@jamesevans140 –

Good to hear from you, although I should say up front this thread is a join collaboration between myself and @yavasa .  He actually knows some of these battlefields much better than I do, which is only natural as he practically lives on them. 😀

I would agree this campaign is often overlooked.  I feel many wargamers think it is one-sided.

In a strategic sense, sure.  Britain was in no position to help and France’s invasion of Germany was symbolic at best.  The Soviets were coming in from the east starting on September 17.  Even the Germans had the option to attack from three sides from territories in Czechoslovakia.

On an operational level, sure.  German divisions, corps, and armies were far more mobile, striking into voids, against a relatively immobile Polish army whose rail and communication network had been largely paralyzed by the Luftwaffe.

On a tactical sense … eh … things get a lot more dicey, IF you look for the right engagements.  The Poles kicked in plenty of German teeth and even won some local victories here and there.   German losses would amount to something like 15,000+ KIA, x2 wounded.  Doesn’t sound like a walkover to me.

The German tanks are at their lowest armour thickness and fire power but in is period a 37mm AT gun rules the battlefield like an 88mm. So for me everything is still in proportion.  Yes, this is what we demonstrated in our live game, and in the project thread.  Note the attack factors and especially the ranges on these PzKpfw IIIDs (just an example) and 7TP upgrades.  Compared against DFs, we wind up with the same 0.7-1.0 ratio ranges as we’d see in 1944 with PaK 43s trying to put holes in KV-1s, T-34/85s, Churchills, and IS-2s.

The real difference, and I think here is where the comparison breaks down a little, is in the ranges.  Sure, 1939 guns vs 1939 armor, that Ek=1/2mv^2 delta is going to be roughly the same as 1944 gun vs, 1944 armor.  What’s not the same is range, which is the real change in battlefield “geometry” and thus tactics.  Movement is king in early war games.  In late war games it’s firepower.  One more reason I vastly prefer early war.  😀

Yet Polish infantry are a match for German infantry and any such encounter can go either way.  I would only add just a couple factors here… the MG-34, the Grenatenwerfer 34, and the fact that half of Polish infantry units were still only partially mobilized.  There are definitely tiers here, as we saw in last weeks game with a mix of 1st Polish Legion troops and 146th Reserve Regiment / 44th Reserve Division.  The German infantry battalions also had much better infantry gun support, with every battalion having at least a battery of le.IG 18s.

I think that the MG version is more dangerous as these tankettes are fast and can pounce upon infantry and gun unit … Only if they are still mounted in trucks, as I learned to  my cost last week.  😀

The start date for WW2 has been raised.  As the main topic of thing s series is about Poland I feel September 1st is appropriate.  For this thread, I agree.

We’re just getting started here.  I wouldn’t mind taking another swing at the Battle of Borowa Góra, maybe doing it right this time (this is critical as it’s probably the biggest Polish tank force engaged, at least of the improved 7TPs).   Strategy & Tactics: World at War has a whole article on the Battle of Tomaszów Lubelski, material that will come in very helpful if we take a swing at that one.   I think @yavasa mentioned the Battle of Westerplatte.  Tons to go over in a very short amount of time.

Thanks for checking in, @bobcockayne – I would agree that A J P Taylor is always a little controversial, with some people who don’t really understand his work even labeling him as some kind of Third Reich apologist, particularly in regards to his  The Origins of the Second World War.  I would certainly never say that, but I don’t know if I agree with him 100% on Germany not wanting a major war.  I feel Hitler and his government absolutely wanted war, just not in 1939.  World War II erupted at least five years earlier than planned (at least with major powers like France, the UK, and later the Soviet Union), perhaps more depending on who you read.  But of course I’m oversimplifying here.