Why were Polish tactics in the September campaign so nonsensical compared to the Soviet war? Instead of placing their forces strategically along defensible lines, they tried to make contact with the German forces and fall back, which obviously failed. Why did they not fall back to a more defensible line along the Vistula and other rivers instead of spreading their forces so thin that they covered the border? It staggers the mind that defenses were not concentrated around the central industrial area for example. You go watch the movements in the Polish-Soviet war and it's like you're watching a completely different army at work.
>>18480394the strategy was to minimize casualties, push after allied reinforcement
>>18480588>the strategy was to minimize casualtiesDidn't they still get like 600k casualties or something?
>>1848064760k casualties
>>18480394Politics. They don't want to be seen as just abandoning the frontier to the Germans.
>>18480394Industrial areas were near the border; they needed to be defended. And Poland was essentially already in an encirclement due to geography and a previous sneaky conquest of Czechoslovakia by Germans.Btw, they wanted a corridor through our northern corridor for the same purpose - easier transfer of armies to East Prussia which would make their attack even more trivial. Normal trade was serviced perfectly fine by sea.
>>18480394It was caused by politics, lack of trust in their western allies, being not sure to the real German intentions and overconfidence in their own strength.Poles feel that they need to make statement defending their borders otherwise Germans could just waltz into disputed areas without fight and then just sit there and claim them and Poles didn't trust western allies to move against Germany to help Poles reclaim them. For all that /stormfags/ claims that Bongs caused war the UK requested Poles to delay their full mobilisation (one reason why reserve force was so weak).Poles also wasn't sure if Germans gonna invade or just try to take disputed areas and then ask for mediation or just take Danzing(staffed full by german local armed units(german obviously)). Similar situation happened when Red Army invaded 2 weeks later and Polish HQ wasn't sure if they move in help or not(UK was negotiating with USSR all the time).
>>18480394The problem with this was that had they not kept military on the borders it would allow the Germans to bargain about whatever they took being actually just handed to them(international law kind of sort of accepts this). So some units at least had to be sacrificed there. What they believed was that they can manage a delaying retreat towards some defensive line(not unlike what you're proposing) and obviously there was always the aim of holding as much territory as possible in case Germans can be stalled. The upper Silesia for instance was crucial for any wartime industry and it was just across the border. Likewise while Pomerania seemed lost, gambling on being able to hold it gave a chance for later reinforcements coming in from the allies.
>>18480810Mark Felton lied to me?!?
>>18481046>Industrial areas were near the borderI heard that they were trying to concentrate the central industrial area around a safe zone bordering the Carpathian mountains, away from the frontiers?
>>18481143>and overconfidence in their own strength.I remember reading somewhere that the Polish army general staff advised setting up defenses along the river banks rather than being along the frontiers and that it was the politicians who wanted to setup a fallback from the border to make it look like there is actual fighting going on so that the call to arms would be honored. Not that it mattered anyway.
>>18481143>the UK requested Poles to delay their full mobilisation (one reason why reserve force was so weak)>only about 75% of Poland's manpower was successfully mobilized>most units were still traveling by train to the frontier when the Germans crossed the border>basically no time for fortifications to be setupDAMNWhy does nobody talk about this? Partial mobilization in March and then General being in late August to the day before is INSANEThey literally weren't even able to prepare in time to fight somehow despite this being a war people have been afraid for yearsGenerational fumble, sounds similar to what happened in the USSRHow is it that nobody was fully mobilized or prepared to fight against Germany half of the time?>that Bongs caused war Pretty sure the blame is laid on cunts like Churchill and not Chamberlain
>>18482359>Why does nobody talk about this?The Brits also pressured the Czechoslovaks into delaying mobilization and even slowing down or halting armament manufacturing, they even pressured the French _after the war started_ to delay mobilization.Perfidious Albion had been undermining the Versailles Treaty before the ink was even dry.
>>18482359>Pretty sure the blame is laid on cunts like Churchill and not ChamberlainChurchill was right tho and it was chamberlain who declared war(after decade of bending to germans)
>>18482359>the blame is laid on the guy who wasn't Prime Minister and was a disgraced back bencherOk
