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The following URLs represent information the Polish Cavalry in 1939:

Organization: http://www.freeport-tech.com/wwii/029_poland/organizations/brig_cav.html

Weapons and equipment: http://www.heroica.org/polish.htm

Armored vehicles: http://derela.republika.pl/armcarpl.htm

Forward! Follow me! The last charge of the Polish Cavalry

In his book The Cavalry of World War II, Orbis Publishing Limited, London 1979, ISBN 0 85613 022 2, Janusz Piekalkiewicz tells the following story of what must be the very last charge made by Polish cavalry - from the First Polish Army, in Soviet service:

"West Pomerania on the morning of March 1, 1945. A chill wind was sweeping low, heavy, threatening clouds across the rolling countryside; small lakes sparkled among the dark forests and, here and there, patches of dirty snow could still be seen. In a village near to the small town of Schönfeld, the military band was playing the Polish national anthem "Poland is not yet lost". [The "Dobrowski Marski" in Polish, as far as I know/PEFIN.]

Two cavalry squadrons were trotting in front of a group of senior officers. One of the squadrons, under Lieutenant Spisacki, wheeled round to the right towards the forest as the other, under Lieutenant Starak, moved straight ahead towards the railway line. A few kilometers further on, in a valley, lay Schönfeld, behind flat meadows criss-crossed like a chessboard with irrigation canals. The town was divided by the railway line with a trunk road running directly parallel; on both sides were lakes, while beyond were more meadows and woods. It was here that the Pomeranian "wall" was situated - the last German defense line between the Oder and Berlin.

The horsemen of the 1. Samodzielna Warzawska Brygada Kawalerii - a cavalry brigade fighting on the side of the Soviet Union as part of the 1. Armia WP, the 1st Polish People's Army - had a tough nut to crack: they were to break through the Pomeranian wall if at all possible. The Poles had already been trying to storm the German lines for two days. The tanks and infantry storming party had got stuck in the boggy fields the previous day and was then wiped out in a hail of anti-tank grenade fire from powerful tank-busters, well camouflaged in the irrigation ditches. The infantry was forced to withdraw with heavy losses under heavy machine-gun fire. The task, which the T-34 tanks and the assault infantry had failed to achieve, was now to be undertaken by two cavalry squadrons supported by the remaining tanks. The cavalry could only hope that the Germans would direct their anti-tank gunfire at the T-34s and not at the horses.

A few tanks moved in line towards the trunk road, and a red very-light soared into the air in a high arc: this was the signal for the cavalry to attack. The squadron commander Lieutenant Starak, raised his saber and ordered: "Forward - Follow me!" Yelling "Hurrah" they galloped off and rapidly crossed the road. Thick billows of smoke from the burning tanks formed a protective blanket. They were quickly upon the horrified and astonished anti-tank gunners: "Russian Cossacks, Russian Cossacks!" The gunners had probably thought it impossible that cavalry would be accompanying the tanks. Behind the German positions, the horsemen dismounted and attacked from the rear.

The second squadron, under Lieutenant Spisacki, had assembled in a small corpse and was soon in difficulty. Even before their charge, a section of the tank force had got stuck in thick mud and was now in flames, hit from the side by German anti-tank fire. The exploding tanks made the horses shy, and the thick black smoke caused confusion. The galloped blindly through. In the trenches ahead of them all was quiet, then suddenly shooting broke out. Possibly the Germans had been disconcerted momentarily by the sight of the cavalry galloping towards them. The squadron's horsemen jumped over the forward German positions, found cover in a hollow a short distance from Schönfeld, and dismounted. It was the last Polish cavalry charge in history.

Both squadrons fought their way nearer to the town. And by evening, with tank and infantry support, Schönfeld, which was fortified with a few dugouts, had been captured. The infantry losses were 370 dead and wounded, but the cavalry lost only seven uhlans."

The Polish Cavalry serving along the Red Army

For further information on the 1. Samodzielna Warzawska Brygada Kawalerii refer to:

Red Death, Soviet Mountain, Naval, NKVD, and Allied Divisions and Brigades 1941-1945 by Charles Sharp, Volume VII in the series Soviet Order of Battle World War II - An Organizational History of the Major Combat Units of the Soviet Army, George F. Nafziger 1995.