Excerpt from the war diaries of the
Polish 7th Lusitanian Marine Assault Infantry Division; 18/03/1989
Well before dawn on D-day, Polish marine special forces
landed in company strength on the beaches outside Eckernforde in infiltrated
into the outskirts of the town, taking up concealed positions controlling the
bridge. At dawn, a heavy preliminary
bombardment struck many of the wooded areas behind the beaches, followed by a
large smoke screen, which also covered the woods immediately behind
Eckernforde. Out of the early morning
mist, amphibious vehicles, conventional and air cushioned landing craft hauled
up onto the beaches, unloading the three reinforced marine infantry battalions
of the 7th Lusitanian Division, together with their T-55 armoured
and engineer battalions, on the left of the landing beaches. On the right, a Polish Motor Rifle Regiment
also landed opposite Eckernforde, with three motor rifle infantry battalions
and a T-55 armoured battalion. All of
the troops landing over the beaches arrived in good order and made good
progress inland, with the marines on the left occupying the woodland inland of
the beaches and the motor rifle troops on the right advancing on Eckernforde.
The marine landings coincided with the parachute landing of
an infantry battalion from the 6th Pommeranian Air Assault Division
inland of Eckernforde. Unfortunately,
these landed astride a minefield complex and only two companies of paratroopers
survived unsuppressed, with one advancing on British Fox recce vehicles spotted
in Eckernforde and British Chieftain tanks spotted in the woods behind
Eckernforde. The Chieftains were able to
suppress the company advancing on them but not the Fox recce vehicles, which
were knocked out in close assault.
The British response was some sporadic artillery bombardment
of the marines on the left flank and Chieftains in the distant woods on the
Polish far left despatched a BRDM-2 recce unit that got too ambitious. On the right, the British had something of a
turkey shoot on the paratroopers caught
in the open, using tank gun fire, infantry small arms and mortars to eliminate the
paratroopers support weapons and most of the infantry. Only the company in the cover of the
outskirts of Eckenforde survived the punishing fire. However, the paratroopers sacrifice meant
that the motor rifle infantry were left largely unmolested in the aftermath of
the landings, a situation that wouldn’t last for long.
The marines realised that the woods were offering poor protection
from artillery for the lightly armoured SKOT-2As and so began a general advance
towards the road running across the table, which was heavily screened by both
visible and concealed minefield complexes.
The infantry battalions pushed on in the face of long distance shooting
from Chieftains on the left flank, making the best use of cover from hedgerows
and woods. In the centre, the marines
engineer battalion infiltrated the industrial area below Windeby and the British
infantry covering force evacuated, once they lost a stand to flamethrower close
assault, bugging out down the road to Windeby.
The motor rifle regiment on the right flank never managed to coordinate
their efforts and, amidst the general confusion, the British Chieftains took a
heavy toll of troops often caught in the open.
As the marines on the left flank advanced, the British
commander opposite decided to force the issue by advancing into the Polish
centre and their far left flank. In the
centre, the Polish T-55 battalion moved up into range and exchanged shots with
the Chieftains opposite, exchanging hits and suppressions sufficient to negate
the threat in the centre. On the Polish
left flank, the Chieftains advanced to close range, but failed a crucial
command roll which would have allowed them to wreak havoc amongst the lightly
armoured Marine’s APCs. The response was
for PT-76s to take flank shots at the Chieftains, suppressing two stands and
then for the infantry to advance, taking minor casualties to opportunity fire,
and debus, then firing RPGs and following up with a close assault, which pushed
back one unit and destroyed a second pushed back into other suppressed units. The Chieftains decided to withdraw, but took
further hits to RPG and PT-76 opportunity fire.
With both their main strike force tank units suppressed or destroyed,
the British on the Polish left pulled out completely.
By this stage, the Polish marines had effectively defeated
the British units facing them on the left and secured a beachhead approximately
half the table in depth. The motor rifle
regiment on the right had fared less well, but still controlled the town of
Eckenforde, with support from a company each of elite paratroopers and special
forces. The key to this was the control
of the bridge and town, which prevented the British from reinforcing laterally,
as they had no bridging equipment. The
Polish commanders on the ground were sending angry reports to higher command as
their intelligence had led them to expect light screening forces, at least
initially, and they found themselves facing at least half of a Chieftain
armoured regiment. Something had gone
very wrong at the planning stage of the operation, but they were set to get a
lot worse.
Very soon, the marines realised they were up against a fresh
force as they heard heavy engine noise to their front. The best part of a battalion of Challengers
took up positions opposite. The marines
pulled back from the hedgerows, to deny any direct fire, but one of the
infantry bttalions was bracketed by 105mm artillery fire. Their counterbattery fire eliminated 50% of
the fire immediately, with all being destroyed the following turn. This made life more comfortable for the
marines on the perimeter, but an effective stalemate situation was the
result. This was also the situation for
the much depleted motor rifle regiment on the right flank around Eckenforde.
The Polish commander decided to commit his reserve force, a
T-72 tank regiment, which had landed over the beaches and swung around the left
flank in a wide manoeuvre, designed to take the Challengers in the woods from
the flank. Some disarray ensued, with
one battalion delayed in the march, but the other two arrived in good order and
began a close range shooting match with the defending Challengers. This was a crucial stage of the battle, as
the British flank had been turned. One
battalion of T-72s was in a close range shoot with the Challengers, with a
second about to advance, while the third was poised to take much of the lightly
armoured British APCs, and especially their long range ATGM units, under fire
from the flanks. While the outcome was
still in doubt due to the strength and firepower of the Challengers, on balance
it was likely that the British would have no choice but to withdraw, leaving
the Poles in control of a secure beachhead.
Another great write up and pictures! Eagerly anticipating the next stage of the campaign...
ReplyDeleteHope to have the next stage ready in the next few days.
DeleteCheers, Richard