🇵🇱Poland Is Not Yet Lost! | Polish Armoured Fighting Vehicles of 1918-1945 (part 1)

Following the end of the First World War, Poland, with the support of the victorious Western powers, managed to obtain its independence. In the general chaos that arose in Eastern Europe after the collapse of the Russian and Austro-Hungarian monarchies, Poland’s existence was almost immediately threatened by foreign forces. In 1919, Poland would be invaded by the Bolsheviks in the so-called Russo-Polish War that lasted up to 1920. During this war, Józef Piłsudski, who was a skilled military commander and a politician, proved himself as one of the chief figures in Poland. While he would leave his political career after the war, he remained highly active in the military circles. During this period, Poland also had a war with Ukranian proto-states (November 1918 – July 1919), border clashes with the newly formed Czechoslovakia (January 1919) and Lithuania (1919-1920), an involvement in the Latvian War of Independence (1919-1920), and some involvement in the Silesian Uprisings in Polish speaking parts of Germany.

Following the end of these wars, a period of relative peace came. Poland was in a quite unfavorable situation, sharing its western border with Weimar Germany and the eastern one with the nascent and growing Soviet Union. Polish lands were ravaged during the war and Poland itself possessed only a limited industrial capacity. In addition, during the twenties, Poland also faced political instability, which would eventually lead to a military coup. This coup was led by Józef Piłsudski himself, who would become the de facto leader of Poland up to his death in 1935. Under his rule, special attention was given to the Polish Army, in an attempt to completely rebuild and arm it with modern equipment. Attempts were also made to create armored formations equipped with armored vehicles such as tanks, tankettes and armored cars. Despite their best attempts, this was never truly achieved due to a lack of funds, industrial capacity and adequately trained personnel when it came to armored vehicle designs. By the time of the German invasion in September 1939, Poland’s armored forces would consist of a numerous mix of outdated and obsolete armored cars and tankettes, with a smaller number of more modern tanks.

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Sources:
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An article by Marko Pantelic
Edited by Pavel 'Carpaticus' Alexe
Sound edited by GabeTheTanker

[radosaworman]

Nice! My garand-randpa was a Gunner on Wz.29 during september of 1939! I highly appreciate Your work here guys!

[Oddball_E]

4:03 Dear god! A 3.7 meter gun! It's amazing that the Germans dared invade with such a chad vehicle in the Polish military! :P

[priisxm]

3:06 Bro looks like he spotted a Tiger 2 at the rear

[zombieroo]

Cool! Nice article guys, u need more subs

[dasboot]

Honestly .... work very well DONE !!!!
According to the only mentioned Polish tank 10TP, this tank was designed and build on the American model Christie track suspension. This particular tank was planned to full-fill role as a pursuing fast tank !!!! Only two or three fully working prototypes were built and tested on the Polish roads and off-road, too.
Congratulation !!!!

[Joshua_N-A]

That thumbnail though. Poland ready to pull an *IMPERIUM* .

[mareksicinski]

0:39 I don't think it is usually referred to as the ‘Russo-Polish war’, it was the Polish-Soviet war

[polishscribe]

If you wonder what does "wz" mean, it's short for "wzór", which could be lightly translated to "example".

[thegrimgripper]

What about the story with tks with a 20mm cannon that took out a pz III and two Pz 38's

[Galvars]

I have to disagree on TKD description. The available data do not support the opinion about "poor performance", in opposite... TKD was praised for it's performance. It had the same level of mobility as TK-3 and much bigger firepower, when it was implemented, 47mm wz.25 cannon had very good characteristics and even to 1934 it was considered to meet the expectations of the army. The main problem with TKD's that there was was just 4 of them build. The other problem was with just 2 men crew, if driver was not helping commander the single person was responsible for detecting, targeting, loading and firing the gun. There was just not enough space for third crew member, TKD was very small vehicle. In late 30's characteristics of wz.25 cannon still was acceptable, comparing to many short barreled guns of that time, caliber was solid and it still could penetrate armor of most armored vehicles.

[SermonFapple]

why does the pic at 4:19 look so fake?

[jackjohnson]

"Sitrone" Jesus, make an effort.

[cherryscarlett]

4:19 _¡≠/₹Əπçl|•l| Əπğ¡πəƏ/₹, §∅£cl ẞ2 l|•l|∆£¡≠₺/₹∆Çll(§._

[jayfelsberg]

I feel it only right to note the Poles invaded the Ukraine and other parts of Russia, and were sent fleeing back to Poland, where they defeated the Sovite counterattack. This is not take anything away from their defeat of the Soviets, but in part to put it in context.