Fall Weiß, 1939

Contents

The German Panzer forces during Fall Weiß
A look at the German armoured forces used during Fall Weiß
German organization
Artillery used by the German army (including mortars)
The myth of Polish cavalry charges
The truth about the myth of Polish cavalry charges against German tanks
Ammunition used during Fall Weiß
List of ammunition used by Germany between 1939-09-01 and 1939-10-01
Captured soldiers and equipment
Polish soldiers and equipment captured by the German army during Fall Weiß
German casualties
German losses during Fall Weiß

The German Panzer forces during Fall Weiß

The total force involved in the attack was 40 infantry divisions (of which 5 were motorized), 11 Panzer divisions (of which 5 were light divisions), 6 mountain divisions and 3 independant brigades. The total number of Panzers in Fall Weiß were

which meant that of Germany's battle tanks involved in Fall weiß, almost 80 percent were obsolete, even when compared to the few tanks Poland had.

German organization

The myth of Polish cavalry charges

If a single image dominates the popular perception of the Polish campaign of 1939, it is the scene of Polish cavalry bravely charging the Panzers with their lances. Like many other details of the campaign, it is a myth that was created by German wartime propaganda and perpetuated by sloppy scholarship. Yet such myths have also been embraced by the Poles themselves as symbols of their wartime gallantry, achieving a cultural reconance in spite of their variance with the historical record.
ZALOGA, Steven J. Poland 1939 - The birth of Blitzkrieg. Oxford : Osprey Publishing, 2002.

The story of cavalry charges against Germans tanks has become a wide-spread myth throught the ages. There is, however, no evidence that any major Polish forces ever charged German tanks. If you look into the stories of these events, you will see a pattern of no units, no specific locations, etc. being mentioned. Only the mentioning of the Brave Poles charging with their lances, on horseback.

The root of the myth seems to be, that a group of Axis (some say Italian, some say German) press/propaganda photographers came across a number of Polish cavalrymen, with evidence of them being killed by German tanks. The German propaganda machine used this to the last drop, of course, to show the German superiority.

What actually happened was that a group of Polish cavalry had been surprised by German armoured forces, and had no other choice but to get away fast. Thus, they mounted, and tried to ride away, but naturally with heavy casualties.

It is quite interesting that the German propaganda machine has been so effective that it still sends aftershocks throughout the Internet more than sixty years after the events.

Cavalry and the Polish army

A side note on cavalry: not even during the US Civil War was it normal practice for cavalry to fight mounted. The reason for the cavalry was swift movement, not cavalry charges. The cavalry charges died out more and more, as back-loading and automatic weapons became standard, but even a Civil War 'woolly', with its inacurate rifles, could take out the punch of a cavalry charge.

Besides the Polish, both Russia, France and Germany used cavalry in World War II, as well as just about all the eastern European countries. The US forces didn't give up military cavalry until the late twenties/early thirties, and then still only reluclantly. The German army utilized horses to a very great extent (especially for transport - horses was the key transport method for Germany throuhgout the war), and there was even a mounted SS division.

Furthermore, the Poles (as well as the rest of the world) were perfectly aware of Germanys armoured forces, even though little attention was given to them because of the way tanks were percieved in both Poland, as well as France and England (i.e. primarily as infantry support vehicles).

The Germans held several parades and ralleys featuring tanks as early as 1935, (although these were mainly the Pz.Kpfw. I and Pz.Kpfw. IIs), and also used their armoured forces in the invasion of Czekoslovakia and Austria.

The Poles armoured forces mainly consisted of

Additionally, the Poles had about 1,200 37mm anti-tank guns (27 per infantry division and 14 per cavalry division) as well as anti-tank rifles (92 per division). The Polish tanks were in general equal to the German ones, but because of their low numbers and low concentration (the bulk wieght of their tanks were scattered throughout the infantry and cavalry divisions), they had little importance in the outcome of the campaign.

Another point to be made is that the German armoured forces actually suffered some heavy casualties from time to time. For example, the fighting for the Warzaw suburbs was first conducted headed by Panzers. This was the first major attack on cities with tanks, and the outcome was inevitable - a large portion of the German Panzers were knocked out.

Ammunition used during Fall Weiß

In the report accompanying the below table, the amount of ammunition used by Pistole 08, 3,7 cm Pak, 3,7 cm Kw K, le F H 18 and s 10 cm K 18 is mentioned as being surprisingly high.

German ammunition usage during Fall Weiß in the period 1939-09-01/1939-10-01
Ammunition type A O K 3 A O K 4 A O K 8 A O K 10 A O K 14 Total 1939-09 production
Pistol and submachine gun 3 713 140 2 056 960 4 468 900 4 572 000 4 814 458 19 625 458 3 200 000
Rifle and machine gun 197 901 670 23 845 600 54 848 000 63 355 000 58 209 234 398 159 504 156 000 000
20 mm anti-tank 172 580 223 620 560 000 615 000 406 734 1 977 934 800 000
20 mm high-explosive 423 670 136 240 685 000 677 000 113 027 2 034 937 840 000
37 mm anti-tank gun 1 000 300 154 431 179 000 212 000 262 469 1 808 200 80 000
37 mm tank gun 0 26 331 57 770 52 100 27 916 164 117 30 000
75 mm tank gun 29 040 20 458 42 400 33 024 12 224 137 146 33 500
50 mm mortar 259 640 64 833 192 300 217 000 211 323 945 096 350 000
80 mm mortar 167 490 38 514 94 940 102 800 81 141 484 885 120 000
210 mm mortar 1 290 450 0 0 2 054 3 794 2 400
305 mm mortar (Czechoslovak) 150 0 0 33 334 517 0
75 mm infantry gun 177 108 27 314 64 800 75 600 68 795 413 617 40 000
150 mm infantry gun 7 840 1 200 5 540 5 967 4 526 25 073 10 000
105 mm howitzer 672 030 67 878 229 200 244 200 187 085 1 400 393 280 000
150 mm howitzer 117 881 23 654 43 100 57 000 46 270 287 905 72 000
105 mm artillery 15 890 4 525 23 100 23 600 17 131 84 246 13 600
150 mm artillery 5 190 135 0 0 841 6 166 0
240 mm artillery 0 0 0 12 0 12 0
Hand grenades 516 410 91 350 170 000 175 440 227 006 1 180 206 1 000 000
Mines 1 20 386 3 500 1 000 31 346 56 232 32 000
Smoke grenades 1 23 972 8 500 12 200 31 534 76 206 0

Captured Polish soldiers and equipment

Captured Polish soldiers

Polish soldiers captured by the German army during "Fall Weiß" in the period 1939-09-01/1939-10-01
Location Poland, total Warsaw Modlin Heln
Generals 6 0 0 0
Officers 11 446 5 031 2 000 250
Soldiers 576 902 113 425 40 000 4 250
Total 588 354 118 4563 42 000 4 500

Captured weapons

Captured ammunition

Fuel and oil6

Other captured items

German casualties during Fall Weiß in the period 1939-09-01/1939-09-24
Casualty type A O K 3 A O K 4 A O K 8 A O K 10 A O K 14 Mil.Bef.Posen SS Total
  • Soldiers dead
  • Officers dead
  • Total dead
  • 1 188
  • 58
  • 1 246
  • 166
  • 16
  • 182
  • 940
  • 34
  • 974
  • 1 179
  • 72
  • 1 251
  • 1 785
  • 39
  • 1 824
  • 2
  • 1
  • 3
  • 21
  • 1
  • 22
  • 5 281
  • 221
  • 5 502
  • Soldiers wounded
  • Officers wounded
  • Total wounded
  • 2 835
  • 99
  • 2 934
  • 1 989
  • 27
  • 2 016
  • 2 490
  • 61
  • 2 551
  • 8 187
  • 109
  • 8 296
  • 6 182
  • 27
  • 6 209
  • 1
  • 0
  • 1
  • 50
  • 0
  • 50
  • 21 734
  • 323
  • 22 057
  • Soldiers sick
  • Officers sick
  • Total sick
  • 686
  • 5
  • 691
  • 382
  • 1
  • 383
  • 961
  • 22
  • 983
  • 3 028
  • 60
  • 3 088
  • 6 127
  • 32
  • 6 159
  • 578
  • 3
  • 581
  • 0
  • 0
  • 0
  • 11 762
  • 123
  • 11 885
  • Soldiers missing
  • Officers missing
  • Total missing
  • 97
  • 4
  • 101
  • 158
  • 2
  • 160
  • 4 351
  • 39
  • 4 390
  • 665
  • 5
  • 670
  • 950
  • 2
  • 952
  • 0
  • 0
  • 0
  • 5
  • 0
  • 5
  • 6 226
  • 52
  • 6 278
  • Soldier casualties total
  • Officer casualties total
  • Casualties total
  • 4 806
  • 166
  • 4 972
  • 2 695
  • 46
  • 2 741
  • 8 742
  • 156
  • 8 898
  • 13 059
  • 246
  • 13 305
  • 15 044
  • 100
  • 15 144
  • 581
  • 4
  • 585
  • 76
  • 1
  • 77
  • 45 003
  • 719
  • 45 722
  • Horses dead
  • Horses wounded and sick
  • Horses total
  • 524
  • 1 720
  • 2 244
  • 1559
  • 1 3429
  • 1 4979
  • 44712
  • 1 55512
  • 2 00212
  • 328
  • 2 369
  • 2 697
  • 46411
  • 2 38411
  • 2 84811
  • -
  • -
  • -
  • -
  • -
  • -
  • 1 918
  • 9 370
  • 11 288
Motor vehicles lost, all types 651 236 1 766 1 021 892 - - 4 566
Ammunition usage, in tons 37 879 13 58310 7 953 13 055 12 20010 - - 84 670
Fuel usage, in cubic metres 16 000 10 200 8 350 37 100 18 500 - - 90 150
Fuel usage, in per cent of allocation 374 435 384 479 385 - - -

Notes

  1. Not reported
  2. Pistol and submachine gun, 37 mm anti-tank and tank gun, 105 mm howitzer and 105 mm artillery ammunition usage in the period 1939-09-01/1939-09-24 was considered surprisingly high in the German after action report.
  3. Hereof 16 000 wounded
  4. Hereof 348 captured in Warsaw
  5. Hereof 63 useless for military use
  6. The actual captured amouonts were considerably higher, since the numbers does not unclude the fuel and oil used by the field units
  7. Hereof 3 642 captured in Warsaw
  8. Hereof 106 studs
  9. Only includes numbers until 1939-09-13
  10. Only includes numbers until 1939-09-16
  11. Only includes numbers until 1939-09-19
  12. Only includes numbers until 1939-09-20

Sources

  1. AHA 3011/39 g.K. AHA I b
  2. AHA 3102/39 g.K. AHA I b
  3. ZALOGA, Steven J. Poland 1939 - The birth of Blitzkrieg. Oxford : Osprey Publishing, 2002.
    [Buy now at Amazon.co.uk] [Buy now at Amazon.com]
  4. JENTZ, Thomas L. Panzertruppen - The Complete Guide to the Creation & Combat Employment of Germany's Tank Force - 1933-1942. Atglen (PA) : Schiffer Military History, 1996. Read review
    [Buy now at Amazon.co.uk] [Buy now at Amazon.com]