Brochow, September 1939

 This engagement took place in mid September 1939 as the Polish "Army Poznan" (a Corps sized formation) launched the Bzura counteroffensive into the flank of the German armies advancing on Warsaw from Silesia. Although the offensive met with initial success, the Germans rapidly moved divisions into place to block it, sensing an opportunity to encircle the attacking Poles.

The Wielkopolska Cavalry Brigade was covering the eastern flank of Army Poznan, and on 14th September  ran into the leading elements of 4th Panzer Division and SS Liebstandarte Adolf Hitler near the small town of Brochow.

Another chance to try out some revisions to my One Hour WW2 variant on some actual people. The scenario is based on one from the Command Decision "Birth of the Blitzkrieg" book. 

The Germans. The 36th Panzer Regiment, 49th Panzerjaeger Bn, II and III Abt, SSLAH and the SSLAH recce detachment, plus a couple of 105mm artillery battalions, Stukas and shed loads of trucks, motorcycles and some halftracks. 36th PR is mainly equipped with Pz I and Pz II at this time. 

John B and Tim took the Germans.

The Wielkopolska Cavalry Brigade, 7th Mounted Rifles, 15th and 17th Lancers and 71st Armoured Group, plus a 75mm artillery battalion plus various horse drawn transport and 37mm AT batteries. the 71st is equipped with a mixture of armoured cars and TKS tankettes, some of which are armed with 20mm autocannon. The 20mm cannon was mighty anti-tank weapon (against bullet proof tanks) of 1939.

John A, Mark, Pete and Micheal took the Poles. I allocated so many players to the Poles partly as there are four separate units (as opposed to two for the Germans) and also to try and reflect the fragmented Polish command structure. 

My main concern in this scenario is that the Germans are going to get massacred. The Poles have more stuff than them and it is both better quality, more mobile and loaded up to the eyes with AT weapons. The Germans have more support arms though and a far more flexible communications system, so we shall see how it turns out.

Battlefield from the south. It is bisected by the marshy stream, the woods are also dense and marshy. Six objectives are scattered around, four villages, one bridge and one road/rail junction. Winner holds the majority at game end. Unusually, the Germans are coming on from the east (returning from Warsaw), and the Poles enter from the west (the main body of Army Poznan is west of here).

15th Lancers in the north commanded by Micheal. The two villages here are objectives. The Regiment is modelled as two elements as cavalry take up a lot of space to generate the same combat power as regular infantry. They are also very high quality troops, so worth doing as two average elements (with 12SP) as opposed to one veteran element (with 7SP).

One of the elements has AT guns as all the cavalry regiments had integral 37mm AT gun platoons and masses of AT rifles. All lances had been handed in by now, but the cavalry kept their sabres, just in case.

Opposing them is the leading element of SSLAH, the recce detachment which had an armoured car company, motorcycle company and heavy company. In one of the armoured cars is some bloke called Micheal Wittman.  Just behind them offtable in support is a battalion of 105mm guns towed by halftracks detached from 4th Panzer Div.

The rest of SSLAH (less one battalion) will enter down this road in due course. I've rated them as 'poor' as they really weren't very good in 1939, although I left the recce as average.

Over in the southwest are part of 17th Lancers in Biata Gora, also an objective, commanded by Mark. In support is the brigade horse drawn 75mm artillery battalion. I'm using ammo limits in this scenario, and in true NQM fashion, I'n piles of combat dice as ammunition to shoot off.

To represent the limited Polish comms (compared to the Germans) this artillery can only be called in by a dedicated spotter, who is currently attached to 17th Lancers.

In the southeast, the leading element of 4th Panzer is is the 49th Panzer-Abwehr-Abteilung (as they were quaintly called in 1939). Not my first choice of advanced guard, but 4th Panzer only had two infantry battalions in 1939, and I guess these guys are a precursor to the Schnell-Abteilung of 1941.

In 1939 the battalion had two companies of 37mm guns, so I've restricted its fire against soft targets. Lets hope the Poles bring lots of tanks...

This road/rail junction is also an objective.

The rest of the Polish brigade. 7th Mounted Rifles enters on turn 2 (commanded by John), The rest of 17th Lancers on turn 3 and 71st Armoured Group on turn 4.

The Poles have a single logistics column, as their communications were being pounded relentlessly by the Luftwaffe.

The German reinforcements, they look like a pre-war parade!

Two battalions of SSLAH (II and III), both rated as poor motorised infantry enter on turn 2 and 3 respectively, following the recce.

The other battalion of 103rd artillery regiment can also be seen, that will support 36th Panzer Regt.

36th Panzer Regiment with two battalions follows behind. The divison had well over 300 tanks in 1939, split almost evenly between Pz I and Pz II and divided into a full Panzer Brigade with four battalions.. It didn't have any Pz III and only 12 Pz IV. Behind them are the respective HQs (Sepp Dietrich for SSLAH and Reinhardt for 4th Panzer) and two logistics columns.

It wouldn't be 1939 without Stukas. Strictly speaking the Luftwaffe didn't do CAS at this stage but picked their own targets, however in game terms it is easier to have it on call and I wanted to give the outgunned and outnumbered Germans a hand. It is restricted to only two missions before needing resupply, so the German logistics chaps will be kept busy.

Up in the north both sides basically charged for the bridge. Neither had enough movement to get over it, but the Poles took up a very aggressive position lining the river bank rather than holding the cover of the woods and village half a mile behind. This is where the supposed incident of 'cavalry charging tanks' took place.

Down south, the German AT gunners contented themselves with occupying Brochow. Conducting offensive operations with towed AT guns against mounted infantry didn't seem very wise. The 17th Lancers charged over the bridge, taking both ends and securing that objective for the Poles.

The SS recce took one of the 15th Lancers under fire, supported by artillery, as the SS infantry drove ip the road.

17th Lancers advanced very aggressively on Brochow, covered by the brigade artillery, who managed to suppress the AT guns.

In the north, artillery and Stukas assailed the Polish cavalry, who retained their good order. More SS infantry were moving up though, and some shuffling took place to find room for them to deploy. The stream is impassable to wheeled vehicles, which is a bit of problem for the motorised SS. The Polish cavalry have no such issues.

Back at Brochow, the 17th Lancers came under artillery fire and took sufficient losses they became disordered. 36th Panzer Regiment arrived at the same time as 7th Mounted Rifles. The Germans clustered around Brochow while the Poles held the river line. They aggressively pushed some AT guns across the river.

This was far too tempting and one of the Panzer battalions took the bait. Covered by direct fire from the AT guns, artillery, Stukas and the other tanks, I/36th Pz charged the Polish bridgehead.

Back in the north, some of the SS dismounted and waded across the river while their mates drove across the bridge. The Poles had meanwhile fallen back to cover, although one unit had become disordered.

At Brochow, the covering fire had disordered the cavalry bridgehead, but the panzers had come under effective defensive fire and taken two hits.

This wasn't enough to stop them however (one more hit would have disordered them), and the panzers rolled annihilating dice as they rolled over the Polish cavalry.

There was a slight lull in the north as the Germans got their entire Regiment lined up, and the Poles reorganised the damaged cavalry.

The Germans frantically bombed up the Stukas and resupplied the artillery ready for the next push.

Back at the Brochow bridghead, only the Polish artillery spotter survived. He would have to relocate next turn.

The Poles got their revenge however, the remaining three cavalry units inflicted a whopping three hits on the Panzers,, leaving them disordered and one hit away from exhaustion. 71st Armoured Group moved up to the river line under cover of all the fire.

In the north, a massive assault went in under cover of air and artillery on the Polish cavalry in the woods. The SS recce had taken enough damage to become disorganised by now.

This wasn't enough to stop the assault however, and the SS infantry advanced through very weak defensive fire to overrun the cavalry and take the wood.

The Poles responded with 7th Mounted Rifles, who positioned themselves in the rear of the disordered SS recce. They are in position to make a devastating assault next turn (double dice vs a disordered unit).

Back in the south, the damaged panzer battalion pulled back to reorganise, while the other Germans hunkered down around Brochow. The rest of the Poles glowered at them across the river. II/36th Pz and 71st Armoured group exchanged fire across the river, with the Panzers coming off somewhat worse.

Overhead view of the fight at Brochow.

The situation in the north.

We broke for the evening at that point. The Germans are a bit raggedy, carrying 13 hits across several units, two of which are disorganised. However the Poles have actually lost two units, which can't be recovered. 

The Germans will have to reorganise their damaged units, so it remains to be seen whether the Poles can take advantage of their good order units while the Germans sort themselves out.

Up in the north, the SS recce could only retreat, but pinned in ZOC, they only made it over the river. This wasn't enough to dissuade the Polish cavalry  who splashed through the river after them. The German defensive fire was hopeless, even the artillery barrage and Stukas were ineffective.

And it was curtains for the SS recce battalion. Ouch. So Polish cavalry really did charge German armoured cars then. 

Back at Brochow bridge things had settled into a bit of stalemate. The Poles resupplied the armoured group which the Germans were busily pounding.

Things were going from bad to worse in the north for the Germans as the two Polish cavalry units disorganised the SS infantry trapped between them.

At Brochow the Germans reorganised their battered Panzers as best they could.

The Polish armour withdrew to safety, the German fire was just too heavy. The Polish logistic train was busy elsewhere so they would have to wait to reorganise.

In the north another Polish cavalry unit had arrived and between them, they wiped out the SS infantry in the open. Casualties had been heavy however, and the Polish supply train ran around reorganising them. The last SS LAH unit hunkered down in one of the objective villages and began to dig in while the Poles shelled them. 

With most of the cavalry away in the north, the revived Panzers (if operating at 66% strength is 'revived') went on the offensive. The tank battalions splashed dramatically across the stream, while the Panzer-Abwehr battalion rolled down the road as artillery and Stukas hammered the town.

In the north the Poles advanced towards the SS, making use of the woods to provide cover.

While in the south the Germans poured concentric fire into the town. Against dug in infantry in a BUA, this wasn't massively effective, but it slowly wore the defenders down.

The first Polish assault was repulsed, leaving one cavalry unit disordered and the other in retreat. The German defensive fire had been decisive. Perhaps the poorly trained SS chaps were learning how to fight at last?

One of the Panzer battalions boldly advanced down the road. The disordered Polish armoured group, supported by artillery, inflicted enough hits to disorganise them.

Back in the north, the disorganised Polish cavalry was sent packing by more sharp fire from the SS. 

But in came the next wave of cavalry to attack the town. They were certainly very persistent.

Brochow Bridge finally succumbed to the massed German tank, artillery and bomber fire and the defenders disintegrated. Once more leaving the poor Polish artillery spotter on his own.

In a very bold move, the advanced Panzer battalion slipped into Biata Gora, an objective village, gambling that 71st Armoured Group was too weak to stop them.

The Polish attack in the north collapsed in a hail of German MG and artillery fire, both cavalry units were disordered. The SS were still hanging on in the rubble of the village.

The final Polish counterattack failed to retake Biata Gora, although the Germans still hadn't actually taken the bridge as they hadn't occupied the ground.

Time ran out at that point (I was using variable game length, and it ran out at 13 turns).

Final view from overhead. The Poles still hold two objectives, but the Germans have four. A heroic effort from the Poles as the Germans are looking distinctly ragged, but in the end the Germans managed to actually destroy four Polish units, which was decisive.

That went very well and was a real ding-dong battle with great swings in the fortunes of both sides. I thought at one point the Germans were going to be completely wiped out, but they came back from behind by carefully husbanding their troops, and saving all their '6's for the last few turns. Both sides made good use of the mobility of their troops, particularly the Poles who charged from one end of the field to the other, while the Germans were a bit more road bound.

The modifications all seemed to work well, although I still keep forgetting that assaulted units can't reorganise next turn.  I even got some special markers out, and forgot to use them! The player feedback was also very positive, which is always gratifying. I was particularly pleased with how the revised logistic system worked, the admin was quite low, but it presented the players with some decisions to make, and some dilemmas.

I've got a few more scenarios and situations to try out, but this is looking good.