Polish armoured units of WWII.

Hello,

The horse-mounted cavalry charges against the German tanks are just a myth.

The Polish armor in 1939 consisted of :

2 armored/motorized brigades, each with :
1x Vickers light tank company
2x recon TK tankettes company

Independent units :
2x 7TP tank battalions
2x 7TP tank companies
1x Renault R35 battalion
3x FT17 tank companies

11 cavalry brigades and 18 infantry divisions had also 1 recon company with WZ armored cars or TK, TKS or TKF tankettes.

Total :
50x Renault R35 (French 37mm SA18 gun)
135x 7TP (20 with two MG-armed turrets, 115 with a good 37mm Bofors gun)
102x FT17 (about 70 with a French 37mm SA18 gun)
34x Vickers tanks (47mm Vickers QF gun)
574x TK, TKS or TKF tankettes (24 TKS tankettes were armed with 20mm wz.38 FK-A gun)
100x armored cars (of those were armed with the French 37mm SA18 gun : 6 Peugeot, 30 armored halftracks Citroën-Kégresse wz.28, 10 armored car wz.29 close to the French Laffly 50AM, 30 armored cars wz.34 based on a Citroën-Kégresse chassis).

That makes a total of 995 armored vehicles. 269 tanks, 24 tankettes and 76 armored cars equipped with 20mm, 37mm or 47mm guns = 369 vehicles armed with guns. The 37mm SA18 gun is the same than the one of the majority of the French tanks in 1940 (FT17c, R35, FCM36, most of the Hotchkiss H35 and H39).

Regards,

David

 

But the Poles did have cavalry?

I have read somewhere that they were once charged at German attackers simply to buy time, although this does sound a rather callous use of troops...

 

Yes of course they had cavalry but the men fought dismounted with their rifles, MG, AT rifles etc.

Apart from the previously detaild armored units, in 1939 they had grossly :

• Infantry

30 infantry divisions + 9 reserve infantry divisions

Each with :
3 infantry regiments
1 light artillery regiment
1 heavy artillery battalion (12 pieces)
1 engineer battalion
1 transmission company
1 AA battery

Each infantry regiment contains :
3x infantry battalions
1x MG battalion

Total : 84 infantry regiments + 6 mountain infantry regiments

• Cavalry

11 cavalry brigades

Each with :
3 to 4 cavalry regiments
1 light artillery squadron (12 pieces)
1 AA battery
1 engineer company
several service units

Each cavalry regiment contains :
4x squadron
1x MG company
several service units

Total : 38 cavalry regiments

• Artillery

Apart from the divisional artillery there were also
23x heavy artillery groups
3x super heavy artillery groups
20x siege artillery platoons

The AT artillery is present as
- platoons in the cavalry brigades
- companies in the infantry regiments

Total :

Field Artillery :
1374x 75 mm Mle1897 French guns
466x 75mm Mle1902 Russian guns
900x SKODA 100 mm howitzers
254x 105 mm Schneider French guns
43x 120 mm guns
340x 155 mm Schneider French howitzers
27x very heavy 220 mm mortars

AT artillery :
1200x 37 mm Bofors guns

AA artillery :
306x 40 mm Bofors guns
156x 75 mm Bofors guns

Regards,

David

 

My god david! Where do you get all this information?? You seem to know every exact number!

 

Magazines, books ... no mysteries

David

 

post subject

1st.polish Armoured Div. 21st.Army group. Good cartoonist too!
The brigade badge adopted in August 42 was in black set on a yellow circle
on a khaki rectangular background. representing the helmet and wings of the Polish cavalry which, under the leadership of King John Sobeike
relieved Vienna from the Turks in 1683.
SORRY ATTATCHMENT IS TOO LARGE, PITY, Great picture!

 

The 1 Polish Armoured Div liberated Ypres, Breda, Moerdijk and at the end took Wilhelmshaven.
The Karpatians was an infantry div. and they took Monte Cassino.
They were fighting in Tobruk (as a brigade) in 1941.
In May 1945 Polish army in the west had about 800 tanks.
On the eastern front there were two polish armies.They had about 1000 tanks.
The Kosciuszko infantry div. was fighting in Berlin.
No Polish soldiers were invitated on victory parades after the war. :-?

 

Any reason for that? Their gallantry throughout the war was something that earned them every respect.

 

The western allies acknowledged the communist government in Poland and the polish army in the west become "illegal" and very disturbing.
At the end of the war they had to paint the polish insignia on their tanks.

 

Just out of curiosity, what kind of AFVs were deployed by the Polish army?

 

In the west the were in British standard and inthe east as Russian Guards standart.

 

Poles did have a part in operation overlord with shermans they called them the burning graves(that is not my opnion) they hade a lot to do there own air force and other stuff

 

They didnt really have a tank army or division it was cavalry, the old kind

 

Well, then it might come as a surprise to you than Poland had more tanks than the US in 1939.