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Old 08-19-2021, 03:08 AM
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The Vistula to Warta water route.

Next time your PCs are playing through Pirates of the Vistula they might want to know that at Bydgoszcz on the Vistula there's a canal that runs in a dead straight east-west line towards the Notec River. The Notec is a tributary of the Warta which is a tributary of the Oder and at that point they're back in friendly lines (or so they think).

Now, this isn't going to be easy. For a start this looks like a really good supply line for Warsaw Pact units. Bydgoszcz is listed as a devastated ruin (nearly always a campaign in their own right) and is 50km downriver from (ie: they have to go past) the Soviet 22nd Cavalry Army HQ at Torun along with the Soviet 96th Cav. If they somehow get past this impressive force and its widespread reinforcements then they can sneak into Bydgoszcz and see if the canal is still open. Now, Bydgoszcz and the canal is where the Soviet 207th Motorized Rifle Division fell to bits. According to the rules only a few of the components became marauders and the rest seem to have realised the realities of the situation and have just became locals. This makes a good place to transit.

The river continues on east through wild country and then suddenly heads south. During this phase you start to meet Polish units. Now, as there's Polish Free legion activity in this area it might be pretty hostile to say the least as these two powers vie for control with the balance of power being on the Polish People's Army's side. Unfortunately the Notec runs right past Czarnkow where it heads west again and under a town bridge, Czarnkow being the home turf of the 2nd Polish Army HQ! (I told you this might be a supply line . . . ) The 2nd Poles have only their own security units with them but the surrounding region is soaked with Polish units. This might still be doable if the players have evaded any previous pursuit, kept a low profile recently and go hard and don't stop until they're out of the location. However the Poles certainly aren't stupid and if the players are detected at all they'll know a boat can't get off the river and they will go looking for them. However the Notec often has little parallel courses running alongside it on Google Maps and the players can pull some cool cat and mouse stuff here. If they are detected though they're going through the AO of the Polish 17th Cav who will not be happy to see them. However the 17th are light on heavy units and spread thin so once again not getting bogged down might work here.

However, all good things must pass. After this the river runs a west south west course and runs straight into some of the heavier Soviet units in the barrier positions and almost certainly becomes a supply line if it already isn't. The hard part is done though, once through the Polish 17th Cav the way north west to NATO lines is free of known WarPact units and is only a howling desolation of ruins that is the Oder-Warta Valley.

Now, if this is a supply line as I've been talking about it can still be done. Supply lines are not only goodies going forwards but they are also goodies going back, and these might be NATO equipment both large and small and even NATO POWs. A bit of actual river piracy suits most PCs quite well and lying up before storming WarPact vessels for some gripping boarding actions to get resupply might be fun. Actions do get reactions though and if you want to see quick reactions from a unit just interdict its supply line and see what happens. Even if these lines are only token things they are still vital, I'd say a lot of these units that fragment had supply cut off shortly beforehand.
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