AH Challenge, Difficulty Level Hard: Poland holds against Germany

With a POD no earlier than the Munich Agreement, Poland holds off an invasion by Germany without aid from Czechoslovakia. Other nations are OK, but more brownie points if the Soviet Union isn't involved. The invasion can be delayed, but Hitler cannot lose power, and the invasion cannot be delayed past mid-1940.
 
With a POD no earlier than the Munich Agreement, Poland holds off an invasion by Germany without aid from Czechoslovakia. Other nations are OK, but more brownie points if the Soviet Union isn't involved. The invasion can be delayed, but Hitler cannot lose power, and the invasion cannot be delayed past mid-1940.
Well, if the Poles developed an anti-tank rocket and mass-produced it very, very rapidly, they could give the panzers a very bloody nose. Maybe not enough time for that, though.
 
Poland mobilises in the middle of august. Dont put troops near Danzig were they can be attacked from 2 fronts.

Thats about the only things i can think about, anything else in ASB
 

Thande

Donor
Dale Cozort had a scenario about this in his AH magazine, and I think his conclusion was that the only way Poland could realistically stop the Blitz (save by an early POD) was if some of the brilliant Poles who in OTL built Colossus, figuratively speaking, had designed a new anti-tank weapon like the Panzerfaust in the 1930s.
 
Hitler says "We need a name that confuses the enemy, maybe somthing that suggest a naval operation. Hmm. I know: Sealion!!!"

WI German soldiers are lazy and make some mistakes when they use Enigma letting Poland read the massage.
 

King Thomas

Banned
Poland cracks the Nazi codes, makes a decent anti-tank gun, and attacks Germany a week before Germany attacks it.
 
Early mobilization

If the Poles resisted French pressure and mobilized sooner, they wouldn't feel the need to defend as far forward as they did. Part of the cordon defense rationale was that most of the reserves were from those areas. If the other armies start further back, than the Pomorze army won't likely be as committed to the Polish corridor.

Although the Germans still break through, perhaps this means that Kutzreba begins his Bzura attack sooner and with more concentrated forces. This could require greater German effort to stop and perhaps more Polish forces survive to get over the Vistula.

The tricky bit is that the last stand part of the Polish defense plan involved the so-called Romanian bridgehead. That was made unviable by the Russian intervention.
 
It's been a lot of years

In my newsletter article, as near as I can recall, I had the Poles (a) Retain the ability to read Enigma. They could do it in 1938 both through their own efforts and through a spy in a crucial position, but lost both avenues before the German attack. (b) Develop effective 'bazooka'-type anti-tank rockets, (not too out-there--historically the French had an anti-tank rifle grenade based on similar principles ready to go into production in the summer of 1940, though apparently none actually got to the troops (another what-if) and (c) Not lose a brilliant aircraft designer who was historically killed in an air crash. As a result he goes on to develop a reasonably modern low-wing monoplane fighter, which goes into production in time to get a couple hundred in service before the war starts.

I also did a related scenario where the Poles develop a light-weight, very maneuverable fighter comparable to the Zero and get a couple hundred into production. Result: Until the Germans adapt and the Poles run out of pilots, the Poles slice through German air formations as easily as the Japanese sliced through veteran Spitfire pilots early in the Pacific War.

In terms of this challenge, I suppose the reading Enigma bit would fit. Knowing that the Germans were going no matter what the Poles did would help the Poles get troops mobilized and in place. Knowing that the Germans were planning to send a major force through the Polish Corridor and then attack from East Prussia would help. I don't think that alone would do it though.

Some brainstorming ideas:

- The Japanese decide to escalate Nomonham and as a result the Soviets decide not to do the pact with the Germans, or the Germans decide that they don't have to. As a result, the Germans have to conquer all of Poland. They could do it, but it would take longer and their ammo supplies were pretty close to depleted by the end of the historic campaign.
- The rainy season starts early. Parts of Poland are like parts of the Ukraine in terms of nearly impassible mud. Historically the fall rainy season came late in 1939. If it had come early--say September 10, then things could have gotten interesting.
- France works out a mobilization scheme that can actually get their forces mobilized and in place for an attack by September 5 or 6, or starts mobilizing early enough to get their forces in that kind of position.
- France works out their production problems with the engines for their MS406 fighter planes and as result fills the Polish order for something like 160-170 planes before the war breaks out (and has enough planes left over to mount a credible threat in the west). The MS406 was not a particularly good plane, but it was good enough to take on early model 109s and could catch up to most German bombers, which would force the Germans to escort their bombers, thus tying up fighters that would otherwise be strafing and otherwise messing with the Poles.
- Poles seize a hunk of Czechoslovakia, or somehow get part of the Czech army to retreat into Poland to be interned (thus giving them a hunk of the Czech arsenal and denying it to the Germans).

Doubt if any of these would meet the challenge, but then again it isn't an easy one to meet.
 
Guys

As said if Poland had ignored pressure and moblised earlier that would be very effective in making the Germans fight a lot harder. Also I think there was a thread a few months back about Rumania giving the Poles support.

However I think the main requirement would be an early western action against Germany. That would not only make the German position very vulnerable as they had committed so much to the attack on Poland. If it looked like France would attack and carve deep into Germany I think Stalin would have sat the war out rather than risk getting involved in a potentially very costly operation.

The idea of a suitable light anti-tank weapon would have been handy but you would probably need pretty large numbers of them to make sure enough were in the right position to be used against the German armoured thrusts. And also to survive the suppressing artillery and air attacks that would have preceded them.

Steve
 
Maybe something where the Czechs fight, and Beck's coup attempt against Hitler fails, although it results in Germany purging the Wehrmacht and a fundamentally unstable situation in the German armed forces.

Beck's Coup against Hitler didn't topple Hitler, but it went pretty far and badly destabilized the German government. As the German Wehrmacht stumbles in this confusing environment, the Czechs grab Vienna and proceed to roundly humiliate Germany. Hitler has little choice but to sue for peace; the Czechs return Vienna but they get an indemnity and a small land grab in Austria.

With Nazi Germany bordering on civil war between the Wehrmacht and the National Socialists, Hitler learns (falsely) that Poland is supporting the Wehrmacht's rebellion. Loyal members of the SS and some army units attack Poland, but it is the beginning of the end of the German Government. The German invasion of Poland is small, bitterly divided and faces massive loyalty issues--indeed, a saner leader than Hitler would probably not attempt such an invasion, but Hitler is already beginning to lose it at this point.

Initial incursions against Danzig are successful, but Poland heavily outnumbers the Germans on the ground and OTL's panzer troops are not deployed to blitz Poland, instead, they are garrisoning Berlin to protect Hitler from his own army.

Poland crushes this half-backed attempt to invade and announces its intentions to remove Hitler from power. By this point, the Wehrmacht is being recalled to Berlin to remove the Nazis entirely and negotiate an acceptable peace to Warsaw.

Poland 1: Germany 0.
 
The problem with Poland mobilising earlier is that it gives Britain and France a chance to say the Poles were preparing for war etc.and duck out of a fight with Germany.

I'm not sure how this would be achievable.
 
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