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Originally Posted by Legbreaker
I totally disagree. Sending an entire Corps, and entire army really, peicemeal deep into enemy held territory in the hope those enemy units will switch sides after years of conflict is just pure madness.
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I said it was a
Bold Plan, I never claimed it for a Good Plan.
Lots of history is made by over-reaching, or grasping for what looks (in hindsight) to have been ludicrous.
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The only logical aim is that the German III Army was to clear the Baltic coastline of enemy units and secure valuable fishing grounds while also setting up for a drive either southward to encircle Soviet units, or if the situation warrented/allowed, push onwards further east into Russia itself. Either way the ports in northern Poland would be absolutely vital - there's no way the next phase whatever it was could be supported without them.
Any Pact units which did defect would of course be a bonus, but could Nato really trust them? Sure units consist of soldiers from all sorts of nationalities, butyou can bet those from enemy nations would be looked upon with great suspicion. Concentrate those "enemy" nationalities into units and you have the potential for a terrible disaster.
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This is certainly a strong case, yet we have the wily-nilly wanderings of the 5th and 8th Divisions, and the pullback of the III German Corps, leaving US XI Corps out on a limb. I think my version goes a long way to explain these anomalies.
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The only way defecting units could really be used is if "loyal" units were watching over their shoulders 24/7. Leave these defecting units on the front lines, but make sure there a damn strong reserve behind them, just in case...
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Therefore, with political officers embedded within the Polish units constantly spreading the party line, would an entire Nato Army be risked on the possibility of a few beaten up and understrength units defecting...?
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Stranger things have been attempted. IMO, the German III Corps commander seemed to have pulled back awfully far, I would suggest that he is of the same opinion you are, and considered the operation a fool's errand.
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Before answering consider the apparent disparity in forces in the south of Germany/Poland and the ease in which the Pact could have mounted a very effective offensive of their own...
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See, I think the Soviets were concentrating there for their own offensive, whether or not they were counting on NATO over-extending itself to the north. I haven't "solved" for myself the lack of NATO forces in that region, nor the disorganization that I see.