POLSKA ARMATA PRZECIWPANCERNA 37MM Z OBSŁUGĄ UŁANÓW

Bofors wz. 36 (full name: 37 mm wz. 36 gun or 37 mm Bofors L / 45 / M ) is a Polish 36mm anti-tank gun, produced under a Swedish license from the interwar period and World War II. The own weight of the weapon was 930 kilograms, with a barrel length of 166.5 centimeters. With a well-trained crew, the gun rate of fire was up to 10 shots per minute. The maximum range was about 7,000 meters. The Bofors wz.36 gun was adopted by the Polish Army in 1936 as the basic anti-tank weapon for infantry and cavalry units. The weapon had many advantages. First of all, it was small, which greatly facilitated its transport and masking in the field. It was also relatively light. It could also penetrate armor up to 40 mm thick from a distance of 100 meters, which in the conditions of the September 1939 campaign turned out to be at least a good result. In the interwar period, the Bofors wz.36 gun enjoyed a very good reputation in the Polish Army, and its achievements in the September campaign also confirmed its high efficiency.The history of the use of uhlan units in the Polish army dates back to the Napoleonic Wars (1799-1815) and the times of the Congress Kingdom (1815-1831). At that time, the lancers were perceived as a theoretically light cavalry unit, which, however, due to its excellent training and having a lance equipped with it, could also successfully carry out the charge on the battlefield. Along with the birth of the independent, the Second Polish Republic, lancers were established in the Polish army, referring indirectly to the 19th-century traditions. Units of this type played a significant role during the war with the Bolshevik onslaught of 1919-1921, especially in the Battle of Komarów in 1920. In the period 1921-1939, the Uhlan regiments were perceived as one of the best in the Polish Army - sometimes you can even come across the term "elite". Shortly before the outbreak of World War II (in 1937), the Polish cavalry was reorganized, including the Uhlan regiments, as part of which cavalry brigades consisting of 3 or 4 regiments were created, and in this structure they joined the 1939 war. Before the outbreak of the war, there were 27 regiments of lancers in Poland, which most often performed very well during the September campaign. It is worth adding that these were well-trained units, often with high or very high morale, which in 1939 used horses primarily for marches, and led the fight as rushed units, with the use of small arms or anti-tank weapons. Among the fairy tales, one can argue that the Polish uhlans charged with their sabers on the tanks - this is nothing more than a figment of German and Italian propaganda. One of the best examples of the effective use of lancers in the September campaign is the battle of Krojanty. Two lancer regiments were also part of the Volyn Cavalry Brigade, which fought at Mokra.