New Study Materials... excitement!

Just a very brief blog post this time.

I dont know where it came from but for as long as I can remember (although with age that is rapidly shortening!) I have had a hard on for Poland '39

I collected and read everything I could that was written in the English language... but lets be honest the sources and more especially the details are a bit thin on the ground where the English language is concerned.

... so I taught myself how to translate Polish... and wow what a world that opened up for me!

So obviously those of you who are regular readers will know that Ive done a lot of translation work relating to the Black Brigade and the National Defence...

but there are other organisations that are just tooooooooo fascinating to be ignored and I just received my latest book order from my mother in law in Poland (see image)

So what is all of this loveliness then?

Well just like I've completed a FoW document on the Obrona Narodowa for you hallowed gamers out there, next year I hope to do one of the last pillar of the Polish military triumvirate; the Korpus Ochrany Pogranicza (KOP) a.k.a The Border Protection Corps. I've now accrued about 8 books on these guys and only have a cavalry book to source for me to start work.

I'm also really interested in the Policja Panstwowe. These are essentially a state sponsored pseudo militaristic police force that even the majority of Poles have forgotten that these guys were fighting the length and breadth of Poland in '39. I now have a couple of books and half a dozen documents on their arms and organisations. Should provide something to work with.

Finally one area that I am really REALLY interested is the Polish river fleets. They didn't really play much of a part in '39 BUT the potential is fantastic and the modelling opportunities are out of this world. I just received the last issue of the Lexicon that I didn't have covering the Flotilla's. Add this to all of the other books and documents I have about this its going to provide the foundation for another document about that!

I see interesting times ahead!

FoW: Supporting Artillery Obrona Narodowa (National Defence)

Only three more modelling posts about the Obrona Narodowa and we can move onto something new... which I'm sure will have some of you breathing a sigh of relief. 

This one errs on the side of interesting though because it covers the artillery platoons that were provided to the Obrona Narodowa... and as it happens there weren't that many and those that there were required some digging around to find any evidence of them at all!

The complete Obrona Narodowa Mountain Gun Battery

When I started out on this epic journey of unknown troops as far as a I was aware the Polish Obrona Narodowa had no organic artillery available to them in 1939. The majority for certain fought without any artillery in their makeup at all and instead had to rely on the regular army artillery battalions that were assigned to their sectors of combat.

A Mountain Gun Battery in action in Palestine in WW1

As it turns out however, there was one area that actually did have artillery assigned to the Obrona Narodowa. Army 'Karpaty'! 

I'd long been aware that there were a couple of artillery platoons fighting alongside the 10th Cavalry Brigade and specifically supporting the National Defence and Border Defence Corps troops fighting around Jordanow and Wysoka but I no matter where I was digging around I couldn't find any references to old WW1 vintage 65mm mountain artillery pieces being provided to either the ND or the BDC... that is until I translated Kazimerz Pindel's 'Obrona Narodowa 1937-1939' when I stumbled across the details quite by chance.

Schematic of a deployed artillery piece

In July 1939 the idea of providing the Obrona Narodowa with its own organic artillery support was finally addressed. Initially a paltry four old 65mm wz.06 mountain guns were transferred from the stores for use by the ND. There were still another 21 guns left in the stores from a former total of 26 due to the fact that one of these pieces had been removed from the stores in order to conduct field trials to gauge their suitability for inclusion into front line organisations and to train the artillery crews before they took receipt of their guns.

Schematic of a limbered piece

On 27 August 1939 the creation of a couple of artillery platoons using these venerable 65mm howitzers finally took place in the "Podkarpacka" and the "Podhalanska" National Defence Brigades. The organisation of these platoons was along the principles of 20 December 1938 and of 12 june 1939. The platoons offices were drawn from the reserve pool and assigned by the commander of the Corps District. A decision was reached to provide professional non commissioned officers from existing artillery regiments to give some expertise and experience in the use of the pieces. A completion target for the creation of these platoons was set for 1 September 1939 with the training to have commenced no later than 5 September 1939 in the city of Krakow.

A view of a 65mm wz.06 with a gun shield probably taken about 1921

Now, as it happens at least two of these platoons were providing a vigorous resistance to the Nazi avalanche on 1 September 1939 so I haven't quite reached the bottom of the mystery of this chronological drift has come from... another story for another post maybe. 

The organisation of the platoons was determined to consist of the following elements. A single platoon was set to consist of a command post, a gun section (2 guns) and rolling stock. The platoon was to consist of a total manpower of 37 individuals. These comprised one professional officer, one professional NCO, 11 Reserve NCO's, and 25 serving soldiers.

A good view of a deployed 65mm wz.06 Mountain Artillery Piece

At the headquarters of Corps District No.V a total of three artillery platoons were formed. Two were to be established in Nowy Sacz which would use Nowy Sacz and its surrounding poviat (district) as its recruitment base whilst the third platoon was to be established in Zywiec with the assistance of  the 12th Infantry Regiment as its administrative unit stationed in Wadowice. The city of Zywiec and its poviat provided the recruitment base. All three platoons were to be subordinated to the "Podhalanska" National Defence Brigade.

A Polish Mountain Gun Battery with their 65mm wz.06 taken at the time of the Russo-Polish War in 1921

In Przemysl a further two artillery platoons were planned on being established with the assistance of the 22nd Light Artillery Regiment. The manpower for the platoons was to be drawn directly from the city of Przemysl and its surrounding poviat. These platoons were to be subordinated to the "Podkarpacka" National Defence Brigade.  

An existing monument of one of these venerable artillery pieces.

What fragmentary data survived the war and was able to be collected together shows that by 1 September 1939 these platoons had reached full personnel establishment but had still not received either its equipment or any training. The "Zywiec" platoon took receipt of two cannon from the 12th Infantry Regiment stores just before the outbreak of the war although it can be stated with some certainty that by the outbreak of the war almost none of the newly established artillery crews had reached combat readiness owing to a lack of prompt delivery of their new equipment.

The WIP of the Mountain Gun Battery Page

As before I've provided a WIP of the intelligence briefing page that has the National Defence Artillery Platoons on it. I've yet to add that these platoons can only be taken if taking either Mountain Infantry or Motorised Cavalry platoons. 

A complete gun team with limber. One half of a platoon.

This limits the choice to those National Defence armies that are fighting in the Beskids and Karpaty. There are mistakes in the text and organisational level of this page currently in light of new information that I've found but this will all be fixed when I go through and edit the work.

A close up look at one of the Mountain Gun bases.

The reverse view of the above shown mountain gun base

Where the modelling is concerned fortunately the guns themselves were relatively simple to find. Battlefront's Gebirgsjager Mountain Guns are a close enough approximation to be useable if one ditches the gun shields and I just drilled holes through the trails to represent the swiss cheese look of the actual 65mm wz.06's

The Command, Staff and Spotter team with their accompanying wagon.

 The figures are a usual mix for my Obrona Narodowa. the gun crews were a mixture of French Motorised Gun Crews, French Motorised 60mm Mortars and Spanish Civil War generic Anti tank gun crew, all from Peter Pig of course.

A closer look at the Staff Team

The reverse view of the Staff Team

The Spotters were Peter Pig Spanish Civil War Nationalist Gun Crew and a True North Polish radio operator whilst the command base and the staff base were a mixture of Peter Pig Polish Gun Crew, Spanish Civil War Nationalist Officers and Carlist Officers and of course a True North miniatures Podhale Mountain Infantry Officer... all with the obligatory head swaps!

A close up view of the Command Team

A close up view of the Spotter Team

So there we have it. Another asset for use with the Obrona Narodowa.

...and not a bayonet in sight!

FoW: HMG Support Platoons Obrona Narodowa (National Defence)

So in our latest installment of our tour around the nuts and bolts of the Polish National Defence we are going to take a look at some of the company support platoon options that are available to a National Defence commander.

All in all there were three main types of heavy machine guns that came to be used by the Obrona Narodowa in 1939.

A Type I battalion HMG platoon with its two HMG sections, command and wagon transports

For the battalions that were either new or were not considered to have a combat efficiency high enough older retired weapons were supplied. The Hotchkiss wz.14 & wz.25 and the Maxim wz.08 were the two weapons that were most prevalent in the states stockpiles. For those battalions that were the oldest types which has been refined and trained to the point where there was little distinction between them and their regular counterparts supplies of the Polish home produced Ckm wz.30 HMG may have been made available to some of these, most likely in the Type III Silesian battalions which were considered some of the best National Defence troops in the entirety of Poland.

A WIP of the Intelligence Briefing Page for some of the HMG options

In 1939 Poland had about 2,600 wz.14's and about 1000 wz.25's. There were many supporters of the Hotchkiss in Poland mainly because of the air cooled nature of the weapon and its simple, reliable and robust construction. Many of the extant weapons were used in the States armoured vehicles but the remainder largely went to equipping the Obrona Narodowa. The downside was a relatively sedate rate of fire of 400 rpm.

A Polish owned Hotchkiss wz.14 tripod mounted HMG being operated by a member of the National Defence

The German Ckm 7.92mm wz.08 version of the Maxim was the most popular version of this weapon anywhere in the world. Manufactured at the Spandau and DWM plant in Germany before the first world war Poland was able to retain almost 6000 units when the State was reborn. Water cooled and highly rugged the weapon was installed on a four legged sled. Heavy but owing to its 500 rpm rate of fire by 1939 they had long since been withdrawn from the front line infantry and cavalry and were left for the reserve divisions, anti aircraft companies and some of the independent cavalry units.

A Polish owned German Ckm 7.92mm wz.08 on four legged sled

Owing to the less positive reviews of the upgraded Hotchkiss wz.25's at the start of 1928 Ckm held a state competition for the provision of a new HMG for the armed forces. The winner was Browning with its wz.1919. A simple construction, water cooled with the ability to change mid operation, it was resistant to dirt blockages and jams. Able to operate over long ranges whilst being able to retain a high degree of accuracy it also had a respectable 500 rpm rate of fire. It was produced in such numbers with such positive reviews that it ended up being used in almost all Polish vehicles where available and supplying almost all of the armed forces. Only the most highly rated Obrona Narodowa battalions would have received any of these however and they were a rarity within the formation as a whole.

A Polish license produced Browning HMG labelled as Ckm wz.30

The lightest formations with regards to both manpower and equipment supplies was the Type I National Defence Battalions which were largely established as a reaction to Polands deteriorating international situation, the collapse of the Czechoslovakian state and Poland becoming hedged in by the Nazi's on three of its borders. 

A typical HMG platoon command element with its horse drawn supply cart.

The Type I battalions were seens as only having to supply support services behind the front line fighting, dealing with fifth column activists and ensuring the civilian panic was not getting out of hand behind the lines.

Another typical example of a Type I battalion HMG platoon

Because of these facts the Type I battalions were only provided with what amounted to a token support platoon of just two Hotchkiss wz.14 HMG's transported in horse drawn carts appropriated from the local populace.

A Hotchkiss wz.14 supplied Obrona Narodowa HMG base

The Type II and Type III battalions had their HMG support platoons held at Battalion level and were parsed out amongst the companies that needed them as circumstances required. They would be supplied with a combined HMG and Mortar platoon with three HMG sections and one Mortar section within the single support platoon.

A rear view of the above Hotchkiss wz.14 supplied Obrona Narodowa HMG base

The Type IV battalions would have a single HMG platoon within each of the battalions three rifle companies with each of the HMG platoons having three HMG sections providing each of the three rifle companies with some instant call up clout!

A combined HMG and Mortar platoon typical of the Type III & IV Battalions

The Type S 'fortress' battalions (of which there were only three by the time hostilities commenced in 1939) had an abundant supply of HMG's with each rifle company having two rifle and two HMG platoons, with each HMG platoon having three HMG sections.

An example of the many types of local horse drawn wagons and carts that were appropriated for use by the ON.

 All of the wagons and carts came from the same supplier; Museum Miniatures. In order to create a little more variety within the models themselves I added a few tarpaulins sculpted out of Magic Sculpt.

The rear view of the above wagon.

A cart piled high with baggage

 The painting on each of the wagons is pretty standard using one of the Vallejo Wood Paint selections and using their instructional book in order to create a well worn wooden look. The wheel rims and other metal attachments on each of the wagons were painted with Molten Metal Steel with a red brown wash thinly washed over them to give the impression of rusty metal.

Another rear view of the above cart

 The rest of the colours are really down to personal choice, but I opted to go for the washed out drab look for all of the bundles that were piled into the back of each cart and wagon.

...and yes another cart.

...and just to add some variety a wagon... piled high with ammunition!

Where the Type K companies were concerned, whilst the troops were all mounted on bicycles the HMG platoon would be provided with a small provision of Motorcycle and Sidecar combinations with which to ferry around their weapons.

The complete Type K HMG platoon with all of its accompanying Sokol 1000 motorcycle transports.

The command base with its personal votive means

The motorcycles were provided by a couple of packs of spare True North Miniature Black Brigade motorcycle troops. All of the original crews had been repurposed leaving the motorcycles spare. This finally gave me the opportunity to use them.

An example of the 7.92mm wz.08 heavy machine gun

 The German 7.92mm wz.08's were Peter Pig Austrian Schwarzlose HMGs from their World War One range with the usual head swaps that I keep doing. I've gone over the way that I paint Polish so many times now that I wont bore you with it all again.

Antother view of the above HMG team

A closer look at one of the motorcycle transport bases

A rear view of the above seen transport team

Another view of the complete Type K HMG platoon.

So there you have it. Loads and loads of heavy machine guns of different types to play around with, a WIP of an Intelligence Briefing Page and buckets of modelling photos... and not a bayonet in sight!

Next time we will take a look at the Mortar and Grenade Launchers that were present in the organisations.

Until next time gents... Fix BAYONETS!!!!

FoW: Infantry Platoons Obrona Narodowa (National Defence)

The Polish Obrona Narodowa (National Defence) was the Polish Second Republics equivalent to our Home Guard and existed between 1937 and 1939.

In this time the manpower for the organisation as a whole was drawn from politically reliable individuals who initially did not have call up papers for any other organisation or who were not already serving members of the armed forces, although as time went by these restrictions were loosened.

Three platoons of a Type IV Battalion National Defence Company

Different areas of Poland had different forms of National Defence Battalions and all of them went through an endemic process of adjustment and refinement right up until the outbreak of hostilities in 1939. Not all of these changes were for the good however with the Battalion command structure being marginalised in favour of the command process being undertaken by divisional or other allocated coimmanders who neither knew the quality of the troops he was representing or else were unable to grasp the combat limitations that the structure of these formations imposed upon them.

Because of the staggered establishment of these battalions and the constant modifications that the troops went through on their way to war, the net result was that there was a massive variety in quality of combat value for these battalions which ranged from troops being able to conduct operations of no more complexity than glorified behind the lines police duties which was common around the southern borders of the country to Lwow in the Type I Battalions, right up to the formations that were so well trained and with such high elan that they were considered the equal of any of the regular troops (albeit lacking somewhat in arms and equipment) such as the National Defence troops to be found in Silesia and with the Coastal Land Defence along the Baltic coastline such as the Silesian Type III battalions and the Baltic Type IV battalions.

There were two main formats that the infantry platoons of the National Defence took. Both types had three sections (or teams as they are termed in Polish) but the sections for each type took different shape.

A WIP of the Intelligence Briefing's Combat Platoons page...

With the first type of platoon, found in the Type IV and Type S battalions, there were three sections of equal size, 14 men apiece and with no LMG's although just before the outbreak of war it seems that some of these battalions started to have LMG's provided to them in order to give them more clout in the field. 

Three platoons of a Type I, II and III Battalion National Defence Company

The second type of platoon that was prevalent in the Type I, II and III Battalions also had three sections in each although in this case each section only had 10 men. In the second phase of the National Defence development these platoons were each supplied with one LMG fire team which was added to the first section of each platoon. This gave an overall structure of one section of 14 men with an LMG and two sections of ten men armed only with rifles.

A typical command base for my National Defence... defenders of faith and fatherland!

The next area to be looked at in a little more detail could perhaps be the weapons that the Obrona Narodowa infantry platoons were provided with then they were founded.

If anything told a story of how the ON fared in 1939 a lot of their troubles could be boiled down to this!

A typical Type IV infantry section. Nout but rifles!

Poland, by 1937, was very happily producing its own small arms but, being a largely agrarian country with a significant dirth of industrial capacity they were simply incapable of adequately providing for the needs of its regular armed forces let alone a new experiment such as the National Defence.

frontal view of the above

As a result of this when these battalions were initially established they were forced to supply them with weaponry gradually, and even then from retired stocks of ex world war one weapons such as the Austro-Hungarian Mannlicher M1895 which was widely regarded as having little practical use and were mainly retained by the Blue Police (Policja Państwowa ) or else the French Lebel wz.86/93's or Berthier 07/15-16's which were the most common weapons available to the National Defence due to the large amounts that had been purchased for use when Poland was fighting with the Communists in 1920.

...and the obligatory rear view of the above above!

One of the biggest problems encountered by the National Defence in 1939 was the supplies of ammunition with which they were given. Frequently they discovered under combat conditions that the ammunition that they had been provided with was the wrong type and couldn't therefore be used.

They would have to have a mad scramble to dig up usable ammunition from somewhere as a result of this...

A typical command section of a Type I infantry platoon. A blue Christ because they are feeling pretty blue about things!

Where the light machine guns was concerned the choices were limited here as well to retired stocks of barely functioning weapons.

The majority of the National Defence light machine gun requirements were fulfilled with the heavy but accurate and fast rate of fire German Lkm 7.92mm wz. 08/15 "Maxim" or in much reduced numbers the Rkm 7.92mm wz.15 "Chauchat". The Chauchat could fire both single shot and fully automatic although its rate of fire wasn't great. The benefit of this however was that this quality gave the weapon a greater longevity than other weapons accessible to the National Defence although the complexity of the weapon itself caused difficulties in cleaning the weapon and thus frequent jamming.

A view of a full Type I, II & III infantry platoon

There were very few handguns issued to the reserve officers and NCO's of the National Guard unless they were provided for by themselves and were instead usually equipped with the same rifles as their men.

A Type I second phase infantry section with its additional LMG team

A rear view of the same infantry section

Where uniforms are concerned the National Defence suffered the same problems as with their weaponry. There simply weren't enough stocks of modern pieces to equip this second tier force.

A view of a normal Type I, II & III infantry section of only 10 men.

At inception, they were frequently issued with the old pre 1936 uniforms with the characteristic leg wrap puttees and adrian helmets. It is this particular uniform that I have chosen to model my company on.

A rear view of the above infantry section

As time went by and new battalions were raised and established they would be provided with more up to date equipment as it became available. This meant that by the time the war started the majority of the National Defence would look almost identical to the regular army having been kitted out with the wz.1936 uniforms.

A close up look at one of the LMG bases

The two main things that these new battalions would be missing however, which were to have a sadly significant impact on them under combat conditions in 1939 is that they were not supplied with either helmets or entrenching tools.

A rear view of the same base.

Those battalions that were raised at the start and were later reorganised and upgraded were able to retain their adrian helmets, although they still had no entrenching tools provided.

If you want to field a force of Obrona Narodowa for your games its a simple case of just modelling the usual piechoty models that are wearing the Rogatywka. Even the Baltics Naval (Morska) brigade wore regular army uniforms by 1939 signified as ON and Naval only by the anchor on their collars.

So there we have it. Buckets of meat to throw on German, Slovakian and Soviet bullets!

Fix Bayonets gentlemen! I feel a charge coming on!