Reply To: Poland 1939 – Preparing for 80th Anniversary of World War II

[jamesevans140Participant 2055xp 2]

Thanks for the great reply @oriskany.

You can also add to the mix the experience  gained by the Condor Legion in Spain.

However the Pole are tough fighters for the motherland. Far tougher than documentaries give them credit for. Just like the Finns they did not have the equipment but made up for it by holding their ground making the enemy get up and personal where advantages of better support equipment is somewhat neutralized, similar to the “grab them by their belts” tactics used later on by the Russians.

However don’t get me wrong here as I am not saying the Poles were just having a bad day as it was not going to go their way.  Trying to strongly defend the boarders instead of a defence in depth plays into Blitzkrieg hands. The point I raised is that it was not the push over history now tells us and I am sure you agree. In the computer hex games playing the German most of my losses were infantry vs infantry battles.

I gained my appreciation to the Polish tankette when I motorised some companies of Grenadiers in our Finnish campaigns with them along with the Bren Gun Carriers. In one I deployed them in the waistline of Finland. In this area the BTs and T-26s tend to behave more like beached whales. I just wish I could have more of them. While the Carriers and Tankettes are similar in what they can do to infantry the tankettes are fully enclosed making them more durable.

As far as armoured ranges are concerned, physically the later weapons can open up the ranges, but at this early point of the war most armoured units are still to learn to make proper use of terrain on the approach and as such range opens up a bit. The Finns hold the record for maximum range of a kill by 20mm and 37mm AT shots, both times the victim was the T-26 with the range at nearly 2kms. I am the first to say this is extreme and not the norm. On the otherhand 500-800m is not unreasonable which is a similar engagement range in NW Europe later in the war. If tactics were better at this point in the war you could more than halve range to 250-400m.

So I am very interested how you and @yavasa turn out in this series.  I am too busy at the moment to look at this on the tabletop but I am lucky that the guys have given me time off to read these articles. 🙁