ORP Blyskawica | Forums

[mariuszj1939]

Originally posted by Bockholt:
It's a bit of a myth about the cavalry charging tanks in 1939 - the problem was that there was no chance of a defence in depth.

see - cavalry charges and propaganda
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polish_...and_Propaganda

[Bockholt]

Very interesting link, good ol' Wickipedia!

Obviously Polish commanders knew how to use their cavalry, but the fact that the myth of charging tanks originated with enemy (Italian!) journalists is significant. I remember seeing 'documentary' footage of Polish cavalry charging panzers, no doubt courtesy of Dr Goebbels.

Here's Bruce McCall's cavalry-carrying chopper (I think he means 'squadron' when he says 'battalion', but will forgive the technicality):

[mariuszj1939]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Bockholt:

Here's Bruce McCall's cavalry-carrying chopper (I think he means 'squadron' when he says 'battalion', but will forgive the technicality):


Thank you Bockholt !
something new - I've never heard about it

[WilhelmSchulz.]

Originally posted by geoffwessex:
Then, just to show the Ensign on a Canadian ship (and the 'camouflage'), here's HMCS Sackville, Flower Class corvette, at Halifax.

ALARM!!!!

[janek73]

I've just found this little passage from Guderian's book, i think there is no reason not to belive him, but he is writing something about "totaly encirclement"- maybe polish cavalry wanted to break through.

[Bockholt]

You are lucky to have a Flower Class in Halifax, WilhelmShultz. There are no survivors in Britain.

mariuszj, don't take Bruce McCall too seriously!

As for Guderian, janek, that passage is mentioned (and dismissed) in the Wikipedia entry on Polish cavalry. One wants to believe Guderian, who has been quoted for confirming Hitler's responsibilty for & knowledge of the Holocaust; but this story from September '39 is rather vague. It is impossible that anyone in the Polish armed forces failed to 'understand the nature of' tanks!

[janek73]

Bockholt- They failed to understand the nature of tanks in the same way as they failed to understand the nature of HELICOPTER. It is not more crazy to install locomotiv engin in helicopter than attack the german tanks with sabres and lances. I was couple of years ago in People's amusement park in Bydgoszcz and i assert you merery-go-arround is still in service


And one question Bockholt, where did you find this unknown fact from second world war? do you have more?

[Bockholt]

The accepted idea is that between the Wars British military theorists Fuller & Swinton developed the mobile armoured warfare philosophy which only the Germans understood & used 1939-40. A few Polish and French officers (notably de Gaulle) realised that blitzkrieg could be defeated by lying low and allowing the enemy tanks to advance, then interdicting supply lines. Again, the Germans had worked this out in WW1 with the concept of Stosstruppen who were able to operate behind the overstretched lines of Allied tanks/cavalry in 1918. This can be achieved tactically, but is more difficult on a strategic level. The other factor (both on land and at sea) is air power, which the British developed effectively in WW1.

While the Germans were wasting time with the foolish idea of individual aces who shot down lots of enemy fighters (in both World Wars!), the British concentrated on teamwork from large numbers of aircraft to deliver a lot of bombs in support of ground forces. The Germans managed this tactically, but never on the strategic scale of the RAF and USAAF. In tank v. tank warfare from Kursk to Sinai it is going to be air superiority (or lack of it) that decides the outcome.