Stuka Ace: Poland Mission 1

Starting my first Campaign and where better than Sep 1939 and the unveiling of Blitzkrieg. The Stuka in its close air support role would come to epitomise lighting war, so lets ride along with them.

This game is meant to be an immersive narrative game, so excuse me if I indulge in a bit of creative flair. After all, they say that everyone has a novel inside them! I'm enjoying delving into the details of some of the campaigns too. While our characters are fictional, everything else will be as historically correct as possible. 

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Name: Leutnant Andreas “Andy” Voss

Date of Birth: 6 June 1918
Place of Birth: Erfurt, Thuringia, Germany
Rank: Leutnant
Unit: Sturzkampfgeschwader 2 “Immelmann”
Aircraft: Ju 87B-1 BERTA Stuka
Nickname: “Der Jüngste” (“The Young One”)

Andreas Voss came of age in the twilight years of the Weimar Republic — a time of poverty, fractured pride, and quiet rearmament. His father had been a medic in the Great War, his older brother Johann joined the Reichswehr infantry in the early 1930s, and as a lanky, sharp-eyed teenager, Andreas dreamed not of trenches, but of flying above them.

He joined the National Socialist Flyers Corps (NSFK) in 1935, where he trained on gliders, and was later funnelled into the expanding Luftwaffe flight schools. He received his wings in 1938, just before the annexation of the Sudetenland, and was transferred to a Ju 87 unit still testing dive-bombing tactics near Breslau. Completing his specialist school training his joined his first operational unit-Sturzkampfgeschwader 2 

He idolizes the older pilots- especially men like his Kette Leader Oberleutnant Karl-Heinz Adler, already a legend in the making after his service in Spain with the Condor Legion. Voss sees the Stuka as the ultimate weapon of precision, and believes that the new, modern German war machine will avoid the horrors of 1914–18.

He also formed a solid bond with his Gunner/radioman Unteroffizier Emil “Milo” Mertens (his nickname comes from Milchkaffee, jokingly given by his comrades for his love of sweetened milk-coffee). The son of a coal miner, his upbringing was shaped by the economic devastation of the 1920s and he enlisted out of necessity. He’s not flashy or overly patriotic, but he’s fiercely loyal. He’s older than Andy by six years, has a dry wit, and a cigarette perpetually tucked behind one ear.

Poland "Fall Weiss" (Case White)

Invasion of Poland: Fall Weiss

Sturzkampfgeschwader 2’s Ju 87 Stukas had been assigned to 1. Flieger-Division of Luftflotte 1, supporting Generaloberst Fedor von Bock’s Heeresgruppe Nord in the initial offensive. Their objective: to smash through the Polish Corridor, link up with 3rd Army in East Prussia, and then drive hard toward Warsaw. With 24 divisions in the field, von Bock’s army would demand near-constant close air support — and the Luftwaffe would be on-call to attack dynamic, fast-shifting targets. High on the list: roads, bridges, harbours, and concentrations of enemy troops or artillery that might hinder the momentum of the Blitzkrieg.

As Leutnant Andreas Voss studied the operations map pinned inside a field tent, his eyes lingered on the marker for XIX. Armee-Korps, commanded by the rising star of armored warfare, General der Panzertruppe Heinz Guderian. Voss had personal stakes in this war: his older brother, Feldwebel Johann Voss, marched with the 2. (Motorisierte) Infanterie-Division, assigned to Guderian’s spearhead. If all went to plan, Johann would be storming across the Polish border in parallel with Andreas’ first mission.

Mission 1: 1st Sep 1939

Voss's first mission was pre-dawn, under a clear, moonlit sky. Lines of Heinkel bombers thundered out ahead of them — en route to hit Polish airbases and landing strips in a bid to wipe out the enemy air force on the ground. But StG 2’s job that morning was different: destroy fortifications along the Army's line of march. Pilots from another StG2 Staffel had been out earlier this morning to raid the Polish town of Wielun, in what was rumoured to be the first attack of the whole Campaign! 

Voss refocused: his Kette's target was a battery of 100mm howitzers dug in near Tczew, threatening a key river crossing that the army needed to use. The guns had to be destroyed.

Takeoff was uneventful and the transit flight was in clear skies with no enemy aircraft in sight. Andreas, tense but focused, stuck tight to his Kettenführer.

Then came the target.

As the formation peeled into its first dive, Andreas’ fingers trembled slightly on the throttle. The sky seemed to explode around him with anti-aircraft fire, dark puffs of shrapnel blossoms reaching up, hungry. The Jericho-Trompete, that unholy mechanical scream attached to his undercarriage, wailed as the Ju 87 shrieked earthward. The G-force crushed into him. The world funnelled into a single point on the ground: the gun emplacement....

And then- Release!

A sudden lightness. Voss yanked the stick back hard, the Stuka groaning under the stress of the pullout. Climbing back into level flight, he twisted in his harness to look—

Direct hit!
A plume of earth and fire where the howitzer had been, and a plume of smoke starting to rise

Target destroyed!

The Stukas reformed in clear skies and turned for home — but below....movement! A column of Polish infantry advancing along the main road, unaware of the threat above.

Adler’s voice crackled through the intercom: "Angreifen! Strafe the column!”

The Stukas peeled away again, now in shallow dives. Andreas lined up neatly and opened fire with his twin wing-mounted MG 17s, sending tracer fire stitching down the road. The Polish infantrymen scattered in panic, diving for ditches and tree lines. A number stumbled and fell, unmoving. The Stukas climbed and left the carnage behind them.

By the time the Kette landed back at the forward strip, the sun was climbing high and Voss was all grins. Oil-smudged ground crew swarmed the aircraft. As he pulled off his flight goggles and gloves, Oblt. Adler approached and slapped him on the back of his leather flight jacket

“You hit it clean, Jüngste,” he said, handing over a flask of schnapps with a rare, approving smile.
As the other pilots came over to congratulate him, Voss thought to himself “I hope my brother’s having as good a morning.”

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First mission but I enjoyed it, despite getting a few things wrong.

Admittedly I had a strong hand of Action Cards so I could really stack up the modifiers to get the direct hit with my single 500kg bomb

5 VPs Awarded 

    Primary Target destroyed: Gun emplacement destroyed: 3

    Target of Opportunity destroyed: Infantry troops: 2

Campaign Total: 5

Note: In generating the campaign I will be flying 7 missions in Poland, representing the intense operational tempo of the Stuka Squadrons which were always in high demand.