“On the eighth day of the war, the 7th Brigade approached the small town of Braniewo at night. The 9th Armoured Cavalry Brigade and the 20th Mechanised Brigade made convergent attacks on Kaliningrad, in the second wave the 7th Brigade and the American Brigade from the 4th Division followed, followed by two brigades of the “Niemen” Division. Already in the evening of the first day of the attack, the Polish Army entered Kaliningrad, located 45 kilometers from the Polish border, and at night went north to take control of the naval port of Baltiysk.
Further south and east – the 12th Division lost the major city of Suwałki and took up positions to the west of the city. Based in Augustów, Polish mechanized brigades 12 and 2, supported by territorial defence forces, defended the city and the transition to Białystok and the area north of the Narew river. Under the cover of night, the 34th Tank Brigade, marching through Białystok and Raczki, passed from the Belarusian front to Gołdap. From there it rolled into the enclave, capturing Gusev. But already following her, the American brigade of the 4th Division, leaving Raczki, encountered and came under attack from the entire Russian 4th Armoured Division. As a result, there was a meeting engagement near Raczki at a crossing of the winding Rospuda river. 100 Abrams M1A3 tanks clashed with the new T14 Armata and T-90 tanks, suffering great losses. The battle took place on both sides of the S61 highway, where there are no limitations of the horizon and great conditions for dynamic tank combat, forest cover being rare and the terrain slightly undulating. The fight was underway for bridges on the Rospuda, which the Russians wanted to capture, when from the right came a flanking movement of the entire Polish attack on Gusev in the Kaliningrad Oblast. From here there was a great tank battle. The former Palace of the Pac family in Raczki and two bridges changed hands several times. The Rospuda protected the right wing of the Polish army’s movement to seize Kaliningrad, so it had to be defended at all costs. After a few hours, the 10th Armoured Cavalry Brigade, following the Americans, also entered the fight, when after reaching outskirts of Raczki and crossing the bridges on the Rospuda they made a full head on assault on Suwałki, pushing north the Russian 4th Armoured Division, that after sustaining heavy losses retreated towards Lithuania via Szypliszki. Several hundred tanks took part in the Battle of Raczki-on-the-Rospuda on both sides and it was the largest tank battle in Europe after World War II.
This is how I described – in the book “Poland Between Land and Sea. On War and Peace” – a hypothetical tank battle in early autumn 2027 for the crossing of the Rospuda river in the small town of Raczki on the way to the famed Suwałki Gap at the NATO vulnerable Eastern Flank.
This happened for a reason.
Raczki is located between Suwałki and Augustów, between the Biebrza vast swamps and the Augustów Primeval Forest on the way to the Suwałki Gap on the Rospuda River flowing through a narrow, heavily wooded riverbed. Therefore, it is extremely difficult to cross without regular bridges and road departures. Actually, there is no way to quickly prepare a pontoon bridge for heavier equipment. At the same time, Raczki blocks the approach deep into Poland, and further movement in the opposite direction to the Suwałki Gap, Baltic States and northward to Kaliningrad District. Only the town of Bakałarzewo northwest of Raczki can perform a similar function, although not the same. Both are bolting places in the event of war with Russia to control the Suwałki Gap.
For this very reason, the Polish Army and NATO troops should constantly exercise maneuver and actions in the vicinity of Raczki and Rospuda so as to know the regularity of the terrain virtually by heart. I hope that the large NATO and American ‘Defender 2020’ exercise announced for spring 2020 will assume a crossing of the Rospuda river in the vicinity of Raczki to see how the terrain “works” on real maneuver formations.
There are three bridges around Raczki: one wooden, near the famous Pac Palace, well known to tourists who enjoy the leisure time in this wonderful part of Poland. Light Russian forces could get through the forest leading to the Pac palace and to the rear of the positions of Polish troops (but this approach is suitable only for light infantry and special forces).
A more important place is the second, powerful bridge – where probably the Polish Army would defend the Raczki front along the Rospuda against Russian penetration from the Suwałki Gap on Suwałki itself on the most convenient route for the Russians – the S61 expressway, which has four lanes.
In addition, there is an older, smaller, but concrete bridge in Raczki itself along with the communication system of the approach to the river valley.
The layout of the river, its afforestation, the river valley as well as the terrain and communication system behind the Rospuda mean that any defence of the Raczki crossings must take place in the foreground of the river from the direction of Suwałki. Also in order to preserve maneuvering and offensive initiative and reaction time on the Gap by the Polish Army. Defence on the extended foreground would resemble the former bastion or fort defence using numerous coppices, trenches and channelings of enemy movement on the flanks and the numerous elevation points of the terrain.
Extended defence would probably go deep into the foreground in front of the river using convenient firing positions on this northern side of the river. At the same time, the channeled movement of the enemy would have to be directed towards three bridges located very close to each other, so that Polish defence could be solidly prepared in advance and, by the way, be a maneuvering defence, or in other words – an active German-style defence from the second phase of World War II when Germans professionally were employing maneuvering tank reserves to react to the situation on the frontline. In the foreground of Raczki, a “perpendicular” road connecting all the bridge crossings along the forward defensive line in front of the river would provide an ideal staging area for maneuvering the tank reserves.
In the rear hinterland in Raczki itself, behind the river, under the cover of buildings and trees, mortar and artillery stands and command centers could be placed controlling the extended forward positions in front of the river, which pulls slightly up the hill.
As a rule, the area around Raczek is open and slightly undulating, perfect for tanks with a view range of several kilometres withing the line of sight. And with several dominant points, e.g. the wedding house or viaducts built by the expressway for the movement of animals, which in the meantime have become overgrown with bushes and tower over the surroundings, constituting a great firing point overseeing traffic on all bridges.
It is easy therefore to prepare a defence projecting deep inside with infantry protecting Polish flanks on a forced, narrow front. Care should be taken not to be flanked, e.g. from the wooden bridge by foot with Kornet ATGMs in the wooded area at the approach to the largest bridge, where the main Polish tank rearguard will probably be stationed. Tactical drones on the approaches reporting on the Russian maneuver will play an important role, and Polish defence positions will be subject to Russian UAV viewing on the other hand. The fight for a situational awareness system at the tactical level will be of great importance here on such a strongly “narrowed” front.
It is worth seeing with your own eyes what this all looks like on the ground. It is just a 3 hours’ drive from Warsaw.
There are places less and more important in the world and in the Intermarium. A small town of Raczki on the Rospuda river is very important.
Autor
Jacek Bartosiak
CEO and Founder of Strategy&Future, author of bestselling books.
Strategy&Future
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