History of War – October 2019

Adolf Hitler salutes
troops marching across
the River San, Poland,
10 September 1939

“

S

urelytheydon’twantto

attackus,”thetankdriver

thought,observingthePolish

cavalryfromthesafetyof

hisPanzerIII,“thatwould

bemadness.”Butthen,withthethunderof

hooves,attacktheydid– accordingto oneof

manyGermanpropaganda‘memoirs’of the

time– onlyto becutdownin a bloodychaos

byGermanheavymachineguns.

Whenmostof usthinkaboutthePolish

Campaignof 1939,thisis theimagethat

comesto mind– thatof thePolessupposedly

sendingtheircavalrymenchargingagainstthe

hardenedsteelof theWehrmacht’spanzers.

Likeallthebeststories,it’sa myth,of course,

a fablewovenbytheGermanPropaganda

Ministryfromhalf-truthsandprejudice,

designedto showthePolesasfeckless,foolish

andunworthyof sympathy.

In truththePolisharmyin 1939was

nowherenearasprimitiveasitsenemies

wouldhavehadtheworldbelieve.Thefifth

largeststandingarmyin theworld,it was

well-trained,well-motivatedandcomparatively

wellequipped.EvenHitler,in a momentof

magnanimity,concededthattheordinaryPolish

soldier“foughtcourageously”.

So,whatdidtheSeptemberCampaignlook

likefromthePolishperspective?Whatdid

thePolesthinktheyweredoingin September

1939?Howdidtheyplanto holdanddefeatthe

Nazijuggernaut?Andwhatwentwrong?

WORDSROGERMOORHOUSE

Below:A Polishinfantrymanduringthe

Germaninvasion, 1939

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