DEFENDING AGAINST THE BLITZKRIEG

“Surely they don’t want to attack us,” the tank driver thought, observing the Polish cavalry from the safety of his Panzer III, “that would be madness.” But then, with the thunder of hooves, attack they did – according to one of many German propaganda ‘memoirs’ of the time – only to be cut down in a bloody chaos by German heavy machine guns.

When most of us think about the Polish Campaign of 1939, this is the image that comes to mind – that of the Poles supposedly sending their cavalrymen charging against the hardened steel of the Wehrmacht’s panzers. Like all the best stories, it’s a myth, of course, a fable woven by the German Propaganda Ministry from half-truths and prejudice, designed to show the Poles as feckless, foolish and unworthy of sympathy.

In truth the Polish army in 1939 was nowhere near as primitive as its enemies would have had the world believe. The fifth largest standing army in the world, it was well-trained, well-motivated and comparatively well equipped. Even Hitler, in a moment of magnanimity, conceded that the ordinary Polish soldier “fought courageously”.

So, what did the September Campaign look like from the Polish perspective? What did the Poles think they were doing in September 1939? How did they plan to hold and defeat the Nazi juggernaut? And what went wrong?

Poland had re-emerged in 1918 following the collapse of the Russian Empire and the Central Powers – Germany and Austria-Hungary – the three states that had partitioned and occupied the country since the late 18th century. Though the 1920s and 30s were difficult, much progress was made and by 1939, Poland’s armed forces were full of confidence and vigour, boasting submarines, destroyers, tanks and aircraft of a comparable standard to many contemporaries.

On the ground the army was scarcely the backward-looking, cavalry-centred anachronism that German propaganda would portray. With one million men under arms, across some 30 divisions of infantry and 11 cavalry brigades, it was not inconsiderable.

Neither was it shy of innovation. Polish armourers had developed the highly effective wz.35 anti-tank rifle, as well as the excellent wz.1928 machine-gun, and the Vis pistol – a variant of the iconic Browning M1911 Colt – which appeared in 1936, and is often described as one of the best handguns