Abhorrant Circumstances(Chapter 1)
Warsaw September 1939
Adolf Hitler was one of the most heartless and evil people the world had yet known. For the last two weeks he had engaged in a brutal war of aggression against Poland, whose army thus far had been expertly carved up by the new and formidable panzer divisions supported by hundreds of fast moving bombers and fighters of the Luftwaffe.
Polish dead piled high in the streets following Luftwaffe indescriminent bombing
At just this moment the Soviet Union under the paranoid and equally dangerous Joseph Stalin was about to cross over the Polish border and sieze critical territory in their eastern provinces fulfilling the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact's arrangments.
Despite the apparant victory things where not all roses in the German camp. Hundreds of tanks and aircraft had been damaged or destroyed by Polish defenses and troops where tired after two weeks of relentless advancing. There was also something of a power vaccume within the supreme command of the German army. Franz Halder the deputy chief of the OKH had advocated another round of negotiations to see if the Polish territory they desired could be achieved without bloodshed. Much like his predecessor Ludwig Beck he found himself sitting at a table by himself as the general staff refused to close ranks behind him and cowtowed to Hitler's iron will
Franz Halder left the German High command bitterly, feeling that the invasion of Poland wasn't necessary
Into the void stepped Generaloberst Walther von Reichenau. Hitler had previously tried to elevate him to the OKH on several occasions (notably when he eliminated general Fritsch) but this had been blocked by the general staff as a whole on the grounds that Reichenau was "too political". At this moment a lot of the generals and officers who opposed him had been sent out into the field which allowed him to make the appointment.
Reichenau was an experinced and decently competent field officer, however it cannot be understated how "politically motivated" he was. A fanatical Nazi even by SS standards, he was almost an oddity in the army which tried very hard to regard itself as a neutral arm of the state.
It was with this backdrop the 16th German Infantry division under Generalleutant Gotthard Heinrici made their first attempt at Warsaw. They where bloodily repulsed. Warsaw, despite the Luftwaffe having it under continuous bombing since the first hours of the campaign looked like it was going to be a tough nut to crack. Casaulties in the 16th where high exceeding 15 percent of the division's strength. Hitler made a rapid tour of the front escorted by his Fuhrer Begleit battalion under Oberst Erwin Rommel (sometimes running the risk of mortar and sniper fire). When he saw the men from the 16th in a field hospital with their many wounds and amputations he was deeply affected.
He paced back and forth furious, Hitler worked himself into a fit of terrifying proportions. Despite the lip service he paid to the idea of a "strong Poland" to act as a buffer against Russia, he truly hated them, that creation of Versailles, those slavs, those untermensch he shouted. No more German blood need be spilled for their decadent capital which was so obviously fortified against infantry assault.
I am unready to unleash the sword on these creatures Rommel. I want to return back to Berlin immediately, no stops.
To be continued...
your thoughts?
Hitler was furious at the heavy casualties suffered by German units at their first clumsy attack on Warsaw. He ordered massive retaliation to show Poland and all of Europe that Germany was not a power to be taken lightly