Chapter 84
Chapter 84
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 84
Chapter Title: For the Nation (1)
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< World War II - For the Nation (1) >
February 5, 1940
Westerplatte, near Gdańsk (Danzig), Northern Poland
“Run, run-!”
“Agh, an air raid-!”
With their retreat cut off after a storm of tanks had torn through their lines, the Polish forces were being relentlessly pushed back, attacked on all sides by German infantry.
German Hs 123 biplanes soared through the sky, strafing any Polish soldiers they spotted. When the fleeing Poles tried to take cover behind their own tanks, a deafening roar would invariably split the air.
“Aargh, it’s the Stukas again!”
On the open plains with no cover, the infantry’s only hope was their tanks. But even those were hit directly on their tops by Stuka dive-bombers, exploding and turning into flaming coffins.
The Polish tanks, already few and precious, had performed reasonably well in the early days of the war when German numbers were small. But once enemy reinforcements arrived from Italy and air superiority was lost, they began to be destroyed with devastating ease.
On the third day since the German surprise attack, the Polish army was in a desperate retreat. Worse, they were being herded like sheep not toward their second line of defense, but back to the very strongholds they were supposed to be defending.
“General, we need help! At this rate, we’ll be trapped and surrounded in Gdańsk and Gdynia!”
Władysław Bortnowski, commander of the Pomorze Army defending the Gdańsk sector, shouted urgently, but the voice on the other end of the line was hardly encouraging.
[What a coincidence, General Bortnowski. We were just about to request support from the Pomorze Army ourselves, being surrounded in Poznań.]
Hearing the hollow words of General Kutrzeba, commander of the Poznań Army, General Bortnowski was too shocked to speak.
“You’re surrounded too?”
[That’s right. If we wanted to retreat, we should have pulled back the moment the attack began. We’ve been thoroughly beaten. Their goal from the start was to trap us.]
The Pomorze Army defending Gdańsk and the Poznań Army defending Poznań were the main forces of Poland. And now both were surrounded? It was a nightmare for the Polish military.
They had wondered why the enemy tank units weren't attacking key points after breaking through the front lines. It turned out the Germans were indiscriminately driving the Polish forces into an encirclement, cutting them off from their rear units.
It was a catastrophe born from the chaos of the dawn raid, compounded by the high command’s misjudgment in ordering them to hold their positions.
Having already lost a significant number of armored units in a reckless offensive and with air superiority wrested away, the Polish army missed its chance to retreat and was now being pushed around at the enemy's will, unable to even put up a proper resistance.
“I... I've never seen a war like this. We haven't even had a proper fight, yet we're already surrounded!”
[I don't know who planned this operation, but their encirclement is beyond our ability to break through on our own. Our only option is to hold out individually until reinforcements arrive.]
But even as he said it, General Kutrzeba himself held little hope for a rescue by Polish forces.
With two of Poland's main armies surrounded, all that remained in the rear were second-rate troops.
-
Unlike the hasty and sloppy invasion of Poland in the original history, the meticulously planned German operation struck the overextended and vulnerable Polish army, achieving tremendous results and successfully encircling the enemy's main forces.
Of course, this was only possible because, thanks to fuel and trucks purchased from the United States, they had enough motorized infantry to support the armored divisions and supply units that used trucks instead of horses. The vast plains of Poland also served as a perfect battlefield.
However, the very man who had planned the operation and led it to great success was feeling displeased.
“General Lutz and General Rommel’s units have already broken through to the west bank of the Vistula?”
[That is correct, Chief of Staff.]
Hearing Tresckow’s voice on the other end, Manstein wore a sour expression. Of course, this was exactly what was supposed to happen according to his plan.
His operational plan called for Guderian and his armored corps to break through and annihilate the enemy forces stationed from Silesia to Poznań, severing the link between Warsaw and Poznań.
And Guderian, under his command, had succeeded brilliantly.
The enemy forces defending the Silesian sector, caught completely off guard by an armored breakthrough the likes of which they had never seen, were pushed back to Łódź, and the main enemy force, the Poznań Army, fell neatly into Rundstedt’s encirclement.
Up to that point, Manstein had felt a sense of triumph. But the northern front had pulled it off too?
“The Pomorze Army sector has the enemy’s key strongholds of Bydgoszcz and Danzig. They broke through all that and pushed the enemy into an encirclement? Isn’t this a false report?”
[...I doubt they are the sort of men who would report in such a manner on an operation of this importance, sir....]
Hearing the somewhat cynical tone in his subordinate's voice, Manstein cleared his throat.
*That Major General Tresckow... he's gotten quite arrogant, rising through the ranks by distinguishing himself as a functionary since the early days of the new government...*
[General Rommel captured Bydgoszcz on the second day of the offensive. On the third day, he struck the rear of the enemy's defensive line, which General Lutz was in the process of breaking through, leading to a complete collapse of the enemy.]
“...Is that so?”
*I thought he was just some greenhorn who refused an honorable admission to the War College and got lucky assassinating Hitler, but for that upstart to achieve such a remarkable military feat.*
“Ahem. Well, it’s good that things are going according to plan. Carry on.”
Manstein ended the call and clicked his tongue.
On the surface, his plan made the offensive conditions in the north and south seem similar, but in reality, they were not.
The southern region, which Guderian and Manstein had to break through, was a wider area to cover, but the concentration of enemy forces was not as high.
That was why Manstein had paired Lutz—who, having joined the new government from the beginning, was riding a wave of success and hailed as the father of German armored warfare—with the relatively inexperienced infantry-man-turned-general, Rommel, and deployed them to the north.
His plan was that if Lutz and Rommel were slow to break through, he could offer support to gain credit, or he and Guderian could seize more territory and push back the enemy, claiming the glory for themselves....
But Lutz and Rommel had executed the plan perfectly, securing the west bank of the Vistula and ensuring the operation's success.
“This means we have to share the credit! What the hell did that infantry officer who came out of nowhere do!”
In the end, since he had drafted the plan, the credit was his, but for Manstein, who had wanted to be the one to stand out the most, it was far from satisfying.
It was the moment Rommel was added to Manstein's list of rivals, alongside Model and Lutz.
-
February 6, 1940
Warsaw, Capital of Poland
“The Pomorze and Poznań Armies are both surrounded?”
At the incredulous question from Commander-in-Chief Rydz-Śmigły, General Kopański closed his eyes tightly and replied.
“Yes, Marshal. They have occupied the west bank of the Vistula from the north, and from the south, they have pushed our forces back to Łódź, completely cutting off our main armies from Warsaw.”
Rydz-Śmigły sank into his chair.
“Are we... is the Polish army this inferior? This can't be happening...”
When Italy suffered defeat after defeat at the hands of the German army, he had inwardly scoffed at the incompetence of the Italian forces, who claimed to be a great power. He never imagined he would end up in the same predicament.
“Is there any way to break through the enemy lines and rescue our troops?”
“Our forces do outnumber the enemy, but they have a large number of armored units. We, on the other hand, have lost most of our heavy equipment and are in need of reorganization.”
Pushed back to the second line of defense, the Polish army had lost nearly all of its precious tanks, artillery, and other heavy equipment while retreating in disarray from the surprise attack.
Fortunately, the cavalry units, which were numerous in the Polish army, had managed to retreat with good mobility and were largely preserved. However, even the Polish high command knew that pitting them against armored divisions was suicide.
At this point, their only option was to hope the main armies could hold out for as long as possible while they defended the second line along the Vistula River with their remaining forces.
“France....”
As Rydz-Śmigły voiced his last hope, Foreign Minister Józef Beck shook his head.
“They keep repeating that they will join the war soon and to just wait.”
In the Phoney War of the original history, France had repeated the same words while standing by and watching Poland collapse.
But the Poles, unaware of this, could only cling to this last, flimsy hope, not knowing it was a rotten lifeline.
“Keep pressing France to enter the war as soon as possible.”
Władysław Sikorski, a former Prime Minister of Poland and a Lieutenant General by rank, had been ostracized by the successors of Piłsudski, represented by the members of the Sejm and Rydz-Śmigły. As a result, he had no command of any unit and could only sit and watch the scene unfold.
He glanced at President Mościcki, who remained silent, but Mościcki simply shook his head.
Sikorski, known for his favorable stance toward liberals, had a relatively good understanding of democracy for a Pole and thus considered the likelihood of French intervention to be low.
But even if he voiced his opinion, there was no one in the room who would support him. Sikorski let out a deep sigh.
Poland was cornered. How could they still cling to such a vain hope, not knowing when or how Stalin might turn on them?
-
February 6, 1940
Paris, the ‘City of Light,’ Capital of France
“Poland’s main forces are already isolated? What in the world have they been doing!”
French Prime Minister Paul Reynaud was dismayed by the news from Poland. How could that powerful nation, which had defeated the Soviet Union, collapse so quickly?
When the Germans had held back the Italian army, he had thought it was only possible because they had skillfully utilized the favorable terrain of the Alps and were fighting a defensive war.
But the capability of the German army—which had launched an offensive that cornered the Poles in mere days, all while deploying an additional 40 divisions to the Siegfried Line on the French border and maintaining the Italian front—was something he could no longer underestimate.
“Poland is continuously requesting our intervention. For now, we have delayed our response, telling them we will join the war in the near future, but....”
Daladier trailed off, and French Commander Maurice Gamelin, catching his glance, gave an answer that was different from what the Prime Minister had hoped for.
“Our offensive plan is not yet complete, Prime Minister. We are only now in the process of forming armored divisions. With the enemy having deployed a considerable number of troops to the Siegfried Line and their morale high, a premature offensive could lead to a catastrophe on the scale of the last Great War.”
The report, which had taken days to arrive by messenger, ultimately concluded that they still needed more time.
Just as in the original history's invasion of Poland, France had needed to buy time with a Phoney War. But this time, the situation was even worse, as political and military tensions had flared over whether to halt rearmament when civil war broke out in Germany.
The French military leadership, knowing better than anyone that their own preparations were incomplete, felt immense pressure from the incredible capabilities the Germans had displayed in Poland and the fact that the very German generals who had crushed the Italian army were now defending the Siegfried Line.
Prime Minister Paul Reynaud uttered dejectedly.
“I thought our France was great, but it seems I was wrong.”
He had consistently been a hardliner against Germany since the Great War, opposing any reduction in war reparations and advocating for punitive measures. Now, he felt a sense of despair at the reality that he could not stop Germany's rise.
Daladier looked at his successor, crushed under the weight of the debt he had accumulated from his failures at the Munich Agreement and the diplomatic battles in London, and then spoke.
“Prime Minister, Britain and the United States are also urging us to exercise restraint. The public backlash is by no means small.”
While the French press had downplayed Dietrich Schacht’s speech as mere threats from a politician trying to stir up German animosity toward France, the British and American media had praised the speech. A mood calling for French moderation began to form, sparking serious opposition within France itself.
Daladier had agonized over the decision, but in the end, he spoke with a sense of bitterness.
“We have done all we can. To insist further would not be in France's best interest.”
Seeing even his longtime ally opposing him, Paul Reynaud gave a hollow laugh and muttered.
“We have lost. But this is merely a defeat for the Radical Party. France itself has not been defeated....”
-
On the Champs-Élysées, the central avenue of Paris, citizens marched with picket signs.
[Why die for Danzig!]
[I don't want to send my son to the slaughterhouse!]
The older generation of France, particularly those who had experienced the hell of the Great War and were lucky enough to survive, had grown weary of seeing impressionable young men drawn into war games and propaganda. They gathered in large numbers, holding an anti-war protest.
When liberal-minded university students joined in, the scale of the demonstration began to grow uncontrollably.
Colonel Charles de Gaulle watched the scene from a window, his expression displeased as he spoke.
“At this rate, a war with Germany is out of the question.”
“It’s not so bad, General. In any case, the collapse of the Radical Party's government has become a certainty.”
In contrast, François de La Rocque was leisurely sipping his wine. He offered the other wine glass in his hand to de Gaulle.
“That is true. Our promise still holds, I trust, Party Leader?”
“Ah, of course, Colonel. Our Social Party is not like those who were wary of the military under the pretext that it does not follow civilian control. We will work with the military to reform France and lead it down a more righteous path.”
De Gaulle accepted the wine glass from La Rocque, and they toasted.
As the wine swirled and the glasses clinked with a clear sound, de Gaulle savored the aroma before taking a sip.
“This is quite good.”
“Isn’t it?”
La Rocque smiled faintly as he looked down at the citizens marching in the street.
“Don't worry too much, Colonel. Are those people marching in the streets not also acting out of patriotism for France? If we can simply guide them in the right direction, their passion will be put to much better use under a more capable government.”
De Gaulle swirled the wine in his glass, took another sip, and then spoke with somber eyes.
“It must be so. A France that is not great is not France at all.”