1920 - The fall of Warsaw

historyfool

With the woe I meant to express the German wehe, something like "I warn you". Woe seemed the closest to that, but not quite fitting.


Jena, 19 October 1920

The orders and the muffled sound of the boots were the only sounds Radek could hear through the closed window. One by one the counter-revolutionaries were lifted onto the bank, which looked like it had come from a sports hall. A few weeks ago they would have been shot, but now they had to save the ammunition. The stocks captured or stored before the revolution were becoming low and what they could produce was limited. Meanwhile the Czech despite the pressure from Moscow were reluctant to let military supplies through. No surprise, they were capitalists after all.


Still it posed a problem for him as Volkskommissar für das Kriegswesen. And it was not his only problem. He likewise had anticipated that the upper and middle class would resist the revolution, but a lot of the German workers seemed to be wedged to the capitalist ideas to his surprise. The international solidarity from the USSR actually seemed to have an adverse effect. Even among those friendly to communism far too many were unwilling to do what was necessary.


A knock at the door made him turn around. “Genosse General Zaisser is here, Genosse Volkskommissar.”


Radek straightened his blouse and sat down behind his desk. “Very well, sent him in.”


A minute later the young General entered and came to attention.


“Have a seat, comrade general. We have much to do and little time.” Radek then leaned forward and rolled out a map laying on his desk. “Here take a look. We have surpressed it so far, but you already may have heard that our attempt to link up with our Russian comrades has been a failure. Worse our thrust has been cut of. We have a lot of support in the area and our men were able to form a defence between Eilenburg and Torgau. The pocket contains a major part of our forces and we need to relieve it quickly.”


Zaisser opened his mouth but Radek cut him off with a move of his hand. “I know you are not yet satisfied with the training of your brigade, but we don´t have the luxury to get them fully trained.” That was certainly true otherwise someone as junior as Zaisser wouldn´t be a Brigadier. “You have a solid cadre of veterans at least and time is now of utmost importance. Breack the encirclement and if possible allow the forces trapped to resume their advance. Should the latter prove impossible evacuate as many men and equipment as possible.”


Zaisser nodded, not happy, but accepting the order. “Which opposition do I have to expect?”


“The counter-revolutionaries have a pretty weak line on this side of the cauldron. Our reports indicate that the entire front along the Mulde is held by the same brigade, which concentrates on the fords and bridge, just patrolling the rest of it. We even have identified elements of the same brigade facing us. Were it not for the pressure on the other side the encircled forces could probably break out on their own.”
 

historyfool

Richter von Manthofen said:
Radek and Zaisser - ouch
Click to expand...
I never made an exact list who does what in the communist provisional government, mainly because imo it would be a fluid organisation. But some people were set for me.

Zaisser as one of the field commanders, as one of very few communist former officers, Max Hoelz is another one.

The government retains Heinrich Brandler (who will have an appearance again) as frontman to give them a public face, but behind him others are calling the shots: Arkadi Maslow (foreign), Ruth Fischer (party), Bela Kun (officially soviet ambassador), Radek as mentioned and for the local representation Hugo Eberlein (interior). There are some others as well as Soviet advisors, but there is some fluidity (and I have the chance to adapt as necessary). Most moderate leading communists have been arrested, are distancing themselves or have been pushed aside for the time being (or permanently in some cases) by the provisional government.
 

historyfool

Long in the works, never really satisfied how it came out. Not now either On top of that I was sidelined by ideas for several other projects I wanted to write down before they are gone again. (I usually have half a dozen or more projects I want to write, play with all of them around and none gets finished). And frankly I also was too lazy to write the last weeks. Here finally the next update, second half should be done later today or latest tomorrow:




Berlin, 20 October 1920

“Get me Mackensen on the phone!”


One more time Seeckt looked at the map, but there was no other choice. There simply were no other troops to be had. Or rather none front-line capable. Despite the huge number needed to guard arsenals, railway depots and the like, he had actually an excess of manpower. With the limits still placed upon Germany he could not mobilise more than a fraction of the able-bodied population.


These rear-echelon security duties were in general delegated to “civilian” operators: Railroad installations were guarded by the Bahnschutz, the working arms and ammunition factories had rather large in-house security departments and government buildings were guarded by security police detachments formed by the states. Of course all of these units were coordinated by the Reichswehr and the Entente was willing to ignore that. But the foreign office believed that moving them into front-line service would change that, at least for France.


For that reason the government had placed a stop onto further mobilisation of front-line usage to avoid a hostile reaction from the west. Seeckt had not pressed his luck by circumventing these restrictions (well not all that much at least), since he was not sure they were wrong. Even the occassional use of police units in combat against the rebels had provoked some muted protests from France after all.


Most of these units would be of limited use on the front-line anyway. Far worse than the manpower restrictions were the arms limitations imposed on Germany. And here the Entente was far less willing to look the other way. At the moment it was not clear when Germany could get the existiong heavy weapons replaced at all. For now he could only count on the weapons they already had. Under the circumstances Seeckt was not willing to spent them all at once. The front-line units were fully armed, but the rear-echelon forces had basically no artillery.


As it was he had to shift combat-capable troops from one front to another to adress issues as they arose. The situation in middle Germany was fluid at the moment and he wanted to finish the traitors as fast as possible. That left only one front to strip for this clusterfuck.


“The OB Ost is at the phone now, Herr General.”


Seeckt nodded his thanks and reached for the receiver. Better to get it over. Mackensen would not be happy. No more than Seeckt.
 

stubear1012

Thank you

Thank you, I am very interested in this time period and I am looking forward to see how this develops.

Stubear1012
 

historyfool

Don´t get your hopes up just yet. I plan to resume regular posting, but I don´t always do the things I plan.



“August, you have a minute or two?”


“Sure. I have a capable staff after all. As a matter of fact I was about to call you myself soon. I just got the message that 2nd corps has completed its retreat. The last men are now within the fortifications in front of Stettin or behind the Oder.”


“That is good news. And perfect timing. I fear I have to take some of your men away from you.”


“WHAT? I was hoping to finally form a true reserve again. Maybe even to reduce one of the Soviet salients this side of the Oder.”


“Sorry, but the Soviets are pushing harder than we anticipated in Eastern Prussia.”


“While it is currently operating independently, nominally 1st corps is under my command. I took note of that. The damages of the Polish railway net limits what they can bring to and supply at the Oder. And forces unable to come west are used in Eastern Prussia instead. Nothing there is of major strategic value. Which is why we allowed to fight a flexible defence in the first place.


But ultimately we knew he would be cornered and in the end overwhelmed unless we win on the main front first. A force large enough to face the Russians on equal footing – which we don´t have in the first place – could not be supplied through Königsberg and the small ports he holds alone. Hell, his current supply needs can only be fulfilled with some non-military supplies going through Lithuania. 1st corps is a distraction while it lasts, but nothing more. You agreed to that I might remind you. Now it may not last as long as anticipated. But reinforcements won´t do more than delay that a bit.”


“I know. But there are political considerations...”


Mackensen snorted. “Political considerations! Always bad if politics mess with military strategy.”


“Well in this case I agree with them to a degree. The foreign office believes that the USSR puts pressure on Lithuania to allow some troops passage to circle our flanks. Reinforcements will likely keep them from giving in to the pressure. On the other hand if Lithuania feels too isolated which they will, they might. And next they – and the other Baltic states – will be forced to allow Russian supplies passing through, which will greatly ease their logistic problems. Even worse if the Soviets take Königsberg. Not to mention the possibility that most of the forces currently held down in Eastern Prussia might be used against Danzig next. And with twice the number he has now even that idiot Stalin might be able to win the siege.
Furthermore the support for this war is not exactly great. Our only real victories have been against the rebels and to most civilians those don´t really count. On the other hand the moral among the rebels is even shakier. They lost a lot of support through their actions and lack of success. But if Königsberg falls, that might stabilise their moral and deal our own a huge blow.”


“I see. But can´t you take the reinforcements from 2nd army. By now the rebels pose no real threat and could hold them at bay easily.”


“I don´t want to hold them at bay, I want to beat them as fast as possible. They sit on a lot of useful industry and block a central part of the German transport network. And while I don´t see a chance to beat the Soviets fast on your front, the rebels can be beaten within a month. That would free some real reserves. But they would hold out much longer if I rob 2nd army a brigade.”


“A brigade? You want to take an entire brigade from me?”
Seeckt winced and held the receiver away from his ear. “Less would have not enough of an impact.”


“But a brigade -” That was almost a wail. “It´s not like I have an abundance of troops. At least give me a week to try shortening the front.”
Seeckt considered it shortly. “I can do that. The convoy is not yet gathered anyway. And by then I might be able to find some small units which can partly replace it. But don´t waste your troops. The brigade sent to Eastern Prussia needs to be combat capable. And you need to be able to hold without it afterwards.”
 
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