My father, discussing the fatal conservatism of military high echelons, said the Poles did start off World War One with troops and troops of cavalry, which did charge machine guns, etc. I was surprised to hear that such units were still around at the start of WW II.
Apparently they never charged any tanks, not being complete fools, but lived up to their reputation as brave, if not suicidal, fighters.
I would just like to throw in here that my grandfather was in the American Cavalry right up to WWII.
When the war started he did not go on horse back, but he was still training on horses right before the war.
Of course…my memory is slightly blurry about this, it might have been a Home gaurd unit, or National Gaurd, or whatever else they called stuff back then. But the point is that he was on horseback in Americain the late 1930’s.
So I wouldn’t be surprised at all for a country like Poland to have a bunch of units on horseback.
Actually, the German army had even more cavalry (i.e. horse-riding) than the Polish army.
The fact is, mechanized transport (i.e., trucks and half-tracks) didn’t become a standard part of armies until after World War II. Most of the German infantry who fought in Poland or France were on foot; many of the troops that came to help defend the beaches during D-Day were riding bicycles (admittedly, partially because the Allies were bombing the hell out of the rail lines and major roads, but still).
Riding one’s horses in a charge was considered foolish in World War II (though I wouldn’t be surprised by accounts of cavalry charges at machine guns in World War I); you rode your horses to near where the enemy was, then walked the last little bit to the battle.
“Lies, Legends, and Myths of World History” has a good cite on the exact numbers of horses the American, German, and Polish armies had in 1939. I’ll see if I can look it up when I get home.
Wasn’t there a US cavalry division engaged in the Philippines in World War II?
I don’t think the British had any cavalry units, but the Russians certainly made use of Cossack cavalry on the Eastern Front well into 1942 and 1943. When the German Panzers were out of action, with gun oil frozen solid, tracks thrown or low on ammunition, I bet they weren’t best pleased to be surprised by sub-machinegun-wielding Cossacks on ponies that could handle the snow a lot better than a Panzer III.
Plus, you can’t eat a half-track when you’re encircled and running low on supplies.
The myth about Polish cavalry is the invention of some unnamed reporter. Basically, in 1939 most armies still had cavalry units, and the Poles were no exception. These units were used for reconnaisance and patrol, and were very useful. There was an incident, where a polish cavalry unit encountered a German Panzer unit, but the Poles were not so suicidal that they would have attempted an attack. People who criticize the Poles should remember that they were the FIRST to crack the german “ENIGMA” codes, and that they had excellent heavy bombers (the “ELK” 4 engine bombers were better than any allied bombers in 1939). Their misfortune was to be surrounded by two savage foes, and being far away from their allies.
I’m not going to get into this because I don’t have sources to quote.
It was my understanding that the entire “Polish cavalry attacks German tanks” urban legend originated with one documented instance of this happening, the circumstance being that the officers of the regiment were given to understand (erroneously) that the Panzer force they were attacking was a feint using, so to speak, “cardboard” tanks – wooden cutouts used over jeeps, trucks, and such for training purposes. While they did get gorily destroyed because the tanks were real, this was not foolhardy but a well-conceived attempt at repelling what would have been, if their intelligence had been accurate, a feint to attempt penetration without the actual force to achieve it through disguise.
In general, the Polish army was relatively competent, though horribly placed due to a national insistence on holding all its widespread borders. It was their bad luck to be the fourth best army in Eastern Europe, facing two of the three that were better. (The other one was Finland, which though smaller was technically head and shoulders above anything but Germany.)
In the Philipines the 26th Cavalry was involved in the last cavalry charge by an American cavalry troop. They were out scouting and found a party of Japanese soldiers blocking their way home. They charged and in the confusion passed through the enemy without harm. Wish I could find more on the net than this.
Answering the OP, I found this. I had also heard that Polish cavalry remained active as uniformed, mounted guerillas for some time after the conquest of Poland. Still looking for verification.
Soory, I don’t have the link, but any good recent book on WWII will have this info. The Polish intelligence service began work on the ENIGMA codes in the mid-1920’s. They actually were able to duplicate the machine, and passed on their iformation (plus a machine) to the British MI-5 in 1939 (by that time, the Germans had modified the ENIGMA machine, so that cracking the codes became more and more difficult. However, the honor (of breaking the codes) belongs to the Poles.
The judge I clerked for was in a cavalry division at the start of WWII, and was trained in on horses and horseback riding. (Actually, they stuck him in cav because they assumed, wrongly, that he must know all about horses because he was a Montana boy. But he was a townie and had never been on a horse before in his life.)
They switched his whole division over from cav to infantry at the start of the war, though, and when he charged up Omaha Beach on D-Day, he did it on foot.
That above account differs slightly from others I have read. I’ll need to come back later with a cite and a quote, but I think that the Enigma machine was in a diplomatic package that was intentionally witheld over a weekend, whereupon the Poles disassembled and sketched it with enough accuracy to produce a working model of their own. I think they had also wisely purchased a few examples of the original commercial version.
The Poles were just bad-ass in WWII. In addition to their original success with Enigma, they also supplied valuable information about the Peenemunde tests. A squadron of expatriate Polish pilots scored the most kills of any squadron engaged in the Battle of Britain (including the top ace of the battle, Czech pilot Josef Frantisek); the two Polish squadrons engaged in that battle accounted for 10% of all German losses. The Polish 2nd Corps was instrumental in the reduction of the German defenders at Monte Cassino, while the 1st Armored Division managed to keep the single road out of the Falaise Pocket closed in the face of desperate German counterattack.
Am I the only one who thinks this don’t mean doodly? If someone has his boot on your neck, who cares if you formally surrendered or not? You’re on the ground, his boot’s on your neck, and they’re carting your fellow-citizens off in cattle cars.
I think it makes a difference when your countrymen continue the fight from another country. If your country had surrendered they might be considered outlaws.
Jodi, in this particular case it means substantially more than doodly.
When the Germans and the Russians met in the middle and Poland was effectively conquered, a fair chunk of the government had escaped to Paris (via Romania), a couple of naval vessels (notably a submarine) and three divisions of soldiers had gotten out of harm’s way. The Polish army and navy continued to fight, armed by the British and as instructed by their government-in-exile, throughout WWII. And, but for Stalin’s tricks, would have reestablished a republican government in Poland when it was freed.
That’s the difference. France surrendered. DeGaulle was officially a traitor with the death penalty hanging over him, according to the official pro-German Vichy government of France, when he started the Free French. Poland didn’t. And kept fighting (albeit subsidized). Neither did Norway, by the way, although what they had was a small navy and not quite a division of troops.
Re the OP:
I feel sure I’ve seen images of Polish Lancers heading toward the oncoming Germans but, I suppose, I might have assumed they actually did from the accompanying captions.
Re Doodly:
Like several countries, the Poles set up an exiled Government in London for the rest of the war. This gave a vital focus and impetus to the resistance movement back in Poland and to the Polish people in general who were able to listen to their exiled leaders via the BBC. The fact that they didn’t surrender and could listen to their leaders was hugely important for morale.
I do know important numbers of Poles flew for the RAF during the Battle Of Britain – no one understood a word they were saying but, apparently, they went like bats out of hell at the Luftwaffe. At lest 2 squadrons, I believe, flew Spits and Hurricanes.
Horses:
I believe the British Army also employed large numbers of horses as transport during WW2, primarily in North Africa and Burma. In Europe, The British Expeditionary Force (BEF) did use horses as artillery transport and such like but all that got rather misplaced on the road to Dunkirk.
The US 4th Armored Division (Combat Command ‘B’, if memmory serves) faced an attack by mounted Cossak calvary near Normandy, early in the war. This is detailed in the book “Clarke of St. Vith” (I forget the author: The book is in storage). The Cossaks were basically mercenaries in German service, and they set-up an ambush wherein they spread out on a ridgeline, dismounted, panicked their horses into stampeding the armor, and engaged the tanks with small arms. Again, as I recall, this was a small unit, and although the 4th tried to open a path for the horses, many were killed by stampeding straight into the tanks. Oh, and the guys from the 4th kicked major Cossak ass afterwards. I guess they were kinda pissed.
