On the first day of the German invasion of Poland – 1st September 1939 – units of the Pomorska Cavalry Brigade, attached to Army Pomorze and based in the Pomeranian ‘corridor’, engaged the German 20th Motorised Infantry Division along the Brda River.
Army Pomorze, initially deployed to curtail German attempts to seize the northern ‘corridor’ region in the event of rising hostilities, began a fighting retreat towards stronger positions once the invasion began, leaving the Brigade to act as a rearguard.
In the late afternoon that same day, a single unit from the Brigade – the 18th Lancer Regiment – spotted a German infantry battalion in an exposed forest clearing. The regimental commander, Colonel Mastelarz, then led two understrength squadrons in a sabre charge against the unsuspecting Germans, as depicted above.
The charge was initially successful, taking the German infantry by surprise. As it drew to a close, a group of German armoured cars arrived and opened fire, killing several mounted troopers (including Mastelarz) and forcing the squadrons to withdraw. The incident was interpreted by contemporary war correspondents as a cavalry charge against tanks, subsequently becoming a long-standing myth of the campaign in Poland.
Despite Polish attempts to hold the Brda River, the 3rd Panzer Division was able to secure a crossing over the waterway without any resistance.
By Ibrahim Zamir
Empire of History 