The Reichs Last Stand (Chapter 14)
Warsaw, July 1944
Manstein was still finding it hard to come to grips with what had become of the German Army since the launching of Operation Barbarossa just over three years ago. Back then it had seemed for a while as if ultimate victory had only been weeks away with the Red Army dissolving before his eyes. Now, after three bitter years of tragedy and horror on both sides both sides were almost at the exact same border from which the Germans had sprung on that fateful day in June.
In 1941 however, Germany enjoyed superiority in the air, in armour, in command and at least numerical parity. Now the skies of Poland were the Red Air Forces playground, thousands of the new T-34/85's were tearing apart even the most advanced opposition, officers were mere parrots of the Fuhrer's fading grip on reality and the Red Army had more than 2 to 1 advantage on his own troops. The border may have been the same but now it was the Soviets who were coming to conquer.
The Eastern Front was pivotal for the Reich. All of his successes in the west would matter for nothing if the Wehrmacht were to collapse here. Since 1941 Germany had always committed the lions share of it's forces and logistics towards the Russian front with even major allied campaigns like Overlord and Huskey seeming like sideshows in comparison. However if the Soviet juggernaut could be halted...Germany may yet be saved.
The situation didn't seem promising however, Manstein had arrived to take command of an Army Group Centre which seemed to have acquiesced to the idea of it's own destruction just to please their demented Fuhrer who had remained convince that a no-retreat strategy continued to be the best policy, ignoring all recent history. But the disorganised mess that Army Group Centre had degenerated into did have some ironic advantages. The chaos left Hitler with an incomplete picture of what was truly going on. This allowed Manstein and Von Kluge to pull the battered but still useful 4th and 9th infantry armies and the 3rd Panzer Army back behind the San River.
The plan was explained to Hitler during these withdrawals, what seemed like a retreat was actually a great counter offensive which would push the Soviets back out of Poland and leave them begging for terms. However for such a grand plan, Army Group San (as it was becoming known) would require additional forces, especially armour. Hitler was heartened by the enthusiasm of Von Manstein and Von Kluge after countless generals had ranted about nothing except retreat, here were 2 men that could truly carry out his vision. Thus he agreed to allocate elements of the 1st Panzer Army from the Carpathians. Army Group San could now count on a force of several hundred tanks.
At the same time, the German were going to vast lengths to convince the Soviets of Army group Centres impending collapse and the desperation of OKH. Vast numbers of improvised "tanks" ( cars with grey covers over them ) and "artillery" (black painted logs on support stands) were set up on the western bank of the Vistula. Whilst known Soviet agents were leaked bountiful amounts of information about the collapse of Army Group Centre and the preparation of a new defence line on the Vistula. Army Group North would be abandoned to fend for itself unfortunately and most of Poland would be declared open country.
For the Soviets this seemed like a chance to great to be missed. The Wehrmacht were collapsing before their eyes, ceding the majority of Poland just so they could hope to recover. If the Red Army could trap the retreating remnants of Army Group Centre and then smash the skeleton force on the Vistula. If all went to plan, the Red Flag would fly over Berlin by Christmas, not that such a Bourgeoise date mattered to Stalin.
Hungry for the kill, with the stench of fascist blood warming the air. Rokossovkys 1st Belorussian Front stormed over the San, falling perfectly into the trap that had been prepared for them. Mansteins 12 fresh divisions smashed into the spearheads of the 8th Guards Army, causing heavy casualties on both sides. Backed up by the 28th, 47th, 65th, 69th, and 70th Armies Manstein was forced into a withdrawal, despite inflicting heavy losses of Rokossovsky's forces. Hungry for the kill, the arms of the front followed, only for the 3rd armoured in the north and 1st Pazer in the south to entrap 3 Soviet armies, the eigth guards, the 28th and 47th in a pocket along the river. With the front trapped, Mansteins counter attack began.
The Soviets had no match for Manstein's Panthers
Massive artillery barges tore into Soviet troops as the T-34/85's were confronted by hundreds of the newest type Panzer 4's and Panthers. Soon the 8th Guards army was cut off inside it's own smaller pocket. Bitter fighting broke out inside and outside the pocket as Army Group San fought bitterly to crush the pocket whilst the 1st Belorussian Front fought desperately to escape. STAVKA was also panicking as the 3rd armoured and 9th infantry army had crossed the San and were advancing at a slightly alarming rate whilst further north the 11th and 16th Armies of Army Group North were also pushing forward slightly. Paranoid of losing Rokossovsky's entire front and possibly even more forces in a German counter-offensive, STAVKA ordered a strategic halt. The Soviet offensive had jarred to a halt against Mansteins buffer and the remnants of Army Group North retreated in an orderly fashion rejoining the line behind the San in pushing back the savaged Belorussian front. The 65th, 69th, and 70th Armies managed to break the pocket for a few days whilst remnants of the entrapped 28th and 47th armies pulled back to the East of the San before the German Kessel was closed once more.
Soviet prisoners lay down their arms after the bitter fighting in eastern Poland
The whole area across the San had become a battered desert and for years to come bones of soldiers from both sides would resurface every Spring. Casualties had been staggering for both sides, with dead and wounded mounting to the hundreds of thousands but the Germans had prevented catastrophe from befalling them and could now focus on constructing a new defense line with which to hold the Soviets outside the Greater Reich.
For Germans and even sometimes in the dark depths of the enemy's mind, the name Manstein was beginning to have a tint of religious fervour about it...
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Thoughts?
