As our second battle came we were still on the advance. Our next target was to take and hold a small town/village which also was an important crossroads in the Corps battleplan.
Higher, gave us in support: 3x HE111’s, 4x Stuka's, 2x HE51’s plus a 15cm Btty. We also had two Kradschützen Zugs attached backed up by 4x Sdkfz221’s. We also asked for a Pioneer Zug with trucks and a 10cm Mortar Zug and these were made part of our KG.
The plan was simply put- SPEED!
A---After our bombers hit the Polish rear area, the attached Recce Zugs were to race into town and on to the hill.
B---Two INF Zugs with the Pioneers and 8x PzIII’s were to get into town and take up defensive positions along the North to West sides of town. The PzIV Zug was to follow in reserve.
C---The other Zug. MG Gruppe and the remaining PzIII Zug were to defend the hill.
Execution:
The HE111’s turned out to be more of an Airshow than any value, despite claims by the Luftwaffe. The strikes were of no effect.
The occupation of the town went fairly smoothly except for the Polish AC’s that met the Recce Elm’s on the west road out of town. Our Kradschützen did a nice job of promptly taking them out with grenades and guts; however the three burning wrecks provided plenty of cover for several rather bloody attacks shortly after the town was occupied.
The hill was another matter. Despite quick moves onto the hill or perhaps because of them, the enemy targeted the hill with artillery as the follow on forces arrived. The early loss of our MG Gruppe was the first result of that. Plus the Artillery made it difficult for the rest to get into position to defend the hill.
The enemy hit our position in three prongs with the strongest attack coming from the wooded area south of the town and the hill. A North Prong consisted of a mixed bag of Armour, Calvary and some Infantry, the central one was Infantry heavy with AC support. The South Prong almost succeeded in pushing around into our rear until 2nd Zug PzIII’s was pulled off the hill and stormed back and blunted their spearhead. This caused the Poles to attack in force to the south of the hill.
Several PzIII’s in town with some support from the KG AAA destroyed the North Prong. The Center Prong biggest blunder was they kept trying to push into town with AC’s on the west road, although they did manage to take out the Pz Kip’s command tank and his second as well. Both crews survived. By the time I got several Gp’s of Inf and some Pioneers up there 150m of road was covered with burning AC’s and our artillery was having good effect as the Polish smoke cleared. Once this attack was retreating of the most part, we turned our sights on the Southern Prong.
The South Prong got to the base of the hill as our artillery shifted fire into their positions, this combined with several successful Stuka strikes and bringing the PzIV’s onto the hill broke the attack. Although several Stuka’s were shot down, the HE51’s did manage to knock out several Polish AAA positions.
Losses in this attack were heavier this attack but I believed the enemy suffered much more. My major losses were 4 PzIII’s and 3 PzIV’s. However, it was a Decisive Victory.
Oberst Panzer Bob
