Did polish Ulans attack german Tank-Units?

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Hartleed
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Did polish Ulans attack german Tank-Units?

#1

Post by Hartleed » 26 Jul 2004, 13:30

[Split from "1939 Polish calvary regiment"]



Hi tom

One question, is it true, that polish Ulans attacked german Tank-Units horseback, or is this a legend?

Some Veterans of WWII told this more than one time, my grandfather always spoke with very much respect about the polish Ulans.

Regards

HL

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tom_deba
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#2

Post by tom_deba » 26 Jul 2004, 14:48

The stories about Polish ulans attacking German tanks are mostly created by German propaganda and have become a myth.
Of course such situations had happened when Polish cavalry came accross tanks very close.
Myth of Polish cavalry attacking tanks is a result of little historic knowledge about these units during September 1939 campaign. Many times Polish cavalry had to escape from the sack or from week point of defense and several times occured that only way to escape was the way that led nearby German tank unit.


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Musashi
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#3

Post by Musashi » 26 Jul 2004, 15:33

Hartleed wrote: One question, is it true, that polish Ulans attacked german Tank-Units horseback, or is this a legend?
You have quite a long discussion concerning this matter here.
Mit freundlichen Grüßen,
Chris
BTW
84 posts in 5 days? Wow! :)

Stephan
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#4

Post by Stephan » 31 Jul 2004, 10:16

The myth about ulans, sabres and the german tanks was reinforced by at least one wellknown polish movie about the war in 1939. Don´t remember the title.
the last picture is the last surviving ulan, althougt severly wounded riding to a german tank and slashing the cannon with his sable - and falling down from the horse.

More symbolic than historic, but the myth was reinforced, yes.

A real ulan in the real live would probably tried to use his handgranades.
They were wery well trained, and knew preciselely how ti fight aganinst tanks.

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Musashi
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#5

Post by Musashi » 31 Jul 2004, 13:58

Stephan wrote:The myth about ulans, sabres and the german tanks was reinforced by at least one wellknown polish movie about the war in 1939. Don´t remember the title.
"Lotna".

John Sukey
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#6

Post by John Sukey » 08 Aug 2004, 09:50

[quote="Hartleed"]Hi tom

One question, is it true, that polish Ulans attacked german Tank-Units horseback, or is this a legend?

Some Veterans of WWII told this more than one time, my grandfather always spoke with very much respect about the polish Ulans.

Regards

That old crap surfacing again?
The real story. The cavalry had just wiped out a german infantry unit, but before they could leave the field, german tanks showed up.
An American reporter was on hand and asked a german what happened. the german said the cavalry had attacked the tanks. The reporter being more stupid than most, bought the story.

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