Polish cavalry brigade order of battle in 1939
The following is a standard order of battle of the Polish cavalry brigade in 1939.
Chain of command
| Sub-unit | C/O | squadron-sized | platoon-sized | smaller units | |
| commanding officer | Staff and headquarters |
deputy commanding officer chief military judge chaplain |
|||
| chief of staff | operational officer intelligence officer |
military police platoon |
|||
| chief communications officer | communication squadron | ||||
| chief commander of the tabors | tabor's workshop 2 commands of march columns |
3 columns each |
|||
| quartermaster | transport officer armament officer chief steward officer chief doctor chief veterinarian |
artillery park unit steward park unit medical platoon veterinary platoon |
|||
| Headquarters commander | staff squadron | ||||
| Commander's units | bicycle squadron (recce/liaison) engineering squadron |
HMG platoon |
|||
| cavalry regiment 3 or 4 in each brigade |
regiment commander | line squadrons - 4 in each regiment |
cavalry platoon - 3 in each squadron |
3 sections (6 soldiers each) LMG section (5 soldiers) squadron commanders troop | |
| LMG section administration unit | |||||
| HMG squadron maintenance squadron |
3 HMG platoons |
4 HMG each | |||
| AT platoon bicycle platoon communications platoon |
engineering squad | ||||
| Mounted Artillery Unit (DAK) | DAK commander | munitions supply column |
75 mm artillery battery 3 or 4 guns each | ||
| communications platoon | |||||
| Organic Armoured Unit | commander | tankette squadron armoured car squadron |
|||
| Organic Rifle Battalion | Rifles battalion |
Composition and armament
The following is a list of all equipment, armament, men and means of transport in use by a cavalry regiment and a cavalry brigade of the Polish Army, as of 1939. The figures for brigades are based on official Polish Army instructions prepared in late 1930s. The numbers in brackets give the figures for a four-regiment brigade, as opposed to the standard three-regiment one. The figures for the regiments are given after the actual mobilisation report of September 1, 1939, of the 25th Greater Polish Uhlans Regiment. Note that the numbers for other units may vary, mostly due to different mobilisation schedules and other problems.[1]
| Regiment | Brigade | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| General | |||||||||||||
| officers | 36 | 232 (373) | |||||||||||
| privates and NCOs | 838 | 5 911 (6 911) | |||||||||||
| horses Cavalry horses Pack horses Cart-horses Total |
616 43 221 920 |
5 194 (6 291) | |||||||||||
| Vehicles | |||||||||||||
| cars | 1 | 65 (66) | |||||||||||
| motorcycles | 1 | ||||||||||||
| field kitchens | 6 | ||||||||||||
| tabor carts | 86 | ||||||||||||
| chaplains cart | 1 | 4 | |||||||||||
| taczanka wz.28 or wz.36 | 13 | ||||||||||||
| bicycles | 36 | ||||||||||||
| Armament | |||||||||||||
| Vis pistols | 133 | ||||||||||||
| wz. 34 sabres | 616 | ||||||||||||
| lances | 108 | ||||||||||||
| rifles Mannlicher 1888, Kbk wz. 1929, Kb wz. 98a, Mosin wz. 91/98/25, Kbk wz. 91/98/23 or Steyr-Mannlicher M1895 | 740 | 5000 | |||||||||||
| 7,92 mm karabin ppanc. wz 35 AT rifle | 12 | 51 (64) | |||||||||||
| rkm Browning wz. 28 LMG | 18 | 89 (107) | |||||||||||
| Maxim 08/15 and lkm wz. 08/18 MGs | 10 (12) | ||||||||||||
| Ckm wz.30 HMG | 12 | 52 (64) | |||||||||||
| Organic artillery | |||||||||||||
| grenade launchers wz. 1930 and wz. 1936 | 9 (9) | ||||||||||||
| 81mm mortar wz. 31 | 2 | ||||||||||||
| 75 mm Armata 75 mm wz.02/26 field gun | 12 (16) | ||||||||||||
| 40 mm armata plot. wz. 36 AA gun | 2 (2) | ||||||||||||
| 37 mm Armata ppanc. wz. 36 AT gun | 4 | 14 (18) | |||||||||||
| Organic armoured unit | |||||||||||||
| wz. 34 or wz.29 armoured car | 8 | ||||||||||||
| reconnaissance tankette TKS or TK-3 | 13 | ||||||||||||
Polish cavalry brigades in 1939
Cavalry
- Kraków Cavalry Brigade (Kraków) - under Brigadier General Zygmunt Piasecki
- Kresowa Cavalry Brigade (Brody) - under Colonel Stefan Hanka-Kulesza
- Mazowiecka Cavalry Brigade (Warsaw) under Colonel Jan Karcz
- Nowogródzka Cavalry Brigade (Baranowicze) under Brigadier General Władysław Anders
- Podlaska Cavalry Brigade (Białystok) under Brigadier General Ludwik Kmicic-Skrzyński
- Podolska Cavalry Brigade (Stanisławów) under Colonel Leon Strzelecki
- Pomeranian Cavalry Brigade (Bydgoszcz) under Colonel Adam Zakrzewski
- Suwalska Cavalry Brigade (Suwałki) under Brigadier General Zygmunt Podhorski
- Wielkopolska Cavalry Brigade (Poznań) under Brigadier General Roman Abraham
- Wileńska Cavalry Brigade (Wilno) under Colonel Konstanty Drucki-Lubecki
- Wołyńska Cavalry Brigade (Równe) under Colonel Julian Filipowicz
Armoured-Motorised Brigades
- Different armament and structure
- 10th Motorized Cavalry Brigade (Poland) (Rzeszów) - dowódca: płk dypl. Stanisław Maczek
- Warszawska Brygada Pancerno-Motorowa (Warsaw) - dowódca: płk dypl. Stefan Rowecki
See also
References
- ^ "slovak invasion of poland". escolessolidaries.org. Retrieved 2023-05-25.