Editing Cavalry (section)

===Polish===
[[File:Polski ułan z karabinem przeciwpancernym UR.jpg|thumb|upright|Polish [[uhlan]] with [[wz. 35 anti-tank rifle|anti-tank rifle]]. Military instruction published in 1938.]]
A popular myth is that [[Polish cavalry]] armed with lances charged German tanks during the September 1939 campaign. This arose from misreporting of a single clash on 1 September near Krojanty, when two squadrons of the Polish 18th Lancers armed with sabres scattered German infantry before being caught in the open by German armoured cars.<ref>{{cite book
 | last = Zaloga
 | first = S. J.
 | year = 1983
 | title = The Polish Army 1939–45
 | publisher = Osprey
 | isbn = 0-85045-417-4
 | location = London
}}</ref>
Two examples illustrate how the myth developed. First, because motorised vehicles were in short supply, the Poles used horses to pull anti-tank weapons into position.<ref>{{cite magazine |author= Time Staff|date=April 22, 1940|title= The New Pictures|magazine= Time|url= http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,763905-1,00.html |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070930115629/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,763905-1,00.html |url-status= dead |archive-date= September 30, 2007 |access-date=2008-07-17}}</ref> Second, there were a few incidents when Polish cavalry was trapped by German tanks, and attempted to fight free. However, this did not mean that the Polish army chose to attack tanks with horse cavalry.<ref name=Davies324>Davies ''God's Playground Volume II'' pp. 324–325</ref> Later, on the Eastern Front, the [[Red Army]] did deploy cavalry units effectively against the Germans.<ref name=Davies325>Davies ''God's Playground Volume II'' p. 325</ref>
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 101I-054-1525-26, Frankreich, Kavallerie am Ausgang eines Dorfes.jpg|thumb|left|A German cavalry patrol in May 1940, during the [[Battle of France]]]]
A more correct term would be "mounted infantry" instead of "cavalry", as horses were primarily used as a means of transportation, for which they were very suitable in view of the very poor road conditions in pre-war Poland. Another myth describes Polish cavalry as being armed with both sabres and lances; lances were used for peacetime ceremonial purposes only and the primary weapon of the Polish cavalryman in 1939 was a rifle. Individual equipment did include a sabre, probably because of well-established tradition, and in the case of a melee combat this secondary weapon would probably be more effective than a rifle and bayonet. Moreover, the [[Polish cavalry brigade order of battle in 1939]] included, apart from the mounted soldiers themselves, light and heavy machine guns (wheeled), the [[Anti-tank rifle, model 35]], anti-aircraft weapons, anti tank artillery such as the [[Bofors 37 mm]], also light and scout tanks, etc. The last cavalry vs. cavalry mutual charge in Europe took place in Poland during the [[Battle of Krasnobród]], when Polish and German cavalry units clashed with each other.

The last classical cavalry charge of the war took place on March 1, 1945, during the [[Battle of Schoenfeld]] by the 1st "Warsaw" Independent Cavalry Brigade. Infantry and tanks had been employed to little effect against the German position, both of which floundered in the open wetlands only to be dominated by infantry and antitank fire from the German fortifications on the forward slope of Hill 157, overlooking the wetlands. The Germans had not taken cavalry into consideration when fortifying their position which, combined with the "Warsaw"s swift assault, overran the German anti-tank guns and consolidated into an attack into the village itself, now supported by infantry and tanks.