Reconstruction of the Battle of Lowicz (September 1939) – PHOTO ESSAY (high volume)

Oct. 14, 2007 | lizol

[lizol]

Reconstruction of the Battle of Lowicz (part of the Battle of Bzura- September 1939) – PHOTO ESSAY (high volume)

The event took place today on October 13-14, 2007, in my hometown Lowicz (Poland).

Excellent thing to watch.

But what a happy generation of Poles we are today, that we can go to see “war” right after the lunch, to come back home for a cup of hot tea, or coffee. Not like our grandparents, or parents, who had to go through it in real.

I hope you’ll enjoy the pictures.

And here you have some more information about the battle itself.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Bzura

Day 1 (First attack by the the Germans and bombing of the town)

[lizol]

Day 2 (counter-attack of the Polish Army)

[lizol]

And after the “the battle”

[lizol]

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[lizol]

And these are original pictures of Lowicz in Septeber 1939

[lizol]

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[indcons]

Excellent post....definitely ping worthy. Thanks for the heads up, lizol.

[indcons]

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[MNJohnnie]

Great pictures. Thanks for posting them

[BenLurkin]

Great pics. Thanks for posting.

[BenLurkin]

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[ishabibble]

Great job, lizol! God bless the Poles for remembering. The other countries seem to have forgotten everything.

[Max in Utah]

Shame makes you want to forget. Stout-hearted Poles however can remember.

[ishabibble]

The entire events seems like it was pretty amazing. The uniforms and vehicles are incredible. Thank God that the Poles and some other countries haven’t fallen victim to the amnesia that permeates the EU.

[trimom]

I remember reading - I no longer recall the source - about the Poles riding horses into battle against Nazi tanks. Courage was no stranger to them. Another fine example of that “last true measure of devotion”.

[lizol]

I remember reading - I no longer recall the source - about the Poles riding horses into battle against Nazi tanks.

Actually such thing has never happened. It's a reminiscent of a Nazi propaganda.

The Battle of Krojanty

During the action the Polish cavalry units met a large group of German infantry resting in the woods near Krojanty. Colonel Mastalerz decided to take the enemy by surprise and immediately ordered a cavalry charge, a tactic the Polish cavalry did not use as their main weapon.

The charge was successful: the German infantry unit was dispersed, and the Poles occupied the woods. Moreover, the German advance was stopped for enough time to allow the withdrawal of Polish 1st Rifle battalion and National Defence battalion Czersk from the area of Chojnice (see Battle of Chojnice). However, the sounds of the battle notified the crews of the APCs stationed nearby, and soon the Polish unit came under heavy machine gun fire.

According to Heinz Guderian's memoirs, the Polish cavalry charge impressed the Germans and caused a widespread panic among the soldiers and the staff of German 20th Motorised Infantry Division, which delayed their offensive and forced them to consider a tactical retreat. This was however prevented by personal intervention of Gen. Guderian.

Aftermath and the myth

The Polish cavalry charge stopped the German pursuit and the units of Czersk Operational Group were able to withdraw southwards unopposed. Also, it took the enemy several hours to reorganise and continue the advance. On September 2, 1939, the 18th Pomeranian Uhlans Regiment was decorated by Gen. Grzmot-Skotnicki, the commander of the Operational Group, with his own Virtuti Militari medal for valour shown in this combat.

The same day the German war correspondents were brought to the battlefield together with two journalists from Italy. They were shown the battlefield, the corpses of Polish cavalrymen and their horses, as well as German tanks that had arrived at the place after the battle. One of the Italian correspondents sent home an article, in which he described the bravery and heroism of Polish soldiers, who charged German tanks with sabres and lances. Although such a charge did not happen and there were no tanks used during the combat, the myth was used by German propaganda during the war. After the end of World War II it was still used by Soviet propaganda as an example of stupidity of pre-war Polish commanders, who allegedly did not prepare their country for the war and instead wasted the blood of their soldiers.

According to George Parada in Invasion of Poland (Fall Weiss): "Contrary to German propaganda, Polish cavalry brigades never charged tanks with their sabres or lances as they were equipped with anti-tank weapons such as 37 mm Bofors wz.36 (exported to UK as Ordnance Q.F. 37 mm Mk I) antitank guns, that could penetrate 26 mm of armour at 600 m at 30 degrees. The cavalry brigades were in the process of being reorganized into motorized brigades". Another weapon was anti-tank rifle model 1935 (karabin przeciwpancerny wz. 35). Its calibre was 7.92 mm and it could penetrate 15 mm of armour at 300 m at 30 degrees.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Krojanty#Aftermath_and_the_myth

[lizol]

More pictures

[SAMWolf]

Nice picture essay.