Stuka Ace: Poland Mission 5

Mission 5 — Infantry Positions, Siege of Warsaw

18 September 1939 – "No More Retreats"

Two days had passed since the Soviets crossed Poland’s eastern frontier, sealing the country’s fate. Andreas wasn't sure yet how he felt about his nation's new allies.Now, the Wehrmacht had tightened its grip on the western side of the Vistula. Only Warsaw held out this side of the Vistula River. A defiant island of resistance amidst the collapse.

Leutnant Voss, now Kettenführer, stood at the map board that morning with two other pilots under his command — Langer and Dietz. Both were young. One too quiet, the other too eager.

Oblt. Adler had laid it out in his usual clipped tone.
“Target: infantry emplacements dug in on the western perimeter of Warsaw. They’re holding up the final link in our encirclement. Hit them and keep moving. No loitering — the flak around Warsaw is thick, and it’s getting thicker.”

Voss nodded, silent. Inside, he felt the gnawing unease of the added burden — not just to fly and kill, but to lead. He didn’t say it out loud, but he wasn't sleeping much.

All set for my 1st sortie as Kettenfuhrer

They lifted off midmorning under a sharp, high sky, white streaks of cloud like bayonets overhead. The Kette climbed steadily, Jumo 211S engines purring in sync.

But twenty minutes into the flight, Voss felt it creeping in: a prickling sensation of doubt. The terrain below looked unfamiliar. His map didn’t match what his eyes saw. He tapped the compass. Rechecked his landmarks.

"Milo", he radioed back on the internal intercom, “Confirm heading. I think we’ve overshot—”

“Negative,” came the reply after a moment. “Right on course. That’s the city outskirts up ahead.”

Voss exhaled. Not lost. Just nerves.

But the formation was ragged. Dietz was drifting out of position and Langer had crept too far forward. Voss clicked his transmitter — short, sharp instructions. Hands steady. Eyes darting. It took two more minutes to tighten them up into proper spacing. He was sweating more than usual.

Get it together, Andreas.

The flak started as they neared the front lines — black bursts over rooftops, probing and hungry. Below, the Polish lines zigzagged through the fields: foxholes, trenches, and machine gun nests.

“Second Kette — attack pattern. Four fifties on the first pass. Follow me in.”

He nosed down into the dive.

A scream as the jericho trumpets sprang to life, old friends now, and the ground rushed up. He thumbed the release and watched the four 50kg bombs fall in sequence. One, two, three, four — stitched across the infantry line like a row of punctuation marks.

Impact. Earth and bodies flung upward. Craters tore through the defenses.

Langer and Dietz followed in turn — their own bomb lines bracketing the enemy. Smoke began to rise from the Polish position, and some of the tracer fire ceased.

That’ll do.

Climbing back into formation, Voss took a long look back toward the burning stretch of field.

The flight home was smooth. Uneventful. The chatter on the radio relaxed. No one shot at them.

Back at the strip, as the crews clambered out, Dietz gave a quick thumbs-up.

Voss returned it, slower — but it was real.

Maybe, he thought, I can do this after all.

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Game notes: 

First sortie as Kettenfuhrer so had to learn a few new rules for managing formations. Liked the additional decision points.

Inbound leg events: Navigation Check, which I only just passed. And a loss of formation, which required me to burn a card to get back into Vic formation to optimise the strike

Strike: I got a target destroyed outcome and so did my formation only damaged it, gaining me bonus VPs.