WesWorld

Quoted

Its like watching a movie where someone stalls a little Ford Pinto on the train tracks and a BIIIIIGGG freight train is screaming towards it....

So something like this...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekpD06P7kiI
... but then with a lot of wagons behind the locomotive?

I think Letowska is hoping for this outcome....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJflu7z4QyI&feature=related

October 24th, 1935:

While Luitenant-Generaal Jurian van Loon spent the night of the 23rd/24th marshalling his troops towards their rendevouz point to the northwest of Vaskes, for another attack upon the Wilno defenders. Van Loon was determined to strike a critical blow against either the Wilno Army now dug in less then three miles to the west of Vaskes, or against the equally dug in 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th NSD Wings, holding out in the northern Vaskes. Van Loon, decided after considerable and heated argument from Lt.Colonel Tauren Thule, that the badly mauled 1st Atlantean Reconnaissance Battalion would be left behind at the rendevouz point to act as a reserve unit and guard for the I LoN Field Corps supply trains.

Lieutenant-General Raoul Daufresne de le Chevalerie was directing his own troops to slowly contact and then surround the Wilno Army of the Northeast. The 5th Bulgarian Infantry Division was the first to make contact with the Wilno Army defensive position, as it's own reconnaissance unit and forward infantry pickets took over from several Belgian Lancer scouting detachments that Major Jean Piron had left behind to guide the advancing II LoN Field Corps to it's target, and maintain observation of the then retiring Wilno Army. Major-General Theodosi Petrov Daskalov, a clean-shaven, dark haired, solemn faced regular soldier moved up on foot just before dawn to personally recon the situation confronting his division.

What Daskalov saw, he didn't like. The industrious Wilno soldiers had built up a creditable defensive line, which while lacking in depth, or heavy fortifications, made up for it in desperate improvision. Wilno troops, had hacked down trees, tore up farm fences and even farm houses and out building, literally anything they could lay their hands on build up their field works. Hastily dug earth and timber-clad bunkers or gun pits now housed the Wilno Army's remaining artillery pieces, trenches and rifle pits concealed and protected the Wilno infantry battalions and their remaining support weapons. Crudely constructed and sand-bagged, earth and stone redoubts anchored the Wilno defensive position's corners, each strongly posted with men and machine-guns as could be spared. Troops could be seen to be working feverishly, putting on finishing touches to these defenses, and even to be a second "inner" defensive line to compliment the "outer" one.

Major-General Daskalov noted that the Wilno artillery had been sited with great care, to give each of the guns the widest arc of fire possible, and so placed as to be sufficiently far apart from one another as not to be endangered by massed counter-battery fire on a single position. Major-General Daskalov also noted and reports from both his own men and the Belgian Lancers confirmed it, that the Wilno field works while surprisingly extensive, where in point of fact, very thinly manned. Lt.General Jasunski and his field battalion commanders had obviously felt forced to spread their troops out to cover as wide a front as possible - not being sure in which direction the next LoN attack would come - and being forced to cover as much of the western approaches to Vaskes, which created a perilously thin battle line, with few if any tactical reserves immediately behind it.

Lieutenant-General Bartold Jasunski had in fact placed the 1st Field Battalion on the western side of his defensive box, with the 2nd Field Battalion forming the northern side, while the 3rd Field Battalion formed the southern side. The combined 9th/10th NSD Wing, held the eastern side of the defensive box, placing it the furthest away at least in theory from any League of Nations attack. The 4th Field Battalion however was stationed within the rough center of the defensive position, to act as a tactical reserve, and further guard Jasunski's headquarters and the remaining store of munitions, food, water and medicinal supplies possessed by the Army of the Northeast.

Major-General Daskalov was soon joined an hour after dawn by Lt. General Daufresne de la Chevalerie, after a short conference, they decided that the Bulgarians would make a perlimenary assault the western side of the Wilno Army's position, while the 3rd Dutch Marine Brigade and 1st Atlantean Expeditionary Division worked their way around the northern and southern sides. Daufresne de la Chevalerie was particularly anxious to pin the Wilno Army in place, and prevent it's retreating into Vaskes, or escaping into the countryside to continue the fight if the first option wasn't in the Wilno Army's immediate planning.

Both Luitenant-Generaal Henrius Fabius and Major-General Arikus Patreaus immediately objected to this plan when it was presented to them. The three LoN divisions of the II LoN Field Corps were not yet concentrated for effective action, many of their units were still struggling up along congested, waterlogged and mud clogged roads. The storms of unexpected snow and sleet during the night hadn't helped either. The LoN troops and their equipment were frozen, wet, covered in mud and ice, and while general morale and fighting spirit was excellent, many of the men were tired and worn by their hard marching. Many units were badly strung out from straggling, or had much of their supporting vehicles or artillery caught axel deep in mud.

Only a third of the 5th Bulgarian Infantry Division was at present actually in position to launch an attack, while the lead elements of the 1st Atlantean Expeditionary Division would not be in a position to do so, for several hours, Major-General Patreus's staff estimated, they would not be in an viable attack position until at least late afternoon. The 3rd Dutch Marine Brigade was in somewhat better position, in that at least one of it's regiments - the 31st Marine - and some of it's supporting artillery elements had gained a position to the northwest of the Wilno Army sufficient to launch at least a limited auxiliary attack, but the main body of the marine brigade was still at least two to three hours behind.

In light of this, Daufresne de le Chevalerie was forced to seriously consider calling off any attack, at least at ground level, for the day. The weather while still atrocious, seemed to be lifting, and offered the possibility of assistance from the air, via the Fliegerfuehrer Lituanen. Colonel Stefan Froehlich however advised de le Chevalerie that both tactical and heavier air support would be available to the II LoN Field Corps throughout the day, as weather permitted. Froehlich and his staff had worked through the night to put the finishing touchs on their planned supply lift into the LoN Vaskes Garrision's defensive perimeter. All transport, fighter and bomber aircraft had been checked, readied and armed or loaded, and stood awaiting finally instructions on the Vilnius air field's various runways.

With these considerations in mind, Lt.General Daufresne de le Chevalerie decided to proceed with a probing attack by the available elements of the 5th Bulgarian Infantry Division, regardless of the II LoN Field Corps's current logistical and tactical circumstances.

Major-General Daskalov and his divisonal staff were not particularly surprised, and had already worked out a limited attack plan, based around what units were immediatedly to hand, against a salient position that projected somewhat from the Wilno Army's main defensive line. Dubbed, incidently by both sides, the "Crooked J" redoubt, because of it's odd shape. The defensive work, constructed of earthen parapets, rough timber and ramparts generously reinforced with sand-bags, was manned by several platoons of riflemen, three heavy machine guns and a single 76.2-mm artillery piece. The redoubt was partially but effectively isolated from the Wilno line, by several knots of trees and thick undergrowth, and a generous scattering of rocky, broken ground on it's flanks and rear.

Major-General Daskalov, decided to mass the bulk of his divisional artillery, the 20th Bulgarian Field Artillery regiment against the Wilno defensive work, both to pound it heavily before he sent in his infantry to try and take the position, and isolate it with massed fire from any possible relief attempts from it's flanking positions or the Wilno Army's interior lines. The cold and wet but determined artillerymen of the 20th Field Artillery Regiment had managed to drag up and position three batteries of 105-mm howitzers, three batteries of 76.2-mm field guns, and three batteries of 76.2-mm mountain howitzers, placing some thirty-six guns at Daskalov's immediate disposal. Sufficient he judged for his purposes. The 1st Bulgarian Artillery Regiment with its mass of 105-mm and 149-mm weapons was still ponderously moving up into battery, and would not be immediately available for the attack.

The infantry component of the attack would be consist of the I, II, and III Battalions of the 13th Bulgarian Grenadier Regiment, along with their regimental support company of six light field guns and nine light mortars. The I Battalion/14th Bulgarian Infantry Regiment was near at hand and would presently be available to serve as a reserve, should it become necessary.

Lt.General Daufresne de le Chevalerie, briefly reviewed, Daskalov's plan, and without comment ok'd them. The 5th Bulgarian Division was to commence it's attack as soon as the artillery and infantry were ready. At 10 am, sweating Bulgarian gunners, aligned and calibrated their artillery pieces, teams of loaders readied a mix of smoke and high explosive shells, everyone awaited the order to fire.

The men of the 13th Bulgarian Grenadier Regiment in their mud and water stained, tabacco-brown uniforms, waited tensely, silently, their rifles shouldered, with bayonets fixed, with selected men carrying satchels of grenades slung over their shoulders. Men' breath fogged copiously in the cold morning air, frost and fog hung still over everything and everyone. Officers, clasped whistles in their gloved fists to signal the attack, while,their non-commissioned subordinates, dressed the ranks, making sure everything was in order.

Major-General Theodosi Petrov Daskalov, lifted his field glasses, and aligned them on the Wilno redoubt. He could make out the little in the creeping icy fog that blanketted the area as the sun struggled upwards in the dawn sky. The fog mixed with a light drizzle of rain, and the occassional snow flurries. He could make out a few blurry shapes, manning sections of the entrenchments, Wilno sentries keeping a watch for the LoN troops they knew to be approaching them, although neither they or their commander Lt.General Bartold Jasunski had any idea just what was about to hit them. A Bulgarian aide-de-camp, beside Daskalov briefly consulted a watch. It was 10:15 am. Major-General Daskalov, nodded once, the aide-de-camp turned and signalled to a field telephone operator a few paces away, a single sharp order was barked into the mouth piece.

It was 10:17 am, the thirty-six guns of 20th Bulgarian Field Artillery Regiment, fired in anger for the first time.

What Lt.General Raoul Daufresne de le Chevalerie had intended as merely a limited feint or pinning attack against a portion of the Wilno Army was unexpectedly about to enter history not as a skirmish or even an action but as the Battle of the Crooked J Redoubt.

Looking forward to this one. The Fifth is Bulgaria's best of the best, with reinforced artillery and a general who has some of the best command experience in the 1930s Bulgarian Army.

Thules really gotta cool his jets before someone in the big brass gives him a kick in the ass! In fact Major-General Patraeus just might be the man to do it!

October 24th, 1935:

The first warning that the soldiers of Major-General Witold Haller's 1st Wilno Army Field Battalion, recieved that something was awry occured when the foggy horizon was suddenly lite with several intense but rapidly flickering dull glows - the half seen, half sensed muzzle flashs of the 20th Bulgarian Field Artillery Regiment's opening salvo. Seconds later the first rounds of 76-mm and 105-mm high-explosive began to impact amidst the entrenchments. Debris flamed up into the air, scattering earth, timber splinters and fragments of sandbags with each and every hit.

Men dove wildly for whatever cover they could find, as the next salvo came screaming in, still more debris was thrown up into the air, shell craters pockmarked the western face of the "Crooked J" Redoubt. Timbers and canvas blazed fiercely, after each hit, smoke rolled and coiled over the entrenchments and strong-points, while the defenders hurriedly went to ground and tried to wait out the continuing bombardment. Neither they, nor their commander knew as to whether this unexpected shelling was just a casual artillery attack, or whether it was the peramble to either a raid or a full scale assault.

Major-General Haller, wasted no time however, informing his chief of this development and his fears of what it represented. Lt.General Bartold Jasunski, was soon on the field telephone line from his headquarters to that of the 1st Field Battalion. Haller had not waited for instructions from on high, and promptly ordered his battalion to full alert, his rifle men and machinegunners were even as he spoke to Jasunski rushing into their defensive positions, making ready to recieve an infantry attack as soon as the bombardment showed signs of lifting.

Jasunski didn't disagree with Haller's assessment or immediate tactical reaction, although he demured at Haller's request, that the guns of the 1st Wilno Army Artillery Reserve Battalion be unmasked and commense counter-battery fire. Both Lt.General Bartold Jasunski and Lt.Colonel Rufin Gradawski were chary of doing this, for one thing, both wished to avoid revealing the guns exact positions, and for the second thing, neither wished to actually use the artillery until they had clear and definite targets to engage to avoid wasting any of the Wilno Army's precious and limited supplies of artillery ammunition.

The icy morning fog was still thick over the Bulgarian lines, and was steadily getting thicker as the Bulgarian gunners heaved round after round into the hungry breeches of their blazing guns. Haller was told firmly and bluntly that he would have to resist any attack that developed as best he could with the infantry weapons at his immediate disposal.

Major-General Daskalov watched the bombardment carefully, observing the effect of the 20th Field Artillery Regiment's attack. Minutes crawled by, trees that littered the "J" redoubt's landscape had their trunks splintered and cracked, stones and boulders had been blasted and shattered to fragments, earth had been churned and displaced - much of the redoubt's western face was rapidly taking on the appearance of a cratered and desolate moonscape.

The Bulgarian infantry waited silent, grim and tense, listening as the guns roared and the precussion of each shell hit rolled back towards them through the trees, smoke and fog that screened them from Wilno eyes. The I Battalion/14th Bulgarian Grenadiers marched up into line with the I, II, and III Battalions/13th Grenadier Regiment. Still they waited, the gunners continued to hammer the redoubt with unabaiting fury. Ten minutes, stretched out into twenty minutes, then twenty into thirty minutes and still the guns fired with out respite.

Cursing and sweating Bulgarian artillerymen of the 1st Bulgarian Artillery Regiment, hauled the first battery of 149-mm pieces into the gun line, to aid their power to the efforts of the 20th Artillery Regiment's.

Yikes thirty minutes of bombardment can seem like a lifetime!

The Bulgarians do love their artillery. The infantry may not be motorized, the rifles may still be bolt-action, there may not be many radios and the tanks might be few... but the Bulgarians didn't cut corners on the Artileriya Vojski.

Too bad it seems the Yugoslav War idea died. A thirty-minute bombardment by 20th Regiment is tiddliwinks compared to what I wrote for the Battle of Pirot. 1,800 guns firing on a twelve-mile section of front line for six hours.

Well thats where the Atlantean 14th tank battalion comes in! They can make up for the Bulgarians lack of mobility.

Quoted

Originally posted by Brockpaine
The Bulgarians do love their artillery. The infantry may not be motorized, the rifles may still be bolt-action, there may not be many radios and the tanks might be few... but the Bulgarians didn't cut corners on the Artileriya Vojski.

Too bad it seems the Yugoslav War idea died. A thirty-minute bombardment by 20th Regiment is tiddliwinks compared to what I wrote for the Battle of Pirot. 1,800 guns firing on a twelve-mile section of front line for six hours.

Too bad. I don't mind taking Yugoslavia again just to move that War along. It makes sense for WW, the Yugos here will be very mad about the small gains they made after suffering close to two years of Austro-Hungarian occupation and feel cheated by Versailles.

You'll have to talk to Desertfox and Red Admiral about it. I wouldn't mind - I wrote up 90% of the Bulgarian front, and I hate to see it wasted, but it's the Western Front which posed the problems.

October 24th, 1935:

The Battle of the Crooked J Redoubt: Part One

Major-General Daskalov let the 20th Artillery Regiment continue its bombardment for another thirty minutes, while the 1st Artillery Regiment finally went into battery alongside them. The "J" redoubt thus found itself the target of the concentrated fire of an additional thirty-six guns (twelve 149-mm and twenty-four 105-mm weapons). The effect of the massed fire of seventy-two Bulgarian artillery pieces on the fabric of the redoubt was both immediate and devastating, whole sections of it's defensive lines vanished to be replaced by shell craters, rubble and flaming ruins. Casualties from shrapnael and flying debris, rapidly overloaded the redoubt's meager aid stations, the dead had to be left where they had fallen, as no one could risk trying to retrieve them, much less bury them as the shells contined to rain down upon the redoubt.

Major-General Witold Haller, expressed his mounting concern to Lieutenant-General Bartold Jasunski that this extended barrage, persauged a major assault on his lines, centering upon the "Crooked J" Redoubt. Jasunski and his staff did not disagree with Haller's assessment of the situation, and steps were taken to ready the 4th Field Battalion to go to the aid of the 1st Field Battalion if and as the situation required. Major-General Sidor Malecka worked carefully to prepare his rifle companies, doling out remaining supplies of ammunition, explosives and medical equipment. Haller again requested that the 1st Army Reserve Artillery Battalion be used to respond to the ongoing bombardment. Lt.Colonel Rufin Gradawski, demured at this yet, again. Gradawski's gunners still lacked definite targets for counter-battery fire, although they were begining to get a feel for the placement of the Bulgarian guns by their repeated muzzle-flashs, fog and smoke still however made accurate fire difficult.

Lt.General Jasunski settled the matter by ordering the Wilno Army guns to with-hold their fire until the Bulgarian infantry made an attack, if they made an attack. Artillery ammunition was desperately short and every shot had to be made to tell. Haller, reluctantly accepted this decision, and turned to the business of rallying his badly rattled troops, who could only patiently and grimmly endure the hammering they were recieving without an ability to respond to it.

Major-General Theodosi Petrov Daskalov finally ordered Colonel Konstantin Gheorgi Popov, commander of the 13th Grenadier Regiment, to go forward with his battalions, the I Battalion lead the advance on the left, with II Battalion in the center, with III Battalion on the right. Fixed bayonets gleamed in the cold morning light, the tabacco-brown uniformed infantry lines rolled forward across the intervening ground to the shrill of whistles, and shouted orders. The dazed survivors in "J" redoubt realized something was happening when the barrage, lifted - it didn't stop, it moved, rolling out over the flanking entrenchments and back into the communications trenches that connected the redoubt to the overall Wilno defensive positions. The two Bulgarian artillery regiments were adjusting their fire with almost finicky percision, to isolate the redoubt from possible support.

The Bulgarian infantry slowly materialized out of the morning fog and heavy artillery smoke, the Wilno defenders of the redoubt rushed from their dug-outs and bomb-proofs to hurriedly man their shattered field works. The single 75-mm field gun, that constituted the only long-range weapon of the redoubt, had despite being the specific target of several of the Bulgarian batteries, survived intact, although several members of it's volunteer gun crew had been killed or wounded by the heavy shelling. The survivoring gunners frantically prepared the Great War vintage weapon for action. Two of the three, heavy machine-guns had also survived the fierce hour long barrage, and their teams quickly readied them for firing. The three weapons crews, awaited the order to fire, Major Janek Jaworski, the field commandant of "J" Redoubt, didn't keep them waiting long.

Major Jaworski, watched tensely, as the vague shadows moved towards him and his men, in the fog and smoke, he watched them darken, then come sharply into focus, as line after line of marching Bulgarian riflemen emerged from the icy haze. The Bulgarian Grenadiers silently, as if following some unspoken order, lowered their rifles to the hip, bayonets poised. They came on without a word, only the precussion of their boots striking the ground, and the clank of their equipment and the sound of rumbling artillery fire to accompany them. Suddenly, the Bulgarians pace quickened, the swift march became almost a run, a thundering roar rose from them, like the crashing of a wave against the shore.

"URA!!!", "NA NOZ!!!"

A single field gun, two heavy machine-guns, three light machine-guns and half-a-hundred rifles and carbines, blazed to life as the Bulgarian grenadiers made towards the heart of the defensive work at a dead run. The Battle of the "Crooked J" Redoubt had begun in ernest.

Quoted

Originally posted by Agent148
The dazed survivors in "J" redoubt realized something was happening when the barrage, lifted - it didn't stop, it moved, rolling out over the flanking entrenchments and back into the communications trenches that connected the redoubt to the overall Wilno defensive positions. The two Bulgarian artillery regiments were adjusting their fire with almost finicky percision, to isolate the redoubt from possible support.

Excellent! I was a bit reluctant to mention what I would have had the Bulgarians doing - using a rolling barrage before the infantry assault is spot-on!

I pity the Wilno artillerymen if they try to fire counterbattery - they're already outnumbered, and only half of the Bulgarian artillery, and only a third of the infantry, has yet made an appearance.

October 24th, 1935:

The Battle of the Crooked J Redoubt: Part Two

Major-General Theodosi Petrov Daskalov was joined at his observation post, by Colonel Konstantin Gheorgi Popov, CO - 13th Grenadiers, and Colonel Nikolai Dimitrov Nedev, CO - 14th Grenadiers, and Lt.Colonel Petr Georgiev Penev, the 5th Division's chief-of-staff. All three men watched tensely as the three battalions of the 13th Grenadiers, lead by Lt.Colonels Simeon Grigorov, Alexandr Popdimitrov, and Anton Stefanov Ganev, surged forward towards the Wilno held redoubt.

The Wilno fusiliade compared to the heavy barrage of the Bulgarian 1st and 20th Artillery Regiments, consisting as it did of a single field gun, a few machine-guns and a few score of rifles and carbines, seemed almost palty but it' effect on the charging lead elements of the II Battalion, under Lt.Colonel Popdimitrov was anything but. The single 75-mm gun entrenched within the primary field work of the Crooked J redoubt, an old, french-built Canon de 75 mle 1897, went to full rapid fire, it's gunners determined to make every round count before the inevitable retribution from the massed Bulgarian artillery silenced them forever. Between fifteen and twenty high explosive shells slammed into Popdimitrov's front ranks, the resulting carnage was terrible to behold as men were blasted apart or savaged by steel fragments.

The two Wilno heavy machineguns, both Maxim MG08s of Imperial Germany vintage, hammered away spewing their own quotient of death into the faces of the oncoming Bulgarian grenadiers. The three light machineguns - two Lewis guns and a MG08/15 - did likewise, while the riflemen added the weight of their collection of Great War vintage 7.92-mm and 7.62-mm weapons.

Colonel Popdimitrov, pressed forward on the redoubt, despite the return fire that had unexpectedly shredded his leading rifle platoons. Several hundred Bulgarian rifles flashed to life, along the II Battalion's frontline, tearing back at the Wilno troops in the redoubt. Bullets slammed into the Wilno field works, forcing many to dive for cover. The 13th Grenadiers' regimental mortars and infantry guns opened fire, from behind the II Battalion's front, suddenly adding their weight to the attack.

Major Janek Jaworski, already wounded in the face, left arm and both legs from the fierce artillery bombardment, limped up and down his battle line, striving to encourage his men, and direct their limited fire-power to maximum effect. Lt.Colonel Alexandr Popdimitrov urging his men on through the Wilno fire, was suddenly struck by a 7.92-mm bullet and fell fifty feet from the shattered ramparts of the Wilno redoubt. The Bulgarian line, slowed, buckled and then abruptly halted. The Wilno and Bulgarian troops blazed away at each other, Lt. Popdimitrov, struggled to his feet, although badly wounded. Grabbing a statchel of grenades, Popdimitrov ran forward with a handful of his grenadiers in a gallant attempt to silence the Wilno 75-mm gun, which was tearing bloody gaps in his battalion's motionless lines. A volley of grenades struck the 75-mm's gun port, just as the gun was in the midst of recoiling from a shot. Flame, smoke and shrapnael writhed the gun barrel and shield.

Lt.Colonel Popdimitrov was the first man through the earth and timber gun port, pistol blazing. His party of grenadiers were hard on his heels with sub-machineguns and rifles at the ready. The Wilno gunners fought back savagely with carbines, pistols, entrenching shovels and fists. Popdimitrov had no sooner laid a hand on the field cannon to claim it, only to be pummelled about the head and shoulder by one of the Wilno gunners wielding a handspike like it was a mace. Falling to the redoubt floor, the fight swirled over and about him as more Wilno and Bulgarian soldiers joined the melee.

Major-General Theodosi Petrov Daskalov, nor his chief-of-staff Lt.Colonel Petr Georgiev Penev from their vantage point could not make out what had just occured. The only thing clear to them through the smoke and explosions was that the II Battalion/13th Grenadiers stood inexplicably motionless. Colonel Konstantin Gheorgi Popov, Commander of the 13th Grenadiers cursed hideously then vaulted forward, moving swiftly towards his stalled battalion.

The I Battalion/13th Grenadiers, on the II Battalion's left flank, confused by the tremendous din of the bombardment, drifting smoke and the thick morning fog, slowly swung off target. Lt.Colonels Simeon Grigorov found to his astonishment that instead of striking the northern flank of the J Redoubt as planned, swept past it, straight into the western face of Maj.General Witold Haller's defensive line.

The grenadiers of the I Battalion, slammed through the thinly held Wilno entrenchments almost before they had realized they had hit them. Here and there small knots of Wilno soldiers of Haller's 1st Wilno Field Battalion fought back with franatical courage as they tried to stem, the Bulgarian battalion's unexpected onslaught. Maj.General Haller found his front line stressed to the breaking point, he was forced to turn his attention from the fierce struggle raging for the J Redoubt and through in all his available reserves to shore up his crumbling defensive line.

The III Battalion/13th Grenadiers under Lt.Colonel Anton Stefanov Ganev, unlike its sister battalion, had managed to stay on it's intended course as it advanced upon the J Redoubt's southern flank. As Ganev deployed his companies to take the redoubt in a deadly pincer movement, his leading platoons were hit by a unexpected fire. The Bulgarian grenadiers were forced to turn in mid attack, and fend off charging Wilno soldiers who emerged from the smoke and fog. Maj.General Haller had sent forward a single company of his field battalion to try and relieve the killing pressure on the redoubt, this company had been brutally mauled making a passage through the rolling bombardment of the 1st and 20th Bulgarian Artillery regiments.

The bloodied, shell-shocked Wilno soldiers attacked with unrestrained fury, pausing hardly long enough to fire a single rifle volley, they crashed into the startled Bulgarian grenadiers. A frenzied melee, swirled through the advancing lines of the III Battalion.

Interesting, will the Bulgarians open a hole in the Wilno lines and encircle?

October 24th, 1935:

The Battle of the Crooked J Redoubt: Part Three

Major Janek Jaworski, was a man close to despair. His position was well past desperate: the redoubt was being pummelled into a shapless mass by Bulgarian artillery, many of his men were stupified by the continuous concussion, the dead and wounded were piling up with the redoubt by the second, and no meaningful assistance from either his field battalion or army commander seemed to be in sight.

Maj.General Witold Haller, whether Jaworski knew it or not shared that sence of growing pessimism. The J Redoubt and it's defending garrison were in danger of being surrounded by a mass of Bulgarian infantry, to both their immediate front and right flank, further the Bulgarian artillery made an attempt to reinforce the redoubt all but impossible. Haller also had to deal with the unexpected attack by the Bulgarians upon his main defensive line. Haller had managed for the moment to stall the Bulgarians on the flank of the redoubt by practically sacrificing a rifle company in a suicidal assault through the Bulgarian field artillery. He'd however lost all practical contact with Jaworski's headquarters in the redoubt, and had no idea that the Bulgarian attack had been stalled there - if by the slimmest of margins - as well. The Bulgarian assault on his main line was another matter entirely, the Bulgarians were threatening to cave in a substancial portion of his defense line. Maj.General Witold Haller, reached for the phone line to Lt.General Bartold Jasunski's field headquarters, this time determined to get whatever help he could.

Colonel Konstantin Gheorgi Popov had reached the redoubt just in time to see the II Battalion begin to waver. The halted battalion's front ranks still blazed away at the defiant Wilno defenders, but the men rear ranks began to drift back towards the 5th Division's lines. Many of these Bulgarian soldiers did so legitimately, being either wounded themselves or bent on hauling desperately wounded comrades back towards relative safety and the Division medical teams.

A raging Colonel Popov, ignored these men, they had done their duty and there was no shame in what they were doing now. He ran on, into the midst of the II Battalion, threatened to shoot the first man who took a step backwards. Popov urged his men to on more effort, officers worked to rally their men, non-coms, pushed, shoved and shouted their men into recognizable battle formations.

Lt.Colonel Simeon Grigorov, struggled to hold the hole he'd inadvertly punched in the Wilno's main defensive line. The I Battalion's rifle companies found themselves fending off increasingly frenzied counter-attacks by the 1st Wilno Field Battalion. Lt.Colonel Anton Stefanov Ganev and his III Battalion locked in a brutal close-quarters fight with unable to deploy it's greater strength effectively, nor call upon artillery support for fear of hitting it's own formations. Colonel Nikolai Dimitrov Nedev, Commander of the 14th Bulgarian Grenadier Regiment watched the ongoing battle, in a profound and frustrated silence alongside, his divisonal commander and divisional chief-of-staff.

Colonel Nedev, turned without a word to his chief and sommoned to his side, the commander of his first battalion, Lt.Colonel Nikola Hristov Aleksiev. Nedev's flatly ordered Aleksiev to ready his battalion to join the attack. Major-General Theodosi Petrov Daskalov and Lt.Colonel Petr Georgiev Penev agreed to this immediately when they spared their attention for a moment for the battle and realized what Nedev and Aleksiev were discussing.

October 24th, 1935:

The Battle of the Crooked J Redoubt: Part Four

Major-General Theodosi Petrov Daskalov orders the 1st Bulgarian Artillery Regiment to re-target the redoubt, his orders is to the gunners are short and unambigous: Smash the redoubt to flinders! Salvo after salvo of 105-mm and 149-mm shells once again scream down onto the shattered field works. Whole entrenchments vanish in blasts of churned earth, flame and smoke. Major Jowarski's headquarters bunker is demolished by a direct hit, killing or wounding his small staff and cutting his remaining communications links both to the Wilno 1st Field Battalion and his subordinate weapons and platoon commanders. Major Janek Jowarski somehow avoids death, and crawls blackened and bruised from the charred and smoldering remains of his command bunker.

Colonel Konstantin Gheorgi Popov, holds the re-ordered II Battalion in check, waiting for the bombardment to do it's work. Popov orders the regimental and battalion weapons teams to add their fire as well. Lieutenant-Colonel Anton Stefanov Ganev, and the men of his III Battalion/13th Grenadiers break the attack of the detached company from the Wilno 1st Field Battalion. Lt.Colonel Ganev warns Colonel Popov, that his battalion can made no further advance, the short but intensely brutal fight has left his various units in complete disarray.

Lieutenant-Colonel Simeon Grigorov and the I Battalion/13th Grenadiers, continues to stubbornly hold out, against Maj.General Witold Haller's counter-attacks. The soldiers of the I Battalion fighting with bloody minded courage refuse to relenquish a single foot of the ground they have taken. The gunners of the 20th Bulgarian Artillery Regiment cease fire at Maj.General Daskalov's order and realign their guns in support of the hard pressed grenadiers.

Lieutenant-General Raoul Daufresne de le Chevalerie watches the ongoing attack with increasing anxiety, what had intended to be a limited probe of the strength of the Wilno Army's position, had escalated into a full scale engagement. De le Chevalerie stiffled the impulse to interfere with Maj.General Daskalov's battle arrangements, and contented himself for the time being with urging on Major-General Arikus Patreaus and his 1st Atlantean Expeditionary Division, and Luitenant-Generaal Henrius Fabius and his 3rd Dutch Marine Brigade. Lt.General De le Chevalerie signalled the Fliegerfuehrer Lituanen, to request whatever air support might be available.

Colonel Stefan Froehlich, at Fliegerfuehrer Lituanen Headquarters in Vilnius studied the weather reports passed to him by the Lithuanian authorities. The skies over Vaskes were clearing, rapidly, but a return to heavy, low laying clouds and heavy storms was expected to resume later in the day. If an air operation was to be mounted, it had to be mounted now. Froehlich, had spent most of the previous night and morning going over plans and readiness reports of his units. The Luftwaffe colonel wasted no time in giving the order: All Bulgarian and German air units launch now! Junker Ju-52 transports, Kaproni KB309s transport-bombers, Messerschmitt Bf-110 attack bombers, Junker Ju-87 dive-bombers, Messerschmitt Bf-109 and Focke-Wulf Fw-87 fighters and Focke-Wulf Fw-44 and DAR-3 reconnaissance planes powered up, the din of their engines sounded throughout Vilnius, slowly they formed up over the city. Over Heiligenbeil, East Prussia, flights of Dornier Do-17s, formed up and made for the Lithuanian border, Lithuanian fighters appraised of their comming, rose up from various air fields, and formed an escort for them as they approached. The Lithuanian fighers would shepard them as far as Vilnius, from there designated Luftwaffe fighter flights would escort them to Vaskes.

Lieutenant-General Bartold Jasunski was a man rapidly running out of options, and possessed of only limited resources with which to meet the crisis that loomed before him and his army. Lt.Colonel Rufin Gradawski was now as convinced as Maj.General Haller that it was essential to deploy at least some of the guns of the 1st Army Reserve Artillery Battalion, to enable the 1st Field Battalion to destroy or at least reduce the salient that the Bulgarian 13th Grenadiers had driven into the Wilno defensive line. Jasunski and his staff however remained reluctant to deploy the guns due to fear of the greater weight of metal that the Bulgarian field artillery could deploy towards counter-battery fire.

Maj.General Sidor Malecka, brings up his 4th Field Battalion for it's reserve position at a dead run. Malecka an experienced unit commander knows it is critical to punch out the Bulgarian salient before it has time to consolidate. Lt.Colonel Rufin Gradawski orders ten of his twenty artillery pieces to support, this counter-attack. Shells slam into open breeches, gun carriages are swung round to align the silent gun tubes.

The ten Wilno artillery pieces blaze to life, at a short, sharp command from Colonel Gradawski. These ten guns ranging from 75-mm to 105-mm go to full rapid fire: they hammer the stunned Bulgarian grenadiers occupying the shallow Bulgarian salient. The gunners of the 20th Bulgarian Artillery Regiment, are caught as much off guard by the unexpected Wilno fire, as the grenadiers, and frantically work to re-align their pieces and commence counter-battery fire. Artillery observer teams quickly estimate ranges and assign targets to the hurrying gunners.

Maj.General Malecka masses his battalion to rush the Bulgarian salient from two directions, while Maj.General Haller rallies his battalion to do the same from from a third. Lt.Colonel Gradawski seriously considers releasing the remaining ten artillery pieces to provide further support fire. After some minutes, Gradawski does just that. Lt.Colonel Simeon Grigorov barely suppresses a panick-stricken retreat by his hard-pressed I Battalion. With steadily increasing infantry and artillery hitting his line, his position is becoming increasingly brittle. Grigorov contemplates ordering a tactical withdrawl.

Lieutenant-General Raoul Daufresne de le Chevalerie monitoring the ongoing battle and the movements of the Atlantean and Dutch units, becomes increasingly unsure of whether continuing the action is worthwhile. The situation in which Maj.General Daskalov finds himself is anything but pleasant: the 13th Grenadiers are at the moment stalled, and recieving heavy fire, casualties are pilling up as both concentrated Wilno small-arms and artillery fire take their toll. The 14th Grenadiers are not yet in position, expect a single battalion. The 15th Grenadiers Regiment is no where near being in a position to support it's sister regiments. On a positive note, German and Bulgarian air support is expected but Daufresne de le Chevalerie is not confident that it will arrive in time to tip the balance in the 5th Bulgarian Divisions favour. More worrying to Lt.General Daufresne de le Chevalerie is the reports that the 1st Atlantean Expeditionary Divison and the 3rd Marine Brigade are not yet in place to lend assistance.

Two pieces of information arrive that do something to lighten Lt.General Daufresne de le Chavalerie's mood, Luitenant-General Jurian van Loon reports by radio, that slightly ahead of schedule I LoN Field Corps now consolitdated and in it's planned attack position: although abeit thoroughly exhausted, wet and frustrated from it's nightime forced march. Lt.Colonel Wilhelm Berlin, reports also by radio that his 2nd LoN Field Column has reached the outskirts of Vaskes, will soon be able to launch an attack into the southeastern sections of the embattled Wilno capital. Both commanders make clear that they would prefer to delay an attack until the 25th, but if the overall situation called for it, could make launch spoiling attacks from their respective positions against the Wilno National Defense Battalion positions in Vaskes within several hours.

Major-General Theodosi Petrov Daskalov reviews the reports of his battalion commanders. Colonel Popov is adamant on making one last effort to seize the Wilno redoubt. Grigorov, makes clear his increasingly hazardous position, and makes an urgent request for either reinforcement or premission to make a withdrawl. Ganev for his part makes clear that he can hold where he is but is not fit to make an advance. Maj.General Daskalov, considers ordering the I Battalion/14th Grenadiers forward to assist the I Battalion/13th Grenadiers. Daskalov's Chief-of-Staff Lt.Colonel Petr Georgiev Penev offers the opinion that the 1st Artillery Regiment should be redirected to assist the 20th Artillery in counter-battery fire, their weight of metal will assure the large-scale suppression of the Wilno artillery and infantry threatening the I Battalion/13th Grenadiers.

Major Janek Jowarski, is knocked unconscious when a salvo of 149-mm shells demolishes the bomb-proof that he has set up his temporary headquarters. The J Redoubt is now without an effective commander, the command and communications system has been effectively destroyed, and none of Jowarski's subordinate platoon commanders, those that are still alive, can spare the time - from directing their own sections of the desperate battle - to take charge of the increasingly isolated and diminishing number of Wilno Army defenders. The redoubt itself is being steadily smashed to flinders by the Bulgarian 105-mm and 149-mm weapons of the 1st Bulgarian Artillery Regiment. Two thirds of the entrenchments have been pulverized, replaced with irregular lines of shell craters and collapsed field works. Half the defensive bunkers or weapons pits have been destroyed or wrecked beyond use or practical repair. The Wilno 75-mm continues to blaze periodically and defiantly away at the Bulgarians to the redoubt's front. Although it's fortified position has all but been reduced to rubble, and many of it's gunners are now counted amoung the Wilno redoubt's dead or wounded. Less then a third of the J Redoubt's Wilno defenders remain alive much less unwounded. Ammo is short, medical supplies exhausted and any possibility of reinforcement is practically non-existent. If the J Redoubt is attacked again in force, it will fall.

Quoted

Originally posted by Agent148
October 24th, 1935:
All Bulgarian and German air units launch now! Junker Ju-52 transports, Kaproni KB309s transport-bombers, Junker Ju-87 dive-bombers, Messerschmitt Bf-109, Bf-110 and Focke-Wulf Fw-87 fighters and Focke-Wulf Fw-44 reconnaissance planes powered up, the din of their engines sounded throughout Vilnius, slowly they formed up over the city. Over Heiligenbeil, East Prussia, flights of Dornier Do-17s, formed up and made for the Lithuanian border, Lithuanian fighters appraised of their comming, rose up from various air fields, and formed an escort for them as they approached.

The Bf-110s are attack bombers and strafers here in WW, not fighters: they won't be tasked with escort roles. Most likely bombload for attacking infantry targets is 8 of the 50 kg SC 50 Bi bomb, unless the task is to set fires or attack a hard target, then the load would be 8 50 kg Brand C 50 As (for incendiary work) or 2 250 kg SD250s or SC250s (for hard targets).

Quoted

Originally posted by Agent148
Lieutenant-General Bartold Jasunski was a man rapidly running out of options, and possessed of only limited resources with which to meet the crisis that loomed before him and his army. Lt.Colonel Rufin Gradawski was now as convinced as Maj.General Haller that it was essential to deploy at least some of the guns of the 1st Army Reserve Artillery Battalion, to enable the 1st Field Battalion to destroy or at least reduce the salient that the Bulgarian 13th Grenadiers had driven into the Wilno defensive line. Jasunski and his staff however remained reluctant to deploy the guns due to fear of the greater weight of metal that the Bulgarian field artillery could deploy towards counter-battery fire.

Well, as the Serbs learned in World War One, if you hold back the artillery, you'll lose it without using it. If you have them fight superior artillery, you'll at least have a bit of effects before you lose it. The Bulgarians sent two artillery regiments with the 5th Grenadier Division - 144 guns of 3" and larger - and once all the guns get deployed (from a rereading, only 72 guns are currently in action), then the odds will tip decidedly in the LON's favor. Wilno also has the extreme disadvantage that they've no aerial spotters nor are their ground spotters very close to the League artillery; so Wilno counterbattery will be largely ineffectual. Unlike the reverse...

One of the key roles of the Bulgarian Fw44s and DAR-3s deployed with the contingent is to carry out long-ranged spotting for counterbattery fire, as well as attacking enemy batteries with their light bombs and MGs. Although many of the planes lack radios, they'll drop colored smoke and parachute flares to signal coordinates. The planes equipped with radios instead carry 50-pound bombs and MGs to make their own attacks. It's a good thing for the Wilno rebels that they're not facing the 1939 Bulgarian army, which has new Sturmovik and Dogan ground-attack planes, rather than the Fw-44 of 1935, which are more in line with trainers than actual light bombers...

It seems like General Daskalov has severely misunderstood the quality of the enemy troops he is facing, and also wasted many of his best tactical and strategic advantages, in his haste to drive the rebels from the field. He's attacked with the leading third of his infantry, and has launched a human-wave style attack on a known enemy stronghold, despite having the one Bulgarian division that's trained for Brusilov-inspired stormtroop tactics. It sounds like he's already racked up a considerable number of casualties, so unless he wins and wins big as a result, he's going to face some harsh criticisms for mishandling his troops, possibly to the point of being dismissed to a staff position. This isn't the Great War and he should know better than to reenact it.

Daskalov likely has made the mistake because he thought he was fighting "mere rebels". The Wilno troops have consistently proven themselves to be the equal of regulars in morale and training, if not in equipment. Daskalov has, as I see it, two options: he can likely throw in his full weight in the hope that Wilno morale will be broken (he's only got one regiment engaged at present), or he can pull back and let his artillery rain a few thousand tons of high explosive Smite to reinforce their hopeless situation, while using the infantry to pin the enemy in place. ("Find, Fix, Flank, Finish".)

The way the Wilno's fight is one reason the German 4th & 5th Recon commanders recommended just pinning this force and moving past it: it's not the target of operations, pin it and move on to what IS the target of operations. Instead we're expending ammunition and (worse) manpower on this obstacle. But, either the recommendations didn't make it up the chain of command in time, they weren't understood, or they were ignored, no way to know which.