Fall Weiß, 1939

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 1939-09-24

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 % 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.

Germany ammunition usage from 1939-09-01 to 1939-09-24
Ammunition type Usage, west Usage, east Total usage % of September production
Pistolepatrone 08 - 20,743,000 20,743,000 520 %
  • Rifle ammunition
  • Machine gun ammunition
 830,000 246,774,800 247,604,800 127 %
2 cm Pzgr Patr - 2,708,300 2,708,300 240 %
2 cm Sprgr Patr - 1,883,700 1,883,700 188 %
3,7 cm Pak 1,973 2,606,100 2,608,073 3,270 %
3,7 cm Kw K - 256,200 256,200 835 %
5 cm Gr W 36 1,357 760,650 792,007 226 %
8 cm Gr. W 34 1,723 396,900 398,623 333 %
le J G 18 1,248 308,700 309,948 608 %
s J G 33 74 64,750 64,824 520 %
7,5 cm Kw K - 113,925 113,925 270 %
  • le F H 16
  • le F H 18
 19,173 1,680,000 1,699,173 485 %
s 10 cm K 18 3,138 141,750 144,888 850 %
s F H 18 7,585 210,000 217,585 243 %
15 cm K 16 - 6,300 6,300 -
Checz 305 mm. mortar - 153 153 -
Stielhandgr 24 10,000 1,141,000 1,151,000 -
T Mi 35 5,520 42,000 47,520 -

Sources

  1. Allgemeines Heeresamt. Nr. 3011/39 g.K. A H A I b - Auszug der Zahetagemeldung des Generalquartiermeisters vom 27.9 .39. 1939.
  2. ZALOGA, Steven J. Poland 1939 - The birth of Blitzkrieg. Oxford : Osprey Publishing, 2002.
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  3. 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
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All contents written by Christian Ankerstjerne unless stated otherwise