Polish Armed Forces - historical corrections
Posted: Sat Jun 12, 2021 7:43 am
Hello everyone!
I’m Witold from Poland. This is my first post here
I’m the happy owner of WitW for a few months. Still learning the game… 
I'm a game designer on a daily basis. For example, if you know the board game “1944: Race to the Rhine” - I have put mine 5 cents there
(if you don’t - check out this title, it’s used in the US Army Command & General Staff College during Sustaining Offensive Operations classes - yay!). I am kind of famous for putting the cat among the pigeons and re-writing badly written miniature games rule books
I’ve bought WitW, because it will probably be the best tool to test my alternative D-Day plan (maybe more effective comparing to the historical one). I hope I will present AAR here some day, but first I need to start with some historical corrections.
The general problem with depiction of Polish troops in foreign (i.e. not Polish) games is lack of English-language materials (like OdBs etc.) - and it isn't concerned only about WW2, but earlier centuries even more (WW2 is in the best “shape” here). This raises many mistakes and difficulties.
NOTE: At this moment I’m basing primarily on the “1944-45 Campaign (May start)” scenario. I don’t know if the inaccuracies I have given appear in all scenarios.
Historically, all Polish Armed Forces in the West structures were based on standard British TOEs, however - finally, due many circumstances (like manpower or weapon shortages, for example), they could differ.
Let’s begin with…
7th PO Anti-tank Regiment
Organization of this unit - as I lurked through in-game TOEs for British AT regiments - was pretty far from British standard
On December 31 1943, the regiment's roll was 39 officers and 644 privates (683 together - probably full-strength). It was armed with:
- 24 “Wolverine” tank destroyers,
- 8 17-pounders,
- 16 6-pounders,
- 32 tracked vehicles, 114 wheeled vehicles and 19 motorcycles (165 vehicles together).
In the period of May 12th-25th the regiment saw its first combat action (the last Monte Cassino battle) where 1 officer and 2 non-commissioned officers were killed, 11 privates of the regiment were wounded. One SPG burned and 2 damaged.
In next entries I will write about the development of Polish commandos and armored units in Italy and - generally - about the considerable expansion of Polish forces between Nov ‘44 and July ‘45.
Thank you for your attention.
I’m Witold from Poland. This is my first post here
I’m the happy owner of WitW for a few months. Still learning the game… I'm a game designer on a daily basis. For example, if you know the board game “1944: Race to the Rhine” - I have put mine 5 cents there
(if you don’t - check out this title, it’s used in the US Army Command & General Staff College during Sustaining Offensive Operations classes - yay!). I am kind of famous for putting the cat among the pigeons and re-writing badly written miniature games rule books I’ve bought WitW, because it will probably be the best tool to test my alternative D-Day plan (maybe more effective comparing to the historical one). I hope I will present AAR here some day, but first I need to start with some historical corrections.
The general problem with depiction of Polish troops in foreign (i.e. not Polish) games is lack of English-language materials (like OdBs etc.) - and it isn't concerned only about WW2, but earlier centuries even more (WW2 is in the best “shape” here). This raises many mistakes and difficulties.
NOTE: At this moment I’m basing primarily on the “1944-45 Campaign (May start)” scenario. I don’t know if the inaccuracies I have given appear in all scenarios.
Historically, all Polish Armed Forces in the West structures were based on standard British TOEs, however - finally, due many circumstances (like manpower or weapon shortages, for example), they could differ.
Let’s begin with…
7th PO Anti-tank Regiment
Organization of this unit - as I lurked through in-game TOEs for British AT regiments - was pretty far from British standard
On December 31 1943, the regiment's roll was 39 officers and 644 privates (683 together - probably full-strength). It was armed with:
- 24 “Wolverine” tank destroyers,
- 8 17-pounders,
- 16 6-pounders,
- 32 tracked vehicles, 114 wheeled vehicles and 19 motorcycles (165 vehicles together).
In the period of May 12th-25th the regiment saw its first combat action (the last Monte Cassino battle) where 1 officer and 2 non-commissioned officers were killed, 11 privates of the regiment were wounded. One SPG burned and 2 damaged.
In next entries I will write about the development of Polish commandos and armored units in Italy and - generally - about the considerable expansion of Polish forces between Nov ‘44 and July ‘45.
Thank you for your attention.