The battle of Krojanty
During the action the Polish cavalry
units met a large group of German infantry resting in a woods near the village of Krojanty.
Colonel
Mastalerz
decided to take the enemy by surprise and immediately ordered a cavalry charge, a tactics the Polish cavalry
did not use as
their main weapon.
The charge was successful and the German infantry unit was dispersed and the Poles occupied the woods.
Moreover, the German advance was stopped for enough time to allow the withdrawal of Polish 1st Rifle battalion and National
Defence
battalion Czersk from the area of
Chojnice.
However, the sounds of the battle notified the crews of the APCs
stationed nearby and soon the Polish unit got under heavy machine gun
fire.
According to Heinz
Guderian‘s memoirs, the Polish cavalry charge impressed the
Germans and caused a widespread panic among the soldiers and the staff of German 20th Motorised
Infantry Division, which delayed their offensive and forced them to consider a tactical retreat.
This was however prevented by personal intervention of Gen. Guderian.
Aftermath and the myth
The
Polish cavalry charge stopped the German pursuit and the units of Czersk Operational
Group
were able to withdraw southwards unopposed. Also, it took the enemy several hours to reorganise and continue the advance.
On September
2,
1939, the 18th Pomeranian Uhlans Regiment was decorated by Gen.
Grzmot-Skotnicki, the commander of the Operational Group, with his own Virtuti
Militari
medal for valour shown in this combat.
The same day the German war correspondents were brought to the battlefield together with two journalists from Italy.
They were shown the battlefield, the corpses of
Polish cavalrymen and their horses, as well as
German tanks that arrived to the place after the battle.
One of the Italian correspondents sent home an article, in which he described 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 the combat, the myth was used by German
propaganda
during the war.
After the end of World
War II
it was still used by Soviet propaganda as an example of stupidity of Polish commanders, who allegedly did not prepare their country for the war and instead wasted the blood of their soldiers.
“Contrary to German and Italian href=”http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Lance” title=”Lance”>lances 37mm Mk I) anti-tank guns, that could penetrate 26mm Another weapon was anti-tank rifle
propaganda, Polish cavalry brigades
never charged tanks
with their sabres
or
as they were equipped with anti-tank weapons
such as 37mm Bofors wz.36 (exported to UK as
Ordnance
Q.F.
armour
at 600m at 30 degrees. The cavalry brigades were in the process of being reorganized into
motorized brigades“.
model 1935 (karabin przeciwpancerny wz. 35). Its
calibre
was 7.92 mm and it could penetrate 15mm armour at
300m at 30 degrees.