Quote:
Originally Posted by Adm.Lee
When the 4th GTA blasted the 5th Division and some Polish units rallied to fight back at the Germans, it all fell apart. The German III Corps and/or Third Army commanders felt it was some kind of trap, and acted to keep their own forces and territory from falling into it. If there were rumors of the "Red Bear" Chelkov behind it, that could certainly have reinforced it.
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I'm not sure if it was mentioned in that thread or another that there's some evidence that points towards a possible Pact offensive being slated for around the same time. I think it was proposed that the Nato offensive kicked off first causing the Pact to rapidly revise their plans and instead of striking directly westward into souther Germany, push up north to cut off XI Corp. The Germans were able to back out quickly enough - the US and Canadians were already too deep into Poland.
It's the Germans who would have been responsible for providing flank protection and perhaps press south once XI Corp had a defendable line along the Vistula (or thereabouts).
As the Admiral says, potentially a war winner, but one that rapidly turned sour with the appearance of the 4th GTA and counterattack near the German/Poland border.