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NO, The Polish Cavalry Never Charged German Tanks, An Enduring Piece Of Nazi Propaganda (trunc)
War History Online ^ | 15feb19 | Jay Hemmings

Posted on 02/21/2019 4:33:28 AM PST by vannrox

NO, The Polish Cavalry Never Charged German Tanks, An Enduring Piece Of Nazi Propaganda Still Believed By Many Today

Feb 15, 2019 Jay Hemmings
 
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Ask many armchair historians when the last ever cavalry charge – as in traditional, pre-tank cavalry, featuring horsemen armed with lances and swords – took place, and most will tell you that it happened during World War II.

They’ll likely go on to say that a Polish cavalry detachment armed only with lances and swords spurred their horses into a foolhardy charge, galloping straight at a German Panzer tank division with lances lowered.

This suicidal charge, the final nail in the coffin of a method of warfare that had existed for thousands of years, took place just outside the village of Krojanty in Poland during the German invasion of September 1939. The brave but quixotic Polish cavalrymen were, unfortunately, slaughtered to a man, and that was it: the final death of the traditional cavalryman.

German Schwerer Panzerspähwagen Photo by Bundesarchiv, / CC-BY-SA

Except, however, that this incident, described in detail even in revered works about WWII such as William Shirer’s Rise and Fall of The Third Reich and the acclaimed documentary The World At War, didn’t actually happen – at least not in anything like the manner in which it is described.

The description of Polish cavalrymen attacking German tanks with swords and lances was an invention of the Nazi propaganda machine, and it is perhaps one of the most effectively enduring pieces of misinformation that the Nazis ever spread, considering how widely-believed it is today in 2019, some eighty years later.Battle of Krojanty Photo by BpKrojantami.svg: CC BY SA 3.0

Perhaps what made this particular piece of propaganda so hard to completely quash was the fact that it was at least partially based on what really did happen near the village of Krojanty on September 1, 1939 – the first day of the German invasion of Poland. That evening a regiment of Polish cavalry came across a German Wehrmacht infantry unit making camp in a clearing in the forest outside Krojanty.

While the Polish cavalry, like all cavalry forces in modern armies across the globe at the time, was in the process of mechanization, a few horse-mounted regiments, relics of a former age, remained in active service while being phased out. The cavalry regiment – the 18th Pomeranian Uhlan regiment – which encountered the German troops outside Krojanty was one of these.Polish uhlan with wz. 35 anti-tank rifle.

The men of the unit, led by Colonel Kazimierz Mastalerz, a long-serving veteran who had seen battle in both the First World War and the Polish-Soviet War, were armed in the traditional manner with lances, swords and small firearms, and mounted, of course, on horses.

When Mastalerz’s scouts informed him of the presence of the German infantry troops in the forest, he knew that if he took the Germans by surprise he could strike a powerful blow against them. He ordered two squadrons, about 250 cavalrymen in total, to charge the Germans.Kazimierz Mastalerz

The cavalrymen did as Mastalerz ordered, thundering through the ranks of surprised German infantrymen and wreaking havoc with their sabers and lances, effectively breaking up and scattering the infantrymen, most of whom fled into the woods. The Poles, however, had little time to rejoice in their victory, for German armored cars suddenly appeared and began pouring machine gun fire into the ranks of the Polish cavalry.

The Polish horsemen, totally exposed in the clearing, tried to gallop away, but swathes of them were cut down by machine gun fire before they could escape. Over a third of them fell to German machine gun fire from the armored cars, which were likely Leichter Panzerspähwagens or Schwerer Panzerspähwagens.Leichter Panzerspähwagen

Despite having to ultimately flee, the Polish cavalrymen did disrupt the German advance sufficiently to force them to halt for several hours to regroup.

The next day the Germans, upon viewing the battlefield strewn with the corpses of Polish cavalrymen and horses, figured that they had just been presented with a fantastic opportunity to create some propaganda that would greatly help their campaign.

They brought some German war correspondents and Italian journalists to the battlefield, showed them the corpses of the Polish cavalrymen and horses, and spun a tall tale about how the foolhardy Poles had charged a Panzer tank division – and how they had, in their reckless stubbornness to cling to obsolete traditions, been wiped out by the superior technological might of the German war machine.

The fabricated story was an instant hit: all across the world, people were soon talking about the hopelessly brave but suicidally foolish Polish cavalrymen who had tried to charge a German tank division while mounted on horseback and armed only with lances and swords.

And even after the war was over, and most of the German propaganda stories were revealed for the lies they really were, this particular falsehood endured.

The Soviets used it to mock the Polish, saying that it proved how stupid they were, and how unprepared they were for the German invasion. It was repeated as fact in many high school history classes in the West right up until the 1990s, or even later.

Read another story from us: The Invasion of Poland in the Opening Stages of World War Two

It may seem like a relatively harmless piece of propaganda, but the fact is that it has, for decades, caricatured the Polish cavalrymen who fought with tremendous grit, courage and determination in many other battles. It detracts from the overall contribution Poland made – which was of incredible significance – to the Second World War and the fight against Nazi Germany.

Hopefully, like the rest of the lies the Nazis spread, this one too will eventually fade away.



TOPICS: Books/Literature; Conspiracy; History; Military/Veterans
KEYWORDS: germany; horse; krojanty; machine; nitpicking; poland; polish; war; worldwareleven; worldwartwo; ww2; wwii

1 posted on 02/21/2019 4:33:28 AM PST by vannrox
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To: vannrox
Both the Germans and Russians relied heavily on horses during the war in logistical roles, employing millions of horses each for hauling artillery, ambulances, etc.

The only country that did not rely on horses to some extend was the United States. We were fully mechanicizedby 1940.

2 posted on 02/21/2019 4:46:33 AM PST by TheDandyMan
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To: vannrox
We very likely would have lost the war without the Poles.

They got the enigma machine to us. Being able to read the NAZI leadership orders was immensely valuable in winning the war.

Poland lost nearly 25% of its population in the war, to Germans, and then, the Soviets. They never surrendered to the NAZIs.

3 posted on 02/21/2019 5:03:20 AM PST by marktwain (President Trump and his supporters are the Resistance. His opponents are the Reactionaries.)
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To: TheDandyMan
But then Afghanistan.


4 posted on 02/21/2019 5:24:49 AM PST by Gamecock (In church today, we so often find we meet only the same old world, not Christ and His Kingdom. AS)
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To: vannrox

Yep, I always heard this.


5 posted on 02/21/2019 5:32:46 AM PST by babble-on
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To: babble-on

The Polish cavalry did save Europe from being overrun by the Red Army in the Battle of Warsaw (circa 1920) when Lenin was trying to spread the Revolution to the west.

That bought Europe another two decades of freedom.


6 posted on 02/21/2019 5:37:49 AM PST by CondorFlight
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To: marktwain

Read a story just last week about the sinking of the bismarck.
After it was able to avoid the British navy following sinking of Hood,
It was a cracked enigma transmission that allowed the brits
To realize where bismarck was headed. Without the poles providing
Enigma, bismarck probably escapes.


7 posted on 02/21/2019 5:51:54 AM PST by tm61 (Election 2012: we find it IS possible, to polish a turd.)
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To: vannrox
It was armor versus horsemen. No getting around that.

The men of the unit... were armed in the traditional manner with lances, swords and small firearms, and mounted, of course, on horses.

The cavalrymen [attacked] ranks of surprised German infantrymen and wreaking havoc with their sabers and lances, effectively breaking up and scattering the infantrymen, most of whom fled into the woods. The Poles, however, had little time to rejoice in their victory, for German armored cars suddenly appeared and began pouring machine gun fire into the ranks of the Polish cavalry.

8 posted on 02/21/2019 6:42:39 AM PST by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either satire or opinion. Or both.)
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To: tm61

If Bismark escaped to France, it still would have been wiped out quickly. A lone battleship in the Atlantic with nearly no friendly air cover wasn’t going to last long no matter what happened that particular day


9 posted on 02/21/2019 7:01:43 AM PST by DesertRhino (Dog is man's best friend, and moslems hate dogs. Add that up. ....)
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To: TheDandyMan

The British army was fully mechanized too. The Germans took 600,000 horse into Russia. They had one cavalry division which screened the Pripet Marshes. The red army created mech units mixing cavalry with light armor after the initial loses during Barbarossa.


10 posted on 02/21/2019 7:20:38 AM PST by bravo whiskey (Never bring a liberal gun law to a gun fight.)
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To: CondorFlight

The bolsheviks thought cavalry was bourgeois until the Cossacks, supporting the Armed Forces of Southern Russia during the 1919 offensive demonstrated their effectiveness. By late 1919 the Red Army had a large unit called the Konamiya or red cavalry. In 1920 they attacked toward Lvov in the south while Tcheshevsky attacked Warsaw. Stain, Vorosilov, and Budenny were with the Konamiya. Tvheshevsky blamed Stalin for his loss at Warsaw. Stalin had him arrested, tortured, and executed at the start of the 1937 purges.


11 posted on 02/21/2019 7:28:16 AM PST by bravo whiskey (Never bring a liberal gun law to a gun fight.)
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To: DesertRhino

Not much air cover over the North Atlantic convoys.

The Bismark might have done considerable damage there.


12 posted on 02/21/2019 7:32:40 AM PST by marktwain (President Trump and his supporters are the Resistance. His opponents are the Reactionaries.)
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To: marktwain

They also saved Britain during “The Battle of Britain”

“Repeat Please”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXf1bhEEXd0


13 posted on 02/21/2019 7:34:49 AM PST by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: vannrox
Thanks vannrox. But, meh. Just a nitpicky op-ed, really.
Had the Poles had tanks, it wouldn't have mattered -- the USSR also attacked, from the rear, by prearrangement with Hitler, after the Germans had basically defeated the Poles. And for that matter, during the war in the USSR, the Soviets built around 80,000 tanks, rather a lot really, and by the end of the war they had perhaps 10,000 left -- a lot of tanks, but that shows how good the Germans were at knocking out tanks.
Our biggest asset in WWII was the fact that a big-talking nutjob and coward, Hitler, was leading our principal adversary in Europe, without any grasp of either strategy or tactics.

14 posted on 02/21/2019 10:27:07 AM PST by SunkenCiv (and btw -- https://www.gofundme.com/for-rotator-cuff-repair-surgery)
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To: marktwain
Not much air cover over the North Atlantic convoys.

The Bismark might have done considerable damage there.

Then let the u-boat arm go in after any survivors, and have the Luftwaffe finish off any remaining stragglers.

But not with the Enigma Naval codes compromised.

15 posted on 02/22/2019 10:53:50 AM PST by archy (Whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger. Except bears, they'll kill you a little, then eat you.)
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To: SunkenCiv
Our biggest asset in WWII was the fact that a big-talking nutjob and coward, Hitler, was leading our principal adversary in Europe, without any grasp of either strategy or tactics.

Lets get realistic here. That "coward" was a decorated WWI veteran.

The NAZIs were winning the war until the U.S. came in. Without U.S. assistance, the Brits would have been done, and the Russians very likely would not have been able to hold out.

I believe Hitler lost it later in the war, because he had been so right early on. His biggest mistake was believing the war in the West was over after Dunkirk. He expected the Brits to come the the negotiating table. So did most of the Brits.

Hitler got lucky, or was a genius, early in the war. Then he believed he was always smarter than his professional generals. It cost him a lot later on.

It was Churchill who through the wrench in the works. Churchill's major strategy to win the war, was to get the Americans into it.

16 posted on 02/22/2019 11:04:24 AM PST by marktwain (President Trump and his supporters are the Resistance. His opponents are the Reactionaries.)
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To: marktwain
the the should be the

through the wrench should be threw the wrench

17 posted on 02/22/2019 11:05:55 AM PST by marktwain (President Trump and his supporters are the Resistance. His opponents are the Reactionaries.)
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To: BenLurkin

The difference being that the Poles didn’t attack the armor with cavalry, the armor showed up after a successful cavalry attack against infantry.


18 posted on 02/22/2019 11:13:02 AM PST by Grimmy (equivocation is but the first step along the road to capitulation)
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To: dfwgator

“They also saved Britain during “The Battle of Britain”

And B4 THAT——

Victorious John III Sobieski at the Battle of Vienna in 1683, Sobieski’s greatest success came in 1683, with his victory at the Battle of Vienna , in joint command of Polish and German troops,against the invading Ottoman Turks under Kara Mustafa.
(Which kept the Muzzys from running over Europe)


19 posted on 02/22/2019 11:28:18 AM PST by litehaus (A memory toooo long.............)
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To: marktwain
Of course he was a coward in WWII. He was certainly no genius, other than in a political sense.

Hitler guessed right about how much he could push, early on, until he got to his boneheaded error at Dunkirk. His generals wanted to close the bag, and he lost his nerve. Had he agreed with his generals, the British would have been done, and the Germans could have wrapped up things in N Africa, taken the Suez Canal, and had an ample supply of oil from the Middle East. Again, he didn't understand strategy or tactics.

Churchill wasn't going to make a deal, but a defeat at Dunkirk and loss of the army might very well have finished him off, politically. No UK, no US staging area for a second front.

After Dunkirk, instead of putting the neeeded resources into the N Africa campaign, Hitler began Barbarossa. Yeah, that's the mark of a genius, early on. Let's get realistic here.

20 posted on 02/23/2019 12:29:55 AM PST by SunkenCiv (and btw -- https://www.gofundme.com/for-rotator-cuff-repair-surgery)
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