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Polish Cavalry Never Charged German Tanks in World War II
I can’t believe this myth still persists
“The Polish army on their horses are no match for the German panzers, but they put up a valiant fight.” — Greatest Events of WWII in Colour, 2019
I was watching the 10-part series, Greatest Events of WWII in Colour, on Netflix last night when this phrase and the accompanying footage of Polish cavalry charging across a field made me hit the pause button. How, in a series made in 2019, was such a widely debunked myth as the one that Polish cavalry charged German tanks with nothing but lances still being included in historical documentaries? I suppose they left the phrase just vague enough that it only implied such an action without directly, and falsely, stating that it happened, but even the implication only served to perpetuate a myth that was actually started by the Nazis.
To be fair to the producers of Greatest Events of WWII in Colour, they are in some pretty good company in continuing this myth. Classics about the war from William L. Shirer’s The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich to the acclaimed series The World at War present it as fact. It has so ingrained itself in our collective “memory” that it’s now found outside discussions about history.
