Shattered World - A Worse World War : Part 6

Panzers In Poland, "...envelop them and drive for the Vistula!"

April 17th 1939 to July 21st 1939

The Polish home army partisans moved stealthily through the night along a trail which cut through sparse forest near the German border. The howling of dogs seemed close behind them, too close. The man and woman, ordinary looking Poles, clutched their rifles and huddled behind a particularly large tree catching their breath. They'd been running for what seemed like hours. The harsh voices of the Soviet police soldiers pierced the night behind them, and to their sides. Not good, they were being surrounded. Shots rang out in the night along with several screams, then silence interrupted only by the sounds of the barking dogs. That must have been their companions. They could be next.

All at once the forest seemed to explode. Partisan and Soviet soldier alike fell to the ground by instinct as incoming shells smashed the forest around them sending deadly shrapnel in all directions. As the world crumbled around them the partisans smiled grimly. Now the Soviets would be the ones fleeing.

The partisans wouldn't get the ammunition and supplies they had been sent out to get from German agents near the border. But they would get something none the less. The Germans were coming.

The German invasion of Poland launches with a surge of 2000 Luftwaffe planes and the movement of 1.5 million German soldiers and over a thousand panzers, many of them the new upgunned Mk3 model. Soviet border defenses, caught unprepared, are swept aside and trapped behind the lines in the first hours of the invasion. Hundreds of Red Air Force planes are destroyed on the ground and the few that do take to the air in time are pounced on and mauled by German fighters. German bombers range from Krakow to Minsk with little Red Air Force resistance.

Stalin, only now getting over the shock of the huge invasion, cancels plans for the renewed Soviet offensive into Romania. Instead the Red Army begins frantically transferring units towards the rapidly collapsing Polish front.

Two German army groups, one advancing from out of Germany and the other from out of Czechoslovakia, meet north of Krakow closing a pocket around 500,000 Soviet troops. Soviet forces which managed to escape the German encirclement are streaming east in near panic. The Red Air Force, now recovered from it's initial shock, is beginning to fight back on the strength of numbers are pure determination.

Fascist Romanian, Bulgarian, Hungarian, and German forces launch a sharp attack looking to take Bucharest and topple the Soviet puppet regime in eastern Romania. The Soviets, being well dug in and prepared on this front, fight stubbornly and repel the initial thrust but the Axis forces continue to apply pressure along the Romanian front to keep the Soviets on their heels. With Krakow surrounded and under siege the German panzers in Poland renew their push eastward lancing through hastily assembled Soviet defensive positions across western and central Poland. The Luftwaffe's close support of the German army is proving devastatingly effective on the wide open plains of Poland. Soviet reinforcements are beginning to arrive in eastern Poland where the Vistula is being rapidly entrenched by the Soviets, as well as Warsaw. Stalin is determined to hold eastern Poland as a buffer against fascist aggression on the Soviet people. With the Soviet Union itself safe Stalin can then focus on retaking Poland and punishing the Hitlerites and their allies.

Some leading elements of Germany's streaking panzer spearheads approach the outskirts of Warsaw but are turned back by a fierce Soviet counter attack. German forces have captured Poznan and are steadily advancing eastward towards their objectives in eastern Poland. The Krakow pocket has surrendered and over 800,000 Soviet troops have been captured in total across western Poland. Soviet resistance is beginning to stiffen on the Polish front as more and more reinforcements flood into eastern Poland and make their way towards the front. German bombers are beginning to range deeper into the Ukraine to disrupt the Soviet transportation network and slow the flow of supplies and forces into Poland.

Bucharest comes under massed Axis air bombardment and a firestorm destroys much of the city killing tens of thousands. Axis forces are approaching Bucharest but communist Romanian and Soviet resistance remains fierce. In Poland a series of small Soviet counter attacks have halted the German advance west of Warsaw. German forces stop to consolidate gains and let their supply lines catch up with them. The panzers had been running short of fuel in recent days. The German general staff is preparing to execute an ambitious envelopment maneuver designed to capture Warsaw and collapse the Soviet front west of the Vistula. Soviet forces, overconfident after halting the Germans, prepare a counterattack of their own.

Two Soviet armies, hastily assembled just west of Warsaw, launch a thrust into German occupied central Poland in an effort to stem the German tide and disrupt their supply lines in central Poland. The armies, equiped with large numbers of the deadly T-34 tank, make excellent initial progress slicing through dispersed German infantry positions and reconnaissance elements. The Red Air Force intensifies it's efforts to take control of the skies from the Luftwaffe.

The Soviet counter-thrust into central Poland has become a deep salient into the German lines, extending 150 kilometers to the west and with an average depth of over 80 kilometers. The German Field Marshals in central Poland are secretly elated at this latest development. Rather than force the German army to slam into the defensive works along the Vistula and in Warsaw the Soviets have thrown 450,000 men and nearly fifteen hundred tanks into the open plains with exposed northern and southern flanks. Two German Panzer armies, one to the north of the salient, the other to it's south, are preparing to cut the salient off at it's base and destroy two of the Soviet Union's best offensive armies.

Fascist Romanian, German, and Hungarian troops enter the outskirts of Bucharest. The Soviets have shifted many of the forces manning the Roman - Bucharest line to the Polish front and it is starting to show. Poorly trained and equipped Romanian communist forces are being used to plug the gaps and they are withering under the slow axis advance. The Soviet defensive lines in eastern Romania have been pushed back but they are still holding for the moment. Odessa and Kiev suffer the worst bombing of any Soviet city yet in the war as Luftwaffe bombers hit transportation hubs in those cities. The Red Air Force is holding it's own against the Luftwaffe but has been forced into a defensive stance with only light offensive operations against Axis targets.

The Soviet counter offensive into central Poland has reached it's greatest extent, forming a deep salient from west of Warsaw to just east of Poznan. But the Germans have held firm on the northern and southern flanks of the Soviet incursion and freshly reinforced Panzer divisions are poised to strike at the base of the long Soviet salient. A communication from Chief of the German High Command, Col.Gen. Wilhelm Keitel, to General Bock, in command of the German army group north of the Soviet salient, reads in part : "The Soviets have blundered and we must make them pay. You and General Rundstedt must envelop them and drive for the Vistula!"

The German pincer operation against the deep Soviet salient into central Poland is unleashed with an opening artillery and air bombardment of two hours. The Soviets have moved reserves up to cover their exposed flanks but they have underestimated the strength of the German strike. On both flanks German panzers smash through Soviet anti-tank forces and begin slicing north and south, destroying Soviet supply lines and equipment as they move. By the end of the day the Soviets, now realizing the true scope of the German operation, begin a desperate withdrawal to the east. The race is on. Two Soviet armies must fleet out of the salient before the streaking German armored spearheads can close the trap around them.

In the heaviest air fighting of the war hundreds of Luftwaffe and Red Air Force fighters and bombers clash over a narrow stretch of central Poland. The plains are littered with crashed aircraft from both sides. The German armored spearheads are meeting stiffer resistance as Soviet infantry move to hold a corridor through which the bulk of the two Soviet armies may escape.

In the largest tank battle of the war to date elements of the southern German pincer smash into Soviet tank divisions rolling east towards the escape corridor being stubbornly held by Soviet infantry and anti-tank forces. Across a ten kilometer stretch of grassland and rolling hills 400 Soviet tanks smash into 350 German panzers. The Soviet force is made up primarily of older models from the 1937 Polish War with a significant number of the newer T-34's. The German panzers are mostly Mk2's with a few of the newer upgunned Mk3's as well. The fierce tank clash is confused and intense and by the end of the day over 150 Soviet tanks are burned out hulks. The Germans lose about 65 panzers. The tactical abilities of individual German panzer commanders allows them to savage the less coordinated Soviet columns. Both the Soviets and the Germans rush more forces into the area for operations the next day. The Soviets must break out before the Germans can firmly close the escape door and pocket Soviet forces.

More heavy tank battles. This time the Soviets are better prepared and fight the Germans to a draw. Both sides loose in excess of 75 tanks. The losses are pressing the German panzer divisions in the south to their limits and General Rundstedt, in command of the southern pincer, is on the verge in calling a halt due to heavy losses. However, Bock is having better success in the north where German panzers and mechanized infantry are threatening to break through the infantry units screening the Soviet escape route. Rundstedt decides to press the attack. The fate of two Soviet armies hangs in the balance.

The northern pincer of the German envelopment maneuver forces a breakout through rear guard Soviet anti-tank forces and races south linking up with the southern pincer by late afternoon. Part of one Soviet army has escaped earlier in the day but the rest of the two armies, over 350,000 men and 1000 tanks, are now pocketed in central Poland.

A desperate breakout attempt is blunted by well positioned German armored and infantry forces. Luftwaffe bombers range over the pocket destroying everything that moves on the ground. Soviet forces to the east are gearing up for another attempt to break the German ring of steel.

Axis forces enter central Bucharest where another round of heavy house to house fighting is reducing the city into even finer rubble. The Soviet line in eastern Romania is showing signs of splintering and German/Hungarian forces are massing for a push to smash it in its center.

The Soviet effort to relieve the central Polish pocket succeeds in forming a new escape corridor. Soviet units, most without their heavy equipment, begin to flow through the corridor in a chaotic mass. German artillery and aircraft turn the escape route into a path of flames.

German forces close the escape route once again. As many as 80,000 Soviet troops managed to escape but mostly abandoned their heavy equipment. 270,000 Soviet troops remain trapped in the pocket and more German forces have arrived to strengthen the German army's grip on the pocket. The Red Air Force begins a desperate effort to supply the pocket via air.

The Soviet effort to supply the pocket via air has been a disaster with nearly a hundred cargo aircraft downed and little actual supplies delivered. Stalin cancels the operation in a fury. The central Polish pocket has now shrunken to half it's original size as German forces squeeze the Soviet forces inward.

To the east the German armored forces which spearheaded the envelopment attack are resting, re-supplying , and preparing to continue the drive east towards Warsaw and the Vistula river.

Advancing German forces discover evidence of Soviet atrocities in central Poland. Several mass graves containing the bodies of over 30,000 Polish officers and upper-class civilians are unearthed. The German propaganda machine goes into full effect. Public opinion in America and the Alliance for Democracy is swayed even further against the Soviets. Ironically, even as the Germans are denouncing the Soviets for war crimes, the Germans are themselves beginning the harsh repression of Polish Jews and ethnic Slavs.

Axis forces in Romania launch a large new attack against the center of the Roman - Bucharest line. The attack opens with a four hour bombardment by over a thousand artillery pieces and a surge of over a thousand Luftwaffe and minor axis aircraft. The Red Air Force puts up a stern defense but cannot stop the bombing of the defense lines.

Axis forces tear a rip in the Soviet lines north of Bucharest and race through the gap to exploit the breakthrough. By the end of the day Axis forces are surrounding Bucharest. Stalin, seeing that Romania is likely lost, orders new defensive lines to be established all along the Romanian - Soviet border. Fascist forces are not to enter Soviet territory.

German forces again reach the outskirts of Warsaw where Soviet counterattacks again force them to withdraw to the west. Further to the south German forces are reaching the Vistula only to find the Soviets well entrenched and fortified on the river's eastern banks. The goal of reaching the Vistula has been achieved but Warsaw remains firmly in Soviet hands and more Soviet reinforcements are arriving in eastern Poland every day.

Mass production of the Mk4 panzer begins in Germany. Divisions fielding the new panzers should be available by the end of year or early 1940 at the latest.

Soviet forces trapped in the central Polish pocket finally surrender after running out of ammunition, food, and water. 270,000 of the Soviet Union's best troops are captured or killed. However, roughly half of the Soviet soldiers in the two destroyed armies managed to escape to the east. Although they lost their equipment they have lived to fight another day. The Soviets have a virtually unlimited manpower supply and a massive industrial capacity which remains safe in Soviet territory.

In Romania Bucharest is under siege, having been surrounded by advancing Axis forces, and Soviet units are now withdrawing to the new defensive lines being established at the Soviet - Romanian border. The Bucharest garrison consists of 30,000 Soviet soldiers and an additional 40,000 communist Romanian fighters. The city will not fall easily. German bombers and artillery are pounding the city almost around the clock but the defenders are well dug in and ready to fight to the end.

In a meeting of the German general staff, Col.Gen. Wilhelm Keitel and the rest of his staff examined the large situation map. Even as they looked more markers indicating German units were moved eastward. Estimated Soviet positions moved eastward as well, to the Vistula and to Warsaw. The Soviets were going to hold there and regroup in eastern Poland. Of this everyone at the meeting was convinced. Despite the Luftwaffe's hammering of Soviet supply lines the Soviets were flooding eastern Poland with armor, soldiers, and aircraft. Far more than the German army could hope to match any time soon.

The war, the general staff realized, was going to be a defensive one again soon. But now they had central and western Poland as a buffer zone. Despite Hitler's demands that the Vistula front be held, the general staff knows better. They would let the Soviets attack. They would let them gain ground, but the German army would remain mobile, quick hitting, and devastating on the defense. Let the Soviets bleed themselves dry in central Poland while the German army was strengthened by the Reich's fast growing war economy. That was the plan. They only had to convince Hitler to go along with it. No easy task, but one the German army feels it can pressure Hitler into accepting.

[Note : In this timeline Hitler does not have the god-like image he had after 1940 in our timeline. Finland, an axis power, has fallen. Romania, another Axis country, has been devastated. Taking Sweden was a stunning success and the Blitzkrieg into Poland as well, but the Soviets are massing in eastern Poland and no Soviet territory has fallen. Hitler is popular in Germany but doesn't have the god-like image he got in OTL after 1940. Thus, Hitler doesn't have the political capital to force through everything he wants. The German army remains very powerful politically and is not afraid of Hitler as they were in OTL after 1940.]