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Praetorium Honoris

Wednesday, February 2, 2022

To the West

(Source)
Jan had been taken to the next larger town, a town which seemed to be packed with Germans, mostly rear area soldiers, though the occasional combat unit could be seen moving towards the front. Or what had been the front, one of the men guarding him had mentioned that Warsaw had surrendered.

Jan had managed to control his facial expression when he had heard that, but still, it had given him quite a shock to hear that the capital had fallen. He began to wonder what his country's fate would be, especially knowing that many of her soldiers, and her navy he had heard, had gone West, to continue the fight. Apparently no one was going to stay and fight for Poland on Polish ground.

The room he was being held in appeared to have been used for storage prior to the Germans taking over. The room had that feel, but now its contents was a desk, two chairs, and Jan himself. Nothing else.

He heard footsteps approaching, then the door being unlocked. He stood up.

The man who came in smiled at Jan, then said, "Ach, panie Kołodziej, jak się pan miewa?¹"

Jan smiled back and answered, also in Polish, then in German, that he was fine, and why were the Germans holding him here. Jan thought the man was a policeman of some sort, he had that air about him.

Smiling like a politician, the man gestured for Jan to take the chair in front of the desk while he sat behind the desk.

"Sorry I didn't introduce myself before, my name is Benz, Wolfram Benz. So Herr Kołodziej, your papers indicate that you are of Polish nationality and were in the Polish Army, which you claim to have deserted from, is that about right?"

"Yes, that is correct."

"Hhmm, your hometown is Tarnowskie Góry?"

"Herr Benz, where I'm from, we call it Tarnowitz. But yes, in Poland it's known as Tarnowskie Góry."

"Do you consider yourself a Pole, or a German?"

"I consider myself a Silesian. Right now, well until a few weeks ago, Tarnowitz was in Poland. I suppose the Germans will take it back now."

"Yes, yes, I imagine we will." Benz smiled at Jan.

That made Jan nervous. Smiling Germans always made him nervous, but this fellow had an air of menace about him which was palpable.


Jürgen sat with the rest of the squad, waiting for Unteroffizier Hartmann to return. The squad leader had gone off with their platoon leader, Leutnant Kurt Heidenreich, who had been called up to the company command post.

Across the small river valley Jürgen could see Russian soldiers, whose job was apparently to make sure the Germans stayed on their own side of the demarcation line. After years of hearing Hitler shout out his hatred of Communism, it seemed particularly odd that the Reich was now allied to the Soviet Union, though Hartmann had insisted it wasn't an alliance, simply a non-aggression pact.

Jürgen was sure that the Poles didn't see it that way. Hearing footsteps, Jürgen turned around, it was Hartmann.

"What news Uffz?"

"We're marching to the railhead, tonight. Make sure the lads get something to eat, we leave in 30 minutes."

"Where are we headed?" Jürgen wanted to know.

"Back to Germany for all I know. The Führer hasn't taken me into his confidence as of yet, but when I know, you'll know. Get a move on Junge."


Benz looked at Jan for a long moment before saying, "I'm sure that you've guessed by now that I'm a policeman."

Jan simply nodded, he thought momentarily of making a break for the door, it was probably better to be shot while trying to escape than to be taken somewhere for interrogation, probably torture, then death. As he steeled himself, Benz spoke again.

"Fortunately for you, I suppose, the Polish records in Warschau were destroyed by the Luftwaffe. Silly flyboys, why blow up something which could prove useful later on? But a telegram has come in, they can find no records of you, but there are records of your family, well, what is left of them."

Jan waited for the ax to fall, perhaps he could rush this policeman, take his weapon (surely he has one) then escape. Again Benz spoke.

"I'm recommending that you be reclassified as a citizen of the Reich, not Volksdeutsch², but a full fledged German from Silesia. Therefore, you are eligible to be drafted. Oberfeldwebel!" Benz called out to someone outside the office, that man opened the door and stepped in.

"Sir?"

"This is Herr Jan Kołodziej, citizen of the Reich and late of the Polish Army. Please take him to the induction section for transport to his new unit."

"Jawohl, Herr Feldpolizeikommissar!"

Benz extended a hand to Jan, who took it with a hint of hesitation, Benz then said, "Welcome to the Wehrmacht, I'm sure your training in the Polish Army was inadequate, but we'll have you up to speed in no time."

With that Benz got up, nodded to the Army sergeant, and left.

Oberfeldwebel Krantz shook his head and looked at Jan, "Well, come on then, we should get you to the Army before Benz changes his mind. You are one lucky bastard. That one is Geheime Feldpolizei³, they're almost as bad as the SS. He had a fellow in here yesterday who's now on his way to Berlin, said something Benz didn't like. Man even had a German name, not like you."

Jan was unsure of how to respond, so he said nothing.

Kranz nodded, "You're a smart Polack, better to say nothing. Do as you're told and you'll survive, unless someone takes a disliking to that Polish moniker of yours. Sure you don't want to change it? I can do that when we induct you."

Jan simply said, "I will keep the name my father gave me."

Kranz snorted and said, "Alright then, it's your life, maybe your funeral. Let's go."

Jan was puzzled at the Germans' insistence on drafting him and other Poles into their army. He didn't realize that in the few short weeks of the battle for his native land, the Germans had suffered 17,269 killed, 30,300 wounded, and 3,500 missing.

The Germans needed the men, they weren't done yet, Hitler had bigger plans for Europe.



¹ Ah, Mr. Kołodziej, how are you? (Polish)
² Of German origin, typically in a foreign country, but not a German citizen.
³ Secret Field Police, members of the German Army but often acted under the orders of Himmler's SS, especially in Eastern Europe.

34 comments:

  1. Ah yes, "living space"....conquest.. taking what we want.....it never ends and never will. Look now in Eastern Europe.

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  2. Wow. I literally did not see that coming (nor, I suppose, did I know that it happened much). Nice turn of plot, Sarge!

    Those numbers must have been a bit more that what the High Command had expected.

    And yes, life usually goes much more smoothly if one simply keeps one's mouth shut.

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    1. Growing up I was under the impression that the campaign in Poland had been a walkover for the Germans. It was only later in life that I learned that it was not. German casualties were much higher than expected.

      While it's true that the squeaky wheel gets the grease, it's also true that the nail which sticks up is the one which gets hammered back down. Knowing when to be the former or the latter is kind of important.

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    2. The Germans were especially surprised that their vaunted panzers faired so poorly at the hands of the Polish tankettes. One wonders why, after post-battle analysis, they didn't freak out and enter into a crash upgrade program much more upgraded than they did.

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    3. (Don McCollor)...Several reasons for lack of tank upgrades. First, they had to fight with what they had now. Then upgrades would take time and interfere with the current panzer production. And the war was expected to be over very soon, and upgrades could be done at leisure...

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    4. Like Rumsfeld said, you go to war with the army you've got, not the army you need.

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  3. Well now we know how Jan came to be in the bunker in Normandy. Quite a few years in the interim for him, Jurgen and the others.
    Pretty ambitious, Sarge; count me in for the ride!
    Boat Guy

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    1. When I had Jan switch from the Wehrmacht to the British Army I thought that a bit of a stretch, in my research for him getting from the Polish Army to the Wehrmacht, I discovered that it was far more common than I had assumed. A number of Poles serving in the Polish forces in the West (under British command) had been members of the Deutsches Afrika Korps before being captured in North Africa and eventually joining up to fight the Germans. Those guys (many of them at any rate) were still proud of their service under Rommel. The things I learn!

      Glad you're enjoying the ride!

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    2. Then there's that Korean guy who was forcibly joined to the Imperial Japanese Army, captured by the Soviets, impressed into their army, captured by the Germans, impressed into their army and sent to Normandy, where he was captured by our army.

      A long strange road he travelled.

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    3. Try and find a copy of My Way, a Korean film (2011) about that very story. It's pretty good.

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  4. Well, Jan's alive. Better in the tender hands of the Nazis than in the brutal hands of the Soviets. So far.

    Will you be touching on the brutal handling of anyone smart or high-ranked by the Soviets? You mentioned it in passing a few days ago.

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    1. I might cover that, but not right away.

      Sneak preview: Jürgen and Jan will be spending time on the Eastern Front.

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  5. …the Germans had suffered 17,269 killed

    Pardon my point of view, but I find myself wishing that there was a zero on the right-hand side of my number.

    The war still feels personal to me, it has ever since reading Mila 18 ended my childhood innocence about the war.

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    1. Oh, I very much understand, might have ended the war right then and there. Unfortunately millions more had to die before it ended.

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  6. A German friend of mine told me that Geheime, while usually translated as " secret ", can also be translated as " private ". To me, the party in power having a private police force, is an even scarier that the idea of a secret police.

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    1. True, but in the case of the GFP, it meant secret. They did a lot of undercover and plainclothes work.

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    2. You mean like our "Capitol Police"?
      Boat Guy

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  7. By the way, did you ever get a chance to see The Forgotten Battle on Netflix? Maybe we already talked about it though. CRS.

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  8. Germans did immediately switch the goals of production to panzer III and panzer IV, both uparmored... but took time to wind down lighter tanks production, when you have a factory geared towards one type, there is pressure to make most of it. Thats why chassis like panzer II and pz 38t were used later to produce things like wespe and hetzer...
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_armored_fighting_vehicle_production_during_World_War_II#Total_production
    https://www.politico.com/news/2022/02/02/biden-troops-europe-ukraine-tensions-00004630 meanwhile in our own time, nice move by US. While it might not be enough to save Ukraine - it could just prevent the conflict from spilling over...
    Next step, prepare to invest in and deploy into theater nuclear deterrence.
    TLAM is basically off-the shelf solution just put warhead on it and produce mobile launch units.

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    1. https://www.defensenews.com/global/europe/2022/02/02/poland-to-send-air-defense-weapons-ammo-drones-to-ukraine/ also some support to Ukraine from my own country...

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    2. Paweł #1 - I'm not so sure it's a good move, look weak, then throw troops at the problem. Russia isn't fooled. If they're there to defend Poland, then I'm all for it, getting involved in Ukraine is not a good idea. Moving nuclear weapons in is a hideously bad idea.

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    3. Paweł #2 - This whole situation plays to Putin's strength, and highlights Biden's inherent incompetence and the stupidity of his advisors. They are all dilettantes, not particularly bright ones at that.

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    4. Just to cheer you up, some ISIS bigwig blew himself (and some civilians sadly) up rather than facing US troops in Syria today.
      I am pretty sure there are at least some decent military advisors in the administration.
      There is much more options than giving up nad getting into straight war with Russia...
      give Ukrainians weapons, primarily anti-air and antitank to blunt Russias offensiove edges
      maybe some antiship missiles to counteract Black Sea fleet
      and if things go south make Russian occupation forces lives hell by supporting guerillas from Poland :)
      reinforce present allies, in other news France sends trops to Romania
      (which is quite telling since usually France was trying to woo Russia...)
      Tactical nukes are a must because Russians are deploying lots of them in all forms and US has only 100 or so gravity bombs in Europe. Time to do Reagan thing and deploy own in kind just like GLCM and Pershing II in 1980..

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    5. Just to be clear, the use of nuclear weapons will be the destruction of all of eastern Europe, perhaps even most of the civilized world. This is a vastly different world than 1980.

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    6. This is a vastly different world than 1980.


      Putin didnt get the memo...

      https://www.realcleardefense.com/articles/2022/02/02/america_isnt_ready_for_russias_battlefield_nuclear_weapons_814821.html

      So far official Russia doctrine was grab land, and in the face of counterattack nuke a battalion or brigade in the countryside to show resolve and force talks.
      And nothing prevents use of nukes better than deterrence.

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    7. Don't believe everything you read on the web, things are not clear. That website isn't the source of all truth, far from it.

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  9. "...take his weapon (surely he has one) than escape. " 'Twould seem more seemly to have "then" escaped than to have not. (chuckle)

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    1. One of those sentences that began in one way, switched thoughts in midstream, didn't quite clean up all of the words. I think faster than I type. (I'll be thinking one thing, then switch, fingers couldn't keep up.)

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Just be polite... that's all I ask. (For Buck)
Can't be nice, go somewhere else...

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