Part 1: http://ftr.wot-news.com/2014/09/05/the-black-brigade-part-1/

Continuing from part 1…

On 5.9.1939, the Polish line of defense was broken and the unit became partially surrounded by the Germans. The 10th Cavalry Brigade fought series of battles with the Germans while retreating towards the Dunajec river in southern Poland and it was only on 7.9.1939, when the unit finally got some well-deserved rest after six-days of non-stop marching and fighting. The unit used the spare time to load up on ammunition and to consolidate the troops – the fuel, however, was a constant problem.

Colonel Maczek ordered the unit to move to Rzeszów to cover any access to Lwów (Lviv). However, the march proved to be catastrophic for the Polish cavalrymen, because they were forced – due to the lack of fuel – to abandon most of their armored vehicles, including their most potent weapons, the Vickers light tanks.

By the time the Germans crossed the river San, Maczek proposed a combined operation of his brigade and the Przemyśl armies to throw the Germans back and to destroy their bridgehead. This plan however was not accepted and the brigade recieved the order to cover the Lwów-Radymno direction – from there, the brigade was moved directly to Lwów to defend the city on 12.9.1939. Ironically, it was the second time Colonel Maczek was defending the city – previously, he participated in its defense against the Soviets in 1920, this time, he is about to fight the German invaders.

After a few days of tough fighting, on 17.9.1939, the Polish troops recieve the information about the Soviets invading Poland as well from the east. The Polish did not expect this stab in the back and were mostly surprised by the attack. Soon after, most of Polish resistance crumbled. On the very same day, Maczek orders the brigade to move south and on 18.9.1939, it crosses the Polish-Hungarian border near the village of Tatarowa to be interned.

Generally, the involvement of the 10th Cavalry Brigade is judged positively, the Germans had healthy respect for the “Black Brigade”, as it was called because of the color of the Polish leather coats. Several times, the unit managed to slip from practically hopeless situations, but the price was heavy – the unit lost practically half of their men. The defeat of Poland was however not to be the end of the brigade. Although the unit was officially interned in Hungary, many troopers and officers managed to “slip” through the cracks, moving to France, where resistance was already being organized (at that point, no-one imagined that France could ever fall so quickly). More than 80 thousand Polish troops managed to escape occupied Poland, using various ways to reach their destination. Amongst the lucky ones to make it were many former members of the 10th Cavalry Brigade, including Colonel Maczek himself.

After his arrival, he was welcomed heartily by General Władysław Sikorski, the commander of Polish units in France and the main organizer of the troops. For his bravery in defending Poland, Maczek was awarded the Virtuti Militari order and was promoted to the rank of General. He was also offered the command of 1st Infantry Division, the first Polish unit to be formed in France. He refused – while understanding the role of infantry, he was waiting for more 10th Cav Brigade members to make it to France to re-estabilish the mechanized unit – he understood that the war changed and mechanized warfare was the future. Instead, he took over the training center for the Polish troops in France. Slowly, day after day, with Sikorsky’s support (he understood the importance of training mechanized troops as well), he managed to put together the remnants of the 10th Cavalry Brigade.

The troops were trained in Campenac and Paimport near the town of Coёtquidan – these camps were designated as special training grounds for the mechanized and armored units. Men from former armored units streamed into them daily – including drivers, mechanics, tankers and generally anyone with experience with vehicles. In this case, the Hungarians were actually very helpful – instead of interning (imprisoning) Polish troops as Hitler ordered, they allowed many Polish soldiers to “escape” (sometimes even including their equipment and regimental banners) to France. At this point, the Polish officers petitioned French government in order to create a mechanized Polish unit to help defend France against potential German attack. The French politely refused, as they considered such a unit pointless, because they had complete faith in their Maginot line and their own units. From that point onwards, the Polish had to practically fight the French bureaucracy over every car, gun and tank.

In 1940, a French-Polish mutual agreement was signed, finally creating the framework and foundations for the creation of the Polish armored unit. The Polish mechanized training camp was moved south to Avignon and the new camp was far superior to the old ones, both in equipment and in amenities. The training possibilities however were still poor. The center was equipped only with a few obsolete and worn-out FT-17 tanks, artillery and automatic weapons were completely missing – in April 1940 in Avignon, the units were still using wooden sticks to “simulate” guns and machineguns.

The situation changed in May 1940 when the German Blitzkrieg once again shocked Europe by sweeping aside all resistance – it was clear now that the future war would be fought with mobile mechanized units, supported by air force. In June 1940, after losing Flandres, the French finally (practically in the state of panic) allowed the Polish to build a motorized division. In order to organize the undertaking as fast as possible, 5000 Polish troopers were moved towards Paris, close to the arms warehouses, from where they were to recieve their weapons. The training was accelerated as well.

By that point, the battlefield situation of the French was critical. French command, desperate to get more fighting men on the field, demanded immediate deployment of the new Polish unit. This was however practically impossible – the Polish division recieved 90 French tanks (Renault R-35 and R-40) straight from the factories literally days before. These new vehicles had practically nothing in common with the old FT-17 tanks the Polish were training with, the troops had no idea how to operate them and there was no time. This issue was common to the French troops of the era as well – for years, French military was lulled into complacency after the victory in the Great War and by 1939, many French units were still equipped with WW1-era weapons, including the obsolete FT-17 tanks. By the time the situation became critical, French industry started mass-producing relatively modern designs such as the Somua S-35. The tanks were however unrefined, suffered from breakdowns and the troops, with literally days or weeks of training, had no idea how to operate them effectively. On rare occasions the cooperation with infantry worked, the French were able to cause massive casualties to the Germans, but such events were rare and far between.

In the end, in the beginning of June, General Maczek selected the best-trained men from the Polish division, formed a sort of brigade of them, put himself in direct command of the unit and went for the front. The unit was not used to fight together and it was below the nominal brigade strength, but it was designated as 10th Armored Cavalry Brigade (French: 10éme Brigade de cavalerie blindée). The symbol of the brigade was a red poppy flower drawing on the hulls of the tanks – a sort of Polish wordplay, it was selected in honor of General Maczek, as his name also means a diminutive form of the Polish word for the poppy plant.

Renault UE carriers/tractors, 10th Armored Cavalry Brigade in France

The core of the unit was formed from the veterans of the 10th Cavalry Brigade, 102 officers and 1607 troopers. On 10.6.1940, the brigade was transferred under the French 4th Army and was sent to fight in Champagne, east of Paris. By the time the Polish unit arrived, the Germans already encircled the French units in the are and the first Polish task was to break them out. The Polish were covering the flanks of French infantry divisions and on 13.6.1940, they fought their first battle on French soil, delaying the Germans in the Champeaubert – Montmirail area, followed by a tank counterattack towards Montmirail. This action allowed the French 20th and 59th Infantry Regiments to break out of the German encirclement and escape towards Saint Gond. Following this action, the Polish brigade was fighting delaying battles, retreating slowly south, covering the roads, clogged with retreating French units and civillians.

The Polish were not fighting only Germans however. Some of the biggest problems were caused by the French – especially the coordination with other troops and with the French command was difficult, the orders from the French HQ were chaotic and limited the use of the brigade to cover the French troops in the area. Maczek was “kept out of the loop”, recieved no proper information about the situation and deep inside, he was suspecting he’s going to get surrounded by the German troops.

French R-40 tank in Polish service

On 15.6., the brigade crossed river Seine and regrouped in a forest near Chaource. At that point, fuel was at a premium, the French were unwilling to share and the brigade didn’t even have its own supply units. The brigade recieved orders from French XXIII. Corps HQ to move towards the town of Montbard as a vanguard of the French units to secure it and to allow the French Corps to withdraw over the Burgundy channel. The order was fulfilled, but at that point, the Polish were completely out of fuel and General Maczek was forced to order the destruction of most of the unit’s cars and tanks for them not to fall in German hands intact. The situation from Poland repeated itself and by the time it was done, the brigade was left with only 17 working tanks.

To be continued…

Source:
Zbigniew Mikesz – Černá brigáda