Post by admiralduncan on Jan 29, 2021 22:59:55 GMT
On the outbreak of WW2 the Polish Navy was massively outnumbered by their Kriegsmarine opponents. This was further exacerbated by the departure to Britain of three of Poland's four modern destroyers just prior to the German invasion (Operation Peking). The remaining naval units were ordered to take a defensive stance based on the laying of minefields across the entrance to Danzig Bay in order to impede German access to the Polish coast. The Minelayer Gryff, loaded with 300 mines, would be escorted and guarded by the bulk of the remaining surface units (Operation Rurka), while the three Wilk class minelaying submarines would be covered by Orzel and Sep (Operation Worek). The gunnery training ship Mazur, an ex-WW1 German torpedo boat, was sunk at Gdynia by German stukas before these operations began. She went down with her guns still firing, and was the first warship to be sunk in the war.
The surface operation went bad from the start, with all ships forced to dock at Hel after attacks from 33 Stuka 87C's severely damaged the Gryff and Mewa. Under the protection of the guns of the Cyplowa (4 x 6"), Dunska (2 x 4") and Greca (2 x 4") batteries. the Poles were able to drive off a subsequent attack by the German destroyers Lebrecht Maas and Wolfgang Zenka, but the reprieve was short-lived and the stukas soon returned to sink the Gryff and Wicher.
Wilk attempted to attack the German destroyer Erich Steinbrinck, but was herself attacked by German ASW vessels before she was in position. Damaged and leaking oil, the Wilk then escaped to Britain.
Orzel had orders to attack the old German battleship Schleswig-Holstein after it had famously opened hostilities by bombarding the fortifications at Westerplatte, but before she had the chance she was heavily depth charged by the minesweepers M3 and M4. Orzel was damaged and forced to seek repairs in Estonia, where she and her crew were interned. Refusing such an ignominious fate, the crew escaped, re-took their boat, and without any charts managed to navigate safely to Britain.
Sep fired a torpedo at Friedrich Ihn but missed. The German destroyer immediately counter-attacked, inflicting severe damage on Sep, but she managed to escape. Sep was then attacked by the U14, but the Germans' torpedo exploded prematurely (a precursor to the horrendous torpedo problems suffered by the Germans during their campaign against Norway the following year), and Sep escaped again. Now too badly damaged for a journey to Britain, Sep was interned in Sweden along with Rys, which had also been damaged by German ASW activities. Zbik achieved the only Polish success of the campaign when one of her mines sank the minesweeper M85. Zbik would also go on to be interned in Sweden.
Set up: This scenario is played a a standard 100 point battle and is an abstract simulation of the events described above. Use Battle Map 4. The German player sets up as Player 1.
Germany: 100 points, 13 units
Battleship - Schleswig-Holstein.
Destroyer x 4 - Erich Steinbrinck, Friedrich Ihn, Lebrecht Maas and Wolfgang Zenka (use Z18 Hans Ludemann).
Auxiliary x 3 - M3, M4 and M85 (use M1).
Torpedo Boat x 2 - S-Boats.
Submarine - U14 (use Ambra model with U20 card).
Dive Bomber x 2 - Ju87B.
Note: The Germans committed many more units to the invasion of Poland than those shown above, but for the sake of achieving a 100 point force I have only included the units mentioned as having been in action. This left space for units worth 14 points. The S-Boats represent units of the 1st S-Boat Flotilla (S11, S12, S18 - S23) that was part of the Kriegsmarine committed against Poland.
Poland: 100 points, 15 units
Installation - Hela Batteries (use HSB with stats below).
Auxiliary - Gryf (use Allen M. Sumner model with Frozen Seas card).
Destroyer - Wicher (use Gromiky model with Frozen Seas card).
Submarine x 2 - Orzel and Sep (use Orzels).
Submarine x 3 - Rys, Wilk and Zbik (use RO50 models with Frozen Seas Wilk card).
Auxiliary x 3 - Representing Cjajka, Czapla, Jaskolka, Mewa, Rybitwa and Zuraw (use Type 13 models with stats below).
Destroyer x 2 - General Haller and Komendant Pilsudski (use Sackville models with Hameemaa card).
Destroyer - Mazur (use Antilope model with stats below).
Patrol Bomber - Lublin R-XIII Hydro (use Swordfish MkII model with stats below).
Hela Batteries
Installation - 1939
Speed - 0
Mains - 6/5/5/4
Secondaries - 4/3/3
AA - 5
Armor - 4/11/4
Points - 10
Coastal Facility
Installation 10
Covering Fire
ORP Jaskolka Class Minesweepers
Ship - Auxiliary - 1939
Speed - 1
Mains - 2/1
AA - 3
ASW - 2
Armor - 1/3/1
Points - 3
No Sea Control
Shallow Draft
Sweep Mines
ORP Mazur
Ship - Destroyer - 1939
Speed - 2
Mains - 2/2
AA - 3
Armor - 1/3/1
Points - 3
Desperate AA
Slow 3
Lublin R-XIII Hydro
Air - Patrol Bomber - 1939
Speed - A
Bombs - 2
ASW - 2
Armor - 3/5/1
Points - 3
Sea Basing
Polish Air Patrol: At the beginning of the Air Return Phase, if this unit was not aborted, you may move a Polish ship one sector towards an enemy ship within range 1 of this unit.
The surface operation went bad from the start, with all ships forced to dock at Hel after attacks from 33 Stuka 87C's severely damaged the Gryff and Mewa. Under the protection of the guns of the Cyplowa (4 x 6"), Dunska (2 x 4") and Greca (2 x 4") batteries. the Poles were able to drive off a subsequent attack by the German destroyers Lebrecht Maas and Wolfgang Zenka, but the reprieve was short-lived and the stukas soon returned to sink the Gryff and Wicher.
Wilk attempted to attack the German destroyer Erich Steinbrinck, but was herself attacked by German ASW vessels before she was in position. Damaged and leaking oil, the Wilk then escaped to Britain.
Orzel had orders to attack the old German battleship Schleswig-Holstein after it had famously opened hostilities by bombarding the fortifications at Westerplatte, but before she had the chance she was heavily depth charged by the minesweepers M3 and M4. Orzel was damaged and forced to seek repairs in Estonia, where she and her crew were interned. Refusing such an ignominious fate, the crew escaped, re-took their boat, and without any charts managed to navigate safely to Britain.
Sep fired a torpedo at Friedrich Ihn but missed. The German destroyer immediately counter-attacked, inflicting severe damage on Sep, but she managed to escape. Sep was then attacked by the U14, but the Germans' torpedo exploded prematurely (a precursor to the horrendous torpedo problems suffered by the Germans during their campaign against Norway the following year), and Sep escaped again. Now too badly damaged for a journey to Britain, Sep was interned in Sweden along with Rys, which had also been damaged by German ASW activities. Zbik achieved the only Polish success of the campaign when one of her mines sank the minesweeper M85. Zbik would also go on to be interned in Sweden.
Set up: This scenario is played a a standard 100 point battle and is an abstract simulation of the events described above. Use Battle Map 4. The German player sets up as Player 1.
Germany: 100 points, 13 units
Battleship - Schleswig-Holstein.
Destroyer x 4 - Erich Steinbrinck, Friedrich Ihn, Lebrecht Maas and Wolfgang Zenka (use Z18 Hans Ludemann).
Auxiliary x 3 - M3, M4 and M85 (use M1).
Torpedo Boat x 2 - S-Boats.
Submarine - U14 (use Ambra model with U20 card).
Dive Bomber x 2 - Ju87B.
Note: The Germans committed many more units to the invasion of Poland than those shown above, but for the sake of achieving a 100 point force I have only included the units mentioned as having been in action. This left space for units worth 14 points. The S-Boats represent units of the 1st S-Boat Flotilla (S11, S12, S18 - S23) that was part of the Kriegsmarine committed against Poland.
Poland: 100 points, 15 units
Installation - Hela Batteries (use HSB with stats below).
Auxiliary - Gryf (use Allen M. Sumner model with Frozen Seas card).
Destroyer - Wicher (use Gromiky model with Frozen Seas card).
Submarine x 2 - Orzel and Sep (use Orzels).
Submarine x 3 - Rys, Wilk and Zbik (use RO50 models with Frozen Seas Wilk card).
Auxiliary x 3 - Representing Cjajka, Czapla, Jaskolka, Mewa, Rybitwa and Zuraw (use Type 13 models with stats below).
Destroyer x 2 - General Haller and Komendant Pilsudski (use Sackville models with Hameemaa card).
Destroyer - Mazur (use Antilope model with stats below).
Patrol Bomber - Lublin R-XIII Hydro (use Swordfish MkII model with stats below).
Hela Batteries
Installation - 1939
Speed - 0
Mains - 6/5/5/4
Secondaries - 4/3/3
AA - 5
Armor - 4/11/4
Points - 10
Coastal Facility
Installation 10
Covering Fire
ORP Jaskolka Class Minesweepers
Ship - Auxiliary - 1939
Speed - 1
Mains - 2/1
AA - 3
ASW - 2
Armor - 1/3/1
Points - 3
No Sea Control
Shallow Draft
Sweep Mines
ORP Mazur
Ship - Destroyer - 1939
Speed - 2
Mains - 2/2
AA - 3
Armor - 1/3/1
Points - 3
Desperate AA
Slow 3
Lublin R-XIII Hydro
Air - Patrol Bomber - 1939
Speed - A
Bombs - 2
ASW - 2
Armor - 3/5/1
Points - 3
Sea Basing
Polish Air Patrol: At the beginning of the Air Return Phase, if this unit was not aborted, you may move a Polish ship one sector towards an enemy ship within range 1 of this unit.