Captain Nemo Gaming World War II

    1 Battle of Wielun  (Rules:  Arras to Ardennes)  Battle Turn Zero and Start The Germans deployed with two infantry battalions in the front and two tank battalions in support.  The Poles had two infantry battalions forward creating a barrier defence with the third infantry battalion split between the front village and the woods, with the Supply centre hidden in the back village and the Command centre in the woods.  A company of Vickers E tanks that were in support was positioned in the gap between the two woods. Battle Turn One The Germans started with an infantry assault on their southern flank, which immediately displaced one company of Polish troops who retreated back to the forest.  The First tank battalion then used the opportunity to approach on the southern flank to threaten to attack into the rear areas, which caused the next Polish company in the defence line to withdraw to cover the gap in the defences that was developi...

The invasion of Poland in September 1939 was a very sad affair.  The Germans were able to attack from the north, the west and the south, with the Soviet Union subsequently attacking from the east.  The Polish Army did not help by trying, understandably, to defend nearly everywhere.  Politically authoritarian, the High Command that had won Polish independence was understandably reluctant to listen to dissenting views.  Dissonance at the top between generals together with putting dissenters into backwater commands did not help.    Nevertheless, the soldiers fought very valiantly and with great bravery.  Nor was the High Command unaware of military changes, developing some useful military hardware.  They were restricted by budget limitations but tried nevertheless to equip themselves well.  Unfortunately, this has also given rise to myths such as the cavalry charge against tanks, a piece of Nazi propaganda that...

Operation Market Garden Lieutenant-General  Brian Horrocks 17 September 1944     Gentlemen, this is a story you will tell your grandchildren ... and mightly bored they'll be!   My father hated his six years enforced time in the military, beating the Nazi Legions. He rarely spoke of his experiences. I was fascinated by the stupendous achievement of organising and equipping millions of men to fight and win the war.   On reaching retirement I wanted to go through each campaign and understand the different aspects of them. The blog is to record the miniature battles fought on the table-top while doing so.

Declaration of war:  Chamberlain's radio broadcast [extract] 3 September 1939 I am speaking to you from the cabinet room at 10 Downing Street. This morning the British ambassador in Berlin handed the German government a final note stating that unless we heard from them by 11 o'clock that they were prepared at once to withdraw their troops from Poland, a state of war would exist between us. I have to tell you now that no such undertaking has been received, and that consequently this country is at war with Germany. The Few: Churchill's  Speech to the House of Commons [extract] 20 August 1940 Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few. The Blog: The Captain's comment at the RAF Museum [extract] 13 July 2021 We need a blog to record our battles.