1939 Polish calvary regiment

SuperSlinger · #1

Hey. First post here, and I have a qeustion. Does anyone know anything about 1939 polish calvary? Table of equipment, order of battle, how many deployed in each regiment, subunits, etc...

tom_deba · #2

http://wilk.wpk.p.lodz.pl/~whatfor/m_pol_ulan39a.htm

http://www.kampania.digimer.pl/u_pl_kaw.htm

http://www.husaria.jest.pl/kawaleria/pulki.html

There are some links to Polish web sites. Unfortunately the text is Polish...and need to be translated. Try to find something under "kawaleria polska", ułan 1939" or "pułk kawaleryjski", "wrzesień 1939" in internet.

D. von Staberg · #3

http://niehorster.orbat.com/029_poland/ ... _1939.html
Has a detailed TOE for a polish cavalry brigade.

Petrus · #4

In 1939 the Polish Army had cavalry regiments of three types: 27 lancers regiments (pułk ułanów, pl. pułki ułanów), 10 mounted rifles regiments (pułk strzelców konnych, pl. pułki strzelców konnych), 3 light horse regiments (pułk szwoleżerów, pl. pułki szwoleżerów; Polish „szwoleżer” comes from French „cheavau-legers”).

Regardless of the titles all the regiments were basically identical as for their organisation, equipment, uniforms and tactical roles. There were however some minor peculiarities, particularily in uniforms of light horse regiments: they wore for example round, so called "English", caps instead of typically Polish four-cornered caps.

In 1937-1939 one lancers regt. (24th) and two mounted rifles regts. (1st and 10th) had their horses replaced by motor vehicles and so became motorised cavalry units (note that in 1930s the Polish 'motorised cavalry' was actually motorised infantry - the role of motorised/armoured reconaissance belonged to armoured troops).

Cavalry Regiment [Pułk kawalerii]

Regt. HQ [Dowództwo pułku]

4 x Line Squadron [Szwadron liniowy] (aprox. 120 men, 4 x LMG, 3 x anti-tank rifle)
SHQ
LMG Section [Sekcja RKM = ręcznego karabinu maszynowego] (5 men, 5 horses, 1 pack horse, 1 LMG*)
3 x Line Troop [Pluton] (28 men, 28 horses, 1 pack horse, 1 LMG, 1 anti-tank rifle)
HQ Group (5 men, 5 horses)
3 x Sabre Section [Sekcja, pl. sekcje] (6 men, 6 horses)
LMG Section (5 men, 5 mounts, 1 pack horse, 1 LMG)
Administration Squad [Drużyna gospodarcza]

Heavy Machine Gun Squadron [Szwadron CKM = Ciężkich Karabinów Maszynowych]** (12 x MG***)
2 x MG Troop [Pluton CKM] (pack horses, 4 x MG)
MG Troop (MG carts, 4 x MG)
Admin Squad

Anti-Tank Gun Troop [Pluton armat przeciwpancernych](4 x 37-mm anti-tank gun****)

Signal Troop [Pluton łączności]
HQ Group [poczet dowódcy plutonu]
6 x Telephone Team [patrol telefoniczny]
2 x Radio Team [patrol radiowy]
2 x Ground to Air Communication Team [patol łączności z lotnikiem]
Telephone Exchagne [centrala telefoniczna]
Motorcycle Liason Team [sekcja motocyklistów]

Pioneer Squad [Drużyna pionierów]*****
2 x Pioneer Section [Sekcja pionierów]

Cyclist Troop [Pluton kolarzy]****** (34+ men, 3 x LMG, 1 x MG)
3 x Section (6 men, 6 bicycles, 1 LMG)
MG Section (6 men, 1 MG)
Repair Section

Administration Squadron [Szwadron gospodarczy]
Trains etc., 4 x Anti-aircraft MG

Notes:
* LMG – modified copy of the Browning Automatic Rifle, designated in Poland as “ręczny karabin maszynowy wz. 1928”
** Some souces say that the MG squadron had 4 troops [plutony] of 3 MGs each. Nevertheless it is no doubt that there were 12 guns in the squadron.
*** MG – modified copy of the Browning M1917 machine-gun, in Poland designated as “ciężki karabin maszynowy wz. 1930” (“ciężki karabin maszynowy” means literally “heavy machine-gun”, hence the unit’s title)
**** 37-mm anti-tank gun – Bofors gun designated in Poland as “armata przeciwpancerna wz. 1936”
***** Some regiments had a pioneer section only.
****** 5th, 10th, 15th, 17th Lancers and 7th, 9th Mounted Rifles each had a cyclist squadron instead of a troop as in the rest of the regts.

This has been compiled using information from "Księga kawalerii polskiej" (unfortunately, now I cannot give you it's author or ISBN) and some other sources.

Below you have an organisation chart of the cavalry brigade that comes from a document from 1939.

Best regards,
Piotr

Petrus · #5

Unfortunately, you won't see the chart. I have tried several times but with no result - the picture apparently doesn't want to appear here (although it weights only 106 kB and really is in JPG format so there should be no difficulty, but...).

I am very sorry,
Petrus

Musashi · #6

Petrus wrote:There were however some minor peculiarities, particularily in uniforms of light horse regiments: they wore for example round, so called "English", caps instead of typically Polish four-cornered caps.

No, you comitted an error. Szwole¿erowie wore round caps not strzelcy konni and I know you know about it

Petrus wrote: This has been compiled using information from "Ksiêga kawalerii polskiej" (unfortunately, now I cannot give you it's author or ISBN) and some other sources.

Henryk Smaczny - "Ksiêga kawalerii polskiej"; ISBN 83-00-2555-3

Pozdrowienia,
Krzysiek

Musashi · #7

Petrus wrote:Unfortunately, you won't see the chart. I have tried several times but with no result - the picture apparently doesn't want to appear here (although it weights only 106 kB and really is in JPG format so there should be no difficulty, but...).

I am very sorry,
Petrus

Is its size 800x600 pixels or less? You can create an account at http://www.photobucket.com, publish the image there and give a remote link here using "Img" button.

Ogorek · #8

Petrus wrote:There were however some minor peculiarities, particularily in uniforms of light horse regiments: they wore for example round, so called "English", caps instead of typically Polish four-cornered caps.
No, you comitted an error. Szwole¿erowie wore round caps not strzelcy konni and I know you know about it

No Musashi - the error is yours..... The Szwolezery (light Horse) indeed did wear rounds caps, as did KOP....

Nowhere did Petrus mention that the mounted rifles wore round caps.

Musashi · #9

Ogorek wrote:
Petrus wrote:
There were however some minor peculiarities, particularily in uniforms of light horse regiments: they wore for example round, so called "English", caps instead of typically Polish four-cornered caps.

No, you comitted an error. Szwole¿erowie wore round caps not strzelcy konni and I know you know about it
Petrus wrote:
No Musashi - the error is yours..... The Szwolezery (light Horse) indeed did wear rounds caps, as did KOP....

Nowhere did Petrus mention that the mounted rifles wore round caps.

I said clearly szwole¿erowie had worn round caps. My error was other - I mistook szwole¿erowie with strzelcy konni in English terminology. Of course I knew szwole¿erowie meant light horse, but I considered strzelcy konni light horse by mistake. Such was my error

Petrus · #10

Petrus wrote:

This has been compiled using information from "Ksiêga kawalerii polskiej" (unfortunately, now I cannot give you it's author or ISBN) and some other sources.

Henryk Smaczny - "Ksiêga kawalerii polskiej"; ISBN 83-00-2555-3

Domo arigato, Musashi

...
Some time ago I copied some chapters of the book in the Central Military Library (CBW) in Warsaw
but unfortunately overlooked its title page etc.

Also thanks to Musashi's advice here is the chart:

Feel free to ask what is what there

...

Regards etc.
Petrus

Musashi · #11

Petrus wrote: Domo arigato, Musashi ...

Kochirakoso yoroshiku onegaishimasu, Petrus-san!

Petrus · #12

Uhm... I'd better find a dictionary

...

Petrus

SuperSlinger · #13

Thanks for all the help! I realy didn't expect a reply this fast.

Musashi · #14

I think an information about colours of Polish cavalry horses might be also interesting for you. Their colours were NOT random.

1. Gray. Trumpeters, horse orchestras of particular horse regiments and horse artillery regiments, horse engineer squadrons, command teams of some cavalry regiments.
2. Bay. The most of cavalry regiments or particular squadrons.
3. Gold-bay. Particular squadrons in cavalry regiments.
4. Brown. Cavalry regiments of yellow colour, horse artillery regiments and liaison squadrons.
5. Black. Horse artillery regiments.
6. Chestnut. Some cavalry regiments or particular squadrons and platoons.

Marcus · #15

A few posts were split off into a new thread entitled "Did polish Ulans attack german Tank-Units?".

/Marcus