Quote:
Originally Posted by Legbreaker
It is my assertion that this is the aftereffects of a very hard and violent push downstream along the Oder, cutting the Third German Army into two sections (the Germans to the west and US to the east). Worn out from the fighting, the commander of that Pact army (can't recall what the units are at the moment) withdrew his forces to rebuild their strength although strong patrols have been maintained to prevent the bridges being rebuilt.
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I do not believe a simple disagreement between XI Corp HQ and Third German Army HQ would be anywhere near sufficient to have the US units remain in Poland. I know people can be stubborn sometimes, but to risk thousands of soldiers lives just on principle?
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I agree with your first paragraph. The second: The CG of XI Corps is looking at an unknown number of Pact horsemen raiding his line of communications, the German III Corps breaking contact with him, blowing the bridges and pulling way back, two of his divisions have been sent far away and out of contact, and his support from the sea has apparently evaporated. Which is more risky: sitting down here while he still has some ammo and AFVs, or trying to march out of this trap?
Re: USS Tarawa-- As far as I'm concerned, she could still take part in OMEGA, but perhaps without any landing craft. As has been said, there aren't ports to receive large ships in the XI Corps zone, so any reinforcement, resupply or evacuation would require landing craft. Which could have been the real casualty of the summer storm that has been touched on here before.