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2.9: Day Five & Six - Invasion of Poland
The Soviet leadership was furious with Carter for his attack on Soviet actions the previous day, which was in clear and blatant breech of their agreement. They immediately ordered a massive Anti-American propaganda campaign which would be built around the various 'peace' groups springing up everywhere which were mostly communist infiltrated or dominated. However, they did realize that Carter had criticized them only to placate his domestic critics who were causing him so much trouble. On the whole the forgot about the incident and concentrated on the task at hand, namely the suppression on the Polish 'counterrevolution.'
Fig. 4. Invasion!By the end of the 4th Day the Polish National Army's two divisions had been badly chewed up by the 7th Guards and were falling back towards Gdansk (indeed at midnight on the 4th elements of the 412th Guards Motor Rifle caught sight of the city). Most Soviet planners anticipated that they would take the city within 24 hours, and if they did so they would bring a premature end to the Polish evacuation. However, they hadn't counted on the introduction of fresh Polish troops.
The 5th Tank Brigade had, as a ruse, been ordered by the Polish government to remain at their bases at Plock and fly the Communist flag pretending to be an anti-government unit. With pro-government units everywhere the KGB troops sent to watch them had passed them over for later examination. This error allowed them to, when ordered early on the 5th, to attempt to cut the supply lines between Warsaw and the 7th Guards advancing on Gdansk. It was a heroic, but ultimately futile effort. The Soviets quickly counterattacked and drove them off, but it did provide a valuable daylong delay.
With the end of their counterattack, and with Soviet artillery bombarding Gdansk, the Polish National Army sent out representative so enter into negotiations. The Soviets didn't want to negotiate, they demanded unconditional surrender. Looking around into the cold, unnoticing world, the Polish, after a few brief months, surrendered their freedom one again.
The nation wept, but few outside wept for it as another fleeting effort at Polish independence passed into the night.
