Chapter 146 The Battle of Poland (9)

The fierce German shelling lasted for more than an hour.

This level of bombardment would have been scratching the surface during World War I. During World War I, both sides of the war often began to use artillery to bombard enemy positions weeks before the infantry attack was launched to "ease" the enemy's defenses. For example, in the famous Meat Grinder Battle of Verdun in 1916, the German army fired a full 1 million artillery shells in one day of artillery bombardment. During the entire battle, the armies of both sides fired about 40 million artillery shells at each other.

This time, the Germans had conducted careful reconnaissance and already knew the key points of the Polish defense line very well. In addition, the Polish defense line was stretched too long and appeared to be very weak. As a result, the German artillery fire came down on everyone and was instantly covered with desolation. Looking around, there are ruins and scorched earth everywhere.

As the bombing stopped, the 800,000 German troops from the north, south and south-west who were already ready to attack also rushed across the border. More than 5,000 tanks and armoured vehicles of various types moved towards Poland at lightning speed.

The mission of the military is to protect the homeland and the country. Of course, Polish soldiers will not give up their country to others. There are brave Polish soldiers in many places who are resisting stubbornly. It is a pity that the Polish high command in a state of chaos failed to organize effective resistance. Many soldiers fought on their own, which seemed so futile in the face of the steel torrent of the German army.

Although they tried their best to defend their homeland, the situation of this war was very pessimistic, and the outcome was determined from the beginning!

Compared with the Polish high command, which did nothing, within the German high command, the staff went back and forth in an orderly manner, sorting out the received intelligence and displaying the army's progress on a huge map.

"The progress is so fast!" Rundstedt couldn't help but sigh as he looked at the moving arrows on the map. At this moment, several armored corps serving as sharp knives (19th Army, 22nd Army, 15th Army, 16th Army, 8th Army, etc.) have completely broken through the Polish army's front-line defensive positions and advanced for dozens of kilometers.

Kesselring on the side said. "There are no more of their aircrafts in the skies over Poland and we have complete control of the air."

Wolfram von Richthofen, the head of the Army Aviation Corps, was also full of joy. "Army bombers have destroyed 75% of designated targets."

The two most critical elements of a blitzkrieg are tank clusters and air supremacy. Both are indispensable (unless both sides have no air force). It will be very dangerous for tank clusters to be dispatched rashly without air supremacy. It is not enough to seize air superiority alone. The air force can only affect the enemy's command, transportation, production and some psychological deterrent effects in the early stage. At this time, the tank clusters on the ground were the main force of the attack. They used the tank clusters to tear apart the enemy's defense line, and then used large-scale interspersed movements to attack and surround the enemy forces that were affected by various aspects in the early stages of the war, especially the air force attacks, which caused chaos.

The German army has firmly controlled the air superiority on the battlefield. Under the powerful deterrence of Army aviation bombers, the Polish army has difficulty even moving during the day. It can only watch the German ground armored mechanized troops quickly break through the defense line. The following German troops, under the dispatch and command of the headquarters, penetrated deep into the Polish army, dividing and surrounding the Polish army. The defense zones of the seven Polish armies were isolated and fragmented.

Led by Guderian, the blitz geek and blitz hero who would sweep across Europe, the 19th Armored Corps cut into the Polish corridor with one thrust and headed eastward.

Following closely was the entire Fourth Army, and the 1st Infantry Division, one of the reserves of the Fourth Army, was subsequently engaged in the battle to regain the city of Danzig.

At this time, the port of the Free City of Danzig was already filled with gunfire.

Wilhelm originally planned to dispatch the new Scharnhorst, but he was worried that the Poles would become suspicious, so he dispatched an old battleship Schleswig-Holstein according to the original history to "commemorate those killed in World War I" In the name of "General and Soldiers", he paid a "goodwill visit" to the Free City of Danzig.

It is nominally a "friendly visit", but the captain, Colonel Kleikamp, has already received a secret order from the headquarters, which is also the real purpose of this visit. "Destroy the Polish Navy after the start of the 'White Plan'; blockade the Polish coast, block its ports and disrupt Polish maritime shipping; ensure German maritime security."

Admiral Albrecht, commander of the German Navy's Eastern Theater and Chief of Naval Operations, instructed Kleikamp to anchor his warships in a favorable position near the Westerplatte Fortress in the northern suburbs of Danzig and wait until war would begin. The moment has come.

While waiting anxiously, at five o'clock this morning, Wilhelm's order to "Declare war!" finally came over the radio.

A shrill battle alarm sounded on the battleship.

The sailors, who had already been filled with indignation because of the "Oles Village Massacre", rushed to their posts as quickly as possible. If the captain hadn't stopped them, they would have blasted all these bastards into the sky yesterday.

Ten minutes later, the four main guns on the battleship roared loudly, pouring shells into the Westerplatte Fortress and firing. The Polish barracks and positions 600 meters away were also bombarded by the secondary guns.

The Polish troops stationed at Westerplatt Fortress are 182 soldiers belonging to the Polish 209th Infantry Regiment, with one 75mm cannon, two 37mm cannons, four 81mm mortars and 22 heavy machine guns. The German side has 4 280mm guns, 10 150mm guns and 4 88mm guns.

At this time, 18 German bombers flew over and attacked the Polish naval and air force base Puke, destroying the facilities in the base and all seaplanes. All ships at the Gdynia Naval Base and Haier Base were evacuated to the sea. Only the old gunboats Masur and Nurek remained in Gdynia, supporting the Polish garrison around Danzig with their five 75mm guns.

But they couldn't hold on for long, and their end came when the Stuka swooped down with a sharp whistling sound.

At this time, Danzig was a free city under the jurisdiction of the League of Nations, and there were very few garrison personnel in the city. In order to capture the fortress, the Germans mobilized 210mm howitzers, 105mm cannons and air support in addition to the 280mm and 150mm guns on the battleship Schleswig-Holstein.

Of course, Wilhelm knew that the German army in the original time and space had suffered a big defeat in the Westerplatte Fortress, and he had no intention of wasting precious troops in these places. Regarding the one-sided battle of the Polish Battle, he was more interested in it. The purpose was to turn this battle into a huge weapons testing ground, and this famous fortress tragically became a testing ground for Germany to test offensive weapons.