"Our generation, bloodied in wars, deserves the peace for sure. The peace, however, as almost all the matters of this world, has its high, but measurable, price. We do not know the meanig of "peace for any price" in Poland. There is only one thing in lives of individuals, nations and states that is priceless. The thing is honour."
J. Beck
Polish minister of foreign affairs in his speech in the Polish parliament
May 5, 1939
"We shall yield no uniform button !"
Polish government propaganda
1939
Patch 1.02; Settings: normal/aggressive
the collapse of the nationalist regime
The mid-thirties was not a period of success for the country. The great depression faded away in western countries, but it still persisted in Poland. The largest part of the nation lived in rural areas and -however thay lived in utmost poverty -they managed to avoid starvation. Industry workers and the unemployed were in a much worse situation. Riots were bloodily put down by horse policemen and armed nationalist militia.
On the other hand, the ruling elites had plunged into corruption and overconsumption. After the father of the state, Marshall Pilsudski, passed away, there was no moral leader capable of stopping the putrefaction. His self-declared heirs were involved into brutal political fight for power. Democratic oppositionists were imprisoned or in exile.
Then the thing happened. People could stand being ruled by the dishonest. They could not however bear the shame of desacrification. As photographs taken during a satanic orgy in which prime minister's party colleagues partook leaked out through a Czechoslovakian newspaper, the dam was broken. The ruling core was decimated by a wave of suicides. Many left the stage in shame. An election was held and the socialdemocrats won it.
International policy
The policy guideline was clear: to stay as close as possible to western democracies and to influence southern neighbous so they would allow more freedom to their citizens.
Polish special forces built up contacts among democratic opposition in Germany. On August 15 1938 Joseph Schwiegerbruder, a dedicated German anti-nazi aktivist, was to attempt assasination of Hiler. He failed as the self made bomb took off while he was driving to the point of action. Communists claimed the responsibility which blurred the overall picture.
On March 30, 1939, Poland signed a pact of mutual military assistance with the United Kingdom.
Economic buildup
The new government began a huge investment plan. It's main aim was the improvement of national industry and reduction of unemployment. The plan was only partially successful. Huge misinvestments were made and the new industrial base was constantly deficient of resources. The government would have been blamed for idle factories and funds wasted, had the war not come so early.
Plan “West”
The nation paid a large price to get ready for the conflict. Level 4 fortresses were built from Danzig to Lwow. The northern border was slightly fortified. War plans assumed that the Polish army would launch an offensive into Eastern Prussia. New infantry divisions were formed. The defence was further strengthened by 2 fighter squads and 2 armoured divisions. Infantry was equipped with new rifles and flamethrowers.
The countdown to war
The German Reich was unstoppable in its aggresive plans. She supported Spanish nationalists in the civil war and won a loyal ally -in June 1937 Spain joined “the Axis of Evil”. On March 25 1938 the Reich acquired peacfully Austrian provinces. On September 30 Czechoslovakia ceded Sudetenland to Germany and became vulnerable without fortified mountainous borderland.
As the Germans extended their claims on March 15, 1939, there was no chance that the Czechs would oppose. Bohemia became a directly controlled German protectorate, whereas Slovakia remained fomally independent under a puppet government of priest Tiso's. Polish defences had to be extended further to the south-east. Hitler was aware of his supremacy -on March 24 he demanded Memel from Lithuania and was succesful.
First territorial claims were stated against Poland, but the parliament turned them unanimously away.
On 4 June Hungary joined the Axis which made the situation even more difficult. Polish troops were withdrawn from Gdansk, as it was impossible to hold a front line stretched that far.
On 24 August Germany and the USSR signed a secret clause dividing Eastern Europe into 2 spheres of influence. Eastern Finland, Eastern Romania, Eastern Poland and the Baltic States became domain of the Soviets. Anything located westward could be taken by Hitler without any opposition on Stalin's part.
Had the above clause been made public, the Polish authorities would think twice before going to war. As they expected silent support from the USSR and open support from western allies, they repelled the German claims from August 30.
On 05:00, September 1, the first German units crossed the border. Railway stations and airports were bombed from the air.
The war was there.
The border battle (1 September - 22 October 1939)
The German plan was clear from the start. The decided to leave Polish mountain forts in the south undisturbed and ravage with gros of their armoured mass across the plains of northern Poland to capture Warsaw. Would the western allies press against them, they could install a puppet goverment in the Polish capital and turn their engagment westward. The main initial target was the fortress of Bydgoszcz.
The Polish reaction was quick. The southern border provinces remained manned by two-three divisions each. All the available troops were sent to Bydgoszcz. Meanwhile, the Polish cavalry and armoured divisions outmanoeuvred Germans in eastern Prussia and captured Elbing, Koenigsberg and Memel.
Taking Bydgoszcz was Hitler's propaganda nr 1 aim. German inheritance of this city - Bramberg - sounded through many of his speeches. The war went badly for the nazis - Prussia was lost and the only occupied Polish province was Danzig. Thus new troops were constantly sent to assault the Polish defence lines and lossess were huge.
On October 22 panzers broke through the Polish lines south of the city. Rydz Smigly, the commander in chief, ordered retreat. New divisions were being deployed in Lodz, so German fastmoving armoured troops would not make their way to the capital. In the north, Polish troopers were commanded to leave Prussia and to man new defense lines behind Vistula and Narew.
Bad news came from the east. USSR kept on claiming territories from the Baltic states. They did not yield, but few dared think what would happen if they decided for an armed intervention.
The two defiant cities (23 October 1939 - 5 January 1940)
After Bydgoszcz fell Polish generals concentrated on forming a new front line. This was not easy as German troops were faster and able to attack at any point at any time. Their propaganda was more important than the art of warfare again. Kraków and Warsaw were the main offensive targets. Although Polish armies were attacked all along the frontline, they managed to regroup. Reserves were assembled behind Vistula and gros of troops sent to Cracow and Warsaw. These two cities were under constant assault supported with air bombing. New German divisions were pushed into the battle as the old ones disappeared.
On December 17 the defenders of Warsaw woke up surprised. One could see Germans digging trenches. It became obvious that they were short of resources necessary to capture the city before the spring.
The Germans were determined to take Kraków however. On 5 January, in the early morning Polish divisions began retreating. The battle was lost -the German won a Pyrrhean victory.
At the same day Finland agreed to cede its eastern provinces to the USSR after a short winter war. Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania and Romania fulfilled Soviet wishes soon afterwards. A possible Soviet aggression became the main threat after the Germans were stopped for a while.
The new defense lines (5 January 1940 - 2 May 1940)
Polish divisions were reinforced during the winter. They took a strong defensive position behind Vistula. The German impact was weakened, but few assumed that it had been weakened forever.
The summer offensive (3-14 May 1940)
On 3 May - the Polish Constitution Day the hell recommenced. The panzers were thrown at the left wing of the Polish army - the weakest spot. After the reserves strengthened the front line, the situation got under control again. The Germans took Bialystok and Brest Litovsk but did not get any further.
The war of attrition (15 May 1940 - 30 March 1941)
Wartime situation became a normality. The defenders had to stop minor assaults of German and Hungarian armies all along the front line. It was clear that the Germans would not mount a major offensive. They had fewer divisions than the Polish. The western front was calm. The Germans took Groningen, Arnhem, the Hague and Utrecht, cutting off the Dutch army in the province of Noord Holland. The Italians took Grenoble.
The western allies had done nothing so far to aid Poland. As Poland felt no moral obligation to continue the war, diplomats were sent to Hitler with a peace mission - to agree to German pre-war claims. They produced no result, however.
The Fools' Day Offensive (1 April 1941 - 22 April 1941)
In the early spring of 1941 the situation was ripe enough to counterattack. German defense lines were getting thinner and thinner. Brest Litovsk was occupied by a single division. And it was there that Smigly's 15 divisions attacked. The secret code was “Fool's Day Offensive”. Nobody thought that would happen for real. Within 20 days Brest Litovsk, Bialystok, Grodno and Wilno were liberated.
As this was the first successful offensive against the Axis powers, France and Belgium did not hesitiate to grant Polish advisors control of their armed forces. Soon, the preparations for a final offensive began.
The final blow (6 June 1941 - 6 September 1941)
On July 6, at dawn, 20 Polish divisions crossed Vistula south of Warsaw. 30 French and Belgian divisions crossed the Rhine north of Nijmegen in Holland. Both attacks were successful and allied armoured divisions began pouring into enemy territory. The Polish captured Lodz, Bydgoszcz, Gdansk, Gorzow, Berlin, Elblag, Opole, Koenigsberg, Wroclaw, Bohemian and Bavarian provinces in a couple of days. The German army in the east was cut off. The French lost more blood, but finally the allied armies met near Erfurt.
After the last defending nazis were defeated and all major cities taken, a peacy treaty was signed. The conquered country was split into 2 zones of occupation: the Polish and the Dutch zone.
The Mediterranean Campaign (29 September 1941 - 3 March 1942)
Soon after Germany surrendered, the regimes of Hungary and Slovakia were finished with. Untill the end of November Italy found itself occupied by the Polish. Mussolini's government escaped to Tounis, from where it controlled vast Italian territories in Africa stretching from Algiers, through Egypt to Begian Congo.
In December a major offensive was launched against Franco's Spain. The resistance was weak and France annexed Spain on 3 March 1942.
In the meantime the Polish troops were deeply reformed. Resources from the occupied countries facilitated the reasearch and creation of new divisions. A huge part of the army was occupying Italy and guarding the border with Yugoslavia, as Bulgaria - the last Italian ally - acquired military access and occasionaly sent a corpse through.
Europe became peaceful. Poland has no navy to get to Africa and Bulgaria. I don't know how to load French troopers onto French navy either
J. Beck
Polish minister of foreign affairs in his speech in the Polish parliament
May 5, 1939
"We shall yield no uniform button !"
Polish government propaganda
1939
Patch 1.02; Settings: normal/aggressive
the collapse of the nationalist regime
The mid-thirties was not a period of success for the country. The great depression faded away in western countries, but it still persisted in Poland. The largest part of the nation lived in rural areas and -however thay lived in utmost poverty -they managed to avoid starvation. Industry workers and the unemployed were in a much worse situation. Riots were bloodily put down by horse policemen and armed nationalist militia.
On the other hand, the ruling elites had plunged into corruption and overconsumption. After the father of the state, Marshall Pilsudski, passed away, there was no moral leader capable of stopping the putrefaction. His self-declared heirs were involved into brutal political fight for power. Democratic oppositionists were imprisoned or in exile.
Then the thing happened. People could stand being ruled by the dishonest. They could not however bear the shame of desacrification. As photographs taken during a satanic orgy in which prime minister's party colleagues partook leaked out through a Czechoslovakian newspaper, the dam was broken. The ruling core was decimated by a wave of suicides. Many left the stage in shame. An election was held and the socialdemocrats won it.
International policy
The policy guideline was clear: to stay as close as possible to western democracies and to influence southern neighbous so they would allow more freedom to their citizens.
Polish special forces built up contacts among democratic opposition in Germany. On August 15 1938 Joseph Schwiegerbruder, a dedicated German anti-nazi aktivist, was to attempt assasination of Hiler. He failed as the self made bomb took off while he was driving to the point of action. Communists claimed the responsibility which blurred the overall picture.
On March 30, 1939, Poland signed a pact of mutual military assistance with the United Kingdom.
Economic buildup
The new government began a huge investment plan. It's main aim was the improvement of national industry and reduction of unemployment. The plan was only partially successful. Huge misinvestments were made and the new industrial base was constantly deficient of resources. The government would have been blamed for idle factories and funds wasted, had the war not come so early.
Plan “West”
The nation paid a large price to get ready for the conflict. Level 4 fortresses were built from Danzig to Lwow. The northern border was slightly fortified. War plans assumed that the Polish army would launch an offensive into Eastern Prussia. New infantry divisions were formed. The defence was further strengthened by 2 fighter squads and 2 armoured divisions. Infantry was equipped with new rifles and flamethrowers.
The countdown to war
The German Reich was unstoppable in its aggresive plans. She supported Spanish nationalists in the civil war and won a loyal ally -in June 1937 Spain joined “the Axis of Evil”. On March 25 1938 the Reich acquired peacfully Austrian provinces. On September 30 Czechoslovakia ceded Sudetenland to Germany and became vulnerable without fortified mountainous borderland.
As the Germans extended their claims on March 15, 1939, there was no chance that the Czechs would oppose. Bohemia became a directly controlled German protectorate, whereas Slovakia remained fomally independent under a puppet government of priest Tiso's. Polish defences had to be extended further to the south-east. Hitler was aware of his supremacy -on March 24 he demanded Memel from Lithuania and was succesful.
First territorial claims were stated against Poland, but the parliament turned them unanimously away.
On 4 June Hungary joined the Axis which made the situation even more difficult. Polish troops were withdrawn from Gdansk, as it was impossible to hold a front line stretched that far.
On 24 August Germany and the USSR signed a secret clause dividing Eastern Europe into 2 spheres of influence. Eastern Finland, Eastern Romania, Eastern Poland and the Baltic States became domain of the Soviets. Anything located westward could be taken by Hitler without any opposition on Stalin's part.
Had the above clause been made public, the Polish authorities would think twice before going to war. As they expected silent support from the USSR and open support from western allies, they repelled the German claims from August 30.
On 05:00, September 1, the first German units crossed the border. Railway stations and airports were bombed from the air.
The war was there.
The border battle (1 September - 22 October 1939)
The German plan was clear from the start. The decided to leave Polish mountain forts in the south undisturbed and ravage with gros of their armoured mass across the plains of northern Poland to capture Warsaw. Would the western allies press against them, they could install a puppet goverment in the Polish capital and turn their engagment westward. The main initial target was the fortress of Bydgoszcz.
The Polish reaction was quick. The southern border provinces remained manned by two-three divisions each. All the available troops were sent to Bydgoszcz. Meanwhile, the Polish cavalry and armoured divisions outmanoeuvred Germans in eastern Prussia and captured Elbing, Koenigsberg and Memel.
Taking Bydgoszcz was Hitler's propaganda nr 1 aim. German inheritance of this city - Bramberg - sounded through many of his speeches. The war went badly for the nazis - Prussia was lost and the only occupied Polish province was Danzig. Thus new troops were constantly sent to assault the Polish defence lines and lossess were huge.
On October 22 panzers broke through the Polish lines south of the city. Rydz Smigly, the commander in chief, ordered retreat. New divisions were being deployed in Lodz, so German fastmoving armoured troops would not make their way to the capital. In the north, Polish troopers were commanded to leave Prussia and to man new defense lines behind Vistula and Narew.
Bad news came from the east. USSR kept on claiming territories from the Baltic states. They did not yield, but few dared think what would happen if they decided for an armed intervention.
The two defiant cities (23 October 1939 - 5 January 1940)
After Bydgoszcz fell Polish generals concentrated on forming a new front line. This was not easy as German troops were faster and able to attack at any point at any time. Their propaganda was more important than the art of warfare again. Kraków and Warsaw were the main offensive targets. Although Polish armies were attacked all along the frontline, they managed to regroup. Reserves were assembled behind Vistula and gros of troops sent to Cracow and Warsaw. These two cities were under constant assault supported with air bombing. New German divisions were pushed into the battle as the old ones disappeared.
On December 17 the defenders of Warsaw woke up surprised. One could see Germans digging trenches. It became obvious that they were short of resources necessary to capture the city before the spring.
The Germans were determined to take Kraków however. On 5 January, in the early morning Polish divisions began retreating. The battle was lost -the German won a Pyrrhean victory.
At the same day Finland agreed to cede its eastern provinces to the USSR after a short winter war. Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania and Romania fulfilled Soviet wishes soon afterwards. A possible Soviet aggression became the main threat after the Germans were stopped for a while.
The new defense lines (5 January 1940 - 2 May 1940)
Polish divisions were reinforced during the winter. They took a strong defensive position behind Vistula. The German impact was weakened, but few assumed that it had been weakened forever.
The summer offensive (3-14 May 1940)
On 3 May - the Polish Constitution Day the hell recommenced. The panzers were thrown at the left wing of the Polish army - the weakest spot. After the reserves strengthened the front line, the situation got under control again. The Germans took Bialystok and Brest Litovsk but did not get any further.
The war of attrition (15 May 1940 - 30 March 1941)
Wartime situation became a normality. The defenders had to stop minor assaults of German and Hungarian armies all along the front line. It was clear that the Germans would not mount a major offensive. They had fewer divisions than the Polish. The western front was calm. The Germans took Groningen, Arnhem, the Hague and Utrecht, cutting off the Dutch army in the province of Noord Holland. The Italians took Grenoble.
The western allies had done nothing so far to aid Poland. As Poland felt no moral obligation to continue the war, diplomats were sent to Hitler with a peace mission - to agree to German pre-war claims. They produced no result, however.
The Fools' Day Offensive (1 April 1941 - 22 April 1941)
In the early spring of 1941 the situation was ripe enough to counterattack. German defense lines were getting thinner and thinner. Brest Litovsk was occupied by a single division. And it was there that Smigly's 15 divisions attacked. The secret code was “Fool's Day Offensive”. Nobody thought that would happen for real. Within 20 days Brest Litovsk, Bialystok, Grodno and Wilno were liberated.
As this was the first successful offensive against the Axis powers, France and Belgium did not hesitiate to grant Polish advisors control of their armed forces. Soon, the preparations for a final offensive began.
The final blow (6 June 1941 - 6 September 1941)
On July 6, at dawn, 20 Polish divisions crossed Vistula south of Warsaw. 30 French and Belgian divisions crossed the Rhine north of Nijmegen in Holland. Both attacks were successful and allied armoured divisions began pouring into enemy territory. The Polish captured Lodz, Bydgoszcz, Gdansk, Gorzow, Berlin, Elblag, Opole, Koenigsberg, Wroclaw, Bohemian and Bavarian provinces in a couple of days. The German army in the east was cut off. The French lost more blood, but finally the allied armies met near Erfurt.
After the last defending nazis were defeated and all major cities taken, a peacy treaty was signed. The conquered country was split into 2 zones of occupation: the Polish and the Dutch zone.
The Mediterranean Campaign (29 September 1941 - 3 March 1942)
Soon after Germany surrendered, the regimes of Hungary and Slovakia were finished with. Untill the end of November Italy found itself occupied by the Polish. Mussolini's government escaped to Tounis, from where it controlled vast Italian territories in Africa stretching from Algiers, through Egypt to Begian Congo.
In December a major offensive was launched against Franco's Spain. The resistance was weak and France annexed Spain on 3 March 1942.
In the meantime the Polish troops were deeply reformed. Resources from the occupied countries facilitated the reasearch and creation of new divisions. A huge part of the army was occupying Italy and guarding the border with Yugoslavia, as Bulgaria - the last Italian ally - acquired military access and occasionaly sent a corpse through.
Europe became peaceful. Poland has no navy to get to Africa and Bulgaria. I don't know how to load French troopers onto French navy either
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