Poland: 3 Battle of Piotrkow




3 Battle of Piotrkow

(Rules: Arras to Ardennes)

 

Battle Turn Zero and Start

 

 


The successfully crossing of the River Warta gave the Germans the opportunity to press the attack.   Under the campaign rules the Poles were not allowed field defences on the day after a river crossing, representing the surprise and uncertainty effect; and on the second day of battle the Germans had also overrun the supply centre, reducing available support assets (fewer support assets), and the communication headquarters (a further malus on rolling for orders).

 

The wall of blinds going down masked the German bunching of three units on their left flank and one tank battalion on the far right (stage right and left in the picture).  The Poles were clustered on their left flank with their right filled with dummy blinds.  No national flags in these photographs. 



 


 

 

Battle Turn One

The first move was the single German tank battalion advancing on the extreme flank, which promptly resulted in the far-left Polish company retreating back to the village in the rear.  The German left wing advanced rapidly and was surprised to find all the enemy positions empty, enabling them to swiftly reach the rear areas and to swing on the flank of the defences.  It was here that they met the defence line and engaged a company of the Polish reserve battalion and the supporting company of FT17 tanks; these defences stood firm to the first attacks, repulsing the attackers.



 

 

Battle Turn 2

The Poles had put two companies on their left flank to enable mutual support and clearing this second company took some time, shown in the photograph suppressed, with cavalry reconnaissance in front.  On the Polish right flank, the first wave of attackers can be seen to have been driven off and replaced with another attack wave that has caused problems for the Polish infantry. 

 


Battle Turn 3

The Germans on their right flank were able to evict the second Polish company and advanced into the resulting gap, although this also brought them into contact with the reserve company at the rear.  The continual pressure on the Polish right flank has finally driven back the Polish troops but they had managed to pull back in stages, with the infantry pulling back and being covered by the tanks and then the tanks pulling back behind the infantry. 



 

Battle Turn 4

On their right flank the Germans had thickened out their line as the Poles revealed more troops in the woods that had help repel the Germans and moved unengaged troops over to add to the defence line.  The Germans were unable to break this defence line.  On the left flank the Germans had also increased the pressure and been engaged from troops in the village but had been unable to make any progress.  The Poles had activated their unused central battalion to reinforce the engaged flanks.

 

Battle Turn 5

During the final turn the Germans had continued to press their attacks but these had all been fruitless.  As shown in the picture, on their right flank most of the tank companies had been driven off, damaged, as most on the left flank had.  The Germans had made two last moves for victory by trying to move armour from the left around the village to strike at the denuded centre to resolve an infantry attack against the village.




 

Battle Turn 6 and End

The first two cards drawn were bombardment cards but these are also time cards, advancing the time clock so dusk had fallen and the battle was over.

 

The Germans scored 1VP for the LoC opened through the flank but nothing more.  The previous day’s battle had gone very badly for the Poles but they had proved more fortunate on this third day.  The Germans had sorely felt their lack of infantry and the Germans promptly chose to spend the next day reorganising.

 

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