# Biggest military tech gap? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 25, 2009, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-military-tech-gap/507672 "2009-08-25T19:30:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2009, 8:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-military-tech-gap/507672/41 "2009-08-27T08:55:35Z")
> [@Sailboat](#): > > Australian aborigines and the Tasmanians had .. no concept of war for conquest This is a joke, right? ---
**Author:** ![FRDE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e68b1a/32.png) [@FRDE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FRDE)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2009, 9:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-military-tech-gap/507672/42 "2009-08-27T09:09:17Z")
> [@Oakminster](#): > > Didn’t Poland have some cavalry when Hitler invaded? About 1966 my dentist was a former Polish cavalry officer, his ‘horse’ was a Rudge motorcycle - later he served with the British, when I knew him he still wore a gold ring with a compartment containing cyanide - for fear of capture by the Russians. ---
**Author:** ![Michael\_of\_Lucan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/dbc845/32.png) [@Michael\_of\_Lucan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael_of_Lucan)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2009, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-military-tech-gap/507672/43 "2009-08-27T15:57:36Z")
As I understand it, the Polish cavalry story was a German propaganda version of an actual event. Many armies still had mounted units, and a Polish unit turned up after a battle with some Germans. They had not taken part in the fight, but were photgraphed later at the scene by a foreign journalist. The German propagandists used it to imply that the Poles were a backward, childish people, who would seriously charge tanks with horses. That had not happened. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2009, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-military-tech-gap/507672/44 "2009-08-27T16:23:02Z")
> [@Michael\_of\_Lucan](#): > > As I understand it, the Polish cavalry story was a German propaganda version of an actual event. Many armies still had mounted units, and a Polish unit turned up after a battle with some Germans. They had not taken part in the fight, but were photgraphed later at the scene by a foreign journalist.. It was actually, the other way around. In the battle of Krojanty, a Polish cavalry unit, the 18th Uhlan Cavalry, came across a Germany infantry brigade, and charged them. The charge dispersed the infantry, but the cavalry was forced to retreat when German armored cars showed up. Even though the cavalry was forced to retreat under fire, the delay they caused did allow other Polish units to successfully withdraw. Later, the German tanks showed up, and the German army showed the scene, along with the tanks, and the dead Polish cavalry, to friendly and neutral journalists, claiming that they charged the tanks. By the way, the idea of Polish cavalry attacking German tanks isn’t as absurd a mismatch as it seems. The Polish cavalry was armed by anti-tank rifles, which could and did take out the light armor that the Germans used when they invaded Poland. ---
**Author:** ![Michael\_of\_Lucan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/dbc845/32.png) [@Michael\_of\_Lucan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael_of_Lucan)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2009, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-military-tech-gap/507672/45 "2009-08-27T16:56:16Z")
Captain Amazing - thanks for clarifying my vague memory on the Polish cavalry. Right on the propaganda point, but wrong in detail. There are probably many instances where terrorist/guerrilla type warfare is used against modern armies. Many of these cannot be objectively viewed as war, since no stand up battles take place. However, in the minds of the guerrillas, they are at war. No one has mentioned the Viet Cong, but that’s a complex issue, since they did not stand alone against the power of the US. However, I agree with those who posit the various European wars of colonisation. In many cases, the technology was overwhelming and face to face combat with disciplined troops was a massacre. Indeed, many of the folk who were massacred have been forgotten, except as anonymous “natives” (or some such term) who attacked and were slaughtered. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-military-tech-gap/507672.md?page=2)