10th Motorized Cavalry Brigade

10th Motorized Cavalry Brigade was the only big mechanized unit of the Polish Army when Germany invaded Poland in 1939. It was organized in February 1937 as an experiment: Polish generals still had some doubts about the value of mechanized force and wanted to test it. The brigade was supposed to be a kind of emergency unit in Commander-in-Chief’s reserve. Its job was to screen concentration areas of Polish troops, to close gaps made by enemy in Polish lines and to fight enemy mechanized units. First exercise in offensive action in 1938 was a big disappointment – the brigade proved to be too weak to really make any difference. There were some changes after that, the most important – nomination of Colonel Stanisław Maczek as commander of the brigade. Officially, the brigade was suposed to have two motorized cavalry regiments: 24th Lancers Regiment and 10th Mounted Rifle Regiment (every regiment was an equivalent of strong infantry battalion), one tank battalion, one motorized artillery battalion, anti-tank unit (with 18 anti-tank cannons), reconnaissance unit (with motorcycles and small tanks), anti-aircraft battery and engineer battalion. Formally it was still called 10th Cavalry Brigade, withouth "Motorized". Polish Army (Polish Wojsko Polskie) is the name applied to the military forces of Poland. ... Gen. ...

10th Cavalry Brigade in action

Unfortunately, in September 1939, the brigade had to fight without heavier tanks (only with some obsolete light reconnaissance tanks) and without one artillery battery, which left the unit with only 8 heavier cannons. The brigade was attached to the Army „Cracow”, that defended the southern part of Poland. The brigade went ino battle already in the first day of war. It was ordered to cover the southern flank of the army in Western Beskid Mountains against strong German mechanized unit. Only some days later Colonel Maczek realized that his brigade, supported only by a few units of Polish Frontier Corps nad National Defence, stood against whole German XXII Corps, with one armoured division, one mechanized division and one mountain infantry division. For five days Maczek’s brigade fought bravely and very efficiently, changing German „blitz” into slow and bloody march. Polish soldiers took advantage of difficult terrain (mountains, highlands and narrow passes), stopping German attacks and occasionally counter-attacking. Finally the brigade was pulled out from the first line. Unfortunately in other places Polish defences was broken and Army „Cracow” had to withdraw. The brigade fought as a screening unit, until it arrived to Lwów and joined the city’s defenders. On September 17 , Soviets invaded Poland. 10th Cavalry Brigade tried to break to the last line of defence near Romanian border, but German and Soviet advances made that impossible. Polish Commander-in-Chief Field Marshal Edward Rydz-Śmigły ordered the brigade to cross Hungarian border. Colonel Maczek’s brigade was interned in Hungary. The unit lost about half of its men, but was never defeated in open combat, gaining respect even from the enemy. The Germans called 10th Cavalry Brigade „Die Schwarze Brigade” – „The Black Brigade”, because of black jackets worn by Polish mechanized troops. However, it was not the end of its history. With silent support of Hungarians most of its soldiers managed to get to France, to join Polish Army led by general Sikorski. They fought in 1940 in France as 10th Armoured Cavalry Brigade. After France surrendered, the veterans of „The Black Brigade” went to Great Britain and became the core of First Polish Armoured Division. September 17 is the 260th day of the year (261st in leap years). ... Polish 1st Armoured Div Patch The Polish 1st Armoured Division (Polish 1 Dywizja Pancerna) was an Allied military unit during World War II, created in February 1942 in Scotland. ...

Sources

Stanisław Maczek, „Od podwody do czołga”, Lublin-London 1990