How to Defend as Poland

[MrMaximgun]

Hey, I am having a few problems defending as Poland against Germany, They just have too many divisions. I use my own division composition for infantry, I have 70 fully equipped divisions when the Germans attack in 39. I also go with the Grand Battleplan Doctrine because I get +10 to entrenchment with it, By the time the germans attack My entrenchment bonus is up to 57%, but even that is still not enough. Are there any ideas you guys know that can help me? Also, I ignore air force, but build AA guns (for my infantry divisions) instead, is that a bad idea?

[Latofel]

The best "defence" for Poland is going on the offence early before Germany can build up. If this isn't the route you want to take. I would recommend invading the czechs and using there factories to help you build up enough forces to match the Germans. If you are able to hold out for 2-3 months the ai will fizzil out and split there forces to fight France/UK which should join on your side.

(You could also go Commie and join the USSR which would make steamrolling Germany in 1939 very easy)

[MrMaximgun]

See, that's not the problem, I can hold them off for the three months, but france and england aren't worth anything, and when hungary and romania tend to join germany, it doesn't end well. I just can't manage holding off germany for more than a year, especially when you throw in 100 romanian divisions, and another 100 hungarian divisions. Sigh, maybe I'm just saying this because of hte way the last playthrough went

[Včelí medvídek]

Originally posted by MrMaximgun:

Hey, I am having a few problems defending as Poland against Germany, They just have too many divisions. I use my own division composition for infantry, I have 70 fully equipped divisions when the Germans attack in 39. I also go with the Grand Battleplan Doctrine because I get +10 to entrenchment with it, By the time the germans attack My entrenchment bonus is up to 57%, but even that is still not enough. Are there any ideas you guys know that can help me? Also, I ignore air force, but build AA guns (for my infantry divisions) instead, is that a bad idea?

Honestly go to war with Germany at 39 as regular Allies member is real challenge and very likely even if you manage to be at pair with them, you will be attacked by Soviet union in some 1940-41 and that will be end (unless you defeat Germany yoursel till that - probably not impossible but bit tricky and challanging)


As "easy" way I recall my playtrhough for Bearer of artillery achievement - at that I conquered Romania and formed Baltic alliance (Czechs seems be better option and it would hurt Gemany way more but I struggled there a bit in first tries and not managed finish it prior Munich agreement where is nice part lost to Germany, so decided to go for Romania rather in next games). Gived up Danzig to Germany at time they requested (as they dotn ahve other claim on you you should be safe safe from Axis from this point) and waged full war against Soviet union and conquered it as well - with soviet lands in my hand I just turned back to west on germany (actually joined allies at the end but you dont need to) moped them with Italy very fast and finalized Jpan after all.

To question to AA - I suggest ignore guns as well )actually I believe for infantry it is very weak option anyway, AA guns in provinces do their job over time though). YOu simply dont have industry capacities and resources for air combat and better ground units benefit you more (and once you can afford it, it is late to be so improtant anyway - but it is good start produce fighters for air superiority bonuses if ntohing else) -you ahve huge manpower at your disposal and very nice focuses for it - so use it, proper leg infantry divisions with towed artillery is still very viable option against soviets and especially if you start war soon enough (you should manage to ahve about 60 fully equiped infantry divisions by some 1938/1939 which si good start long before soviets recovery from purges and stabilize their underdeveloped production (which 2 facts make them esier target than germany is even as numbers of divisions can mislead you) - you will also receive lot of expedition forces before war between Germany and France/allies trigger (from most fascist countries in the world), which help you fill some gaps on frontline - but continue produce - I eneded war on east with some 200+ infantry divisions and one of largest airforce in the world:-)

[zacharyb]

It's a lot of micromanagement, a good amount of luck, and a bit of skill and knowledge.

The times i've survived as Poland, I pulled all my forces back behind the Warta River, Vistula River, and the Bug River. The nice thing is that the Warta and the Vistula Rivers leave very little room in between them that doesn't have a river, which means that a large amount of your force will have the river as a defensive bonus, and makes it a lot harder for Germany to be able to get over the river.

Basically from Lodz to Warsaw to Krakow, that "triangle" is what you defend, but you align your troops along the inside of the rivers. It's a smallish pocket, I think it only takes around 30 troops or so to completely cover it all the way around. I split my military into 3 groups of 10, each defending certain sections of it with the fallback line, that way your units are staying in their general area and will reinforce if needed, obviously you still need to pay attention, but if you do it this way the AI isn't being a complete idiot and sending units around like crazy.

Now with the Bug River you do the same thing, and connect them at the bottom from Lvov to part of the Vistula River to the east of Krakow. To cover this part you need around 20 or so divisions, which I also split into 2 groups of 10 defending different points. But depending on the circumstances, you might just need to abandon the Bug River, and only focus on the Triangle. The Triangle area has enough victory points that you won't capitulate as long as you have Warsaw and Krakow.

With this plan you do abandon most of Poland, but luckily the Triangle area has a large amount of Polands industry, and enough room to get some more factories too. I also build forts around the Rivers making up the Triangle, first building a few lairs of defenses on the parts that don't have a river, and then a few lairs in the cities, and eventually a few lairs all around the Triangle Rivers.

If I remember correctly my division composition was, 7 Infantry and 2 Artillery, with Entrenching Tools, Scouts, Hospitals, and Maintenance Units. I used the Superior Firepower Doctrine, because while the Grand Battleplan Doctrine is nice for the Entrenchment, it's really meant for the offensive, and you won't be doing much of that for a large amount of the game.

After building my defensive armies, I would make 2 groups of 5 divisions, that I would send to areas that needed some help, while also using nearby forces if I could spare them.I would also use the spare divisions to counter attack, and also use them to try to surround enemy divisions to destroy.

I only researched Infantry, Support, Artillery, Doctrine, Electronics, and Industry tech, and didn't bother with Naval or Air technologies. Also a good Idea to delete your starting navy, since it won't help you, and that gives you some more manpower.

Eventually after I built up enough divisions where I felt comfortable enough to not need anymore on the defensive line, i'd go on the offensive and take back the territory to the east, while also trying to cut off the armies to the east by taking the Slovakian mountain areas.

It's not a perfect strategy, but it's worked multiple times for me. The most important things to remember are to use the terrain to your advantage, that you make sure you are paying attention to your units and making sure your line is stable, and that you will have to abandon parts of Poland to survive.

Hopefully what I said will help you survive, and if not then at least give you some ideas to help you win.