd, an hour after the spoiling attack in Dabancheng was defeated. But they were unable to push on any further for now, as they had become completely disorganised during the fighting.

To its south, the long Chinese battle to secure that province continued, with China now gradually gaining the upper hand. They would win that battle and advance into the mountains by the early afternoon of 5 October. Meanwhile, 5 DP was slowly recovering its organisation as the Poles pushed more units further into the salient.

Polish radar technology was further improved on 6 October, with the researchers directed next to improved encryption, while another team continued to develop an advanced computing machine.

An expansion of the two existing stations supporting the air force in eastern Poland were immediately inserted into the constructions schedule, to be the next priorities after the completion of improved infrastructure in Wołyn.

The stockpile of PZL.37 tactical bombers was also deployed into a new wing at Lwów.

At this time, the Allies reported further Communist encroachment on the approaches to Chongqing.

More widely, Mao was rapidly occupying Xibei San Ma and making swift progress in Manchuria. The fighting seemed heavier and the going slower for them slower against Quangxi in the south. China was again slowly slipping backwards but still held on.

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7-31 October 1942: The Pincers Close

With little action from 7-9 October, on the 10th Sinkiang tried another attack on the Polish divisions holding the north-eastern flank. Three days later the mixed cavalry and infantry force defeated the attack with heavy casualties.

The Germans gained control of the Stalingrad Tractor Factory on 17 October.

German troops in the Stalingrad Tractor Factory, October 1942. A victory perhaps – but pyrrhic.

By 18 October, the four recovering Polish divisions over the border in the British Raj were well on their way to recovery [ave 72% org, 89% str].

Late on the 21st, Communist forces had appeared opposite the Allies to the south on the XSM border.

By 23 October, another division had joined 5 DP east of Urumqi as the two Polish divisions to the west of the city suffered from attrition in the mountains, but bided their time, waiting for sufficient forces for another attack to be mounted. Two more divisions (grey below) were on their way, but the hard terrain made the going slow.

The Second Battle of El Alamein began, an attack by Montgomery’s British 8th Army, began on 23 October.

The Axis positions at El Alamein proved a tough nut to crack, but from 2 November Operation Supercharge finally began to punch its way through near the coast. The battle ended in a decisive Allied victory on 11 November.

Operations of the German 6th Army in Stalingrad slowed down considerably on 24 October due to exhaustion after two weeks of intense fighting as well as the weather growing appreciably colder.

“Not much fun in Stalingrad, no!”

7 DP was south of the eastern Urumqi pincer by 27 October, but still had some days before it could join the other two waiting there and preparing for the assault.

As October ended, reports of Communists attack the Fascists due east of the Allied screening positions guarding the Urumqi breakthrough were being received. The crimson tide was getting closer.

But the main focus remained on the Sinkiang capital as two more Polish divisions approached from the south behind the protecting eastern screen (marked in pink below).

At this time, two of Poland’s mountain divisions began embarking on trains from the Czech border to Nice, where they would ship over to the Middle East and thence eventually to the Sinkiang front. Though there was some risk in removing them, the constant mountain warfare in the east and desire to give them some experience saw the decision taken.

Soldiers of the Polish 2nd Podhale Rifle Regiment parade in dress uniform, Sanok, 1936.

Podhale Rifles (Polish: Strzelcy podhalańscy, nicknamed "Podhalańczycy") is the traditional name of the mountain infantry units of the Polish Army. Formed in 1918 out of volunteers of the region of Podhale, in 1919 the smaller detachments of Podhale Rifles were pressed into two mountain infantry divisions, the 21st Mountain Infantry and 22nd Mountain Infantry Divisions, as well as into three brigades of mountain infantry and were considered elite units of the Polish Army.

The traditional symbols of the Podhale Rifles include the edelweiss flower and the Mountain Cross, a swastika symbol (not related to NSDAP) popular in folk culture of the Polish mountainous regions [but still blanked out in the above image to ensure compliance with Paradox forum rules]. The units of Podhale Rifles, both historical and modern, are notable for their high morale and distinctive uniforms. Prior to World War II the mountain units were one of only two infantry units wearing non-standard uniforms based on Mountaineer folk garment rather than military uniforms.

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Monthly Summaries

Asia remained the sole active theatre of the war as October 1942 ended, as the Communists continued to advance to the north-east, west and south.

China remained under heavy pressure from both Fascist and Communist attacks, but Chongqing continued to be held.

But in Indochina, the Allies were slowly rolling the Fascists back again.

In Sulawesi, the Allied advances of September had halted. They were under pressure again as Dutch and Canadian defenders tried to hold of a Japanese counter-offensive.

On the diplomatic front, the political campaign to boost the non-aligned Belarussian Socialist Assembly had gained ground, making it the second most popular party to the Communists, while the charm offensive had seen Byelorussia’s opinion of Poland improve significantly.

During October two new lend-lease donors joined the three existing ones, all assisting Poland to reduce its large AT gun equipment deficit. Since their programs started in July and August, the Netherlands, Australia and New Zealand had already provided 134 AT guns, with Belgium and South Africa promising more in November.

The AT deficit still remained quite high but was reducing appreciably with these welcome donations and local production. Light SP artillery was also in demand, to help equip new light armoured divisions.

Bullfilter · Jan 15, 2023

Chapter Twenty-Six: The Road to Urumqi (Part 2)
(November 1942)

Nationalist Chinese attacking on the Urumqi Front in Sinkiang, November 1942.

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1-20 November 1942: The Battle for Urumqi

By the afternoon of 2 November, Polish forces continued to build up east of Urumqi, as 7 DP arrived and 34 DP marched north. The Chinese had helpfully started an attack on the province south of Urumqi.

That Chinese attack continued into 4 November, as it began to slow in momentum (progress in balance, 62%), with three Chinese divisions attacking two under Sinkiang command (one an EF from Kwantung). The Allied supply situation remained poor in the areas surrounding it.

Two days later, the Chinese attack south of Urumqi was making slight progress again as 34 DP closed on the main Polish position east of the city. Two more Polish divisions were dug-in to its west.

Back home, later that morning a new standard infantry division was deployed and allocated to 2nd Army in the north-east. A new light armoured division was started with all equipment available except for just another three of the 50 required light SP artillery.

And measures to improve relations with the Byelorussian SSR [now up to +48 opinion of Poland] were renewed, for whatever good that might ever do.

On 8 November British and American forces began Operation Torch, the invasion of French North Africa. It would end in victory on 16 November.

On 10 November, the two Polish mountain divisions being transferred to the east embarked in Nice for their trip across to Beirut.

That afternoon, the great Polish Urumqi attack was ready, with six divisions thrown in – all of them suffering from attrition and lack of supply – against one fully organised, full-strength and entrenched Sinkiang formation. The Chinese attack to the south was also steadily gaining momentum.

Early on the 12th, four of the Polish divisions that had been recovering for some weeks behind the lines over the border with the Raj were largely reorganised and back at strength and began their strategic relocation back to the front.

The Urumqi attack had been going for five days and was making fair progress [58%] by 15 November. Two days later, it received a real boost when a fresh Chinese division joined in from the north-west – which also brought an increase in tactical air support. This was just as well, because though the enemy were becoming disorganised, the Polish divisions had started from a low base and were fading quite rapidly.

Exhausted Polish divisions, principally those in the west (which had started in a weaker state), began to drop out of the fight from the morning of 18 November: 34 DP was the first. But in good news, the Chinese had just won and soon occupied the province due south of the capital. The four rested Polish divisions were approaching from the south-west but while near full strength, they would need to reorganise after their strategic redeployment.

From then until early on the morning of the 19th the battle approached the nine day mark. Another three Polish divisions – all those attack from the west – dropped out of the fight and two more were nearing exhaustion. The Chinese 25 Bubing Shi fought on, while the two as yet uncommitted Polish 10 and 28 DP were thrown into the fight, boosting the odds a little against what were now two defending divisions.

By the end of the day, it was just the strong 25 Bubing Shi against the almost spent Sinkiang 20th Div, with the Poles in reserve and trying to reinforce.

The Soviets launched Operation Uranus on 19 November, a counterattack aimed at surrounding Axis forces at Stalingrad. Two days later Hitler forbade the German 6th Army from retreating. Operation Uranus ended in decisive Soviet victory with the German 6th Army completely encircled at Stalingrad on 23 November. Case Blue had ended in strategic Axis failure.

Op Uranus progress from 18 November 1942.

Early on the 20th, 10 DP had reinforced and by 1000hr the gruelling battle had been won, with heavy (for the Sinkiang Front) casualties for the enemy in particular. It was estimated it may take up to another six days to occupy the province, however, as the six original attacking formations had all pulled out by then.

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21-30 November 1942: More Work Required

The Polish Air Force marked another advance in its lead fighter design on 21 November. The new PXL.56 Kania would now gradually take over from the earlier Jastrząb model (and before that the older PZL.11, some of which remained in service).

Research was then directed into improved anti-tank rifles for the infantry.

Construction priorities were altered to install a new fuel silo in Kielce, as Polish production had improved while use of armour had been limited for some time, causing the current storage to reach 100%.

The two most exhausted division from the west of Urumqi were rotated back for R&R later that night as their comrades advanced to secure the enemy capital. But at 0500hr on the 22nd, the enemy’s Kwantung EF slipped into Urumqi, requiring a new attack to be launched as an encounter battle. With Altay [2 VP] in the far north set to become the new Sinkiang capital if Urumqi fell, it was unknown whether they would capitulate or fight on.

By the evening, it was another tough fight with three Polish divisions (7 DP only barely rested in the east) against the one enemy formation. Worried about the endurance of the attackers, three more were thrown into the fray.

Just as the enemy looked like breaking, the now largely recovered Sinkiang 20th Div was spotted heading back towards Urumqi. Desperate to close this second battle out, the still tired troops east of the capital were ordered to put in a holding attack on the afternoon of the 24th.

Three hours later, the Chinese 25th made a welcome attempt to join the holding attack from the south-west. They would reinforce the fight a day later. This coincided with the end of enemy resistance in Urumqi itself.

Two days later, reports came that Communist forces had attacked Allied troops in Sinkiang for the first time, in the south of the sector also bordering fascist Xibei San Ma.

Urumqi finally fell to the Poles at 0100hr on 30 November, almost 20 days after the first of the attacks that month was launched. Alas, this did not quite force the capitulation of Sinkiang, whose government relocated to Altay. Four hours later, the new occupiers of Urumqi and another two worn out formations from its east were sent to reinforce the holding attack north of the capital. The drive would need to be continued through the difficult terrain to the north if Sinkiang were to be forced out of the war.

Pushed back from both the east and west, on 29 November German forces in Tunisia clashed with the British and Americans at Tebourba and Djedeida while Montgomery’s 8th Army stopped their westward advance at El Agheila after making some 1,000 km in 14 days.

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November 1942: Monthly Summaries

Communist China had been the big winner on the Asian Front in the period leading up to the end of November 1942. Imperial Kwantung had been almost fully occupied and there was heavy fighting along the whole south-western front along the Nationalist Chinese and Guangxi borders. They had also advanced over most of Xibei San Ma and into eastern Sinkiang. Both the Fascists and the Nationalist Chinese were now heading towards oblivion.

Mao’s forces were enveloping Chongqing from the north and also pressing XSM hard.

The Allies remained in the stronger position in Indochina, but the front there was currently in a pause.

The Allies were attempting to counter-attack in Sulawesi, but were making little progress against a strong Japanese defence.

The Polish equipment stockpile remained in good shape, with the AT deficit being significantly reduced, from both local production and lend-lease shipments.

After a delay the mountain divisions finally left on trains from Beirut for distant Sinkiang at the end of the month [no alerts for arrived units in HOI4 that I’ve discovered, so they stayed in port for a while before I remembered them].

Bullfilter · Jan 21, 2023

Chapter Twenty-Seven: A Revolutionary Prologue
(December 1942)

The Nationalist Chinese provisional capital of Chongqing under heavy attack, 1 December 1942.

“A drama begins with a prologue but the prologue is not the climax. The Chinese Revolution is great – but the road after the revolution will be longer, the work greater and more arduous.” Mao Zedong, December 1942 [1949 in OTL]

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1-8 December 1942: The Past is Broken, But the Future Beckons

On 1 December, Polish forces had consolidated their occupation of Urumqi and now looked to commence the daunting task of pushing north over rough terrain to the last holdout of the Sinkiang fascists in Altay. They still hoped to knock at least one of China’s opponents out of the war. The the holding attack north of Urumqi continued and was reinforced that night, marginally increasing its progress. Other (fresher) Polish divisions west of Urumqi, recently arrived from R&R in the Raj, pushed north to exploit a gap in the fascist lines.

But none of this could save the failing Chinese state. Chongqing fell and just after midnight on 2 December 1942, Chiang’s government collapsed and went into exile under the protection of its Allied partners. All their forces then fighting in the field packed up and went home. A few patches of land occupied by Allied formations remained under the nominal political control of the exiled Nationalists.

Mao’s forces had also occupied most of ‘Imperial’ Kwantung (Manchuria) by that time and were fighting hard against Quangxi while they pushed west against the Fascist holdouts in Sinkiang and Xibei San Ma.

Mao Zedong proclaims the victory of the Peoples Republic of China, 2 December 1942. It had been a ‘quick march’ in the end, but the fight for the PRC and the revolution was not yet over.

Various Allied units were now cut off behind Communist lines, mostly near Chamdo, also divided by the continued rear-guard resistance of the Ma Fascists, concentrated around Golmud.

In Sinkiang, the Polish forces helping to screen the eastern approaches were ordered to fall back, to avoid isolation and reoccupy land formerly under Chinese control now politically realigned back to Sinkiang. The attack in Dzungaria had been making little progress and costing fruitless casualties, so was called off immediately when the surrender of China became known.

An emergency meeting of Allied representatives in Munich on 3 December could now review two separate wars. Fascism as championed by The Asian League was clearly collapsing, with the Allied position relative to them approaching a decisive victory. Presumably, the Communist’s view would be equally sanguine as they continued to mop up their most dangerous opponent in the east. But the war between the Allies and the Communists of the Mutual Assistance Bloc was in an apparent stalemate.

It was estimated (though it was unclear with how much accuracy) that the Allies far outnumbered and out-produced their Communist adversaries but had suffered very many more casualties. And in the main theatre of Asia itself, the main Communist powers of Japan and now the PRC were able to concentrate their strength. For the Allies it was difficult to apply and supply their power in the same way. And until the strategic positions of both the US and USR became clearer (if they ever did) the current estimate of the world situation must remain interim at best.

Even with the grave setback in China, Poland’s true strategic concerns remained focused on their own doorstep. A program of training second-line militia divisions to garrison the southern border with Czechoslovakia continued, so as to release regular divisions to guard the eastern border or act as a central reserve.

The political strategy with Romania progressed significantly on 8 December, with the next move awaited from them. It would also allow further progress in the development of land doctrines.

The more prosaic field of AT gun research would be pursued next.

While the last of the available land doctrines under the grand battleplan line Poland had chose had been unlocked – it had now reached maturity.

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9-31 December 1942: Finding a Way Forward

After the reorientation following the collapse of China, not all Polish offensive plans in Sinkiang were abandoned. By early on 10 December, the advance west of Urumqi had seen the Poles reach the front line, while a Sinkiang division had set up a hasty defence. The Poles put in an attack.

More than eight days later, the grinding battle went on – these things often took longer in the remote and rough terrain of Sinkiang – with the aim now being more tactical: to cut off the three fascist divisions still resisting in the west, while simultaneously exploiting the gap created to drive on Altay, outflanking the current enemy defences north of Urumqi.

Meanwhile, the fall-back to the east had established a new screening line, where combat with the Communists was largely being avoided by the Poles, at least.

This changed a little the next day, as the French tried to probe a way through to relieve a British division trapped to the south after he Chinese collapse. The Poles decided to see if they could assist: every rescued Allied division in this theatre was a bonus: perhaps they could open a lifeline from the north.

On 20 December, the drawn-out attack in the north-west ran into a problem: just as it appeared enemy resistance was about to collapse, a fresh division approached the front line. But they had not yet been able to reach and reinforce the front line.

This time luck was on Poland’s side: the enemy broke later that evening before they could be reinforced and the province was occupied by 2000hr. The cut-off had been executed after more than ten days of fighting.

The rescue mission in the south ran into trouble on the morning of Christmas Day 1942. The advancing Polish division in Kunlun Shan, which was rather disorganised, only half strength and badly supplied, was attacked from the north-east by an advancing fascist division. The KBK was heading south to support them, but the position was looking difficult.

Two days later, the recently arrived mountain divisions had finished their long transit and had been regaining organisation in British-controlled territory to the south. They were ordered to begin marching to the front on the night of the 27th, one to reinforce the Allied defence as Sinking tried to break out of its pocket, the other heading around that battle via Urumqi towards the proposed break-out zone.

The defence of Kunlun Shan was finally lost on the morning of 28 December, before the KBK could join in. But by the evening of the 29th the retreat had forced 8 DP south – into the vacant province that temporarily at least opened a precarious supply line to the trapped British division.

As 1942 ended, the next phase of the breakout into northern Sinkiang was in progress. As the Poles held the western pocket closed, two more divisions were pushing into the gap that still existed in the fascist lines north-west of Urumqi, while more Polish divisions were withdrawn from the eastern screen for the breakthrough operation. The Allies were probing the pocket in the south but were making little progress for now. Hopefully supply losses – or the capture of Altay – would end the enemy’s resistance there.

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Monthly Summaries

During the month, lend-lease shipments of AT guns had been phased out by the supplying Allied governments. As the month ended, the AT stockpile had been significantly reduced and almost all other areas of the equipment stockpile were in the green.

New technical advances had been made towards the end of the month, with more radar improvements and an AT upgrade taking their place.

The East was definitely looking Red as 1942 drew to a close. After China’s capitulation most PRC attention was being directed at The Asian League in the south as Manchuria had been almost completely liberated.

Chiang’s exiled government controlled no troops but Allied control of a small amount of territory in their name gave them a small amount of industry and manpower, plus they seemed to have retained their air force.

This was still centred around Chamdo, where the surrounded Allies had managed to consolidate a desperate defence.

Limited Allied progress had been made in Indochina though the front there was currently quiet.

In Sulawesi, the Allies had been pushed back onto the northern peninsula but seemed to have held the line again.

As 1942, the war in Asia had definitely taken a turn, but in some ways it now resembled a divergence rather than any complete break. The Allies remained unwilling to concede the field in western China easily to either fascist of communist autocracies – as they viewed them.

Bullfilter · Jan 26, 2023

Chapter Twenty-Eight: To Fish or Cut Bait?
(January-February 1943)

The remote town of Altay, final objective of the Allied offensive in Sinkiang. Will the Poles continue their bold breakout operation into early 1943, or cut their losses and leave the theatre to their Allies?.

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January 1943: A Bold Dash

8 DP had been forced to retreat south on 28 December by a Fascist attack and was then engaged as the year drew to a close by a Japanese attack from the east. The exhausted Poles were on a hiding to nothing here and were at risk of being cut off. They were ordered to withdraw on the first morning of the new year. It would take them a couple of days before they could break contact.

In the north, the Poles had decided they would continue to exploit the gap they had forced in the enemy’s lines. 2 DP advanced into it late on 7 January. This opened up an even wider gap – on the approaches to Altay. 2 DP secured the breakthrough while more forces followed on slowly behind in the slow and difficult winter conditions.

After receiving expert advice from Allied consultants, Poland undertook to extend the rail line that brought supplies from the Raj to Sinkiang from Peshawar to Northern Kashmir, though it’s commencement would need to wait until a couple of domestic projects were completed.

In the east, by mid-month the Allies had taken over and considerably strengthened the screen that extended from Xibei San Ma north to Communist-occupied Sinkiang. This included one French and two German mountain divisions. The Allies were in the process of trying to destroy a cut-off Sinkiang division. 8 DP was still on its way back.

German Gebirsjäger.

At 0200hr on 19 January, the Polish mountain troops of 22 DP Górskiej (DPG) finally arrived at the front and were sent in to reinforce the ongoing German attack on the south of the Western Pocket. They reinforced quickly and by that afternoon were adding their expertise to the unsuited German panzer division that had been leading the assault.

This coincided with the Germans making an attack north from Urumqi with two well organised infantry divisions against a single weaker Sinkiang formation [73% progress]. Poland would continue to fish with their colleagues in western China, for now anyway.

On 22 January the Poles had extended the Altay breakthrough without encountering any opposition. Around the pocket, the enemy tried to break out again but were beaten back with very heavy casualties by the 24th. The southern pocket attack continued and would not be won until early the following month after another gruelling battle.

Late in the month, the new fuel silo was completed in Gdynia and another commenced, allowing excess production to now be stored for future demands, the first of the railway expansions in the east having been finished.

The next round of R&R began the same day, as the first of the disorganised and under-strength Polish divisions were withdraw to the supply base in Kashmir.

Excitement mounted when 28 DP arrived just south of Altay to find it unoccupied. They began a river crossing operation but it would take an estimated eight and a half days to take the last Sinkiang stronghold.

As January ended, the PRC still held the strategic initiative in Asia, the Fascists held on grimly and the Allies were still trying to knock Sinkiang out of the war.

Indochina remained in stalemate, as did Sulawesi where the previous Allied advance had been rolled back to the narrow northern peninsula.

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February 1943: Never Say Die

The beginning of February saw Polish infantry equipment upgraded to 1943 standards, with the replacement process begun with some residual production efficiency on the production line.

Two more divisions (8 and 32 DP) were added to the R&R program on 3 February. By then, the battle for the south of the Pocket had been won the day before and the German and Polish troops had occupied the province.

The enemy tried to attack the base of the Polish breakout on the 4th, two divisions attacking a very weak German panzer division. Still, the Poles pushed on to Altay as best they could.

And their persistence over all those months was finally rewarded when Altay fell late on the 7th, with just the one Kwantung EF left fighting for the fascists in the west of Sinkiang.

Sinkiang duly capitulated, tendering their surrender to British representatives at the beginning of 8 January 1943. Some previously secure territory remained in nominal Chinese hands, the rest fell under British occupation.

Officials of the exiled Nationalist Chinese government convene a meeting of local administrators in Urumqi after the fascist surrender on 8 February 1943.

With the decision made to continue operations in Sinkiang, a new extension on the Peshawar rail line was put into the construction queue, while work would start next from Urumqi on a linking branch line, once the next fuel silo in Gdynia was completed.

17 DP – in a very weakened state – was the next division sent to the rear from the eastern sector for R&R that afternoon.

The next day, the reorientation of Polish forces in Sinkiang continued with the two mountain divisions redirected for duty in the mountains on the northern border with Xibei San Ma.

The national focus on AT guns was completed on 16 February, with artillery getting the next focus of Polish attention.

By 20 February, work had begun on the next Peshawar line extension.

A few days later, the supply situation in occupied Sinkiang showed signs of gradual improvement in the rear areas, though none yet in the south-eastern sector.

As the month drew to a close, rested Polish divisions began to their return to the front, though this time they would march slowly in order to maintain organisation, as the timetable was not urgent: perhaps supply may have improved a little more by the time they got there.

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Summaries

The PRC was currently concentrating on fighting The Asian League in XSM and the south-east corner where the Guangxi Clique was being pressed back relentlessly. The new Imperial Kwantung capital had been established in Taipei and their remaining forces still fought on in western Sinkiang, south-eastern China and Indochina.

The Chamdo Pocket had not only held out strongly for the last two months, but the small rump Nationalist administration had actually managed to deploy two new divisions to assist the four trapped Allied formations in the meantime.

On the front to the north of XSM, a strong Allied build up was under way, while the Communists had shown no intent yet to push west against the Allies: they seemed more concerned with eliminating the Ma Fascists.

In Sinkiang, the last Kwantung EF still held out in the west under Allied pressure as other forces – Polish and British – headed east to re-establish a forwards screen in the newly claimed Sinkiang territory claimed by the UK on their capitulation.

Both sides seemed bogged down in defensive lines at the narrowest point of French Indochina.

As was also the case in northern Sulawesi, where both sides appeared in poor condition.

The Polish equipment stockpile remained in surplus over most important categories, though a few had long upgrade queues to fill.

The next rail extensions for Urumqi – heading south-east to the new main front – and the Peshawar line were put onto the drawing boards.

The war essentially remained confined to four theatres in Asia: western and south-eastern China, Indochina and Sulawesi. The Asian League seemed to be close to strategic defeat, but may still have some stubborn resistance left in it. The war on Communism was now evenly poised in terms of progress, with Mao’s PRC and Japan still in the ascendant.

Reports on the two great powers who remained neutral were provided by the Foreign Ministry in Warsaw. There was still no firm indication from either the USR or US that they may be considering an imminent entry into the war. As expected, estimate saw the Soviets with the larger land strength and the US in naval power, while both had comparably sized air forces.

Estimates of US industrial capacity, which were more accurate, showed they had greater overall capacity, though a smaller proportion than the Soviets invested in military production. Naturally, they retained a healthy lead in naval production capacity, while the USR had by far the larger manpower reserves.

Bullfilter · Feb 2, 2023

Chapter Twenty-Nine: Swimming, Not Sinking
(March-April 1943)

Locals listen to war news in Sinkiang (Xinjiang). The thought that their out-of-the-way land would be the focus of a great battle between Western troops from Britain, Germany, France, Poland, Canada and other nations fighting Fascists and Communists for months on end still seemed incredible to them. As the Allies tried to hold and then push back east, they could only hope they would soon be left in peace.

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March 1943: Easy Does It

Early March was still largely dominated by Allied consolidation following the surrender of Sinkiang. On 3 March, the exhausted and under-strength 28 DP slipped into place east of the Kwantung 20th Division still holding on in Dzungaria on the Soviet border. It was now completely surrounded, but 28 DP was too weak and disorganised to join the existing Allied attack.

Instead, 10 DP joined in from the south-east. At this stage, the Poles had not yet noticed that at least some Nationalist Chinese troops were fighting on, but as EFs under British command. The Poles took command of the battle, boosting its progress as they waited to reinforce.

At midday on the 3rd came news that the small Central Asian nation of Tannu Tuva had joined the 4th International. The only surprise in Warsaw was that they hadn’t already done so.

With progress still slow in Dzungaria, 8 DP was added in to the attack on the late morning of the 4th.

The second new fuel silo added on 5 March boosted Poland’s storage capacity again, as stockpiles were built for the possible future war against the Soviets. New construction projects added included a new civilian factory for Lublin and another railway extension for Sinkiang.

In China’s south-east, the Guangxi Clique was in major trouble by 8 March and most Communist effort remained directed against the Fascists. The Chamdo pocket continued to hold out and the Allies were inching forward in central Vietnam.

It took until 14 March for the stubborn Kwantung imperialists to finally give up in Dzungaria, allowing the last pocket there to be cleared up and for Allies forces to rest or relocate.

More proposed rail construction went into the forwards works program in Sinkiang on the 18th as the major factory project came to the top of the production queue.

The third research completion in March was finalised on 17 March, with the War Minister considering the summary report of current projects the next day. A mix of army equipment, technical and infrastructure projects was being maintained.

The Allies (another unnoticed Chinese division) came under attack from a PRC mechanised division on 21 March in the far north of the line. The KBK, though still under-manned and disorganised, was sent forward to see if they might aid the defence, which was in the balance.

As the month was ending, both the Polish mountain divisions had completed their relocation to the south-east, where the gradually improving supply situation had not yet reached and Allied troop concentrations were heavy for the limited logistics. An Allied attack was making (dubious) progress against a Xibei San Ma fascist cavalry division to the east.

Early the next day, the Poles there finally realised that the Chinese troops in Sinkiang when Chiang capitulated had not been lost after all: they were fighting under British colours, including in the attack against XSM.

Four other divisions, three of them on the front line to the north and one in reserve to the west, were all subsequently identified fighting under British command in Sinkiang.

Chinese troops of 21 Jutuán assaulting XSM positions in Haixi, 31 March 1943.

The current attack on Haixi would be lost later that day, before the Poles in the area were ready to join in, after which the enemy came under Communist attack from the north.

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1-18 April 1943: Rail and Rifle

Big news on the supply front came on 2 April with the opening of the new rail line to Urumqi. Finally, the supply depot there was linked to the British logistics network. There and along the southern line, improvements were beginning to be seen (blue is better). Five Polish divisions resting in the south were almost back up to full strength again.

After the first supply train came in, a massive improvement in supply availability around Urumqi was seen, though this would soon be dispersed into the countryside and front-line troops to the east. But it was already making a big difference on the ground.

The arrival of the KBK in northern Dabanchang on the morning of 7 April boosted the Chinese defenders further, who were able to record a hard-fought victory four hours later against the already exhausted Communists.

To its south, the recently arrived 2 DP added its weight to another Allied attack involving Chinese and British troops against Japanese armour which ended in a victory four days later. It was the beginning of an Allied counter-offensive in northern Sinkiang.

A renewed attack by 37 Bubing Shi on Haixi was this time joined by the Poles in force at 1300hr on 10 April, but the exhausted 37th gave up the next day before the Poles could reinforce the front line.

On the 12th, the first of the rested Polish formations, 8 DP (redeployed earlier from the Western Pocket battle in March) was ordered forward to join the front line in the south-east. Care was being taken not to send too many forward yet, given the still poor supply situation there.

During another period of regrouping for the Poles in Sinkiang, the big news from China was the Guangxi Clique capitulation to Mao on 13 April. A few stragglers fought on, but yet another Chinese warlord had been inundated by the Communist flood.

Back in Sinkiang, the Germans began a new attack on Communist positions in the centre of the front with promising initial progress [62%] on 16 April. The next day, 28 DP (largely recovered from previous fighting and three provinces to the rear in Urumqi) was called forward to be ready to provide support or exploit that attack in coming days.

Further progress was being made in Indochina, where a major new Allied offensive was being conducted against the now outnumbered Fascists.

That evening, the KBK initiated a bold (!) attack in the north against a tired Shanxi division. Fortunately for them, the German 1st Pz Div arrived a day later and threw themselves into the attack, significantly boosting the odds. The Communists were counter-attacking a recent Allied advance just to the south while the Germans were still attacking south of that. The northern sector was hotting up.

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19-30 April 1943: A Slowly Turning Tide

The Chinese attacked XSM again at 1400hr on 19 April, but this time the Poles were ready to jump in. They had joined the battle an hour later and by 2000hr all three formations had reinforced!

In the centre of the northern sector, the British Egyptian Cav Bde launched a new attack early on 22 April, and this time the Poles were ready to assist from both the north and west. By 0800hr both 2 and 34 DP had reinforced the line, though the fight was still a difficult one against a dug-in Shanxi division.

The next day, the eastern rail project’s focus was shifted to improving the trunk line from Lahore to Peshawar in the northern Raj, an acknowledged supply bottleneck.

There was heavy fighting along much of the Sinkiang front by 23 April, with the Poles participating in the three Allied attacks in progress, while the Allies fought to hold some recently acquired territory in the centre.

Two more Polish divisions (light pink) were moving forward from reserve to join the front in the north and south, while four more (dark pink) had finished R&R and were awaiting call-forward, when supplies permitted or front-line units needed to be rotated.

The three attacks would all be won between 25-26 April. As that progress was being made, the two southern reserve divisions were ordered closer to the front line for possible later exploitation into XSM.

The Polish military modernisation program continued on 27 April, with the national focus shifting from artillery to fighter design.

And the new civilian factory was completed the same day, with construction effort slightly boosted and all shifting back to rail roads in the Far East.

After the recent successes and limited advances of the Allied counter-offensive in Sinkiang, the Communists attempted to hit back with a series of counter attacks from 27-30 April, though by the end of the month the Allies were gaining ground in each of the defences.

21 DPG had just taken Haixi on 30 April but was counter-attacked as soon as it arrived (it was unclear whether by the Fascists or Communists) and unable to hold, while the two other Polish divisions were being delayed by a holding attack. The recently arrived 22 DP was ordered into Haixi instead.

As April ended, the supply situation in Sinkiang had greatly improved, though throughput to the heavily crowded front-line provinces was still patchy at best and still poor in the south-east.

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Summaries

The Polish equipment stockpiles were looking relatively healthy, despite the regular production of new divisions (two militia, two infantry and one light armour at any one time) and attrition from fighting in the Far East.

The main Far Eastern fronts reflected the Communist counter-offensive in the north, which the Allies were resisting strongly, and continued fighting in the centre and south-east.

A different view made it clearer who friend and foe were for the Allies in Asia.

The Allies continued to grind north in the difficult terrain and narrow frontage of central Vietnam.

While the Allies were being slowly pushed back again in northern Sulawesi.

Although the colours were all a bit confusingly similar, only three main factions, two of them Communist, dominated the aligned landscape. The fascist Asian League had been reduced to an ineffectual rump.

While the charm offensive on Romania continued but had not made any further real headway over the last few months.

Bullfilter · Feb 8, 2023

Chapter Thirty: Asia Warms Up
(May 1943)

Polish rail workers (here seen at work back home in Poland) were brought in to supervise the great construction project now taking place from Peshawar in the Raj and across Sinkiang, in both northern and southern branches. Even as the lines were extended to the front, more crews were working behind to upgrade the lines from Lahore to Peshawar and beyond.

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1-12 May 1943: Thrust and Counter-thrust

As May began, the Communists continued to try to push recent Allied advances back. But early on the first, the large enemy attack on Kunlun Shan was defeated with very heavy casualties.

Later that evening, two Polish divisions were still marching to set up a quick defence of Haixi in the south before the Communists could occupy it. In the north, 34 DP was ordered to join the faltering British cavalry attack on Dabancheng. Although the enemy had four divisions, they were exhausted from attacking strong Allied defensive positions to the north and were being struck in the flank. The Poles’ joining in quickly improved the odds for victory.

2 DP was the next to join the attack early on 3 May, where 34 DP had already reinforced. By the afternoon, the enemy’s attack on northern Dabancheng had been halted but it would take another three days to win through in the south.

22 DPG, still badly disorganised from previous fighting and poor supply, arrived in Haixi on the morning of 4 May, just in time to defend against a two-division Communist attack from the north. 6 DP was also well on its way by then and though even more disorganised, had reinforced by the night of the 5th and together, the Poles were just able to hold Haixi by the morning of 7 May.

While that battle continued, the well-rested 17 DP arrived at their jumping off point and were added to the reinforcement push to the still precariously held Haixi. It was just as well they were, because the province became the target of repeated enemy attacks for the rest of the month.

A new attack in the north was made by the fully rested 28 DP on Jiuquan on 6 May and was soon making excellent progress against two exhausted Communist divisions, hitting them in the flank as they attacked a large Allied force to the west. It took less than two days of fighting to win through.

The one research advance for the month saw fuel refining improved, with the work continued into advanced oil processing. All designed to boost Polish capacity for a possible future war with the Soviets.

[Am I now overdoing this, or is it prudent provision for a likely sharply increased demand for mechanised and air warfare?]

Supply in Sinkiang continued to improve, though it was still hard getting enough supply to the front line given the heavy concentration of units. Four Polish divisions continued to rest and be held in reserve to the rear so as not to tax the logistic effort even further.

At this point, Polish logistic officers noted that general infrastructure was (not surprisingly) very low in Sinkiang, especially along the new southern supply line. They enquired with the overall Allied command [ie you, dear readAARs ] as to whether trying to also improve infrastructure in these provinces (a more expensive exercise than simple railway work) would be worth the effort re supply throughput to the front.

By 9 May, operations intensified across the front as the enemy counter-attacked in the south at both Kunlun Shan and Haixi, while both sides had thrown extra troops into the fight for Jiuquan. The Allies would eventually win each of these battles between 12-14 May, the Communists taking the heavier casualties.

In the north, the Communists attacked northern Dabancheng again and counter-attacked Jiuquan as soon as 28 DP occupied it on 12 May, where they were immediately under pressure. The reserve was ordered up from Urumqi and the KBK from the north to jumping off point to wither reinforce Jiuquan or counter-attack it if it fell again.

The defence of Dabancheng would be won early on 15 May after heavy fighting, but the desperate defence of Jiuquan would continue.

Meanwhile, the Polish effort to support Allied logistics in Sinkiang continued apace, with more line improvements scheduled for the western end of the network.

And on the night of the 12th, given the continued heavy Communist pressure, the southern two reserve Polish divisions (5 and 7 DPs) were ordered to march (not rail) to the front, so as to preserve organisation.

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13-26 May 1943: New Friends and Old

Poland’s strategic position in central Europe was further improved when the heavily democratic-leaning Republic of Hungary joined the Allies on 13 May, bringing their large army onto the board. They were soon summoned into formal war participation. This was reassuring, as the USR seemed to building up its forces on the south-eastern border of Poland, including 8 armoured divisions.

With no airfields anywhere near the western Chinese front, Poland sent another request to the Allied Far East Theatre HQ, this time seeking advice as to whether building a new airfield in Urumqi would be both cost-effective and useful in terms of the range to a likely future front line if the Allies were able to continue their advance.

Some argued it may be wiser to wait for a forward city to be taken and upgraded for air operations in due course to ensure continued relevance. Others worried whether the supply network could support an air base as well as the stretched ground force logistics.

From 15 to 21 May, Communist forces repeatedly attacked both Kunlun Shan and particularly Haixi. These seemed to be poorly-executed human wave attacks, which usually ended in hundreds of attackers dead for no or very few defenders killed. By 21 May four Polish divisions were tired but well dug in and holding fast in Haixi.

In the north, the same period saw the heavy fighting over Jiuquan continue. Welcome Allied reinforcement was provided by 22 Juntuán early on the 16th; just in time, as 28 DP’s defence began to weaken. A South African division also joined that night, but still the battle hung in the balance as four enemy divisions were now attacking.

Behind the lines, the Polish rail work gangs were hard at work, with two new improvements added to upgrade the entire northern line through Urumqi.

By 1100hr on 16 May, 28 DP were exhausted and were withdrawn from Jiuquan before they broke, leaving the Chinese and South Africans to hold the line.

The Allies were bolstered with great news on 21 May: in recent days the Fascist line had collapsed in Indochina and the Allies were racing through North Vietnam and Laos. However, the Communists had also broken through in the north and had just taken Hanoi. A new Allied-Mutual Assistance Bloc front would soon be established.

And a large Allied amphibious operation had succeeded in wresting Saipan from the Kwantung Imperialists – the latest in a series of Allied island seizures in the western pacific.

Just as the Allied defence of Jiuquan was failing, the KBK arrived on the morning of 22 May. But after another day, they were alone, badly outnumbered and rapidly losing organisation and strength. They were ordered to retreat and cede the hard-won province back to the Communists. The battle was lost by 1100hr on the 23rd, the Allies having taken very heavy casualties.

But the two Allied divisions that had been expelled from Jiuquan earlier began a counter-attack even before the KBK had completed their retreat. The attack was making slow progress, but all the participants were badly worn out.

Three days later, the attack was failing but the reinforcing 10 and 18 DPs had completed their long march to the front from reserve and were thrown into the fight. 10 DP had soon reinforced as 18 DP was still in tactical reserve, significantly improving the situation.

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27-31 May 1943: Some Like It Hot

18 DP had reinforced the attack on Jiuquan by the morning of the 27th and this time the Communists weakened: the battle would be won by the afternoon of the 28th. To the north in Dabancheng, another enemy probe had been brushed off, while yet another probe to the south on Haixi was repelled with heavy casualties.

At 0700hr on 30 May, another probe on Dabancheng was repulsed just as the Poles reoccupied Jiuquan and beat off a brief counter-attack. Ground was being made in the north, but it was slow going.

The next logistics question asked by Poland of the Allies was whether it would be worth building a supplementary supply hub at the main railhead in eastern Kunlun Shan. This would be very expensive and the relatively inexperienced Polish logisticians [ie me!] were again unsure whether this would be value for money, or should be contemplated again when they moved advanced east.

As the month ended, supply at the front was still difficult. The Allies (without Polish assistance for now) were launching a couple of attacks in the north, while the Communists were again attacking in the centre, while the Poles (now with more Allied reinforcements) had massively defeated a major attack on Haixi that afternoon.

In the first five months of 1943, Polish casualties in ground combat were relatively modest at around 2,800 killed. But if the ration of equipment losses to combat and attrition was anything to go by, far more men would have been lost to attrition also.

Polish defence production had been able to keep pace or exceed replacement demands in most equipment areas.

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Theatre Summaries

China’s march in the south-east had continued through May, with the Yunnan Free Empire now largely occupied but progress in the west against the Allies and fascist Xibei San Ma largely checked and even reversed a little in the north.

As seen before, the logistical situation in Sinkiang had greatly improved, though the heavy concentration of units at the front was still hard to keep supplied.

The Allied aims were to steadily push the Communists back in the north, then eventually generate the combat power to strike into Xibei San Ma and seize Golmud, perhaps to use as a forward supply and even air base.

The Communists had established a salient in the Chamdo Pocket during the month and were still attacking in its north and south, but otherwise the Allis still hung on grimly.

The Allies had fanned out further in North Vietnam and Lao over the last few days, taking Vientiane and now clashing with the Communists south of Hanoi, including an attack on the port of Haiphong.

Sudden progress had also been made against the Japanese in Sulawesi, with an apparent British landing north of Makassar cutting off the rest of the island from its supplies as the original divisions in the north pushed down again, against no apparent opposition.

And in the South China Sea up to 17 British divisions appeared to be on their way to Indochina. The Poles hoped they weren’t intercepted by Japanese naval forces. But if they were all able to land and make it to the front, the new southern front may prove very valuable in the fight against the Communists.

Bullfilter · Feb 15, 2023

Chapter Thirty-One: Summer Doldrums
(June 1943)

Adding to their railway building, Polish supervisors would soon be overseeing work to begin improving the poor road infrastructure in Sinkiang. It would be a formidable task and there were only so many work gangs to go around.

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1-15 June 1943: Heavy Going

The improvement of the new rail network in Sinkiang was the current priority but the poor transport infrastructure in Taklamakan would be the next priority for the Polish logistic crews in June 1943.

As part of a Polish attempt to force the pace in the south of the front and to spoil yet another Communist an attack on the south of Haixi, a two-division Polish attack on northern Haixi began promisingly on the morning of 3 June.

But over the next ten days, the enemy would reinforce enough to eventually force the attack to be abandoned after ten days of fighting left both sides with heavy (for this theatre) combat casualties.

This attack was complemented six hours later with five (rather disorganised) Polish divisions making a probe-in-strength south against the fascists of XSM, as soon as the spoiling attack had drawn off the Communists attacking Haixi.

Although the Poles fought well and inflicted quite heavy casualties in this attack, they were forced to halt it six days later as the attacking divisions became worn out.

By 5 June, the Communists in northern Vietnam – still inter-mixed with fascist Kwantung forces – had brought enough forces to bear to begin an offensive of their own against the Allies south of Hanoi.

In the north, 2 and 34 DPs began an attack on north Jiuquan on the evening of 6 June, in part to spoil another Communist attack on their colleagues to the south but also to try to grind out a small advance in a largely deadlocked front.

Poland was part of an Allied effort to beat off three enemy attacks of increasing determination on southern Jiuquan in the first week of June, the latest won early on the 7th even as the attack on northern Jiuquan continued.

Another large attack on southern Haixi was defeated on 10 June,though one Polish division had been forced out of the fight and the attack on northern Haixi was by then foundering as the Communists reinforced and would eventually hold their positions.

Soon after this battle, the exhausted 6 and 17 DPs were sent back for some R&R behind the lines, with no prospect of any further Polish offensive in the south for the foreseeable future.

In the north of the front, the Poles had managed to take northern Jiuquan but by 15 June were having great difficulty fending off the Communist counter-attack that followed. A series of three enemy attacks on southern Jiuquan had delayed the KBK from a move to relieve the defenders to their north, but by the morning of the 15th they were on the move again.

As the day ended, 10 and 18 DPs were thrown into a spoiling attack on eastern Jiuquan to try to assist the tiring defenders of north Jiuquan and prevent the interception of the KBK’s relief march.

But that attack would be called off just over a day later in the face of heavy casualties and a further deterioration of the defence to the north made the situation there seem hopeless.

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16-30 June 1943: Focus on the South

The second half of June 1943 began with news that the fascists of the Yunnan Free Empire had surrendered to the PRC. Kwantung fought on – it seemed likely that an invasion of Taiwan may be required to knock them out of the war.

In northern Jiuquan, it had seemed the province would fall to the Communist attackers, with 2 DP already in retreat 34 DP was also ordered out at 1500hr on 16 June. But the South African Natal Command turned up unexpectedly at midday on the 17th and had reinforced by midnight, before 34 DP had completed its evacuation of the front line. The KBK was also still on its way to support their colleagues as the odds suddenly swung in the Allies favour.

The KBK arrived in northern Jiuquan at 0200hr on the 18th and the Communists broke off their attack two hours later, while 2 and 34 DP headed to the rear to recover.

With the latest rail projects finished by 18 June and infrastructure work under way in Talkamakan, work began on a new supply hub on the southern railhead in Kunlun Shan.

With enough exercising experience for another air doctrine advance, the air force decided to reach back and improve its ground support procedures on 21 June.

In Vietnam, the weight of Communist numbers was beginning to push back the Allied forces south of Hanoi. The hoped-for British reinforcements had not yet materialised in the north.

In north Jiuquan, the Communists were far from done with trying to take back the province they had lost earlier in the month. A still tired 34 DP was back in position to assist their comrades and just as well, as it took eight days of even fighting before the defenders eventually prevailed.

Mao was not backward in stating his objectives in South East Asia, with a bold declaration on 27 June that the PRC was claiming all of Indochina! And not only was the military option ‘not ruled out’, it was in full swing as the tempo picked up in north Vietnam.

And by midnight on the 27th, the Allies revealed that Chamdo had been lost to the Communists in the southern pocket in recent days.

PRC troops crossing the Mekong River prior to the final assault to take the city of Chamdo, June 1943.

The Communists had less success in Sinkiang, with a large attack on Kunlun Shan on Allied forces including Polish troops heavily defeated on 30 June. This was good, but it was not advancing the Allied lines.

Two technology breakthroughs were made during the month, no more expected until early August.

Apart from a shortage of AT guns, the equipment stockpiles largely remained in surplus.

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Monthly Summaries

Other than in the west, the PRC had by now occupied most of China.

A stalemate persisted in eastern Sinkiang as the Allies’ supply problems had not yet been fully resolved and the terrain proved as difficult as ever. Just one battle, a defence of northern Jiuquan, remained in progress.

The supply situation had definitely improved since the Polish logistic improvements had begun, but throughput of sufficient quantities to the crowded front line was still a problem. Meanwhile, of the 14 divisions of the 4th Polish (Expeditionary) Army, half (highlighted in white below) were at that time in varying stages of heading back behind the lines to rest and re-equip. Six more were resting in place at the front (pink) with one, the KBK (yellow), under attack in the north.

A survey of airfields in the general vicinity showed two Allied airfields – neither close to the front – in Peshawar and West Bengal. Intelligence staff reported the presence of an airfield south of Golmud in Xibei San Ma. If only it could be taken and properly supplied, it would be a major boost for the Allied effort in the region and mean a new one wouldn’t have to be built from scratch. This would be the next main objective for the Poles, once the currently exhausted units were rested.

As mentioned before, the southern pocket was gradually being squeezed tighter after the fall of Chamdo.

And the supply situation of the Allied forces trapped there was predictably bad, with reports of Allied air resupply missions being attempted.

In northern Vietnam, the Communist offensive was picking up momentum. Allied forces that had pushed out to the west were now in danger of being cut off.

There was also disappointing news from Sulawesi where (as some commentators had speculated) the British landing in the south had not been supported and the Allied advance restricted to the northern peninsula.

The hoped-for British reinforcements for Indochina had landed (ten divisions) but seemed to be stuck resting in Saigon for now.

Where had the rest gone? The Western pacific was littered with at least 40 British, six French, three Dutch and three Mexican divisions.

And there was another assault in progress, with another amphibious landing by the British, this time on Kwantung-owned Palau.

Finally, in Europe the Soviets had not made any overtly hostile moves. The Czechs were leaning heavily towards democratic alignment. In Austria, the non-aligned government of Kurt Schuschnigg maintained a relatively narrow lead in popularity compared to the fascist opposition.

Bullfilter · Feb 23, 2023

Chapter Thirty-Two: Empty Pockets
(July-August 1943)

British troops, backed by naval gunfire support, go ashore in Palau, 1 July 1943.

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July 1943: Turned Tables

Just as June was ending, the British had begun an amphibious assault on the Imperial Kwantung-controlled island of Palau in the western Pacific.

Much of the front in Sinkiang was in stalemate, as neither side could seem to break the other’s line. Poland had withdrawn its exhausted troops from most of the front-line provinces back to better supplied rear areas, leaving one division each in northern and southern Jiuquan to aid the Allied defence. These had been probed heavily during June and each would be attacked and held four times during July, ending each time in heavy Communist losses (a summary will be provided in the monthly reports). Elsewhere on the Sinkiang front, the Allies and Communists exchanged regular attacks, but none succeeded.

Instead, most movement and focus during the month would be in South East Asia and the western Pacific, where Allied forces were engaged with both Communist and Fascist enemies in Indochina, Sulawesi and Palau.

Poland achieved its focus on fighter modernisation on 6 July, though new research on the next (1944) model would be held over for now. A new focus on improving Polish mechanisation was begun.

In Laos and northern Vietnam, the previous Allied advance on Hanoi had been thrown back now the Communists had massed more forces and were intent on expelling both Allied and Fascist formations from the area.

In Sulawesi, the Allies were again in the familiar position of trying to expand out of the narrow northern peninsula with insufficient forces.

While in Palau, Nationalist Chinese troops under British command had managed to land on the south of the island and were attacking the port of North Palau, with naval gunfire support.

As probes were traded in Sinkiang over the next few weeks, by 22 July the situation in Indochina had worsened badly for the Allies. Up to 8 French and German divisions had been pocketed in and to the west of Vientiane, with no apparent prospect of rescue and their comrades were pushed south in Vietnam. This looked like being a major disaster for the Allied effort in Indochina, which had appeared so promising when they had been advancing on Hanoi the month before.

In Palau, the fight for North Palau still raged, as Kwantung tried to counter-attack. And 17 British divisions were now garrisoned in the Caroline Islands!

Sulawesi remained in stalemate, though the Allies appeared to be building up forces again.

In Sinkiang, as the month drew to a close Polish work crews continued the long task of creating a new supply hub in Kunlun Shan and had embarked on an upgrade of the northern and southern railway lines to Dabancheng and Kunlun Shan.

The PRC had continued its southern expansion during July, even if it and its partners had made little progress in the north-west.

As mentioned earlier, a series of probes where the Poles had troops stationed in Jiuquan had been beaten off during the month with heavy enemy casualties.

The Chamdo Pocket was still holding out.

While in Indochina, the Vientiane Pocket had consolidated after a temporary pause in enemy attacks, but the Communists pressed on in central Vietnam.

The Allies were slowly gaining the upper hand in Palau, but the battle continued after over a month of fighting.

While in Sulawesi, the Allies had pushed through along the coast, in a possibly risky attempt to outflank the Japanese.

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August 1943: Disaster in Vientiane

Surrounded French troops retreat towards Vientiane, August 1943.

By 7 August, the position for the Allied troops surrounded in Laos was desperate. They had just been forced out of Vientiane itself by PRC troops as the supply and organisation of the other 7 divisions trapped to its west evaporated.

In southern Sinkiang, a cavalry assault by the Fascist Ma Clique on 11 March tried to seize the partly built supply hub in southern Kunlun Shan, held by a single Polish mountain division. The other mountain unit had been ordered forward a few days before but were still somewhat disorganised and would take some time to reinforce their colleagues.

After a tough four-day battle, the Poles would hold out and more troops would be ordered forward when they had recovered in the rear echelon rest areas.

By 13 August, only 6 of the 8 original Allied divisions trapped in the Vientiane Pocket remained in the fight. All were low on supplies and approaching exhaustion.

On Sulawesi, the Japanese were counter-attacking the Allied salient on the west coast, which was holding for now.

The Battle of Palau had been won in during the previous week, with a huge collection of British divisions crammed into the Caroline Islands.

After a call in the press for the production of CAS aircraft to support the army, a production line was set up for the obsolete Karaś dive bomber – the best design currently available to the Poles. While some thought may be given to upgrading this design in the future, for now other priorities (a new TAC design, then an advanced fighter) were the next in line for air force modernisation.

Given the deadlock in western China, when the latest rail network upgrades were completed in mid-August, it was decided that a new air base would be built in Urumqi. Maybe some air support would help break through against either the Communists or the Ma Fascists and make their attacks even costlier.

At the same time, HQ 4th Army began returning now rested divisions to the front line in preparation for another limited offensive in Sinkiang, this time in the centre and south of the front.

Between 5 and 21 August, four research projects were completed across a range of disciplines, with new work on radar, TAC bombers, industry and AT guns commenced.

And by 22 August, the last of the 8 trapped divisions in the Vientiane Pocket had surrendered in what was an unmitigated disaster for the Allied cause in Indochina. The line was showing signs of stabilising again in central Vietnam, but half the Allied strength in the theatre had been destroyed. If the Communist divisions freed up from the encirclement were all redeployed to that front, they may be able to force their way through.

The Polish divisions gathered for the new offensive were ready early on 26 August, their attack beginning with an artillery barrage at 0500hr. A corps-sized assault rolled into the single PRC division defending that sector in Haixi: 119 Shensi Juntuán held out for two days before being forced to retreat.

If the breakthrough could be secured, the intention was for the Poles to push south-east in an attempt to outflank the XMS fascists in the hope of launching a second from Kunlun Shan to take their capital of Golmud. And maybe the other Allied forces in the area might try to push east against the Communists if a hole could be opened in the southern part of their line.

The PRC’s progress in the south had continued during August, though it may have been halted for now in Vietnam.

August had seen continued probes in Jiuquan, where the Poles retained a presence in the north, but had now left the defence of southern Jiuquan to the Allies as more forces were moved south for the new offensive.

Supply in Sinkiang was better than it had been, with level 2 rail lines extending to the front, but the new forward supply hub in the south would not be finished until December. Supply in the front-line areas was still unable to fully keep up with demand.

The Chamdo pocket had almost been squeezed shut during August, with only three Allied divisions left in the fight after the PLA had liquidated the southern remnant of XSM and could now attack from all directions.

Most of the British units that had been gathered in Saigon in June had dispersed over the next two months and by 31 August, a renewed Communist offensive seemed to have cracked the Allied line and had the advantage in two more battles that continued.

[NB: this whole campaign has reminded me very much of the OTL Korean War in its ebbs and flows.]

In the South-western Pacific a lot of Allied divisions were distributed around the islands, especially in the Caroline Islands, when more of them might have been usefully deployed in Indochina or perhaps a new invasion to retake Borneo.

While in Sulawesi, the precarious Allied salient had been partly pushed back.

All in all, the last two months had been dour and deadlocked in western China, disastrous around Chamdo and Indochina and indecisive in Sulawesi. The only real gain had been against the small Kwantung outpost of Palau: hardly a game-changing gain!

Bullfilter · Mar 1, 2023

Chapter Thirty-Three: Air Time
(September – November 1943)

PZL.37 Łoś tactical bombers deployed to Urumqi, September 1943.

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1-14 September 1943: Flying East

The Polish Air Force created a new bomber wing in Lwów as September 1943 started, using 62 PZL.37s that had been stockpiled. While a new model of tactical bomber (the PZL.49 Miś) was then being researched, the Łoś remained the standard Polish bomber at that point. The PAF was preparing to transfer aircraft to Urumqi as soon as the new airfield there had been completed.

In the meantime, Polish troops were the first to occupy a new province in Haixi on 3 September, following their victorious attack there at the end of August. They were soon counter-attacked but won that battle within a day. Another Communist attack in northern Jiuquan was defeated easily, while Allied and Communist forces continued to exchange attacks in between them.

After the completion of the air base in Urumqi at midnight on 4 September, the latest construction project to be commenced in Sinkiang was a rail line to link the two branches of the supply railway network behind the front line. It was hoped this would eventually improve supply exchange along the line and between the two branches. The new forward supply hub in Kunlun Shan remained under construction, not due to be completed until mid-December.

And the PAF immediately began transferring the first two air wings – one of fighters and one of tactical bombers – from Lwów to Urumqi. Extra ground crew were also sent in [though I couldn’t work out whether they apply to the aircraft based there, or to aircraft operating in the air sector and you have to add more for those operating from there in other sectors – such as Qinghai or Western China, for example].

It took a while for the PAF to re-base the wings and then work out the correct air orders to get their bombers engaged [ie which buttons to click and where ]. So there was no air support available for an attack that pushed further south-east into Haixi that lasted from 6-10 September, ending in a hard-fought Polish victory for 5, 7 and 8 DPs.

2. DM (a fighter wing) arrived in Urumqi on the night of 7 September, but its range restricted it to operating only over Allied lines in Central Asia and it did not have the range to cover most of the forward lines. 4. DB (TAC) arrived on the evening of 9 September. They had the range to operate deeply into enemy territory in Western China and Qinghai, though would not be able to rely on fighter escort.

By that time, the final part of the Chamdo Pocket was under heavy attack and close to surrender, though it was still holding out on 11 September as the PAF finally began to operate, with fighters providing interceptor cover (as a precaution) in Central Asia and 4. DB beginning ground support missions in Qinghai.

On 14 September, Poland completed another national focus advance as it continued its modernisation drive, now concentrating on armoured vehicles. Tank design would be studied next, followed by anti-blitz vehicles.

The air picture over the Asian Theatre at this time indicated where each side seemed to be maintaining the upper hand in the air.

But by this stage all transmissions out of the Chamdo Pocket had ceased: all Allied forces there had been destroyed.

In South East Asia, the Communists continued to drive the Allies back in southern Vietnam and now northern Cambodia. In Sulawesi, the Allies had made another push inland, but Japanese resistance remained cohesive across the front.

Intelligence reports on the US showed they had been busily drawing up war plans for intervention in Asia and were currently working on War Plan Yellow, involving contingency plans for attacks on China.

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15-30 September 1943: Bombs Away!

The first active PAF support for ground operations in Sinkiang (only daylight missions were being flown) came on 15 September, when 65 bombers supported a defence by 5, 7 and 8 DPs after they completed their advance into south-east Haixi and were counter-attacked by Communist forces. The battle was won that night, with PAF bomb damage assessment officers beginning to track the impact the bombing raids were having, with modest results to start with.

After a research advance in AT guns (all research progress summarised at the end of the chapter), the production lines were upgraded from 47mm to 76mm guns, which temporarily slowed production in the one line of weapons where the Poles had a deficit, from over 65% down to just over 20% efficiency.

From 22 September onwards, the PAF began providing ground support to a number of Allied ground battles (attack and defence) in the Qinghai air sector. On 24 September, another smaller (42 x PZL.37s in 3. DB) were transferred to Urumqi from Nowogródek.

As September drew to a close, Allied battle planning was shared on a number of fronts. In Sinkiang, the underpinning for a series of Allied probes in the centre of the line was revealed.

Allied hopes to hold and then even throw back the latest Communist offensive in Indochina were also revealed.

Of much interest [@El Pip, @jak7139, me, et al] was an explanation of the seemingly incongruous British Army build up in the small islands of the Western Pacific. The main bases were now Marcus Island and Saipan, which between them housed over 40 Allied divisions. They had plans for invasions of Kwantung-held Iwo Jima and Okinawa and a bold plan for an invasion of southern Japan!

In Europe, where Czechoslovakia and Austria were not in the Allies, Germany had contingency plans to hit either or both with massive offensives.

While, unlikely as it seemed, the British, Mexicans and Canadians had a few plans to to attack, but this seemed both unlikely diplomatically and dubious given the number of divisions the US was fielding, especially in the south.

After preparing and positioning units throughout the month, early on 28 September the Poles launched an opportunistic attack on Golmud (the fascist XSM capital), with the air support they had previously been unable to apply. The main problem though was that because of prior combat and poor supply, the participating divisions were already low on organisation. While the enemy were well dug in on mountain terrain.

By midday on the 30th, the last attacking unit had been forced to give up after being beaten off with heavy losses. The attack had been a significant failure, confirming assessments that until maybe supply had been improved via the new hub in mid-December (if even that was sufficient) it would be hard to mount a sustainable attack.

As the month ended, there had been little significant change in front lines throughout the theatre.

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October 1943: Reorganisation

3. DB had arrived in Urumqi by the evening of 2 October and was ready to start operations. It was assigned to provide air support to Allied forces in the Western China sector, where the front line was easily in range. The PAF assessed this should be out of enemy fighter interception range, but this would soon be found out.

Small numbers of Polish bombers began to support Allied operation in the north of the line soon after, with the first being a British attack on 4 October (5 planes).

On the morning of 5 October, following the failed attack on Golmud, Polish divisions in Haixi began withdrawing to reserve positions to recuperate. Some were left left in place either to defend the building of the new forward supply hub, the salient in south-east Haixi (where another attack had been defeated on 4 October, with PAF air support) and the one division still left in northern Jiuquan. Only one division in reserve (28 DP) remained at almost full organisation and strength after the previous month’s exertions.

By 8 October the PAF (3. DB) was sending 13 planes for defensive Allied air support in Jiuquan and for attacking support on 14 October, though the effect of this was likely to be fairly minor.

On 14 October, the line in Indochina had seemingly stabilised again, but a Japanese-Chinese breakout in northern Cambodia looked a bit threatening as predominantly German and French divisions tried to re-establish a solid defensive line.

With fighter range an issue and heavy fighter research so far non-existent in Poland, the PAF started looking at options for getting greater range for fighter escort and interception in the greater distances of the Far East. An extended range modification for the current PZL.56 Kania fighters would give then an extra 100km.

But the upgrade to the top-of-the-line Polish fighter model, the PZL.62 (range of 1,200km), could be fast-tracked when a research slot became available for it, and perhaps an extended range option also added to that later. So for now, no change was made to the existing PZL.56 fit-out.

On 23 October, the first recorded example of enemy ground support missions being flown in Western China was recorded, with 100 aircraft hitting the Allied defence in southern Jiuquan, while the 13 available bombers of 3. DB supported the defenders. There was no air-air combat recorded.

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November 1943: One China?

In early November, most Polish divisions had disengaged in Sinkiang for rest and repair and the front in Sinkiang had remained comparatively quiet. The Communists had advanced a little further in southern Indochina, though the Allies seemed to have funnelled in some more reinforcements and were strongly counter-attacking the latest breakthrough in the centre.

In Sulawesi, the previous Allied advance inland had been pushed back once more to the base of the northern peninsula.

With the new north-south rail line completed in eastern Sinkiang on 4 November, work began on a further upgrade of the British system (to grade 3) from Delhi through Lahore to Peshawar and then Hotan. The priorities were updated on 9 November, with more work initiated on the southern (Hotan-Kunlun Shan) and northern (Urumqi-Dabancheng) lines begun and given higher priority.

In an announcement whose immediate significance (if any) was not entirely clear, Chairman Mao declared a ‘One China Policy’ on 14 November.

The situation in Indochina remained in the balance, but Allied reinforcements were streaming in to help stem the red tide.

The next national focus was concluded on 23 November, with the anti-blitz vehicles getting the next attention, which may help remedy the continuing AT production shortfall.

The Asia-Pacific Theatre had seen only minor net changes in western China and Sulawesi over the previous three months. Things had been more interesting in Indochina as the Communist advance was finally being blunted, while an interesting new development had occurred in the Western Pacific. Interestingly, Japan had taken over occupation duty in Laos from the PRC.

During November, only two more battles involving Polish troops had occurred in Sinkiang (others of course had occurred between Allied and Communist forces), also allowing some more assessments of the impact of PAF air support. By this time, the Poles had pulled back their single division from northern Jiuquan. In southern-eastern Haixi, the Polish divisions there had also been withdrawn, but had helped to brush off two attacks on 4 and 19 November.

The rest of the Polish 4th Army was reconstituting itself, readying for a possible new southern offensive if the new supply hub and rail upgrades were able to improve the supply situation in the south.

In Indochina, Allied reinforcements had allowed recent Communist breakthroughs to be halted and pushed back a little in places. A broad counter-offensive seemed to have been started, though was facing tough going between the Mekong River and the sea to the east. But for now, the earlier emergency seemed to have been dealt with.

Sulawesi still seemed to be in stalemate, though the Allies still had ambitions to strike south again.

In the Western Pacific, Britain’s island-hopping campaign had progressed against Kwantung, with a strong amphibious attack having been launched against Iwo Jima. And there were even more British divisions in the theatre by that time (over 50, plus 8 French). Contingency plans were still in place for more landings in Okinawa and Communist Japan itself, as before.

Other than the continuing AT shortage, Polish equipment stockpiles remained in good shape, despite additional heavy tank and artillery units being added to standard and ‘heavy’ infantry divisions in early September and the continuing production of new militia, infantry and armoured divisions and a rolling basis. The Polish army now fielded 80 divisions in its army, still just 14 of those in China.

The supply situation in Sinkiang remained good away from the over-crowded front line, with more Polish construction projects trying to improve it further, especially in the south.

Over the past three months, three research projects had been completed, with new work beginning in construction techniques (given the current heavy emphasis on the Far East), artillery and most recently the 1944-model PZL.62 fighter.

Bullfilter · Mar 6, 2023

Chapter Thirty-Four: Chaos
(December 1943)

The Endla Theatre in Pärnu, the fourth largest city in Estonia. Situated in southwest Estonia, Pärnu is located 128 kilometres (80 mi) south of the Estonian capital, Tallinn. Its significance will be become clear later.

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1-16 December 1943: To Mount Suribachi

The British had begun an amphibious assault on Kwantung-defended Iwo Jima at the end of November.

British landing on Iwo Jima, 30 November 1943.

As December began and the harsh winter in western China closed in, the entire 4th Polish Expeditionary Army had withdrawn to winter quarters. Mainly to rest and regather strength behind the lines, with three divisions left forward to guard the almost completed supply hub in southern Kunlun Shan.

With the fighters in Urumqi basically useless and just drawing fuel and taking up tarmac space, they were withdrawn back to Poland on 1 December. They would be replaced by a third TAC wing. Extra ground crew support was withdrawn from the Central Asia sector and added to Western China and Qinghai to support the ground attack missions there.

The Polish War Ministry also finally got around to inviting a foreign motor company to assist with the mechanisation of the Polish army. With the US unwilling to permit Ford to assist, The British Vauxhall company was given the nod, the Poles choosing the increase in mobility over the armour benefits the French SOMUA would have brought.

By 8 December, the Allies were still holding a line north of Saigon and at this point were attempting (unsuccessfully, it seemed) to push the Communist MAB forces back north again.

On Iwo Jima, the fighting still raged. It was revealed that two Chinese divisions fighting under British command were leading the assault, with three British divisions in support still trying to get ashore. The two defending Kwantung divisions had the tactical advantage of defending a naval landing and entrenchment but were poorly supplied and under heavy naval bombardment. The Allies were slowly gaining ground.

Chinese troops attempting to push inland from the landing beach at Iwo Jima, December 1943. Mount Suribachi can be seen in the distance.

Back in western China, the latest TAC wing had finally arrived from Poland. 2 DB was tasked to support Allied ground operations in the Western China sector, where the fighting seemed to be heavier and mission efficiency remained low. This would also allow support of two battles simultaneously.

By 11 December, the Polish formations sent back to rebuild in the north had reached their winter base and were recovering rapidly, with good supply. Many of those in the south were still on the move and supply was far patchier.

On 16 December, the two wings operation in Western China we ‘evened up’ (52 aircraft each). With the current mission efficiency (28.3%) around 10-13 aircraft were supporting each Allied battle. Mission efficiency in Qinghai was up to almost 96%.

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17-27 December 1943: Fascist Death Throes

In Indochina, it was the MAB now once again on the offensive by 17 December, attacking heavily across the entire front. They had pushed a salient south towards Saigon.

A third (British) division was ashore on Iwo Jima, one of the Kwantung divisions had surrendered and the attack was pressing home on the final stronghold of Mount Suribachi.

The small-scale advance and retreat of the two armies facing off in Sulawesi continued in mid-December, neither side managing to retain the upper hand for long. For now, the Allies had once more managed to push forward a little.

A temporary increase in train demand suddenly saw a deficit in Polish rolling stock. It must have been due to the completion of the new supply hub the day before [not sure whether we or the Brits are meant to provide the rail support for that]. Train production was restarted to deal with this.

With the new supply hub in Kunlun Shan finished, a few days later on 20 December it was beginning to have a bit of an effect. Poland also issued orders for its motorisation level to be increased to the maximum as well.

Not a great deal happened in Western China over the next week, though it may have been the capture of Iwo Jima on 27 December [I’m not absolutely sure it fell that day, but assume so] that triggered a major (and rather chaotic) event early on 28 December.

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28 December 1943: Madness in Pärnu

Early on 28 December, Poland was notified that the Fascists of the Asian League (which had included its European adherents as well) had surrendered, a peace Conference had been convened in Estonia and all the possible claims had been resolved before Poland was given any opportunity to claim anything at all. A very long list of settlements had appeared on the right, but all these negotiations had been resolved without any visibility by Poland’s representatives as it was happening.

Not only that but the surrender had been made formally to France – which had turned Communist at some point recently (!) and now termed itself the French Commune, led by Maurice Thorez. But remained in the Allies.

Presumably, the number of points the previous claimant powers were given – and thus the order in which they were able to make claims – had been determined by their proportional participation in the war, which at last count on 1 December 1943 had been as below. [In which case, I wonder if Poland has been dudded a bit here. Not knowing how these normally go, I have no real frame of reference. Also, I had no visibility of what points the Chinese and Japanese would have had and how these compared to or interacted with the Allied participants.]

In any case, with no ability to affect the outcome, Poland was a mere observer and the conference , held at the Endla Theatre in Pärnu [an interesting city to choose!], was over almost as soon as it had begun. The UK, China, the Raj (essentially retaking land it had lost to the Free India revolt) and the PRC annexed states outright. The rest of the vanquished states were puppeted.

For some reason, France had done rather poorly in Europe. To the relief of many, it was Germany instead that got to administer the newly freed Republican Italy as a supervised state. Germany was also granted Libya to administer. Estonia, which France had conquered itself, went to the UK as a puppet, as did Bulgaria (which Yugoslavia and Poland had conquered). Yugoslavia did get to keep most of Greece. All were now in the Allies.

In the Middle East, a new state of Kurdistan was created and assigned to British control, while southern Iraq and Iran were also to be controlled from London. Again, all were now Allied powers.

The settlement in Asia was the big surprise. Despite being at war with each other [er, nonsensically?] the Communist MAB and the Allies proceeded to divide the spoils between them. In a way that often disobeyed common sense and what Mao would have considered fair. Despite having conquered all of Kwantung except for a few Pacific islands, all areas except it seems those physically occupied by PRC troops were ceded to a new British-controlled Manchurian Federated Provinces! Yunnan became a ‘Soviet State’, but as a French Communist (and hence Allied) puppet. Most of the rest of the original Chinese states were annexed by the PRC, the rest going to Nationalist China or Manchuria. [This seems bizarre and illogical, especially the ceding of Chinese-controlled former Fascist land to hostile powers: there should be some exemption prohibiting that. China has been ripped off here, it seems.]

Pakistan (East and West) was granted full independence but joined the Allies (fortunately for the British and the rest of the Allies in western China, keeping the land bridge to the Middle East open). Sinkiang became a British puppet state.

In the Horn of Africa, previous Italian controlled countries were released as puppets divided between the UK and Germany.

While in the Western Pacific, two new small, independent and non-aligned state were created from the islands taken from Imperial Kwantung. Which may cause some problems for the Allied forces still based on some of those islands.

A thoroughly baffled Polish Foreign Minister Beck contemplated all this and tried to begin making sense of it. In the meantime, all he could do was curse the laziness of his staffers who seemed to be once more providing generic portraits for some of the heads of state, and in one case no picture at all!

One map made the overall impact a little easier to read: it coloured the new boundaries by faction, which illustrated the great rear area security problem that had suddenly been created for Mao’s PRC. This was a windfall to the Allies, though whether it would prove decisive was another matter.

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28 December 1943: The Aftermath

A little later that day, Polish planners started to attempt to put the changed conditions in the Asian Theatre into context, before they started issuing any revised orders. For a start, there was now just one war to worry about. It was technically going somewhat in favour of the Allies, but they had taken far heavier casualties than the Communists of the MAB.

With some additional land ceded to China in the west of the country (XSM land to the south of the previous main front), the Allied had ambitions to drive east to the coast, with a secondary thrust south to relieve Yunnan. A counter-offensive was still planned in Indochina with a ‘side run’ to Hainan …

… while the sole remaining amphibious objective in the Western Pacific was now to assault Kanto, just west of Tokyo, from the recently seized Iwo Jima. But it looked like they may not be ready for around a month.

The general situation in Asia still saw the PRC as easily the largest Chinese power, but the strange peace settlement against the Asian League had carved out a number of Allied enclaves that may not be sustainable, but would take some time and effort for the Communists to secure again.

In Western China, the Allies had unleased a new broad-front offensive that seemed to have got off to a promising start. Ironically, less than two weeks after the new supply hub had finally been completed, the hub and airfield at Golmud, ceded to China from Xibei San Ma at Pärnu, was available for Allied use. Though it would have to be secured from nearby MAB forces first.

The good news was that much of the Polish 4th Army had now returned to near full strength with the rapid improvement in supply in recent days and were oriented with the majority of their divisions in the south. They would likely be called on soon to assist the Allied effort to secure Golmud.

As at 28 December, supply was better on the Allied front than it had been at any time since the campaign began. A combination of rail projects near the front and in depth to begin expanding the supply line from Delhi in the Raj should now proceed quite quickly.

The Polish Air Force continued to provide the sole air support for the Allies in Western Chinese China and Qinghai, as mission efficiency in the former slowly increased. If the new air base in Golmud could be properly secured, the support could be enhanced by the reintroduction of fighters and even the deployment of shorter range CAS aircraft.

In Indochina, it was hoped the peace settlement outcome might distract the MAB somewhat, as their latest offensive continued and they had just advanced a salient to the outskirts of Saigon itself. Once more, an large collection of Allied divisions faced the danger of being cut off to its east.

In Sulawesi, Dutch troops still held their narrow salient on the west coast, but the front was static.

The train requirement had fallen back below the stock holdings but the slow task of building more would continue, in case of further surges in demand (from either supply or troop movement needs). Truck production was kept ticking over at a minimum level, with a very large excess held in stockpile. The same was done with convoys.

Just the one research project had been completed in December, with the replacement new mechanised troop carrier already well progressed by 28 December due to the assistance of foreign motor companies. And an updated TAC model would be available when the new year began.

The Polish High Command now contemplated its next moves. Clearly, the campaign in Western China would continue to be a priority focus. But there was also discussion about a possible second expeditionary corps being sent to Indochina, to help stabilise the situation there. Maybe a single division could be shipped there as a test case, to see if any Japanese interdiction capability remained in that sector. If the proposed new force was staged behind in successive convoys, those following could be diverted to safety if the lead one was hit.

Bullfilter · Mar 9, 2023

Chapter Thirty-Five: A Rising Tide
(28 December 1943 – 31 January 1944)

A row of PZL.23 Karaś CAS in the foreground and old PZL.11 fighters in the background at Golmud airfield, January 1944.

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28-31 December 1943: Order from Chaos

With the Peace of Pärnu now digested, the Polish high command started to make its adjustments. First, a corps of five veteran infantry divisions (part of previous Italian and Bulgarian expeditionary campaigns) from the central reserve began boarding trains for Marseilles. The cavalry and armoured units were left behind in Warsaw.

In Western China the largely rested Polish divisions in the south – the bulk of the 4th Army – set off to occupy the lands liberated to China at Pärnu, including the supply hub and airfield at Golmud. At the front, the Allies were already advancing on the MAB’s lines, with mixed success so far.

The three northern divisions were also ordered back up to the front, ready for whatever opportunities might present themselves.

Less than a day later, newly Allied Manchuria wisely concluded a truce with the MAB (as represented by the JPR). This evicted all PRC troops that had been garrisoned around the Soviet-Manchurian border and safeguarded the two undefended enclaves they controlled west of Shanxi and in the south.

The Guangxi Independent Republic and (French-aligned) Soviet Yunnan were not so lucky and remained at war with the MAB.

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1-11 January 1944: Ups and Downs

The new PZL.49 Miś design was researched on 1 January and the production line was retooled (27% efficiency retained) to start producing the new aircraft. But it would take quite some while for it to become the new mainstay of the Polish tactical bomber arm.

By 3 January, Allied divisions – including three Polish formations – had pushed forward, but Golmud had not yet been secured.

A day later, three more Polish divisions had arrived just behind the front and were sent south-east in a strong push to Golmud, with an estimated five day march ahead to secure it. On the 5th, the Poles in the south-west of Qinghai added their strength to an existing Allied attack, immediately boosting its progress and eventually bringing victory early on the 8th after a tough fight without air support.

The beleaguered Guangxi capitulated at the start of 6 January, to no one’s surprise.

That evening, British and Canadian forces secured Golmud, a few days ahead of the Poles following them. This had long been an operational objective of the war in Western China, now brought about by the collapse of Xibei San Ma on 28 December. With Allied troops now in place and more on the way, rail crews were told to include an initial rail link on their work plan. Supply in the area was still patchy beyond the new Kunlun Shan hub.

In Indochina, the MAB seemed to have withdrawn enough forces to cope with their rear-area problems to cause weakness in the centre of the line. Which the reinforced Allies, taking advantage of shorter supply lines, were able to exploit. By the afternoon of 7 January they were storming ahead, having pocketed two PRC divisions in the centre and pressing to isolate more along the coasts German panzers broke through to their north.

With Golmud now linked into the logistic network, supply in the southern sector of Qinghai had never been better, ensuring the Allied forces there could sustain their momentum. Supply remained patchier in the north.

Polish formations returned to front-line duty in the north on 9 January, where they reinforced an existing Allied attack in Jiuquan to ensure victory three days later. In this case, both sides had air support, with the Communist flyers causing more casualties than their Polish counterparts, but the ground casualties were heavily in favour of the Allied attackers.

That night, one of the pocketed PRC divisions in central Vietnam had surrendered, while a large gap had been opened up in the MAB line between the coast and the Mekong river: only one Japanese division was contesting that entire flank north-west of the coastal salient.

Yunnan remained defenceless by that time, with MAB forces on the outskirts north of its capital, Kunming.

Early on 11 January, 35 new CAS aircraft were deployed to Lwów, where they were merged into the existing 1 DB to form a 57-plane CAS wing to be transferred across to Golmud in Qinghai, where they should be close enough to the front line to be able to strike the enemy.

At the same time, a new wing of 90 surplus old PZL.11 fighters were brought out of stockpile to form a new wing directly in Golmud: they had a similar range to the Karaś CAS bombers and would provide interception cover, just in case. And plans were made for the recently completed branch rail line to Golmud to upgrade the line to level 2.

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12-21 January 1944: Diplomatic Moves

While the fighting went on in the Allies’ favour in Western China and Indochina, the short-lived experiment of Soviet Yunnan was snuffed out on 15 January. Those MAB forces would presumably become available again for other operations, though a good number of PRC and Japanese divisions still surrounded the neutral Manchurian enclave in the south.

The big news in Indochina came on 16 January, when German panzers reached the coast and sought to defeat an MAB counter-attack. This trapped four MAB divisions in a new coastal pocket: another measure of revenge for what the Allies had suffered in the north just a few months before. Allied naval support was aiding three of the coastal battles.

And up in neutral but Allied-aligned Manchuria, the first British division had landed and ten more Allied formations were approaching by sea: their ability to traverse this sea zone without any apparent enemy naval interference emboldened to Polish troop convoys that would soon be setting off for southern Indochina.

On the morning of 18 January, all five Polish expeditionary divisions set off from Marseilles for the long voyage via the Suez Canal to Indochina. The situation there had rapidly improved in the last three weeks, but their additional presence could well come in handy as the Allies pushed north and Communist resistance inevitably increased.

At that point, the coastal pocket in Indochina had been split into two, allowing the trapped MAB divisions to be defeated in detail as the Allies pushed north against a solidifying Communist line stretching across the narrow waist of the French colony.

With the Polish wings in Qinghai, including the recently arrived 1.DB, competing for space with around 150 Chinese bombers and fighters, Poland undertook to increase the size of the now over-crowded air base at Golmud.

The CAS would soon be added into the mix in Qinghai and would have fighter escorts if needed, while the three TAC wings still operated out of Urumqi, due to their far greater range.

And although both countries were already part of the Allied faction, the French Commune broached the idea of a closer and more strategic partnership with Poland on 20 January. Poland readily agreed to this rather ‘traditional’ diplomatic alignment.

With a smattering of Allied divisions now in place, Britain decided to recall Manchuria to the war against the MAB. The Polish leadership doubted the wisdom of this: Manchuria itself was weakly defended and its two enclaves not at all. They were of more value at this point as a neutral diversion to the Communists than a soon-vanquished adversary.

As fighting broke out along the Manchurian-PRC border, the Allied push in Western China continued to gain ground.

By the evening of 21 January the MAB was already advancing into Manchuria and the Allied defenders had clearly been unprepared. By early the following morning, either the British or their Manchurian puppets must have realised their mistake: the truce was re-established. The latest fighting ended up being nothing more than short border clash.

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22-31 January 1944: The Flow after the Ebb

As 28 DP advanced in south-east Qinghai, they came under a sustained MAB counter-attack on the morning of the 22nd. Hard pressed at first, heavy air support and some later reinforcements ended up inflicting a devastating defeat on the attackers by early on the 25th.

To the north, the Allies were running into heavier resistance, with air support once again figuring prominently in attack and defence, especially to the organisation of their opponents.

By 24 January, the Manchurian border was quiet again as the Allies took advantage of the truce to bring in a trickle of reinforcements. Meanwhile, the MAB had stabilised their defensive front and were trying to counter-attack in central Vietnam.

Since 17 January, the Allies had been conducting a steady advance through Jiuquan, with some Polish assistance, which by early on the 27th had split the northern and southern MAB lines in two against the neutral Manchurian enclave. Later that afternoon 2 DP added their weight to help press home the latest attack, which had succeeded by the following morning.

As January ended, the Allies were once more on the rise following the disruption of the Peace of Pärnu. The briefly held puppet states of Guangxi and Yunnan had soon been over-run, but the Manchurian Federation had survived after striking two truces, the latest still holding.

The Allied push in Western China had made good ground, taking up the territory ceded at Pärnu and then moving beyond it. The supply improvement in the south had allowed rapid exploitation and unit recovery plus new tactical air support flying from Golmud.

The Allied build-up in Manchuria continued: the MAB had probably been unwise to accept the latest truce, but that was now history.

The southern Manchurian enclave was still diverting many PRC and Japanese divisions: a great benefit for the Allied cause that Poland hoped would last for a while yet.

Even with that, the MAB had apparently rushed sufficient reinforcements to Indochina to strengthen the front considerably across the defensible narrow neck of Laos and Vietnam: the position was once again in balance.

Earlier Allied gains in Sulawesi had been rolled back onto the southern end of the narrow northern peninsula.

The Western Pacific was still a welter of Allied divisions and ships in transit or on island bases. Reconnaissance of southern Japan had shown it was certainly not undefended. And another sizeable Allied troop convoy was on its way to Manchuria.

Two new research projects had been completed during the month, including the new TAC design referred to earlier, while the industrial modernisation program continued. It had been replaced with the first iteration of a new Polish heavy fighter design (the PZL.38 Wilk), which would eventually be progressed to the point it could provide long range escort to the TAC bombers.

The PAF looked forward to the imminent introduction of the ‘state of the art’ PZL.62 fighter, which they intended to modify with extended range and reliability options for operation in the long distances and harsh environment of the Chinese Front. And may also come in handy later against the Soviets, if they ever came to the aid of their eastern Communist colleagues.

The new expeditionary corps was at that time passing through the Suez Canal: it seemed they could come in handy in Vietnam after all. And training of a new armoured division was resumed, as the light tank production backlog began to be eroded.

In the sole remaining Allied-MAB war, the Allies were a little ahead on balance but the heavy losses in the earlier Chinese campaign and more recently in northern Indochina in late 1943 had seen the Allies take far heavier casualties. Poland’s sacrifice had been far smaller.

Bullfilter · Mar 15, 2023

Chapter Thirty-Six: Pushing Forward
(February 1944)

Polish troops en route to Indochina, passing through the Red Sea in early February 1944.

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1-15 February: The Road to Chamdo

In early February 1944, Poland’s Allies had expansive plans for aggressive operations in the Asian Theatre. Those for the (neutral again) southern Manchurian enclave were particularly ambitious, given they had no troops garrisoned there or means of moving them in!

Another national Focus was completed at the start of the month, with the next modernisation focus shifted to the developing heavy fighter capability (none of which had yet been built by Poland).

There was also a shift in construction priorities, with the next round of projects after the current ones in China were completed focusing on building the Polish industrial base again. Other countries seemed to be moving ahead with theirs and Poland was concerned they may start falling behind other middle sized powers.

The first new Polish moves in February came on the 5th, with a spoiling attack ordered to assist a troubled defence in Jiuquan and reinforcement simultaneously ordered forward to bolster the defence. Little air support was available, but the spoiling attack turned the situation around, with both being won a day later.

In Indochina, the MAB had reinforced its line further and were now on the offensive again, though at this stage the Allies were holding fairly strongly and reinforcements appeared to have arrived in Saigon.

On the evening of the 6th, the next big Polish push in the south was ready: a three-division attack to retake the city of Chamdo, made famous in the doomed but valiant Battle of the Chamdo Pocket in 1943. By the 7th strong air support was assisting and a significant victory was won by the afternoon of the 8th, with few Polish casualties.

In the centre, another Polish offensive was unleashed on the morning of 8 February, with five divisions in two attacks. Three infantry divisions pushed north-east to Haixi, while the two mountain divisions assaulted Golog, with heavy air support. The northern attack met only light resistance and succeeded the next day, but the mountains of Golog were a more formidable obstacle. Specialist troops and good air support ensured victory early on the 12th.

Improved construction techniques had been introduced on 5 February with a new model of CAS aircraft being the next project for development. This was followed on 11 February with the completion of the top-of-the-line PZL.62 Pustułka fighter, after which earlier the earlier focus on armoured research would speed the development of the next generation of Polish medium tank.

Before the fighter production line was changed over, the range and reliability (to compensate for the range improvement) were improved in the Mk1 variant.

In the south, one of the Soviet EF divisions on loan to the PRC had been cut off in the south-west corner, while Mao’s men tried to break them out by attacking the South African division that had pocketed them. General de Wet received very heavy air support and would eventually win the defensive battle, as the Poles continued to move on Chamdo.

By the afternoon of 13 February, as South African division has crossed into the neutral Manchurian enclave now bordered by Allied Nationalist China on the western edge of Ningxia province. They kept moving east.

The Poles occupied Chamdo early on 14 February and were immediately counter-attacked from the south by a single PRC division. This proved a foolhardy ploy, as 1,100 attackers were killed for no Polish loss by midnight of the following day.

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16-24 February: Manchurian Candidates?

With the two industrial construction projects begun, on 16 February the next slot was assigned for the building of another fuel depot in Kielce, as 100% storage capacity had been reached again some time earlier. If war ever came with the Soviets, large fuel reserves may be required.

The Allies had continued to send troops into Manchuria, but the MAB had reinforced the border even more heavily by the 16th.

By early on the 17th, the Allies continued to attack in the northern sector of the Western China front, while the isolated Soviet EF in the south was now being attacked as it ran low on supplies.

That attack was being carried out by a Lithuanian division whose general really seemed to be enjoying himself! Perhaps it as being able to land one on the Soviets, or the excellent effects of their substantial air support.

The MAB was still attacking in Indochina but was yet to make any significant gains, though they now had around twice the number of divisions in the line than the Allies did.

With Chamdo now secured, that night the Poles attempted to push further east and get over the river in two places before the MAB could get a new defence in position.

By the 18th, six Allied divisions had pushed into the Manchurian Ningxia enclave, though MAB forces surrounded it on all sides.

The increasing number of Allied troops and planes plus extending supply lines were straining logistic support again, but it had not yet halted Allied momentum.

Pushing across the river from Chamdo, 34 DP encountered a PRC division in Ganzi early on 21 February. Fortunately, the difficult river crossing operation was help enormously by strong air support, which caused about five times the enemy casualties that the ground combat did. The victory still took four days.

The series of Manchurian border clashes was extended over just over a day of formally declared war from late on 21 February to the morning of the 23rd. By the 22nd, the Allies had been under heavy MAB attack along the front.

At the same time, reports were received of an Australian landing on the island of Hainan. One division was ashore and another was assaulting Haikou from the sea, where a small Australian naval task force was supporting the landing. Immediately to the west, a large naval battle was taking place with the Japanese in the South China Sea. It must have made the Australians rather nervous.

It became clear that a large Japanese carrier task force, supported by capital ships , cruisers and a huge number of destroyers, had engaged and largely sunk a British destroyer squadron led by a light cruiser and supported by a German U-Boat flotilla.

Despite the latest truce, the border clashes in Manchuria continued for some time afterwards, until each petered out. Major fighting was still going on by the morning after the truce. It would not finally stop until the morning of the 26th.

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25-28 February: The New Normal

In Indochina, the last few days had seen some major MAB gains on the western end of the line, with cumulative Communist progress since 6 February taking in four districts.

In Western China, remained involved in the fighting, mainly in the south. They managed to secure their bridgehead on the morning of 26 February, before coming under a heavy PRC counter-attack. Defensive air support had started to turn the tide of the battle by the evening of the 26th and again played a major role in the victory finally gained on the morning of the 28th.

Meanwhile, Lithuanian General Arturas ‘Happy’ Ivanauskas had pushed the Soviet 108ya SD to its last stand, with the difficulty of the river crossing being balanced by good air support and the exhaustion of the now badly under-strength Soviet EF.

By the end of the month, the PRC had lost the most ground in the west, where the previous deadlock had been well and truly broken – for now, anyway. The only active fighting at the time was in Indochina and Hainan.

In Western China, the northern sector was temporarily quiet, with the Ningxia enclave now well connected to Nationalist Chinese territory.

Most Allied formations were now concentrated in the centre and south of the line, including most of the Polish 4th Expeditionary Army. The battered remnants of the Soviet EF had since surrendered to the Lithuanians in the south-western corner.

The supply situation remained strained, though there was evidence that other Allies had done some construction of branch rail lines in the east to Jiuquan and in Kunlun Shan, while Poland turned its attention back to domestic industrial construction.

On a brighter note in Indochina, the last four days had seen much of the previously lost ground regained by Allied counter-attacks to the east of the Mekong River, with three districts reclaimed. The fighting remained close and contested across the front.

The lines had not shifted all month in Sulawesi, where both sides seemed to have lost interest.

The Australians had managed to secure the crucial port of Haikou and were currently trying to repel a cross-strait attack from the mainland as a Lithuanian division made its way to support them. Nothing more had been seen of the Republican Japanese Navy since the Battle of the South China Sea.

The new Polish expeditionary corps heading for Indochina was approaching the northern tip of Sumatra – one of many Allied convoys travelling the route.

In Europe, there was some Polish (and indeed British) concern over the infiltration of Communism into France (where it seemed the Communists had now outrageously suspended elections) and in Germany, where Konrad Adenaur’s democratic Zentrum party was now well behind in the polls to the KPD, though with elections not due until September 1946.

By contrast, neither democracy in the US nor Communism in the USR were under any threat, though neither country appeared any closer to entering the currently ‘Asian War’, though both had important interests there.

Bullfilter · Mar 29, 2023

Chapter Thirty-Seven: Meat Grinders
(March 1944)

Kampong Som (now Sihanoukville), where troops of the Polish Expeditionary Corps in Indochina began landing in March 1944.

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1-13 March: Qingdao and Hainan

The month began with Polish units advancing in central Qingdao. Supply was once again becoming a problem for the maintenance of momentum, though for the moment organisation remained high enough.

The Poles were reinforcing the river crossing they had taken in late February east of Chamdo, while to the north three divisions, led by the trusty KBK, were attempting to push into a gap in the Communist line.

A design upgrade of mechanised troop carriers was completed on 2 March, with the somewhat neglected recon companies getting some attention next.

On the evening of 4 March, two battles began simultaneously. The two leading Polish infantry divisions encountered a recently arrived PRC division in the north of the Golog sector, while the now reinforced lodgement east of Chamdo came under a short-lived PRC attack (no battle report received). The advance in Golog was resumed after an easy victory there early the following morning.

The KBK were the first to arrive on 6 March and immediately came under a weak counter-attack that was eventually defeated a day later after more reinforcements arrived.

The next Polish advance was also a spoiling attack to assist an Allied defence to the south. The two Polish mountain divisions sought to exploit the terrain with an attack that sought to secure a tactically important river bend. With good air support, this attack proved more of a slaughter for the defending PRC troops.

But in more sombre news, the MAB had counter-attacked the Australian lodgement in Hainan, which seemed not to have been reinforced well enough. They had been pushed out of the port Haikou and were falling back south, with only one division remaining.

The Allies were maintaining the line and remained on the offensive in Indochina and had advanced a little along the coast since the start of the month, but the front line remained largely unchanged.

The Chinese-run supply hub in Golmud was having problems maintaining the distribution of supplies within its range (diagonal stripes) and in some place the Allied line had advanced beyond that effective range.

The TAC bombers based in Urumqi were still just in range of most of the Allied front line, while the much shorter ranged CAS based in Golmud (range not marked here) were increasingly out of range.

Sadly, by the evening of 13 March the MAB had completely retaken Hainan and all the Australian troops were presumably now in POW camps.

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14-27 March: Increasing Resistance

21 and 22 DPGs encountered brief enemy resistance in Golog when they encountered a newly arrived PRC division on the morning of 14 March, but they were quickly dislodged after a short skirmish.

To their south, the lodgement had been secured and now two Polish divisions were pushed forward to try to seize another undefended sector, in the hope this might force the PRC division south of them and east of Chamdo to retreat without having to conduct a difficult river crossing with increasingly unsupplied (and there also disorganised) troops. But it would take some time to push into this rough terrain.

The mountain troops secured their objective in Golog at around midnight on the 16th. A foolhardy PRC counter-attack across the river was singularly unsuccessful and very expensive for the attackers, with good Polish air support contributing to the meat-grinding.

Back home, the deployment of a new infantry division in eastern Poland led to the creation of the new 5th Army on 20 March, led by General Wincenty Kowalski. It was put under the command of Army Group East and given a couple of division from 3rd Army that were being held in Warsaw. The new army would begin concentrating around Brest-Litovsk to begin forming a reserve force in case of Soviet attack.

A one-off raising of a new heavy infantry division was begun at that time, with truck production (now heavily in surplus) being cancelled in order to increase heavy tank output. This also meant using another civilian factory to produce export goods to pay for the additional chromium imports required from Turkey to support the tank production.

Another PRC attack on the mountain troops in Golmud suffered a similarly disastrous fate to the previous one by midnight on 22 March. But the Communists were building up the line after its apparent earlier thinness in this sector.

The five expeditionary divisions had landed earlier in the month in Kampong Som and were now well-organised after their long (and unhampered) sea voyage. On 23 March they were transferred into the 4th (Expeditionary) Army and began to head north to reinforce the Allied line, which at that time was defending against a front-wide MAB offensive.

Of interest, at this time the Allies were operating quite freely around the waters of Japan. An example was a battle of the Coast of Japan on 23 March, where British escorts for a Mexican troop convoy were engaging Japanese subs.

Back in Western China, the KBK and 8 DP had completed their advance by early on 24 March. But they were poorly supplied and disorganised and came under a quick counter-attack. Though they were still in range of Allied air support.

By 27 March, that attack continued and the MAB was attacking across the southern sector. All of these four attacks were eventually defeated by the end of the month, most with heavy enemy casualties and no or light Allied losses. But it was a sin of growing Communist numbers and aggression, while the Allies struggled with supply and organisation.

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28-31 March: Spring has Sprung

Another British-instigated border war broke out on 28 March when Churchill once more instigated and Manchurian entry into the Great Asian War. Although the Allies had been steadily building their forces in both Manchuria proper and the western enclave, the MAB had far more troops to hand. Especially along the Manchurian border, where the Allies were soon in major trouble all along the front. Things were not much better in the enclave.

The wedge-shaped salient east of Chamdo in Gannan came under a more concerted attack late on 28 March. This time, the worn-out Polish defenders were in big trouble. An attempted spoiling attack also made little headway and was called off at 0900hr the next morning.

8 DP and the KBK were also ordered to withdraw at the same time, but it would take another two days for them to break off the engagement. The advance had proved to be an over-extension against intensifying Communist resistance in the southern sector.

By the night of the 29th, most of the Allied line in Manchuria was collapsing in familiar fashion, though they held in the centre.

Once more, it proved to be only a short border clash, with yet another truce called on 30 March. Fighting would sputter on, mainly in the western enclave, for another day or so.

By the end of March 1944, the strategic balance in Asia had not changed much.

The western Manchurian enclave was quite again. The only Allied gain in this sector during the month was to the south of the enclave’s ‘neck’, west of Lanzhou.

In the southern sector gains had been made by the Allies earlier in the month (shaded areas with dotted lines), though these had slowed and the Gannan Salient was in the process of being conceded back to the PRC. Of note though, another frontal attack in Ganzi had been defeated on the morning of the 31st, which resulted in particularly high MAB casualties.

In tough fighting in Indochina, in net terms the month had seen some limited Allied gains in the centre and east of the sector. The new Polish EF was just approaching from the south.

There had been little fighting and no change in Sulawesi, though the Allies seemed to have shipped in some fresh units in the north-east.

And on the diplomatic front, with Germany’s next elections in September 1946, Poland decided to start providing support to the non-aligned DNVP in the hope of starting to whittle away the current Communist lead in the polls. Otherwise, Adenauer’s centrist democratic government seemed likely to give way to Communist totalitarianism. At least the Nazis were now relegated to an insignificant minor party.

Bullfilter · Apr 9, 2023

Chapter Thirty-Eight: Endless War
(April 1944)

Polish staff officers contemplating their first major action in Indochina, April 1944.

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1-24 April: Mountain and Jungle

It was just as well for the Manchurian Federation that the ceasefire had again been agreed quickly in late March. Their undefended enclave in the south had very nearly been overrun, as the MAB units started to pull out again.

The Allies still had their grand plans for Asia, including proposed landings in southern Japan – with large concentrations of Allied troops waiting in two Western Pacific jumping off bases. And an assault out of the enclave … with no divisions! For now, the heaviest fighting was in Indochina.

By the evening of 2 April, the supply situation in Western China remained difficult for the Allies, hampering their attempts to advance.

Little happened in the next few days directly involving Polish forces. By the 7th, the last two industrial projects back in Poland were nearing completion. New priorities would soon be decided.

With the heavy fighter technical concept developed, the national focus would shift back to finishing one of the last elements of the Four Year Plan.

And the Polish construction teams were heading east again, beginning rail works to try to improve the Allied logistic situation in Western China, where neither side was making much progress: a couple of MAB attacks on Polish positions had been beaten off in the central sector, on 10 and 13 April (the details will be summarised at the end of the chapter). But that front would generally be fairly quiet until the last week of the month.

On the diplomatic front, Ireland was the latest country to join the Allies, soon lured into the war by an invitation from Liberia, to quaintly termed the ‘Greek-Liberian War’! Their four divisions were unlikely to tip the scales though. Notably, Germany was now stationing 136 divisions in its homeland: some insurance lest Trotsky ever decide to attack.

The Polish corps in Indochina was finally committed to the front on 18 April, where they would try to make a difference in the eastern part of the sector, as the Allies defended against another MAB offensive across the front.

In Western China, by 20 April South African and British forces were poised to take a province in the southern sector: none had changed hands so far during the month anywhere in Western China.

The first Polish combat in Indochina began on 22 April. To the west, 15 DP joined Erich von Manstein’s failing defence against a four-division PRC attack, where both sides deployed significant air support. To the east, at the same time the Poles assisted a larger Allied defence to beat off (by 24 April) what was one of a long series of MAB attacks along the coast.

And in the centre, where the bulk of the Polish corps had deployed, a spoiling attack was launched in an attempt to the PRC attack on Manstein, but it ran into six more Communist divisions holding the area. The whole sector was thick with troops from both sides: another WW1-type situation of industrial-scale death and destruction seemed to beckon.

A French division added its weight to the spoiling attack in the centre on the 23rd, by which time it seemed two of the divisions attack Manstein had peeled off, though the situation there remained tough. The battle in the centre remained evenly balanced, even with the French assistance.

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25-30 April: Hard Yards

After the victory along the coast in Indochina on 24 April mentioned above, three more MAB attacks there would be thrown back with heavy enemy and very light Allied casualties on 25 and 26 April. In the centre, the spoiling attack in Tonkin would finally fail on the 27th, after heavy PRC and even heavier Allied (mainly Polish) casualties (details in the end of month summaries).

PRC troops performing a river crossing during their counter-attack in the southern sector, Western China, 27 April 1944.

Meanwhile, in Western China that Anglo-South African attack had finally succeeded, but by early on the 27th the enemy were pressing a cross-river counter-attack hard. It seemed the Allies may lose this solitary gain for the month. The MAB was also attacking in three places to the north, though with less success against stronger and better prepared positions.

A week after it had helped hold a desperate situation in central Indochina, 15 DP was still resisting by the evening of 29 April! By then, it had been reinforced by three other Allied divisions but the enemy had also brought up fresh troops, switching its axis of attack to the north with another full corps of PRC troops pressing hard.

As the month ended, the political situation in Germany had changed marginally but not improved overall. The now Polish-backed DNVP had gained a little (probably from the small Nazi rump party) but the liberal governing Zentrum party had fallen slightly while the KPD had increased ahead in their narrow majority at their expense.

Germany remained fully in the Allied faction for now, as did the French Commune, but Poland was concerned about what might come afterwards. Especially if there was a peace with the MAB but then Trotsky’s 4th International got up to some mischief later. And apart from that, the Polish government just didn’t like Communists.

Overall, the situation in Asia was little changed after another month of fighting, which remained heavily concentrated in Indochina and more sporadic in Western China, where the MAB had been doing most of the recent attacking (and suffering heavy casualties in the process).

The supply situation in Western China remained marginal for the Allies, though some minor improvements were apparent. The new Polish rail extensions had just begun to inch forward, having just reached the rear of the front line in the south.

In the northern sector, the MAB had attacked on and off during the month in Jiuquan with another attack currently in progress. Polish troops were only now stationed in southern Jiuquan, where the main activity had been from 15-21 April. In each case, enemy attacks had been repelled with heavy casualties and minor Allied air support.

In the centre, where Polish divisions were distributed across a four-province front, the north of the Golog sector had come under the heaviest attack, once earlier in the month but more heavily in the last few days. In each battle, the Communists had taken heavy casualties, mainly from the ground combat, while Allied losses had decreased with each attack.

In central and southern Golog, the attacks had come less frequently and only from 10-13 April., with similar results. Coinciding with the recent attacks on northern Golog, the MAB had struck Ganzi twice from 28-30 April, in the first attack suffering particularly heavily from Allied bombing.

And as noted previously, the one Allied gain in the south remained under considerable counter-attack pressure as the month ended.

The results of the earlier battles involving Polish forces in Indochina from 25-27 April are detailed below. Strong Allied air support from the nearby air base (containing 400 aircraft) for the spoiling attack in Tonkin had not been enough to bring victory, though it had helped Manstein hold to the west.

Against the previous indications, fresh Allied reinforcements and a weakening PRC assault had begun to swing the battle back in the Allies’ favour. And the heroes of 15 DP still stood their ground after 8 days of bitter defence! The PRC had managed to take a wedge of territory along the Mekong earlier in the month, though an Allied counter-attack seemed to be making progress there. Otherwise, the front line remained unchanged since the start of the month.

And Sulawesi had remained quite all through April.

A snapshot of intel on Japan (the JPR) was produced in Warsaw, though the information was somewhat sketchy. For interest’s sake, the current strength of Polish industry was provided as a comparison.

The overall state of the ‘British-Chinese War’ still showed a slight positional advantage in favour of the Allies, though they had suffered far more casualties than their opponents (mainly due to the earlier collapse of Nationalist China and the many Allied divisions that had been encircled and destroyed there). The PRC itself did have almost a quarter of its nominal territory under Allied occupation.

Bullfilter · Apr 20, 2023

Chapter Thirty-Nine: Jungle Fever
(May 1944)

As the Poles worked to become proficient in jungle warfare ‘on the job’ in Indochina in May 1944, the British shared some of their updated doctrine pamphlets with them. The Poles would, of course, have to do their owns translations to make use of the information.

The Polish Foreign Ministry provided a report of a quirk of Allied self-determination policies at the beginning of the month. Unnoticed by many, the very small Republic of Croatia had [on examining previous saves] been founded some time in December 1943 and remained in Britain’s sphere. Drawn from former Italian territory, its capital was Istria but it as yet had no industry or armed forces, being garrisoned by Dutch and British troops.

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1-7 May: ‘In the Weeds’ in Tonkin

Another brief border war broke out between Manchuria and the MAB at the instigation of Churchill on 2 May, but once more it lasted only a couple of days: enough for most the of the divisions defending the Manchurian border to again be heavily hit by the MAB before the latest ceasefire came into force.

As that was happening, heavy fighting continued in Indochina, with one of (if not the) biggest battles Polish troops had participated in during the war concluded in western Tonkin at 0800hr on 4 May. Allied casualties were heavy and PRC losses horrendous for this battle that had been going on since mid-April and 15 DP had just managed to hold out to see its end.

This victory and a previous large victory on the coast of Southern Indochina on 2 May allowed the Poles to join an existing (struggling) French attack on northern Tonkin on the morning of 4 May, rapidly improving the odds but still with the flow of the battle going in the PRC’s favour.

By the next morning the reinforcement of 1 DP into the front line tipped the battle further into the Allies’ favour.

The same day, French and German troops to the west retook the hotly contested ‘Mekong wedge’ and were strongly resisting a PRC counter-attack.

At 0600 on 6 May, the Allies won the battle for north Tonkin, thanks largely to enormously effective air support. But the first division in, the French 12éme Motorised, was almost spent and soon in trouble against an immediate Communist Chinese counter-attack.

The 12éme was quickly pushed back, but the Polish 16 DP made it in time from the Southern Indochina flank early on the 7th to hold on while other Polish and Allied formations advanced from the south.

By the end of the day 12éme was back in reserve again, making a remarkably quick turn around despite still being low on organisation, but the situation remained difficult. To the west, a couple of Allied attacks were making little progress.

In the first week of May, the Western China front remained quite, with only two probes launched in the five provinces there occupied by Polish troops.

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8-14 May: Hanging On

In north Tonkin, the battle to hold the gain there remained hard. More French reinforcements arrived on the morning of the 8th but the defence remained in trouble while they waited for more troops from the south, including the three Polish divisions. The rest of the front remained active from east to west.

When 1, 26 and 29 DPs arrived first thing on 9 May, the battle was swung around well into Allied favour. But still the PRC sent in their human waves.

However, even when 23 Pz Div joined the late on the 10th, the defence hung by a thread. 12éme had retreated again and the rest of the reserve had yet to reinforce. They and the fading 16 DP were all low on organisation as the PRC rotated attackers into the fray.

But again, the Poles were key to holding on, as 1 and 26 DP finally reinforced their colleagues on the morning of 11 May, while more Allied divisions moved up into the reserve.

A day later, it was all four Polish divisions doing the fighting at the front as the odds steadily improved. But it wasn’t until the morning of the 14th that the defence finally won out, again with heavy air support.

Allied relief would be short-lived however, as the PRC attacked again later that day.

In Western China, the pace of enemy attacks picked up a little in the second week of May, with Polish forces contributing to five defensive victories, usually with disproportionate MAB losses. Of course, there were attacks on other Allied positions and some Allied attacks without Polish involvement – none of which succeeded. The front there was developing into a real stalemate.

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15-31 May: A Thousand Cuts

The pattern of larger battles on the eastern line in Indochina, with more smaller probes to its west, continued for the rest of the month. By 19 May, the enemy were maintaining their attack on north Tonkin, which was being resisted firmly enough, but saw 16 DP finally forced to withdraw.

In west Tonkin pressure had also been kept up, but another big victory was eventually won there on the morning of the 21st, as the MAB kept up the attacks across the front.

The story was similar four days later, with a new attack on west Tonkin and the same relentless assault continuing on North Tonkin, now forcing 26 DP to flee, even as the partly-rested 16 DP was ordered back into the battle.

By the end of the month the fighting had intensified significantly in Western China, with incessant MAB attacks all along the front and occasional Allied (not Polish) attacks being made: none of which were succeeding on either side. Supply remained poor and with Polish homeland infrastructure improvements completed, construction effort was redirected into boosting rail access to the front.

A new light tank model was also introduced and the long task of re-tooling the production line and replacing the now obsolete 7TP Mk1s with the new 9TPs began.

In the second half of the month saw a massive 21 new MAB attacks on Polish positions defeated in Western China, with more under way as the month ended. And Communist casualties were terrible, for relatively little Allied loss (again, with no figures available for other Allied battles, including their own failed attacks).

In the Asian Theatre, the MAB remained on the attack on both fronts. Casualties involving Polish divisions overall saw a ratio of around 9-1 in their favour. In Western China, this figure was more than 100-1!

Of those Allied combat casualties, only around 2,900 were Polish. They had won every battle they had been involved with and equipment losses had been negligible from attrition, while battlefield recovery had reportedly seen more gear retrieved than lost in total by the Poles.

In Western China, brief MAB probes on Jiuquan, increasing in intensity as the month went on, had all been beaten off without a single Allied soldier being killed! Yet another Allied attack on Lanzhou was in progress, but would likely fail.

In the southern sector, of the provinces with Polish defenders, MAB attacks had really ramped up on north and south Golog and in Ganzi. But Allied casualties all month were negligible on the defence, while the MAB human waves had been dealt with savagely: but still they came on!

The PRC had kept attacking Southern Indochina after the Poles left it for north Tonkin earlier in the month, so only the one attack was recorded there involving Polish defenders even though the remaining Allies were subjected to repeated attacks throughout the month. The same was the case further west.

In north Tonkin, the original attack and first defence had been decided, but the latest huge attack since the 14th continued as the month ended – where 16 DP had returned to where it started, even as the other three Polish divisions had been forced to withdraw. The heaviest total casualties (on both sides) recorded in completed Polish battles were in west Tonkin.

No ground had changed hands in Sulawesi, but by the end of the month the Allies appeared to be about to lose a defensive battle at the base of the peninsula.

The Allied still had bold plans for amphibious operations in the Western Pacific, but none of these had been put into operation during the month, though over 40 divisions had been earmarked for landings in the south of Japan alone.

The experience of recent months had seen the ‘old guard’ 4th Army commander Lucjan Źeligowski able to improve his abilities, now becoming an expert in ambushing.

Polish stockpiles were almost all in the green, except for a minor deficit in heavy tanks: the AT shortfall had finally (just) been overcome.

Two research projects had been completed during May, the 9TP tank already mentioned above. The other was the PZL.38 Wilk heavy fighter, which was not yet put into production: an even more advanced (though not yet benchmark) PZL.54 was being researched at accelerated speed due to previous national focus work.

Major troop deployments in central Europe still saw the Allies heavily outnumber the Soviets: perhaps that had something to do with Trotsky’s reluctance to expand the revolution there.

Polish political influencing may have been making a little progress in Germany, with the DNVP gaining some popularity at the expense of the KPD.

There was no current intel on what Trotsky’s policy focus was and estimates of Soviet military and industrial strength were imprecise.

But an old report from 1939 had been provided through Allied reporting showing what some of Trotsky’s policy options for the region were under the umbrella of the Comintern. Since no demands had been made (to Polish knowledge) on the Baltic States and certainly not on Poland since then, it was assumed the Soviets had focused on other areas since then.

Bullfilter · Apr 26, 2023

Chapter Forty: To Hell in a Handbasket
(June 1944)

United States troops in combat, June 1944.

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1-10 June: The Communist Offensive Continues

The second half of May 1944 had seen the Mutual Assistance Bloc’s offensives in Western China and Indochina intensify as Polish troops helped Allied efforts to hold the line in both places. The Communists were sustaining horrendous casualties in their human wave attacks, with many smaller battles in Western China and fewer but larger and longer attacks in Indochina, where the Poles were fighting in Tonkin.

In East Tonkin, a new PLA counter attack had opened on 14 May, just after another hard-fought defensive victory. The same had happened in West Tonkin, with the latest PLA counter-attack launched on 25 May. Both battles raged into the beginning of June 1944, while a PLA attack against Allied positions just to the west of West Tonkin in Laos was threatening to outflank the Polish position.

In Western China, a large ‘carry-over’ defensive battle in North Golog was won at 0700hr on 1 May, with 388 Allied and 4,020 MAB troops killed. In Indochina, Polish divisions were regularly rotated in and out of the front line to recover or be re-inserted after breaking or being withdrawn. On 4 June this resulted in the partly recovered 26 DP plugging the line in the afternoon five hours after the Allied defence of Western Tonkin was finally overcome in the morning. It began yet another long fight that would drag on for days.

By 5 June both battles in Tonkin raged on. 26 DP was holding on grimly but effectively, while in East Tonkin Allied air support was exerting a heavy toll on the attackers, while two Polish divisions were heady back into battle from the south as 16 DP tired.

From 6-8 June, yet another series of border clashes between the MAB and Manchuria followed its familiar path into a ceasefire.

On 6 June, the Polish wings in China rebased themselves, with out-ranged INT and CAS shuffled back to Urumqi while more TAC wings went forward to Qinghai to extend their close support range. Two wings would focus on the southern sector (Qinghai air zone) and one on the north (Western China air zone). And on the home front, a new civilian factory for Katowice was put on the production queue for when the current Western China rail upgrades were finished.

By that evening, 26 DP’s lone desperate defence of West Tonkin was failing [19%] with 7 PLA divisions now piling on. By early on 9 June, they were barely clinging on [6%] as they hoped for some Allied reinforcements. And at 0600hr some did arrive: the French 58éme Infantry joined in reserve, though this only marginally improved things [19%]. By 0900hr they had reinforced and a Yugoslavian armoured division had arrived [27%]. Things had improved further in the early afternoon and the defence seemed to have turned the corner.

But the big news was victory in East Tonkin after 26 days of vicious combat, with by far the largest combined casualty count of any battle Poland had been involved in for the whole war. Another small probe was launched on East Tonkin that afternoon that was defeated by the morning of the 10th. While in West Tonkin, the exhausted 26 DP was withdrawn at 1800hr, leaving the defence to the Allies while the now largely rested 29 DP was sent from depth to replace them.

East Tonkin came under attack yet again at midnight on 10 June and this time the fighting would extend for another two weeks or more as both sides rotated divisions through the meatgrinder.

In Western China, by 5 June MAB attacks had petered out along most of the line, except in North Golog and Jiuquan: it looked like the major Communist offensive had been weathered.

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11-15 June: A Sleeping Giant Wakes

With things slowly developing in the Allies' favour in Asia, none were prepared for the bolt from the blue that struck on the afternoon of 11 June 1944. The US had finally entered the war. Against the Communists. But not the MAB: for reasons that mystified all observers, the perhaps unhinged US President Wendell Willkie declared war on the French Commune!

This notionally made them co-belligerents with the MAB, though the US remained apart from any factional alignment.

By that afternoon, all remained quiet along the northern and southern borders of the US, though the UK, Canada and the Mexican Republic were all members of the Allies but not yet involved in the war. Yugoslavia had however answered France’s call to arms.

At 1800hr, the UK joined and took over the leadership of the war against the US. Anticipating a more hostile naval environment in the near future, the Polish Navy’s two small flotillas were recalled to Danzig from the Mediterranean that evening, just in case.

Sure enough, France’s call came to President Mościcki on the evening of 12 June. Poland, ever the dutiful Ally, answered the call to a war that had since expanded further, including to Germany and Italy.

A day later, the US dragged its puppet the Philippines into the conflict. By then, fighting had been going on in Iwo Jima for a few days, where co-located US and French troops had come to blows and then British-controlled (EF Chinese) had joined the battle in reserve by the evening of 13 June.

British troops guarding territory in the French Caribbean were also under attack and would be pushed back into British territory by the following morning.

By 14 June, both the battles in Tonkin continued, both somewhat in Allied favour, the more so in East Tonkin, where the fresh Polish divisions had arrived in reserve. But again, the big news of the day came from North America: after a delay of three days, Canada had joined the was against the US at Churchill’s invitation. Fighting erupted all along the Northern Front, from the Pacific to the Atlantic coasts, with a flurry of American attacks, many of which had Anglo-Canadian defence back-pedalling.

Back in Poland, the Chinese rail projects were all finished by 15 June, with a new civil factory started in Poznan to add to that being built in Katowice. That day, a welter of new countries become part of the Allied cause against the US, at the invitation of either the UK or Germany, including Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, the British Raj and the Dutch East Indies.

The conflict had finally broadened into a world war, albeit a politically confused one. Only the Soviets now stood apart of all the major powers, as American subs attacked an unescorted British convoy off the west coast of Mexico.

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16-24 June: A New Abnormal

By the morning of 16 June, two of the US divisions on Iwo Jima had surrendered as mix of Allied divisions piled on in Iwo Jima 3 at the front, another 15 in reserve) under General Charles de Gaulle [+89%]. Fighting continued across the Canadian Front, with the Allied defenders doing better in the east than the centre and west.

The fighting continued unabated in Tonkin, with 16 DP evacuated from East Tonkin and the mainly rested 26 DP ordered north from depth to replace them. That night, 100 Allied planes engaged an American ‘wolfpack’ attacking a British troop convoy off Newfoundland as 8 Canadian destroyers raced to assist them. By the end of the day, Iwo Jima had been secured and the last American POWs detained.

The initial round of fighting on the Canadian Front was subsiding somewhat by the afternoon of 18 June, with a few American inroads made west of the Great Lakes as Tonkin remained a ‘hot zone’.

By the evening of 19 June, the Laotian province just to the west of West Tonkin was in danger of being lost to a PLA attack [13%]. At 0600hr the following morning, it had deteriorated [6%], while West Tonkin also took a turn for the worse again [24%], with only a tiring 29 DP and an even more disorganised Italian division hanging on for dear life.

In France, Allied troop convoys were started to stream across the Atlantic, while 49 German and 41 Yugoslavian divisions (among others) were queuing up in north-west French ports for the crossing by the end of 20 June.

The establishment of the National Defence Fund in Poland on 21 June triggered a major boost for construction efforts, with around 9 factories being freed up for projects and allowing a third new civilian factory to be started, in Płock. The next national focus would be on completing more of the Four Year Plan by building the Warsaw Main Railway Station.

A good example of the current as yet sporadic naval warfare taking place in the Atlantic was another American convoy raid near the Canadian coast. But this time, almost 200 aircraft and the 8 patrolling Canadian destroyers had been able to offer more protection, with the US subs forced to disengaged, many of them carrying considerable damage. One sub and one transport had been sunk.

By the evening of the 21st, West Tonkin held on [26%], but the battle for the Laotian province to its west had been lost. The Poles would fight on, hoping the Allies – whose line across Indochina seemed have thinned somewhat in recent days – could contain the threatened Communist breakthrough. In better news, the Allies now had good momentum in the defence of East Tonkin. Just as a pack of 5 Italian subs engage a Philippine convoy of 3 transports just off the coast.

In Western China, it seemed the recently upgraded railroads had improved Allied supply and organisation. This may have been partly behind the blunting of the Communist general offensive, which now saw Allied units (not yet the Poles, who continued to rebuild organisation) resume the attack in the central and southern sectors.

On 22 June, West Tonkin had barely stabilised, while 16 DP was returned early from its R&R [19/54 org, 90% strength] to try to hold the fiercely contested province, as the PLA occupied the bordering Laotian province. When it was taken, administrative control of Laos was returned to the Japanese, while the PRC still controlled northern Vietnam.

The development of the PZL.46 Sum CAS design was completed on 24 June, with the next model, the 1944 generation PZL.59 Okoń, going into immediate research, while the production lines were tooled up to produce the new ‘Sum’ in the meantime. When the ‘Okoń’ was developed, there would probably be another range extension modification added.

Over in North America, the pace of combat had come right off, as the US consolidated limited gains made above the 48th parallel (only).

16 DP joined the battle in West Tonkin at 1700hr on 24 June, as the returned French 58éme clung on [20%] but the exhausted 29 DP was evacuated to recover. In East Tonkin, the PLA had regained some attacking momentum as that fight raged on [59%].

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25-30 June: Recalibrations

16 DP reinforced 58éme on the evening of the 25th, immediately stabilising that battle as another Italian division arrived in reserve. By the next morning, things were turning around there. By 0900hr, another big victory had been won then in more good news, another epic defence of East Tonkin was won that evening.

By then, the Allied attacked in Western China had made twin breakthroughs in the centre and another in the south, though a couple of there were under heavy MAB counter-attack.

Improved supply had seen most of the Polish divisions in the sector back to near full strength and organisation, triggering advances on 26 June to either reinforce Allied breakouts or create new ones, with a corps-strength attack into Gannan meeting with great success by early on the 28th.

Allied plans for the Philippines now included possible amphibious landings in Luzon but none had yet taken place.

While in the US almost all American attacks had ground to a halt, with the Allies hoping to stabilise the defensive line and perhaps launch a future offensive to divide the US in half, though they were far from having that capacity at present.

Research on improved recon companies (Level II) was finished on 27 June, to be replaced with work on better field hospitals (also to Level II). These had not yet been introduced to the Polish Army, but this addition was now implemented for the main infantry division template. The manpower and trucks necessary to do this were to hand, but only about half the needed support equipment was in stockpile.

The production line saw the factory allocation for this gear increased from 1 to 3 at the expense of truck and AT gun production (and also temporary efficiency, down from 90% to 36.7%). And within a day, lend lease offers to assist with the deficit began to be received from generous Allies looking to offload surplus gear.

The PLA was unwilling to let East Tonkin go without yet more rivers of blood being split, with a new attack there starting on the afternoon of 27 June; it would still be going as the month ended.

All was quiet in Canada on 28 June, though the Allies had taken the southern most province of Alaska.

In Western China, the Poles finally got sick of soaking up all those Communist probes and decided to reinforce an existing Allied attack which was in some trouble. While their joining the reserve improved the odds significantly, the trend of the battle was still leaning towards the PLA defenders; at least until the Poles could start reinforcing the front line of the attack.

As the month drew to a close, more reports on the US and its intentions were provided through other Allied sources. The US was currently trying to improve its mobilisation speed – albeit perhaps a little late. Estimates of their military strength varied wildly but seemed to be firmer on industrial matters. Most worry was a report that they were seeking to become the first national to develop an atomic weapon. This sent shivers down the collective spines of the Allied powers.

On the afternoon of the 30th, a new PLA attack had been launched on West Tonkin as the fighting went on to the east.

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Theatre and Other Summaries

Momentum seemed to have swung slightly back in the Allies’ favour in Asia as the MAB once more absorbed very heavy casualties (noting those provided below only related to battles in which Poland had participated and there had accurate reporting). Of the Allied combat casualties, only around 2,500 were directly attributed to the Poles.

Supply on both fronts continued to be quite reasonable, with noticeable improvements in Western China from the poor state in May.

One province had been lost in south-eastern Laos, but the breakthrough had been limited. East Tonkin in particular had been a bloodbath in June.

In Sulawesi, one province had been lost at the base of the peninsula, but a strong Allied counter-attack was in progress.

Communist attacks in Jiuquan had continued all month, but as mentioned above these had been easily resisted and now the Poles were helping the Allies to push back a little.

After the Communist offensive largely faded away by mid-June, in the central sector the Poles were now backing up a renewed Allied advance, having just secured Gannan and assisting an Allied cross-river attack south-east of Lanzhou.

There was no action at all on the Canadian Front by the end of June. Separate totals for Allied casualties suffered in the fighting were not yet easily available, but reports of US casualties gave an indication of the scale of the fighting so far.

Meanwhile, the trans-Atlantic Allied troop convoys were in full swing, so far encountering little reported interference from the Americans.

For Polish military production, only supply equipment was in deficit, though many other equipment categories were being upgraded. And if they eventuated, Allied lend lease might quickly erode the support equipment shortfall.

Finally, the gradual influence campaign on German politics seemed to be bearing some fruit, with more progress by the DNVP at the expense of the Communists and Social Democrats.

Poles Apart – an HOI4 Ahistory

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