September 1st
Danzig, 4:48 AM The German battleship fires. Eleven-inch shells scream toward
the Polish garrison holding the peninsula. Troops hit the dirt.
A brick wall smashes inward. A radioman transmits to the next base
along the coast: <i>"SOS. Under fire.”</i> Bullets tear past. A Polish soldier falls - the first
combat casualty of a new world war. There are German troops coming
through the break in the wall. The Poles open fire, catching the invaders
in a kill zone, forcing them back. Only 182 Polish soldiers
defend this peninsula. They're under attack from a battleship,
dive bombers, field artillery and nearly a division's
worth of German soldiers. Even the local police have thrown in
with the Nazis. But they'll hold
for as long as they can. This series is brought to you
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for extra goodies. Mokra, Southern Poland
6:30 AM They must have crossed the border
by now, the cavalrymen think. Nearly 10% of the Polish Army
is cavalry. Modern cavalry! Cavalry that fights on foot,
using horses to reposition and scout. Cavalry that tows antitank guns
behind them. Cavalry that's dug into a line of trees
outside the town of Mokra, along with an infantry division
and a battalion of TKS tankettes... ...waiting to meet the invasion. Waiting is the hardest part. The first Germans they see
are motorcycle scouts. The sides exchange fire,
probing. An hour later the armour emerges. It's the 4th Panzer Division, pressing forward with 25 Panzer I and IIs,
firing on the move. Autocannons set the thatched roofs
of Mokra alight. The cavalry holds fire
until the panzers close, then answer with their antitank guns. Half-dozen tanks slew, burning,
grinding to a halt. Polish machine guns drive back
the supporting infantry. They've stopped the first wave. Then comes another, and another. House-to-house fighting
breaks out in the village. German armour and motorised infantry
press close to the Polish positions. Air strikes and artillery pound the woods. With a blast of steam, an iron behemoth
pulls out of the trees... The Poles' backup,
Armored Train No. 53. Its twin cannons and machine guns
open up. Twelve German tanks go out of action. The 4th Panzer regroups
and attacks again. Warsaw. Another crash rattles the window. German dive bombers have been hitting
Warsaw since 8:00 AM. Edward Rydz-Śmigły, Marshal of Poland,
looks at his map. Things are going as well as they can be,
under the circumstances. Germany is invading Poland
from three of its borders: North, south, and west. The enemy has around 53 divisions,
while Rydz-Śmigły has 40 - if that. But at least in these early hours,
the Polish defensive lines are holding. In some places, better than that. At Mokra, the defenders report
a hundred German vehicles destroyed. There are problems, of course. But he has one big advantage:
he doesn't need to win. Polish strategy rested on two major
pieces of diplomacy. The first was a non-aggression pact
with the Soviet Union, securing the country's eastern border
and allowing the Polish Army to prepare for the possibility
of a German invasion. After all, Poland couldn't fight
a two-front war. The second was
a mutual defence pact: signed agreements with
France and Britain to aid Poland in the event
of a German invasion. As a sweetener, Rydz-Śmigły had even
given them Poland's most prized secret: they'd cracked the German Enigma codes
and reverse-engineered a machine. He'd given each ally a copy
of it earlier that year. It was a sound strategy. In order to invade Poland, Hitler would need to strip divisions
from the German homeland, leaving only a token force on
his western border. If Germany violated Polish borders,
the agreement stated, France would invade from the west,
forcing Hitler to withdraw his troops and allowing Poland to counterattack. Britain would provide bombing support. But for the treaty to take effect, the invasion of Poland
had to be contested, the Germans couldn't just walk in,
as they had in Czechoslovakia. As a result, Rydz-Śmigły had been forced
to spread his troops thin, ensuring that wherever the Germans
crossed the border they'd be met with resistance. His plan called for the Polish Army
to buy time with a fighting withdrawal and regroup near Warsaw, ready to strike once France
mobilised and intervened. But he still didn't have enough troops
and it was his allies' fault. Every time Hitler made threats, Rydz-Śmigły had tried
to sound the mobilisation, but every time, Britain and France
shut him down. A mobilisation would give Hitler
an excuse to invade, they said. And they continued saying so even as
German troops gathered on the border. Even the week before, when Germany signed a
non-aggression pact with the Soviets, the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact,
they'd preached restraint. Two days ago Rydz-Śmigły had enough
and sounded general mobilisation, but the British forced him to rescind it. Now Hitler had made his own excuse,
staging a fake attack on a radio station and blaming it on Polish partisans.
So much for provocation. Luckily, Rydz-Śmigły had been secretly
mobilising troops for weeks, calling them up for "summer manoeuvres”
as a cover story. It wasn't enough,
but it gave him an army. And that was a good thing, because as
a result of diplomatic pressure, the Polish army hadn't openly mobilised
until a day before the invasion. Now just half the army
had reached their positions, and only a fraction of those
were combat ready. Poland was vastly outnumbered, facing a mechanised opponent
with more modern equipment. The Luftwaffe's yearly budget was larger than all Polish defence
spending since 1935. Germany had produced 800 tanks
in 1938 - Poland made fifty. But at least those fifty tanks
were good tanks. Eighty-seven percent of German armour
consisted of Panzer Is and IIs, thin-skinned training tanks
outfitted for combat. Poland's new 7TP matched
the Panzer I and II for armour, while sporting a larger
long-ranged Bofors gun. The old Polish TKS Tankettes could
do little against German armour, but the 7TPs might make some difference
if they made it to the battlefield. Still, at least things were going well...
for now. September 2nd. Things are not going well anymore. By the second day, it's clear
that the highly mobile tactics the Germans had field-tested in the
Spanish Civil War, what others would later call Blitzkrieg, are outmanoeuvring and penetrating
the Polish defence. Regular army units stand their ground, but the national guard constantly
withdraws in poor order, creating gaps in the line. The Polish Army tries to make up lost
ground in night operations, but the fatigue of constant battle
offsets any gains. Polish troops fight, day and night,
for three days straight. And the roads are nearly impassable. Refugees choke every roadway,
getting in the way of troop movements, raving about Nazi liquidation squads
operating behind the German lines. Dive bombers enhance the chaos,
attacking soldiers and civilians alike. Communication begins breaking down,
the army doesn't have enough radios. Tanks have to communicate
with signal flags, meanwhile German armour executes
precise encirclements, coordinated via wireless. On September 3rd, Britain and France
declare war on Germany. But by then, German forces were
precariously close to Warsaw. But at least the 7TPs finally arrive. September 5th
Piotrków, 10:30 AM It's the last opportunity to stall
the German advance in the south. Polish troops are retreating
to regroup around Warsaw, but if the 4th Panzer Division
takes this road hub, the door to the capital will stand open. The day before, the 7TPs of
the Polish 2nd Light Tank Battalion had their first skirmish
with the Panzer II, and had taught the German tankers
to fear their 37mm Bofors cannon. Now, the Germans are closing on Piotrków
with tanks and motorised infantry. But there's a chance, just a chance,
to cut off the bulge in the German line. To take prisoners. To surround them. It was time to counterattack. Major Karpow, commander of the 2nd
Light Tank Battalion orders the advance. They surge forward on either side
of the German push, using the low hills for cover
- and close to 500 metres. The lead 7TP sights in. The industrial chung of the gun
fills the turret with acrid smoke. They fire again. A Panzer II burns. Autocannon rounds slap the TP7's glacis,
failing to penetrate. The Germans armour runs for the woods. On the other flank, 7TPs tear through
Panzers and armoured cars. Germans bail out of the burning craft.
The 7TPs encircle them. The 1st Light Tank Battalion
strikes in the north, engaging a dozen tanks
as they push toward the junction. But German artillery shells begin to drop, and there's no one following behind the
7TPs to exploit their breakthrough. The German spearhead, though mauled,
is still heading for Piotrków. Major Karpow calls a withdrawal. In two days of fighting, his 2nd Light Tank
Battalion has destroyed 17 Panzers, two self-propelled guns,
and fourteen armoured cars. During just this attack, Polish armour had
destroyed 15 German tanks with the loss of only seven
of their own. But that doesn't matter. There are no Polish units ready
or able to exploit the victory. The plan remains to retreat toward
Warsaw, so that's what they'll do. September 7th
Warsaw. Marshal Rydz-Śmigły gathers
his documents. Command staff haul radios and charts. They're evacuating to Brest along
with the rest of the government. Plans call for making Warsaw a citadel, a stone for the Germans
to break their teeth on. But he and the rest of the government cannot be killed in that assuredly
bitter combat. The French are already massing on
Germany's western border. Soon, he'll be managing a counterattack. He leaves a small communications team to forward messages on to
his new headquarters. He has no idea how mangled the lines
of communication are, how little he will know once he relocates, and how impossible it will be
to transmit orders. The Polish Army, already hard-pressed, is about to lose touch with
its leadership. The next day, the 4th Panzer Division
reaches Warsaw. Inside, soldiers set up concealed artillery. Civilians dig trenches,
planning to trap German tanks and torch them with cans of gasoline. Warsaw is preparing for a siege. Thanks World of Tanks PC
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The faces of the new art style are really starting to be offputting.
The first battles of the Reich's invasion of Poland are full of unmatched bravery. Germany thought they could sweep in, but the Polish spirit held them off at a far greater capacity than any other army could. May the fallen Polish soldiers rest in peace.
I'm excited for this series.
I wonder if they're covering other invasions in ww2 as well? Happy they're doing poland i learned a lot from episode 1 alone