Leading with Tanks - The 3rd Panzer Division on the opening day of the Poland '39 Campaign

I’m playing Wargame Design Studio’s Poland ‘39 and it is a wargame in which some of the scenarios play on quite literally “tank country” (flat open terrain with the ocassional natural barrier in the form of a river or a wooded area). 

In real life, one of the newest formations up to demonstrate the capabilities of the new panzer arm was the 3rd Panzer Division (3rd. Pz.Div.). Equipped quite lavishly for the day, it was not shy of infantry and indirect fire support. The commander of the parent organization XIX Corps, nobody less than Guderian, rode at the front of this division.

What I find very interesting is that the order of march of the 3rd. Pz.Div., with alternating tanks, and reconnaissance with good firepower suggests a bias for what later would become a Kampfgruppe. Please take a look at this passage from the divisional history.

Panzer-Regiment 5 rolled forward on the righthand side of the attack zone, followed closely by the motorcycles of the 2./Kradschützen-Bataillon 3. The battalion’s 3rd Company followed it, leading a Flak battery, the 1st Company of the motorcycle battalion, and the 4th and 5th Batteries of the divisional artillery into sector. Panzer-Regiment 6 was employed on the left-hand side of the attack zone; its 1st Company was on the right, the 2nd Company on the left, and the 4th Company following. The remaining motorcycle elements, the 2nd and 3rd Companies of the divisional engineers, and a light Flak battery followed the tanks. Guderian rode at the front in an SPW among the regiment’s tanks.

Veterans of the 3rd Panzer Division. Armored Bears: Vol.1, The German 3rd Panzer Division in World War II (p. 25). Stackpole Books. Kindle Edition.

The organization of the 3rd. Pz.Div. was as shown in the picture below.

I tried to follow that order of march for playing this scenario, but the thick woods near the line of departure were an obstacle that literally disintegrated my order of march. I can’t complain about the progress my virtual 3rd. Pz.Div. made, but I owe that to the Polish forces which are deployed in such a wide manner.

Cheers,