Walki odwrotowe OW „Myszyniec” w rejonie Wydmusy – Zalesie 1 września 1939 roku

Abstract

This paper presents a very specific issue from the first campaign of World War II – fights between German cavalry and a Polish mixed battlegroup, which took place near the town of Myszyniec on 1 September 1939. Being aware of a very rich historiography referring to this subject, the author decided to focus on the tactical level of warfare in Poland, based on a case study. This very fragment of history has been chosen for the analysis because of two factors. First, the use of cavalry in 1939 is stereotypically linked with only Polish cavalry units, which is a considerable oversimplification. The author decided to make research on combats and actions of German cavalry formations, in this particular paper, focusing on a very short period of time and small area. This resulted in an in-depth analysis of the topic, leading to interesting conclusions about the adversaries’ tactics. Moreover, it was possible to accurately estimate losses in people and equipment. The second factor that contributed to the choice of the topic is a rich source database, enabling comparison and analysis of sources created by the opponents. Rich German and Polish historiography has also been thoroughly researched. It is quite surprising that although there is a lot of literature concerning the Polish Campaign published both in Poland and Germany, authors of only few publications honestly relied on sources of both sides, concluding with proper synthesis. This research is based on the primary sources material – operational and tactical information about the combats. The material can be found mainly in two groups of archives: operational documents of the Wehrmacht’s 3rd Army Operational Branch (Ia) and accounts of Polish soldiers and officers who fought in “Myszyniec” battlegroup. German and Polish books constitute secondary sources.