74th Infantry Regiment ( Poland ) The 74 Infantry Regiment ( Polish " 74 pułk piechoty " ) was a Polish military unit . Created during the Greater Poland Uprising , it entered the Polish Army and fought in the Polish - Soviet War and Invasion of Poland . During Operation Tempest of 1944 it was re - created by the Home Army . The unit was created under the name of III Regiment of Land Defence ( " III pułk obrony krajowej " ) in 1919 , as a merger of several battalions of infantry of Greater Poland . Among them were the II battalion of western Poznań , III battalion of Krotoszyn and IV battalion of eastern Poznań . On October 2 , 1919 captain Kazimierz Zenkteler was assigned to the unit as the first commanding officer and the unit was renamed to IV Regiment of Land Defence . After Zenkteller was replaced by Lt . Antoni Nieborak , the unit ' s number was changed to I . After the end of the Greater Poland Uprising the regiment was reformed , reinforced with HMG s and partially demobilized . It took part in taking over the town of Wieleń from the German administration on January 17 , 1920 . Again renamed , this time to " 1st Reserve Regiment " , it was included in the Polish Army and sent to the front of the Polish - Bolshevik War . Almost annihilated during the Battle of Grodno , it was reinforced by Lt . Lisewski it again entered combat during the Battle of the Niemen River , after which it was withdrawn to the training ground in Biedrusko . After the cease - fire and signing of the Riga peace treaty , the regiment was moved to Lubliniec on June 26 , 1922 . During the interbellum , it was one of the Silesian units , with the majority of recruits coming from that region of Poland . After the secret mobilization of March 15 , 1939 , the regiment - until then held en cadre - was reinforced to 75 % of strength and attached to Częstochowa - based Polish 7th Infantry Division . Its task in case of a possible war with Germany was to defend the town of Lubliniec , the westernmost town of Poland , which was surrounded by German territory on three sides . To do that , a line of fortifications and anti - tank obstacles was built around the town and the regiment also manned MG nests along the Polish - German border . On August 24 , 1939 , another 222 soldiers arrived and the unit was fully reinforced . After the outbreak of the Invasion of Poland at four o ' clock in the morning on September 1 , the German 46th Infantry Division crossed the border and headed towards the town . However , the German infantry and tanks were repelled and withdrew , while the task of destroying the fortified city was left to the Luftwaffe . The town was destroyed at 11 am , yet the German tank assault could not follow as the tank barrier surrounded the city . This allowed the cut - off 74th regiment to withdraw to a second line of defence in the village of Kochanowice . Heavy fighting for the town began , with the Polish MGs successfully preventing the German infantry from entering the town . The Germans suffered heavy losses , but their numerical superiority was evident and by 12 . 30 the Poles were pushed out of the town , with a loss of 177 men ( both killed and wounded ) . It is estimated that the German losses were twice as high , mostly due to minefields and machinegun fire . The 74th Regiment then withdrew to Herby and manned the Boronów - Herby - Woźniki line . Reinforced by Kraków Cavalry Brigade , the unit was pushed back by a German assault and the regiment lost its commander , Major Jan Zapolski . Along with the remnants of the 7th Division , the regiment withdrew towards the Vistula . There , the remainder of the regiment took part in the defence of Ciepielów on September 8 , 1939 . Assaulted by the German 11 . Kp / III motorized battalion of the 15th Infantry Regiment , the combined I battalion of the 74th regiment held its position and defended the approach to the town of Zwoleń . Commanded by Maj . Józef Pelc , the battalion was a combination of all the forces of the regiment and numbered only about 500 men . After the German 15 Infantry Regiment assaulted the Polish positions with the assistance of tanks , the Polish unit surrendered . Out of approximately 450 Polish POW s , 250 were murdered on the spot after having their documents taken by the Germans . The remaining 200 were marched towards the rear , with additional 50 killed by a German armoured car . Major Pelc was killed in the skirmish , while his deputy , Captain Cyruliński , committed suicide after seeing what happened to his men . The wounded soldiers of the 74 regiment were also killed by the Germans after the battle . During the Operation Tempest of 1944 , the unit was recreated by the Radom - Kielce Armia Krajowa Area and assigned to a recreated 7th Infantry Division " Orzeł " .