StieliAlpha Posted September 1, 2019 Share Posted September 1, 2019 Here‘s an interesting piece about the famous Polish cavalry charge in WW2: https://sz.de/1.2124860 Big surprise: It sounds history was quite different from what we remember from the movies. The article is in German, though. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Emrys Posted September 1, 2019 Share Posted September 1, 2019 2 hours ago, StieliAlpha said: Big surprise: It sounds history was quite different from what we remember from the movies. By the time WW II rolled around there was very little true cavalry combat going on with troopers fighting from the saddle. So-called cavalry fought mostly as dragoons, riding up to the battle but then dismounting to fight on foot as infantry. I suppose they could be more truly described as mounted infantry, but that name never seems to have stuck. Probably lacked the glamour of the older term. Michae 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ncc1701e Posted September 1, 2019 Share Posted September 1, 2019 Oh no - again this legend of a cavalry charge assaulting panzers... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StieliAlpha Posted September 2, 2019 Author Share Posted September 2, 2019 11 hours ago, ncc1701e said: Oh no - again this legend of a cavalry charge assaulting panzers... Well, sometimes it helps to read first. The bottom line of the article is, that those charges did not exist, resp cavalry-armor clashes happened only by chance, when cavalry bumped into armor by accident. Like in the Battle of Krojtani, based on which German propaganda shaped the legend. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Kettler Posted September 7, 2019 Share Posted September 7, 2019 StieliAlpha, No sweat. Here's aresome English language accounst. EAch provides additional perspectives on what happened and why. Also of note is that POlish cavalry charged 21 times during the brief war. One of those wasn't planned to be against tanks, but that's how it turned out because of smoke. This had zero to do with the infamous German lie. Would love to know what the casualties were from the Polish cavalry attack on that exposed German infantry battalion--well before any Panzers showed up. This tiny piece tells us where, provides some context, has a map and some picshttps://worldhistoryproject.org/1939/9/1/charge-at-krojanty This much longer article provides considerable context, talks about what really happened, why, and what the Germans did to distort the truth to their advantage.https://polamjournal.com/Library/APHistory/Cavalry_Myth/cavalry_myth.html Here we learn about how the Polish cavalry was trained, its combat background and the courage of the CO, who pitted 250 cavalry against some 715 Germans, a force with 27 LMGs and 524 rifles. So rapidly did the cavalry pounce on the Germans they barely got off any shots from their LMGs. This also details later actions of the Polish Cavalry.https://www.historyanswers.co.uk/history-of-war/polish-cavalry-vs-german-tanks-the-lies-the-betrayal-and-the-unlikely-truth/ German infantry battalion structure for 1939 is the leftmost column on page 9 here.http://www.bayonetstrength.uk/GermanArmy/GerInfBn/Org of the German Inf Bn 1938-45.pdf Regards, John Kettler 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ncc1701e Posted September 7, 2019 Share Posted September 7, 2019 On 9/2/2019 at 9:35 AM, StieliAlpha said: Well, sometimes it helps to read first. The bottom line of the article is, that those charges did not exist, resp cavalry-armor clashes happened only by chance, when cavalry bumped into armor by accident. Like in the Battle of Krojtani, based on which German propaganda shaped the legend. Yes, we are on the same page. that's why I call that a legend. Unfortunately, in the collective imagination, some legends persist... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StieliAlpha Posted September 9, 2019 Author Share Posted September 9, 2019 (edited) On 9/7/2019 at 10:23 PM, John Kettler said: StieliAlpha, No sweat. Here's aresome English language accounst. EAch provides additional perspectives on what happened and why. Also of note is that POlish cavalry charged 21 times during the brief war. One of those wasn't planned to be against tanks, but that's how it turned out because of smoke. This had zero to do with the infamous German lie. Would love to know what the casualties were from the Polish cavalry attack on that exposed German infantry battalion--well before any Panzers showed up. This tiny piece tells us where, provides some context, has a map and some picshttps://worldhistoryproject.org/1939/9/1/charge-at-krojanty This much longer article provides considerable context, talks about what really happened, why, and what the Germans did to distort the truth to their advantage.https://polamjournal.com/Library/APHistory/Cavalry_Myth/cavalry_myth.html Here we learn about how the Polish cavalry was trained, its combat background and the courage of the CO, who pitted 250 cavalry against some 715 Germans, a force with 27 LMGs and 524 rifles. So rapidly did the cavalry pounce on the Germans they barely got off any shots from their LMGs. This also details later actions of the Polish Cavalry.https://www.historyanswers.co.uk/history-of-war/polish-cavalry-vs-german-tanks-the-lies-the-betrayal-and-the-unlikely-truth/ German infantry battalion structure for 1939 is the leftmost column on page 9 here.http://www.bayonetstrength.uk/GermanArmy/GerInfBn/Org of the German Inf Bn 1938-45.pdf Regards, John Kettler It sounds like Markus Pöhlmann, a German historian, did a serious research on the topic quite recently. Unfortunately, I could not find his paper in the Internet, only some references to his works and the corresponding case study in his book about the developement of mechanized warfare in Germany. Edited September 9, 2019 by StieliAlpha 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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