Sir Richard
Member
Story 05 of the Polish Campaign
Bump in the Night
Played as German
As I approached the town of Pruszkow, I was more than a little nervous about my nation's involvement in this war. I had included a full account of Colonel Fiedler's actions at Sobota in my report, as the Colonel requested. He received no reprimand; no action was taken against him, no formal charges were filed. He was simply doing what he deemed necessary to secure the safety of the troops under his command, or so it was said.
I had heard reports like this from all along the battle front. With each new atrocity, those on whom the veneer of civilization was particularly thin became bolder. As they became bolder, the veneer of civilization wore thinner on others. It was a cancer, feeding on itself, growing throughout the German ranks.
If a person has a cancer, it is not a crime to remove the cancer so that the rest of the body can be returned to health.
I shuddered as the thought passed through my mind. These are the same words Hitler was saying about the Jews. I was saying them about Hitler.
How do I know which is the cancer, and which represents a part of the healthy tissue of a society? If I sought the removal of what I saw as cancerous, was I any different than Hitler and his henchmen?
When I reported in, I received my new orders. When I looked at the roster for the battle, I found many familiar names.
General Dietrich was in overall command of the operation. This was the same General Dietrich that I had met at on the road to Pabianice; the man who felt that Hitler's success in this war was proof that God was on the side of the German people. Under him served Lieutenant Colonel von Oberkamp, the hero who took over the troops at Pabianice and fought off Polish attempt to retake the road. At least, I considered him a hero at the time.
I recognized the name of Captain Mohnke, the head of 5th Company who stopped his retreat when he learned that he was being chased by some Polish tanks, and spent most of his time on the radio screaming for reinforcements.
Once again, Dietrich stayed far away from the fighting, commanding the battle from a secure post deep in the heart of Pruszkow.
When I told Mitzer that I needed him to drive to General Dietrich's headquarters, he smiled broadly. These were old friends of his. These were the people he had gone to battle with, before he was assigned to be my driver and radio operator.
On the way, I read found myself reading through the roster repeatedly. In this attack, there would be only one engineer platoon. It was to be expected that we would find blockades and minefields everywhere; only one engineer platoon to remove them all? That would be very slow work.
I was starting to have other concerns about the battle. As the Poles were being backed into a smaller and smaller corner, they were becoming angrier and more vicious. Certainly stories, such as those from Sobota, were doing a lot to fuel the determination of the Polish soldiers. Everybody acknowledged that the fighting was getting tougher.
This attack would be at night, against prepared defenses. I just had an uneasy feeling that, this time, I would not be witnessing the uneven victories that I had seen since the start of the war.
When we reached General Dietrich's office, I was ready with my obligatory Heil Hitler. I saw his 'Got mitt uns" button prominently displayed on his uniform. He was not the officer who had offered me one earlier, so I was not nervous about the fact that I had thrown mine away.
He knew the drill, and he had his map ready. "Our objective is to secure our left flank as we approach on Moscow. We have had troops out there all day, and they got themselves bloodied. Now, we're going out again.
4TH Panzer Division will be leading the charge. One possible approach is to send the troops out and have them fan out to all possible destinations. I think that's stupid. We will focus on one target at a time, with all of the forces we have available. Our first target will be Domaniew -- the 7th Recon Battalion will have that objective. My regiment will follow the 7th onto the field of battle and secure the right flank. Then, we and the 7th Recon will advance side by side into the city of Oltarzew from the southwest. This will gut the enemy defenses. We can then take out Moszna and Ozaru at our leisure.
I was not in the mood for asking a lot of questions this time. I had seen what I needed to see, and was ready to move on. I had decided which group I wanted to travel with; whoever was heading through Zbikow to Domaniew. They would be at the heart of the fight.
I had no idea what to expect on the Polish side of the fight.
General Dietrich was happy to get rid of me so quickly. When I got outside, Mitzer was with the motor pool with his friends, telling war stories. He told them how he and I hid way out in front among some rocks while fighting went on in all directions. They were soaking up the stories.
I felt bad breaking up his reunion, but I had little time left before the attack started.
Major Hederich, was going to take his 7th Recon Battalion on the northern route. He would leave the southern route for the Liebstandarte Regiment, in order to prevent their lines of communication from getting crossed.
Bump in the Night
Played as German
As I approached the town of Pruszkow, I was more than a little nervous about my nation's involvement in this war. I had included a full account of Colonel Fiedler's actions at Sobota in my report, as the Colonel requested. He received no reprimand; no action was taken against him, no formal charges were filed. He was simply doing what he deemed necessary to secure the safety of the troops under his command, or so it was said.
I had heard reports like this from all along the battle front. With each new atrocity, those on whom the veneer of civilization was particularly thin became bolder. As they became bolder, the veneer of civilization wore thinner on others. It was a cancer, feeding on itself, growing throughout the German ranks.
If a person has a cancer, it is not a crime to remove the cancer so that the rest of the body can be returned to health.
I shuddered as the thought passed through my mind. These are the same words Hitler was saying about the Jews. I was saying them about Hitler.
How do I know which is the cancer, and which represents a part of the healthy tissue of a society? If I sought the removal of what I saw as cancerous, was I any different than Hitler and his henchmen?
When I reported in, I received my new orders. When I looked at the roster for the battle, I found many familiar names.
General Dietrich was in overall command of the operation. This was the same General Dietrich that I had met at on the road to Pabianice; the man who felt that Hitler's success in this war was proof that God was on the side of the German people. Under him served Lieutenant Colonel von Oberkamp, the hero who took over the troops at Pabianice and fought off Polish attempt to retake the road. At least, I considered him a hero at the time.
I recognized the name of Captain Mohnke, the head of 5th Company who stopped his retreat when he learned that he was being chased by some Polish tanks, and spent most of his time on the radio screaming for reinforcements.
Once again, Dietrich stayed far away from the fighting, commanding the battle from a secure post deep in the heart of Pruszkow.
When I told Mitzer that I needed him to drive to General Dietrich's headquarters, he smiled broadly. These were old friends of his. These were the people he had gone to battle with, before he was assigned to be my driver and radio operator.
On the way, I read found myself reading through the roster repeatedly. In this attack, there would be only one engineer platoon. It was to be expected that we would find blockades and minefields everywhere; only one engineer platoon to remove them all? That would be very slow work.
I was starting to have other concerns about the battle. As the Poles were being backed into a smaller and smaller corner, they were becoming angrier and more vicious. Certainly stories, such as those from Sobota, were doing a lot to fuel the determination of the Polish soldiers. Everybody acknowledged that the fighting was getting tougher.
This attack would be at night, against prepared defenses. I just had an uneasy feeling that, this time, I would not be witnessing the uneven victories that I had seen since the start of the war.
When we reached General Dietrich's office, I was ready with my obligatory Heil Hitler. I saw his 'Got mitt uns" button prominently displayed on his uniform. He was not the officer who had offered me one earlier, so I was not nervous about the fact that I had thrown mine away.
He knew the drill, and he had his map ready. "Our objective is to secure our left flank as we approach on Moscow. We have had troops out there all day, and they got themselves bloodied. Now, we're going out again.
4TH Panzer Division will be leading the charge. One possible approach is to send the troops out and have them fan out to all possible destinations. I think that's stupid. We will focus on one target at a time, with all of the forces we have available. Our first target will be Domaniew -- the 7th Recon Battalion will have that objective. My regiment will follow the 7th onto the field of battle and secure the right flank. Then, we and the 7th Recon will advance side by side into the city of Oltarzew from the southwest. This will gut the enemy defenses. We can then take out Moszna and Ozaru at our leisure.
I was not in the mood for asking a lot of questions this time. I had seen what I needed to see, and was ready to move on. I had decided which group I wanted to travel with; whoever was heading through Zbikow to Domaniew. They would be at the heart of the fight.
I had no idea what to expect on the Polish side of the fight.
General Dietrich was happy to get rid of me so quickly. When I got outside, Mitzer was with the motor pool with his friends, telling war stories. He told them how he and I hid way out in front among some rocks while fighting went on in all directions. They were soaking up the stories.
I felt bad breaking up his reunion, but I had little time left before the attack started.
Major Hederich, was going to take his 7th Recon Battalion on the northern route. He would leave the southern route for the Liebstandarte Regiment, in order to prevent their lines of communication from getting crossed.
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