Where are the Polish "Marines"?
 

Raellus 07-25-2008, 04:08 PM My copy of Osprey's Warsaw Pact Ground Forces (c. 1987) lists a Polish 7th "Lusation" Naval Assault Division (and army unit) but I can't find any mention of it in the v1.0 T2K canon history or any of the OOBs. It's supposed to be attached to the Pomeranian MD/II HQ in Bydgoszcz in north-western Poland.


I would assume that such a unit would be operating somewhere along or near the Baltic coast.


Was it wiped out? If so, when and where?


Is it stranded in China? Norway?


What am I missing? Where are the Polish "Marines"?

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kato13 07-25-2008, 05:12 PM From "Soviet Combat Vehicle Guide" GDW TM2004 (V2)


Page 81


7th "Lusatian" Marine (Naval Assault) Division


This division was held in reserve throughout most of the war in anticipation of an opportunity for an amphibious landing in the Baltic. In 1998 it was comitted to the front lines as infantry and has fought there ever since.


Subordination: 2nd Polish Army

Current Location: Walcz, Poland

Manpower: 600

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Raellus 07-25-2008, 10:44 PM Thanks. I have the v1 Soviet Vehicle Guide and the division aint in there.

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Matt Wiser 07-26-2008, 08:10 PM Raellus, check the V1 Ref's guide on p. 28. It shows the Polish 7th MarDiv in the location Kato gave, with the unit subordinate to 2nd Polish Army. The V1 Soviet Vehicle Guide only treated the Soviet Army, not the NSWP countries.

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I think the Polish Marines are also mentioned in a Challenge magazine article about Loot on the Baltic coast

"The Baltic coast: a looter's guide for Twilight:2000" has the division HQ "just south of Gdynia, where it maintains a strength of 350, co-located with the 2nd Naval Infantry Battalion." 2nd NIB is strength 190, mentioned elsewhere.

I wish the developers had made more use of the Polish Marines. They are somewhat less run-of-the-mill than your basic Motor Rifles unit and they could add a little flavor to Poland-based campaigns. I guess they saw a lot of fighting and got chewed up pretty badly. I also wish the developers put their last known location closer to the Baltic coast. I suppose, however, that I could use my GM powers to "fix" this more to my liking.

They'd still be useful with their specialist training anywhere near major rivers or even lakes. And my understanding is that parts of Poland have a whole lot of lakes.

A look at the books place almost all of the Polish forces in the north west of Poland leaving the south almost totally "defended" (aka occupied) by the Soviets.
There's not a lot of decent ports along the coast west of Gdansk, but one of the Challenge mags does put some (very undermanned) naval assets at Gdynia. The blurb for the 7th "Lusatian" Marine (Naval Assault) Division seems to imply the Pact didn't carry out any significant amphibious operations, at least in the Baltic anyway.
My guess is the loss of most of the Pact navy in the first year of combat put a bit of a crimp on possibilities for amphibious actions.