Werwolf: Insurgency in Occupied Germany, 1945-1948 from Legion Wargames – Event Card Spoilers with Designers Clint Warren-Davey and Ben Fiene – #85 Polish Peoples’ Republic

Date: July 13, 2023Author: Grant 20 Comments

Last year, we were contacted by our good friend Randy Lein from Legion Wargames about a new project called Werwolf: Insurgency in Occupied Germany, 1945-1948, which is a COIN Series inspired multi-faction game taking a look at a what if situation at the end of World War II with various possible insurgencies. He asked if we would be interested in doing some coverage through an interview and possibly some other mediums, such as our Event Card Spoilers format that we have used in other games, and we were immediately intrigued by the concept and the fact that the game uses some of the elements of one of our favorite series. I have been in communication with one of the designers Clint Warren-Davey since that time and he has shared lots of information with me, including the rules and some of their background work on this one, and I wanted to make sure we gave it some light to give you a chance to understand what the game is so that you can make an informed decision about whether you plan to order this one or not. Clint has been great to work with and has agreed to write a series of short articles on the Event Cards and their basis in history as well as how they are used in the game.

If you are interested in ordering Werwolf: Insurgency in Occupied Germany, 1945-1948, you can pre-order a copy for $72.00 from the Legion Wargames website at the following link: https://www.legionwargames.com/legion_WER.html

#85 Polish Peoples’ Republic

The story of Poland in World War Two and its aftermath is unimaginable tragedy and a testament to the Polish character. Invaded by both Germany and the Soviet Union, the Poles fought a guerrilla war against their occupiers with the hopes of achieving an independent nation when the shooting finally stopped. Despite plans for an airborne drop into Warsaw led by General Stanisław Franciszek Sosabowski, Poland was largely abandoned by the West and continued to be occupied by the Red Army after 1945.

The People’s Republic of Poland was the communist regime installed by the Soviets in 1947. A founding member of the Warsaw Pact and cornerstone of the Eastern Bloc, communist Poland was very clearly a Soviet satellite state and subservient to Moscow. The LWP (Polish People’s Army) was the military of the People’s Republic, largely staffed with Soviet officers due to Poland’s officer corps being wiped out in the Katyn massacre of 1940. In the game, the LWP can deploy to Germany to aid the Soviets in their counter-insurgency efforts. It is represented as a substantial force with some Heavy Equipment and will occupy Bundesland-Sachsen, an eastern province of Germany adjacent to Poland, and shift it directly to passive Soviet loyalty. This is very handy if Werwolf or Edelweiss have managed to sneak in there and use terror.

The bottom option of the card hurts the Soviets, and therefore might be chosen by the Allies or one of the insurgent factions. The “Cursed Soldiers” were the remnants of the Polish Home Army, combined with other anti-communist paramilitaries, whose name comes from the sheer hopelessness of their mission. As well as leading an insurgency against the Germans from 1939 to 1945, pockets of these Cursed Soldiers continued to resist the Soviet occupation from 1945 until as late as 1963. This makes the Polish insurgency perhaps the longest in history and shows an incredible devotion to national independence amidst insurmountable odds. Supported by most of the Polish population, they operated from the forests and made frequent raids on NKVD headquarters and prisons to free their comrades. The insurgency was dealt a fatal blow in 1947 when the Soviets lured in the leadership of the Cursed Soldiers with false amnesty and then had them all executed. Nonetheless, they proved to be a major headache for the occupiers and it required a substantial commitment of forces to pacify the country.