Myth and Reality: Polish Cavalry in 1939
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- Опубликовано: 11 сен 2024
- The 1939 invasion of Poland is generally seen as the beginning of the second world war. An enduring image of that battle is of Polish lancers bravely but hopelessly charging German tank formations, getting cut to pieces. But that story, like so many in the popular mindset, is false, and the true story is somewhat different, but no less interesting.
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I worked with a man for 20 years, who was of Polish decent. His father was a Polish cavalry trooper who charged a German formation during the invasion. He struck down two German infantry soldiers before his horse was killed and he was captured. He was later handed over to the Russians but was eventually released and made his way to England where he was enlisted into the Polish 1st Division. He fought at Monte Cassino after which he received the Monte Cassino Cross. I was privileged to hold it in my hands....it was number 122. RIP Tony Pacyna.
He must have been one of general Anders' men. The first Polish army formed in the USSR, the one was allowed to leave and join the British and temporarily erased from Soviet history. Later Soviets stripped him of Polish citizenship so he could never return.
I'd like to point out that the German army wasn't nearly as mechanized as the propaganda would lead you to believe. Certain panzer and elite formations were fully mechanized, but the majority of the German army's supplies and artillery moved with horsepower for the entire duration of the war. Most of the German infantry walked the long distances across Europe and the Soviet Union to get to the fight and mop up after the fast-moving panzer formations because the Germans lacked trucks.
As a result, criticism of the Poles for still relying on horsepower seems pretty hypocritical, but the German propaganda machine needed to appear more impressive than it really was, especially in 1939.
The myth of the 'Polish Calvary' finds interesting parallels in accounts of the massacre of Wehrmacht columns of horses pulling guns and wagons in their retreat across France following the Allied breakout from Normandy. Of course the Wehrmacht troops weren't charging, but withdrawing. But it still illustrates the common dependence of the Germans on horse drawn transportation, even in late 1944.
@nonamesplease6288: Thank you. It needs to be said and repeated. The fascination with nazi mechanization/technology almost always drowns out that fact. Germany, as a nation and militarily, was not ready in Sept. of 1939 for such a massive undertaking of aggression. German resources were never sufficient for such delusional acquisition.
I believe that the German army had 5 million horses during the war.
Switzerland had up to 1972 6500 dragons/ Dragoner, and german mountain troops still have a company of mules ( and some Haflinger horses).
I remember reading the account of a German pilot after the war who said that they used oxen to pull the jet engine aircraft out to the runway because Germany was so short of fuel at the end of the war. Not sure how true that claim was or how often that was done, but the reality during WWII was that old and new technologies were often employed side by side.
Any nation on the planet in 1939 would have collapsed fairly rapidly if caught between a simultaneous attack from the Soviets and Germans, horses or no horses. The poles put up as good of a fight as they could, under the circumstances.
Denmark managed to Fall by lunch time.
Denmark managed to Fall by lunch time.
Eh, maybe. Poland received assurances that France and Britain would shortly be on the way to take the pressure off, which was an utter betrayal which the Allies knew all along. They just wanted to get the war started and had no plans to help Poland at all. The Poles delayed their mobilization on Allied advice and at any rate were deployed too far forward to resist effectively. The German army was busy in Poland and a sharp drive by France towards Berlin would have met little resistance and there would have been a regime change coup. All ofWW2 could have been avoided nd Big H would have been known as a footnote instead of the man the entire 20th century revolved around. Everything that came before led up to him; everything that came after was because of him.
The attack wasn't simultaneous though, the Soviets waited two and a half weeks after the Germans before launching their own attack. By that point, Warsaw had been under siege for 10 days and coordinated defence had all but collapsed. Much of the Polish army had already surrendered.
They jumped into deporting Jews pretty darn quickly though.
Franklin met Cashmier Pulaski, a Polish officer?, in france and evenually got him to join the revolution. He became one of Washington's generals. He was an equestrian and taught American troops to ride horses in battle. He is the father of the US calvary...
@@goldensilver793 Pulaski Day: An Updated the History Guy Episode
ruclips.net/video/OKEbBR4ekMQ/видео.html
After WW1, American pilots of Polish ancestry returned the favor by flying for the Polish Air Force during Polabd's War of Independence and trained the Polish Air Force in the interwar years.
The units with younger pilots of course fought against the Luftwaffe and Soviet Air Force.
A number of these pilots volunteered and fought with France against the Germans in 1940 before making their way to England to form Polish Squadrons of the RAF.
Although today, Winston Churchhills quote "Never has so much, been owed to so few, by so many" is attributed to the entire RAF during the Battle of Britian.
The speech was given about the RAF 303 squadron.
Made up of Polish pilots.
The squadron claimed the highest number of air to air kills of the 66 Allied fighter squadrons during the Battle of Britian even though they started 2 months late.
Their crest is a round with 13 blue stars representing the American colonies and a series of Red vertical stripes.
@@shawnr771 In Illinois there is Cashmeir Pulaski day holiday... Apparently Chicago has the largest polish population in the US?
@@shawnr771 that's really cool info...
@@goldensilver793 nice.
In 1990 Dollar equivalents, the 1938 GDP of Germany was some $351 billion ; the 1938 GDP equivalent for Poland was $75 billion. (Soviet Union $359 billion) Additionally; post WWI Germany was essentially undamaged as the war was waged on foreign territory. Poland was not only razed by WWI, but the 1920 Polish Soviet War as well.
The odds were heavily stacked against Poland.
Good points.
Poland also took control of Galicia in the South East after the German Austrians had left it as the poorest region in Europe for 123 years.
@@metanoian965 Lets not forget about the giant battles of WW1 over in Galicia. Its often overlooked but Przemyśl and Lwów for example were subjected to huge battle damage and were looted completely by the russians during WW1.
The US didn't formally disband cavalry until 1947 as organized units. The last US cavalry charge was in the Philippines by a unit of scouts against the Japanese. Just saying, you use what's at hand, not what you'd like.
Last proper action of a cavalry line unit doing a "textbook" charge I know was the Italian army Savoia Cavalleria at Izbushensky, russia - siberian infantry that was moving into position to attack, the Savoia cav. regiment charged with 2nd squadron (batallion size/100 horsemen) mounted, followed by an attack of 3rd sqdn dismounted and then 4th charging again on horses straight into the soviet line.
It was an italian horsemen victory, a bit less for the italian horses.
The US Calvary ran out of Indians to terrorize? or what?
20 year veteran, you go with what you have.
But the poles had years to prepare !! I think they were just lazy and lacked the guts to fight back
@LemonHead-sq5ws that's a sour perception you have.
The account of the Army's use of horses in Afghanistan is another story that deserves to be remembered.
in US usage, cavalry fought on horseback (carbines or pistols) dragoons and mounted infantry fought dismounted. but by the Civil War these distinctions were mostly gone and the dragoons and mounted infantry re reflagged as cavalry. the 12 special forces operators who rode horses in Afghanistan makes for an interesting story, but they were "horse" soldiers only in the literal sense.
@@greenflagracing7067
I guess if you were there you'd really shown 'em how it's done.
@@dukecraig2402 are you a special forces fanboy?
@@greenflagracing7067what history fan isn't?
Wasn't that the story behind the movie 12 Strong?
After graduation, I worked with a Polish engineer who had been in the cavalry during WW2.
He had some amazing stories to tell and one of my great regrets in life is that I was too young to take notice and record his escapades. He was eventually captured by the Germans but escaped and managed to make his way to England via the Eastern Mediterranean.
He was a real character and a fine engineer and mathematician. Much as he hated the Germans, his real contempt was for the Russians.
Because we allways were exchanging punches with Russia. But like literally, always, since the beginning of time. With germans we had our ups and downs, of course partitions and consequent germanization and later wwII were immense impulses for most of us to think twice about our relations with germans, but with russia it was always hate and contempt, we hate them, they hate us, they're our mortal enemy, existentional threat, we're their salt in the eye, their reminder of their humiliation in 1920 and 1612. Even during communist rule we were a pain for them, because many times our governments wanted to be Independent from moscows instructions, at the same time ussr heavily exploited Poland during that time and mainly thanks to that we are where we are (econimicaly and socialy)... And we absolutely despise them for that
Same with my father, a corporal-equivalent in the Polish army. He hated the Russians so much, that after his units were decimated by the Germans, he elected to go back towards Germany, ended up being captured, and forced to work as a slave laborer in Germany.
sounds like average polish guy, despiese germans but hate ruSSians. Nothing good comes form the east.
@@louis1952 We Poles had better and worse times with Germans, but we can reason with them.
Russia was always the enemy and only the enemy.
Poland is part of western civilisation, just like Germany. Christianity from Rome, Latin as lingua franca, city squares and carhedrals, poets and merchants, kings, feudals, chivalry, free trade, democraxy, calitalism. Russia is half asian barbaric empire. Inuenced by Moongols and Byzantium at best. It is different world. With Germans we can be rivals or partners. With Russia - only foes. Unless they get civilised.
The horses also said neigh to that myth
…no doubt realized by a Gallup poll.
*slow clop*
- I mean *clap*!
@@TheManWithThePsychoGunoh dear….🤣
Did u miss something its not a myth it happened, small scale, if ur on foot in the open with a bolt action and their a 600 kilo horse's charging down on u and ur out side ur tanks having a cuppa ur f Ed
@@Drewkas0Pole*
In 1944 after the Normandy landings, German POWs were very surprised that the Allied divisions did not have ONE horse in their possession. The Germans relied on horse transport until the end of the war.
"Wo sind ihr Pferden?"
"We have trucks!"
@@douglasstrother6584 "Wo sind ihre Pferde?" 😉
@@Statist0815 Danke!
It's been 30 years since I wrote in German.
German machinery failed in Soviets. Stolen horses were vital. and were made into sausages.
I would view anything in Guderian's memoirs as being a dubious historical source. Like pretty much every military leader ever, the wins were due to his superior strategy, the losses were due to more senior leaders failing to see his genius.
I think everyone needs to remember that Poland was able to fight for month against Nazi Germany AND the Soviet Union.
France was able to fight for month with British and Belgium help on just one front. This at a time when France was a world power!
Poland was waiting for France and England to honor the mutual defense treaty in place. Never happened. And don't even get me started on the Potsdam Conference.
Let's also remember that Poland is flat as a billiard table, perfect territory for German mechanized warfare.
@@frankinski1444 After 1939, Poland's geographic position made it nearly impossible to save from Hitler and especially Stalin.
@@theliberalrepublican Yet, I stand by my facts.
Yep. The terrain was tougher to defend and yet they did it for longer than the French. The poles were tough as nails. The french...make good pastries.
We should never forget that the Soviets invaded the East of Poland shortly after the Germans invaded the West. The Soviets and the American Communist party supported Germany's invasion of Poland.
And the French communist party. They supported the German invasion in 1940. Belgium had a railway strike in the middle of the invasion in support!
My,4 relatives,were in the polish army,in 1939,they were captured,by the Russians,sent to Siberia,only 2 turned,Tomasz Lulek,was one of them,and use to sing the Polis anthem,at our family reunions!He hated the Russians,don’t blame him,plus the Russians,murdered,thousands of Polish officers,and others in the Katyn forest,research and you will find out the facts!Germany,and Russia,can not ever forget their evil!Thomas A.Filipiak!
U are a Schwurbler from Facist Finland
Which is partly why the American Communist Party lost almost all of its members. The last straw for American Communists was when the Soviets crushed the Hungarian Revolution, which was a democratic uprising against the Soviet puppet state of the Hungarian People's Republic.
Nor shall we forget that Poland was rightfully the part of Russia till 1918, when Western forces led by England and France, attacked Russia.
An Italian Cavalry regiment (Savoia Cavalleria) performed a quite famous cavalry charge in the Eastern Front at Izbushensky (winning the battle btw). About 700 horsemen against a numerically superior soviet rifle division 2500 soldiers strong (and that happened on 24 August 1942, so you are on time for tomorrow).
Even more surprising was the Cavalry charge led by Amedeo Guillet in Italian East Africa against the Tanks of the British mechanized forces in the battle of Keru in January 1941. It was a desperate measure but the outcome was not a disaster, on the contrary it gained a limited success because it halted the british attack and allowed italian infantry to escape encirclement and retreat to the relative safety of the rocky hills where british mechanized forces were unable to follow and where they were able to keep fighting
Thank you for identifying this story as myth. This will help future generations understand the pervasiveness of propaganda, especially related to war.
CNBC and US media were repeatding harmful Nazi myths like this most recently a few years ago. They don't care.
I had a Polish uncle. Henryk Baranowski. He fought the Germans on horseback. When Poland surrendered he was transferred to the diplomatic Corps. He was sent to Chile. When the UK entered WW2 against Germany he caught a boat back to the UK. The ship was torpedoed off South Africa. He spent 48 hours in the water. Then rescued. Arrived in the UK and joined the RAF in the Polish unit.
After WW2 was over he renovated houses in the east end of London. Then went into wall-to-wall carpets just at the correct time. Purchased a factory and installed carpet looms. Produced carpets for hotels etc. He set up the Henryk Baranowski Music School for the deaf in Poland. He did a lot for Poland. He died a multi-millionaire. He was my Godfather and Elsie his wife was my Godmother.
JFK
S father supported Hitler
Absolutely amazing! Thanks for sharing, much appreciated!
Thats an interesting sequence of events considering the UK declared war on Germany 2 days after Germany invaded and SA isnt really on the typical route between Chile and the UK, among other things
@@scottabc72 doesn’t mean it isn’t true. Could have been going to SA first for a number of reasons. A few minor date issues slightly off…so he must be a liar? I’m sure your family has dates and stories that are slightly off. Do you question them all??…dear lord..
@@jon9021 Lies, exaggerations, faulty memories from decades ago? I have no idea but on a channel that takes history seriously its fair for others to raise questions. Such as why was a cavalry soldier (even an officer) qualified to join the diplomatic corps while also apparently being a pilot?
The mainly untrue legend of the WW2 Polish cavalry charge against German panzers and its persistent myth puts me in mind of a quote from the 1962 film, "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance". One of the characters, a newspaper editor, says, "When legend becomes fact, print the legend."
Journalists really are the enemy of the people. Literally repeating Big Brother's points from Orwell's 1984.
Another story related to this is the Polish Blue Army. This was created in WW1 by recruiting captured Poles (from the Austro-Hungarian army) and polish immigrants from the US and Canada. They fought at the end of the war and were transported across Germany during the Armistice to fight in the wars against Ukraine and the Soviet Union. That's a story that needs to be remembered.
Also. the history of the Polish Scouts and Guides during WW ii
My Dad was 14 years old in Scotland When many Polish Military including Polish Cavalry were temporarily based in the lowlands in County Angus Scotland. He stood on a hill and could see many campfires from there. This was also near ,by American standards, the Montrose air station where many UK pilots trained many of whom fought and died in the Battle of Britain. Dad also saw the Squadron 603 with Richard Hillary and "Stapme" Stapleton fly up his Glen eagle their wings then turned South to fight in the Battle of Britain. The pilots were friends of all the kids in the Glen because they took their days off and Holidays there. The "kids in the Glen" were mentioned in Richard Hillary's book "the Last Enemy". One of the kids is still alive at this time is my Uncle. The Poles And the Pilots both were heroes of the highest caliber. Thanks for the setting the story straight.
Do you happen to mean the 303 Squadron?
@@mikolajtrzeciecki1188 303 Squadron was all Polish and made a very good showing of themselves during the Battle of Britain. They as well as other Squadrons from all over the world trained in Montrose, Scotland. The Men (all very young) that my family met were mostly the 603 from the City of Edinburgh Squadron. You can read about the Squadron in the book Last Enemy by Hillary the pilot from South Africa.
There's a movie about the 303 Squadron by the same name I believe. I haven't seen it yet.
My uncle was the captain of the last cavalry company of Norway as late as in 1976.
Thank you for demythologizing these myths. Cavalry in 1939 was a good solution for movement. She fought on foot. There were isolated cases when cavalry units saw a chance to break through. But not idiotic charges against tanks. The last great cavalry battles took place during the Polish-Bolshevik war of 1920/21. Komarów, Rokitna. Epic stuff.
DYWIZJA ZAZA
Pains me to hear the talk of Poland surrendering in 4 weeks after being attacked on all sides, while no mention is made of the combined might of British Empire and France collapsing in - wait for it - 4 weeks! This war should be over in 1939.
I am Polish by origin with military tradition in the family and interest in Polish military history. This is my little way to honor those who's efforts and sacrifice I owe my life to. I'm genuinely impressed by the level of detail and integrity of your research as well as moved by deep sense of respect permeating your work. Thank you.
5:20 You mentioning the Pomeranian army conjured a hilarious image in my head.
@@themroc8231 lol not the dog breed.
Can ya' guess where the dog breed got its name from? :P
You may laugh, but my ancestors are from Pomeranian-descent which is the area along the Bay of Pomerania of the Baltic Sea between the rivers Recknitz, Trebel, Tollense and Augraben in the west and Vistula in the east. And yes, I would mention such and get that look like "you came from little, cute, fuzzy, aggressive doggies?"
Dachshund Division was the most feared.
Poles were quickly disheartened by the bites to their ankles.
The different Polish armies had names like Vistula, etc. depending on where they were. Pomerania is a place. Not our fault if you're ignorant and know nothing about the world.
In the Battle of Tuchola Forest, Polish soldiers advanced east along the railway to a railroad crossroads 7 kilometres (4.3 mi) from the town of Chojnice, where elements of the Polish cavalry charged and dispersed a German infantry battalion. Machine gun fire from German armoured cars that appeared from a nearby forest forced the Poles to retreat. Kazimierz Mastalerz, the commander who led the charge, was killed while trying to rescue Eugeniusz Świeściak, the commander of the 1st Squadron of the 18th Pomeranian Cavalry. This became known as the Charge at Krojanty. The same day, German war correspondents were brought to the battlefield, together with two journalists from Italy. They were shown 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, Indro Montanelli, wrote 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 combat, the myth was used by German propaganda during the war.
Great story! Proud to be an American of Polish ancestry.
I only saw a few horses in Afghan. Donkeys and mules were far more common. They could carry way more than horses and were much better handling rough terrain.
Donkeys and mules are far less skittish and don't spook the way horses do. They are also hardier and can survive on rougher feed
The Army used mules in Indochina for the same reasons.
About 20 years ago I was at a wedding in France. One of the guests was an elderly Pole. I’d heard this story, so I asked him. He laughed, and said "it’s nice story, but do you think we’re crazy ? No one would be stupid enough to charge panzers on horses!!" So that put that myth to bed for me. Incredibly brave people for sure, but definitely not stupid!
My father was in the middle of this, although he fought the Russians. He said that they were newly issued Mausers (probably from the Czechs) and the attack happened so quickly they didn't have time to sight the new weapons in. Pinned down by a Russian machine gun position next to a stone wall, he told of bouncing rounds off the wall into the machine gun nest causing the Soviets to give up their position. He was later captured by the Soviets in Lithuania. I told my dad once that he should write a book about his experiences. He said there already is one: Night Never Ending by Eugenjusz Komorowski. This is also History That Deserves to be remembered, and a subject I'd like to see covered by The History Guy.
Its a great irony that Germans made fun of Poles for using horses in war while Wehrmacht itself relied heavily on horses.
According to Wikipedia - Horses in World War II - Germany used 2.75 million horses.
@@grzegorzswist Calvary horses and draft animals are very different things....
@@WALTERBROADDUS a horse is just as backward to a guy with a Studebaker truck as it is to a guy with a panzer 3
Until you have -30 degrees, 18 inches of mud or no gas...
And only the US and Britain were almost fully mechanized.
Thanks for video. I've been trying correct that myth for years.
The Germans used a lot of horses during WW2. They weren't as mechanized as people believe.
The Germans finished the war mostly on their own feet.interesting fact. during the invasion of russia the germans arrested many carts with horses and drivers from poland. they were forced to be one of the elements of german logistics. the germans had too few trucks. even when they took trucks from conquered countries.
RUclips censorship has become ridiculous. I'm a 56 year old Australian veteran. Images/videos showing the true reality of war are ESSENTIAL for civilians worldwide to understand that war is unimaginably brutal.
‘Cavalry marches on horseback, fights on foot’. - This was the prevailing tactic in the Polish Army in 1939.
The Germans made their propaganda film with horsemen in German (!) uniforms attacking the tanks because this is a tactic of wartime propaganda - to ridicule the enemy and show him as a fool.
Unfortunately, similar things happened in the USA after WW2 when ‘Polish jokes’ were so popular.
😄You misspelled your name. It's Grzegorz Brzęczyszczykiewicz 😄 Funniest scene in a great movie.Jak rozpętałem drugą wojnę światową
Thank you so much for this , as a Pole , I've been trying to right this nonsense for years among my international friends 😂. Great job !!
Great video that emphasizes the bravery of a people fighting against overwhelming odds.
It wasnt just the Nazi German propaganda. The illustrated books published in Germany in the 1980s still had this myth. And my German friends would tease me about it and how the Polish army was backward in 1939.
Poland is not making the same mistake this time -- it is massively upgrading its military in light of the Ukraine war, and also are one of the biggest supporters of Ukraine in its struggle against the Russians.
Based on how 21st century Russia's soldiers are ill trained and provisioned, i feel strongly that Polish lancers have a solid chance.
Clearly Poland is awake. While the rest of the EU still sleeps!
Thank you Lance. Today, I hope that Poland remains a close and integral partner in NATO. To me, that nation (historically, like Israel) has every reason for arming themselves to the teeth - no matter how unpopular (globally) that might be.
Thanks for straightening this out.
..in the mid-80's, there was a fella who worked in a newsprint mill in N.Ontario. He was an old guy who served in the Polish Cavalry at the start of WW2. I told him what a miracle it was that he survived. He agreed.
Germany:"Ha ha, look at this Polish Calvary!"
Also Germany, "Who is this Mr Ford and General F'in Motors we're supposed to be saying hello to?"
The Germans didn't laugh at Poles for cavalry - WE did. Growing up all I heard was "Polack jokes"
@@Heike-- My grandfather was polish and told Polack jokes all the time, lol. "How many Polacks does it take to screw in a light bulb" lol
Opel was part of GM since 1927.
@@Heike-- Do you know which tribe invented those jokes ?
Do you understand why that eternal tribe who owns Hollywood and Press comics pushed those jokes ?
The West was played for fools and took the bait.
Great video! My Babci (grandmother in Polish) used to tell me stories about when the Germans invaded and my Dad who grew up in Poland after the war said he used to play with leftover ordinance with friends like they were firecrackers. Thank you for finally explaining the myth and you have more than earned my subscription.
German and Soviet propaganda stayed entrenched into the 1970s with Polock jokes. Thank you for helping dispel this lie.
Polish cavalry in 1939 fought on foot, only horses were used as a means of fast transport. It happened that when trying to break through a closing encirclement or a flank attack, they encountered infantry, which ended in a massacre for the Germans. But when they encountered armored personnel carriers or tanks, the losses could be significant.against tanks and personnel carriers the cavalry had Ur anti-tank rifles and anti-tank guns licensed by Bofors.disadvantage of cavalry brigades, it turned out during the fights that the brigades did not have the appropriate strength and number of troops. Because of this they could not influence the strong German units for long, later cavalry brigades were combined into larger units
The source of mocking the Polish as being backwards was German and Soviet war propaganda. It worked.
Before WW2 Warsaw was a vibrant intellectual and cultural center in Eastern Europe. Obviously a reflection of their fine people.
Sadly ironic that the same cavalry with lineage back to the heroic winged Hussars who saved Europe is still maligned in history by a lie.
A bull gets dishonorably discharged from the animal farm military.
He acted cowardly on the field of battle.
As far as I know, there were two cavalry raids against the Nazis. In both cases, the Germans failed because they felt confident and started grazing in open areas like cows. A cavalryman who sees something like this will not let it pass. In the first case it was an infantry battalion and a saber was used, in the second case it was a company of panzer grenadiers and a saber and grenades were used.
Poland 🇵🇱 was screwed after the war when it was basically sacraficed to the the USSR with no say in the matter - embarrashing ❌
Yeah, the Poles got the short straw coning and going.
Maybe you should try blaming the USSR for being the way it was, they're the one's that held Europe hostage with the threat of war, it's not like Europe was intact at the time and had just got done with 6 years of peace.
Most of Europe was blown up and everyone was exhausted from the biggest most destructive war in history, they didn't want the rest of it blown up, at the time there was enough to put back together including taking care of millions of displaced people, countless death camp survivors, getting services up and running so people weren't drinking out of puddles and carving up dead horses for food and infants wouldn't be dying of malnutrition, and you look at it like the world just "gave" Poland to the USSR, Europe was in the state it was in because of what happened with Poland in 1939 in the first place.
You're not someone who'd just survived Germany's nightmare in Europe so you have no right to look down on the people who just wanted all of it to stop, instead of just keep going but against the Russian's instead.
You have the best content on RUclips. If you’re getting strikes, I will at least comment to help support you.
But God, what a CAV thing to do!
The myth is still alive. In 2017 CNBC got called out by the polish embassy for perpetuating the myth.
The Battle of Schoenfeld in 1945 saw a mounted charge by polish units, including using artillery horses, against prebuild defensive positions and dislodge the Germans, killing at least 500 men, while losing 147.
The funny thing is that a previous attack using tanks failed. Sometimes you gotta go fast.
It is considered the last sucessfull major cavallery charge in history.
Nothing to do with the myth, just a neat cavallery charge factoid.
Well it was CNBC.... They would seem more likely to credit, longer than others, a myth born of socialist (both 'National' and Marxist) propaganda. Communities tend to credit less critically sources with which they have ideological sympathy.
We don't watch cnbc, because they are historicaly wrong.
Journalists really are the enemy of the people. They can't stop lying to us.
great point. as we know if you tell a lie long enough it becomes truth. watch and see what happens with the 2020 big lie.
Actually the Polish Army did Better than the French and British Armies in France! Poland faced both Germany and Ruzzia attacking from 3 sides and under armed of supplied? The combined forces in France collasped almost immediately and the had a Year to prepare?
Lance knows that war history is indeed very popular. Always a good move.
The true irony of fate and the laughter of history is that the Poles carried out the last cavalry charge in history in World War II, on March 1, 1945, the ''Charge at Borujskie''. 220 cavalrymen - Uhlans attacked the German 163rd Infantry Division. Earlier, two infantry assaults supported by artillery and tanks had collapsed. The Germans did not expect such a quick attack, burning buildings, smoke and a quick attack defeated the advanced points of resistance and opened the way to break through the German defense lines. Cavalry losses in the charge: 7 killed and ten wounded.
cavalry with tanks, let's not forget about this addition to this successful action
Good Friday morning History Guy and everyone watching
Poles still fought harder than the French and on nearly every front in the European theater.
The French fought hard on every front in the ETO. It is a myth that they surrendered easily to the Germans in 1940. Like the Poles, the French lacked modern weapons and doctrine, and their generals were too old and out of step with modern technology, which were the main reasons for their defeat. But they fought valiantly until their position became hopeless, and only then did they surrender.
@@petergray2712 France was actually considered a premier power pre-war. They squandered their resources on a defense line as their prime doctrine.
No one respected France after their surrender and grew to be a burden upon the allies to the resources wasted in supplying what little they contributed till the end of the war.
@@henrymorgan8335Please read the fall of France,France had overwhelming,forces to defeat Germany,that’s the facts!Read the book!Its sad but true!
@@petergray2712 Same thing with their help for Poland. They went few km into German lines, then, turn back to Maginote line. If they attack with full scale, the WW II could look completely different. Same is thing to enforce Poland to not mobilise the soldiers to not provoke their buddy, Hitler. Sometimes I think they were care more about Germany and Hitler than their good ally, Poland.
@@tomfilipiak3511 the frnch soldiers is a mix, some did fight bravely and some surrendered, but this is also exajurated by the german propaganda of the time, and be careful which books you trusts, please remember that a lot of historians from them 60's or 70's were communist sympathizers, so they tended to use some propagande as facts. there is also one historian that i know of who is pro nazi germany. this is why it is important to veryfy a few books about the same event. TIK History does a good job at highlighting these progadanda influences in some history books and their authors
In Canada, Lord Strathcona's Horse Regiment still trains with horses, but does not use them in battle.
now on the border with Belarus in difficult terrain horses are sometimes still used
2. Lubelska Brygada Obrony Terytorialnej (2nd Lublin Brigade of Territorial Defence Forces) still uses horses for patrolling Poland's eastern border. That area and terrain is basically wilderness and horses are very practical there. If you wonder how soldiers in the most modern kit look on horses, I recommend checking them out.
Regardless of what this History Guru says, the Polish military failed miserably during the first week of war. Thereafter all the allegedly "heroic" battles were at best desperate skirmishes during the mop up phase. The German impression of Polish performance was:
"At times, the Polish soldier had faught bravely, but his downfall was caused by the incompetence of his leadership".
the lack of modern communication made a difference in maneuver battles. the basic units, i.e. the infantry, were not very maneuverable. it was impossible to command well. especially since until recently they were only preparing to defend themselves against Russia, only planned the beginning of the defense, they did not have time Germany for the rest the french could fight well . but the french commander preferred command by liaisons on motorcycles . when the germans crossed the river marne they entered between two divisions which were changing their place of defense . the french armored unit did not manage to attack before the germans got stronger because of the liaisons . also the french tanks had very little ability to run further distances without refueling .......commanding units during maneuver warfare is essential. we had no radio communication due to lack of funds, but the French did because of faulty strategies. the development that there would be a maneuver warfare reached the commanders in France just at the time of the German attack
This myth was teached in Polish schools during communism times, to tell kids how bad "capitalist Poland" was. It was also redone in Polish movies made during communist time.
Defeated but never Conquered. The Poles contributed to the victory in World War II everywhere they fought. Then there were the Polish Pilots, who were part of the very few that so many owed so much.
Jeszcze Polska nie zginęła!
Preventing foreign invaders from entering is a good idea.
Ever notice there is never/rarely a mention of The Soviets invading from the East?
The soviets were our Allies and lost more men than any other country and yet its all forgotten.
@@Caroline.123
Not in 1939. In 39 Stalin & Hitler had a real mutual admiration thing going, that lasted until 1941.
You might want to read "Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin" by Timothy Snyder
As Jonah Goldberg put it "Facism v Communism. Coke vs Pepsi of the 20th century."
@@stevenwiederholt7000 I think the Leftists wanted to forget all that, like the idea that Stalin pressured Hollywood to stop making anti-Nazi movies because Germany was "cooperating" with the Soviet Union... until Germany invaded the Soviet Union and it was alright to go back to making anti-Nazi movies. It's understandable they'd not want to talk about something that made them look like obedient puppets!
One more time The Katyn Forest!Murder by Russian massacre!Truth,Bastards! Them Russians,they ain’t your friend!A old Polak from Chicago!A Kiska lover!
Yes, Recapturing Soviet territory from Poland.
in Australia we grew up with the story that in WW1 after our troops invaded Gaza they then did the Last Full-Scale cavalry charge in history nearby at a place called Beersheba, 800 horses charged. Kinda hard to tell what truth and legend. Im guess the Europeans etc would have had bigger cavalry units at the time.
I've herd about this calvary charge for many years and I always thought there was a different story.
Bravo! All through World War II, Polish soldiers fought bravely, fiercely and effectively against Germany. I am most familiar with Poles who ended up being the UK’s most deadly fighter pilots during the Battle of Britain. A Polish destroyer was part of the Royal Navy force that sank the Bismarck, proudly signaling the Germans, “I am a Polish ship.” As you point out, what happened to the Poles wasn’t due to poor soldiery but poor leadership, something that also happened to the French, and initially to the USSR. For awhile, even the British had this problem, but Churchill fired as many laggards as he could once he became Prime Minister until he found leadership that could do the job. That’s what Lincoln had to do 80 odd years before during the American Civil War.
yes, bad leadership but also the general poverty of the country. This country was just trying to be a healthy country. After 123 non-existence and the world war. The port city of Gdynia was built, they started to make COP. These were supposed to be the engines of the country's development. COP was an investment that had just started.we've only existed for 19 years and we've already been attacked by two bandits
Light cavalry was in fact rather effective against tank units. They could gallop between amd around tanks and hack their suporting infantry to pieces. Without infantry, tanks are sitting ducks to enemy artillery. The Polish problem was that they hardly had any artillery or logistics to move it quickly where needed
Poles went down to defeat against the combined attack of the Germans and Soviets in 1939, but still made a better defense than the French did the following spring.
Well, as much as I wanted that to be truth, it is not historically correct.
When France asked for truce after one month, it still had a frontline and army that was able to fight in organised way, although had no chance of winning.
When Soviet Union invaded Poland, they basically marched in freely. There were just small pockets of ressistance in several cities. At this point all armies were in bits, isolated from eqxh other, in constant retreat and sorrounded. And polish Commander-In-Chief wasnt really controling anything.
But comparing France and Poland makes no sense. France was collonial power, one of mightiest countries of the world. Poland was poor country with tiny industry that only came back to the existence 20 years earlier, after partitions that lasted 120 years. You cannot build strong army in country like this. France was able to spend on army maybe 50% of what Hitler was spending.
On the other hand - during 20 years of it's existence, Poland was able to spent on their army less, than Hitler spent in 1937 alone.
@@marcinhetna557but Polish fought wgen invaded unlike French.
@@smillabutryn7517 Well if you are suggesting that France didnt fight when invaded, then we have to ask the question who killed 45 thousands of Germans.
Poles had no armored divisions because nobody but the Germans used armor effectively, employing tanks in " mass, not droplets ". The British, Poles , and French saw tanks as infantry support vehicles. Blitzkrieg was, after all , revolutionary.
why did poland not have a panzer division. simple answer, lack of money. although tanks that were made could be in panzer divisions. diesel engine, radio as necessary equipment, it was planned to add armor up to 40 mm in some places. solid 37 mm cannon from curiosities. production of the pt7 tank was stopped when it was considered that its armor was too weak. it was planned to increase the thickness of the armor and only then start production again, but the threat of war caused production to resume.without armor reinforcement. reinforcement was to be realized during. concentration of armored weapons during the attack was understood. tanks were often lost due to the lack of more developed field workshops, when retreating damaged tanks when the enemy gained ground were lost. there was also no appropriately developed logistics so that tanks could be exploited longer.
@TheHistoryGuy: One of these days, rather this month August 2024, the factory of the world famous Dutch cookie named ‘Punselie’ located in the city of Gouda (like the cheese) will be closed forever. The cookie became famous due to almost every Airway had them on board to please their Vegantarian, Halal, no milk solids etc. consumers. Airways like KLM and I believe American Airways or Delta were handing them out. Their machinery of the 1960’s was outdated. Their landlord wants to build apartment on the location of the old bakery. A sad story. But a story that must be remembered.
Country singer Corb Lund referenced the myth in his 2007 song “Horse soldier, horse soldier”, which is implied to be sung by an old cavalryman’s ghost. During the fade-out, there’s a line about Polish lancers German tanks.
It’s a bit annoying inclusion in an otherwise catch song, but at least it’s slightly more forgivable for a musician to make that mistake than a journalist or documentary film maker.
Poland is being made an idiot in the world Russia, Germany and Austro-Hungary propaganda tried to show Polish stupid behavior and hopelessness of existence. The vision was accepted very deeply even now I have heard on other forums of laughing at Polish ideas for armament. Nothing Polish can be good because it is done by fools. Many things that are normal or terrible today were done by Poles. Two examples. Positive. Work on the oil extraction industry was started by a Pole. A kerosene lamp may be stupid now, but back then candles or a lamp make a difference. The oil extraction industry was started by a Pole, the USA is already a later history, the second is terrible, one of the theoreticians of thermonuclear weapons is a Pole.
You know what is history that deserves to be remembered? The Pre-Dreadnought Schlesweig-Holstein who opened those first shots on Poland (and perhaps her class of pre-dreadnoughts).
The Deusches Panzermuseum made a video about that topic. ACtually one time a unit of polish cavalry encountered a column of german tanks, instead of turning around and fleeing, and probably getting slaughtered during this, the polish cavalry "charged" the german tanks, broke through their lines and escaped into a wood behind the german tanks.
Poland to this day calls some of it's units "cavalry" out of respect for our cavalry traditions, e.g. the 25th Air Cavalry Brigade - which in reality is an Air Assault infantry unit which uses helicopters.
A lot of countries do that. The US still has "cavalry" units.
Air Cav is a different sort of unit. The famous scene in Apocalypse Now is a good example.
@@Heike--Airmobile Infantry!Air Cavalry in Viet Nam!I was there!
Thank you for this video. You mentioned that the Poles had no anti-tank guns. The soldier on the horse you show at the beginning of the video is carrying a WZ35 anti-tank rifle. This rifle was capable of penetrating the armor of Panzer MkI and MkII.
@@ronbednarczyk2497 I mention the antitank rifles around 3:30.
@@TheHistoryGuyChannel Forgotten Weapons has a video on this rifle ruclips.net/video/wxhwHgemeBs/видео.html
The USSR attacked at the same time! The Polish Army fought on TWO fronts at once!!
In the early 80s I had a patient who said he took part in one of these cavalry charges. He claimed that his regiment had knocked out 12 German tanks. He also stated that he had killed a German soldier by a longitudinal slash with his sabre.
Well by "these charges" he had to mean charging enemy infantry when they could be take by suprise while marching or camping. Thats hiw he was able to kill somebody with sabre.
Sabre cannot penetrate tank's armor 😉
If they were able to knock out tanks, they obviously were using their anti-tank rifles (model 35) or anti-tank field guns.
If you ain’t Cav…you ain’t!
Air Cav baby!
@@pauldehart7441st Cavalry,Viet Nam 1967 1968,The First Team!
Polish charge you call suicide? Then how do you call plan Barbarossa with 3000 German tanks and 3000 planes against 25000 Soviet tanks and 10000 planes? T-34 for Wehrmacht was a nasty surprise and it was only medium tank, and when officers from Wehrmacht had encountered KV 1 on the battlefield they could not believe that Soviets could make such heavy tank. In that time Wehrmacht's tank where only Panzer III and Panzer IV medium tanks.
hey guys! I can proudly (I guess) say that my greatgrandfather was an Ułan during 2ww. Wish I could post his pictures here coz he lookscool on the horse and with a sabre. He died before I was born and I don't know if he fought in battles (my family is weird and its hard to get informations from them). In the picture of his military ewidency book it is written: "Specjalizacja: Obsługa C.K.M. (plus some word I cannot decipher) Funkcja wojskowa "Celowniczy". It means "Specialisation Heavy Machine Gun operator, funcion: Assistant gunner". So his funcion in combat would be to operate machine gun even tho he was an Ułan, not fight as a cavalryman I think
Due to the lack of roads in parts of Poland, the horses were even preferred to cars, as they were more mobile.
And as they just had been in war, and had, as told the lack of finanical power, it was just not possible to improve it fast.
And I think there was another issue, where a cavalry and a tank troop accidentaly faced each other on a road, and the cavalry charged through the suprised tank troop, to get into safety, what worked quite well.
And also the Germans had still horses, and in the later part of the war, even more.
Being 58, I am quite familiar with “The World at War” (1973) documentaries. For most of my life, I actually believed the reports of the Polish cavalry charges, for at the time there was no internet, nor any concerted effort to confirm or disprove this or other battlefield tales. Certainly, the Poles were overwhelmed by German, then later, Soviet forces coming in from all four cardinal directions, and though ultimately in vain, I never thought their defense ill-planned or unprepared. Their air forces were largely destroyed on the ground, giving Germany decisive air superiority from the first days of the campaign. The Germans invaded from the north, west, and south, and when the Soviets invaded from the east, Polish forces had no reasonable position to fall back to. Even if they had comparable equipment to the Germans, the Poles were desperately surrounded with no help on the horizon from any of their allies. Thus, the notion of suicidal cavalry charges-ostensibly, to allow civilians or other units to escape-did not seem as ridiculous (or incredible) as many claimed, and so I had little reason to believe otherwise. Thank you for putting this apocryphal story to rest. One always has more to learn.
haha no, only the reserve planes were mostly destroyed. and I can assure you that there weren't many of them. the air units were already at other airports on the day the war broke out. they fought until the end, slowly losing planes. the rest flew to romania. where they intervened. we didn't have too many of those planes.
Thank you for reminding that the last successful charge of the war happened in 1945 and that Germans actually started creating larger cavalry units after 1939.
The Poles made many contributions to the Allied war effort after their country was overrun. The Poles started and arguably made the biggest contribution to decyphering the German Enigma machine and system. The Polish squadrons were key assets in the Battle of Britain, with 303 squadron having both the most claims and verified kills on German aircraft. The Poles contributed both infantry and armored divisions to 1st Canadian Army after D-Day, and were key to the Falise Gap battle. The Polish airborne gallantly jumped into the Arnheim battle, "A Bridge Too Far," when the 1st (British) Airborne were in desperate straits, and the Poles knew this was near-suicidal. There are more examples; these are just off the top of my head.
The Poles punched above their weight consistently in WW2 and should not be remembered only for how their country was overrun by the combined strength of Germany and the USSR.
and also that the Manhattan Project was based on their work and the Hungarians, which is shamefully passed over in silence. The Lwów school of mathematics was one of the best in the world, these people were ahead of their country's possibilities by an era.
The polish anti tank rifle was arguably the best of the war. It was easy to transport, and deadly to thinly armed early war tanks. Unfortunately the technology was lost; the British anti tank rifles 'boys' was far inferior.
Meanwhille ...a little further south, Italian tanks were defeated by Haile Selassie's Ethiopian cavalry
Best to say that the European theatre of WWII started with the invasion of Poland. Japan had invaded Manchuria many years before which can be seen as the starting point of WWII.
7tp wasn't a polish produced vickers. It was based on vickers e chassis, but with quite a few modifications including more powerfull engine, different driving gear, better armor, new turret with 37mm gun. All that forces a slight change in sillouette of the tank which still was similar to vickers e but at the same time visibly different
you forgot, diesel engine, radio on board, a version with 40mm armor was being prepared. It would be a very good maneuverable light tank.the Russians checked the original, Polish and Soviet versions. The Polish version was the best, it was no longer an infantry tank
1:40 - the uhlan on photo has Ur antitank rifle which could stop every german tank deployed in Poland. It sounds funny when your comment is about Polish antiquated cavalry units. The fact is that cavalry was the "ellite" of Polish army. It is true that it was an army of a poor country, but the cavalry was well equipped and had means to fight the tank units which is visible in the battle of Mokra
There's a timeline to the video. Later he talks about them integrating these rifles and lots of other upgrades later in the video.
The Poles should have used ski troops instead.
There's MILLIONS of "-skis" in Poland!
Brilliant!
Wicz skis are you talking about
Wiesz, Kowalski itd. Nazwiska na skici się kończą@@witolddupa
In the British Army the King’s Royal Hussars used their horses to patrol difficult country in Kosovo in 1999
Polish soldiers and sailors performed admirably throughout WWII. Those that escaped that initial onslaught went on to fight heroically in the Battle of Britain, Falaise, Arnhem, and other places. Poles have a long memory and appear today unwilling to let their neighbors do the same thing again.
If I remember correctly only the Royal Army ,other Commonwealth armies, units supported by the Royal Army, the US Army and supported units were the only fully motorized armies that fought in WWII. All other armies relied heavily on horse drawn supply columns.
Well........ Mules were very muched used on various fronts.
"Royal Army" is an incorrect term, unlike Royal Navy or Royal Air Force. The correct term for the Army of the UK is the British Army. There are "Royal" units in the British Army such as RAMC, REME, etc. The commonwealth militaries of Canada, Australia, and New Zealand are similarly named, with the second letter denoting the country in the name of the Navy and Air Force. However, while RCAF and RAN are correct for the Canadian Air Force and Austrailian Navy, there is no use of the word "Royal" in describing the Commonwealth Armies. They would be correctly called, for example, the Canadian Army. The above naming is true to this day, although the RoyalCandian Air Force and Royal Canadian Navy were subsumed into the "Canadian Armed Forces" for about 40 years starting in 1968, but now returned to their original, and correct names.
You are right in that the British Army's BEF in 1939 was fully mechanized. This ended abruptly at Dunkirk. The Allied armies from D-Day to the end of the war were almost completely mechanized, with the exception of the Airborne Corps of both the US and UK.
My grandfather rode with the Polish calvary in WW2. Thanks for doing this.
Here's another fact to consider: unlike Germany with their autobahns, in 1939 Poland still had relatively little paved roads, particularly in the eastern part that was later occupied by USSR. In this sense horses were more reliable to move around in rough terrain or woodland than trucks or heavy vehicles. Not to mention the marshes of Pinsk region.
The show the Winged Hussars charging,
And then The History Guy arrived!
Thank you for the lesson.
There is a famous charge against the Soviets by the Italian Savoy Cavalry. They attacked an infantry unit and were successful and is considered one of the last cavalry charges.
Pointing armament disadvantage is hillarious when you will learn about polish logistics.
Poles fought wehrmacht, and didn't been supplied. Then they tried to withdraw to planned positions, just to see germans were already there. Encircled they just had to surrender.
Also Polish army was simply outnumbered, and germans leaked through between gaps in defence.
One of not many examples, of polish army fighting with good logistical support is defence of Modlin and Warsaw.