Charge at Krojanty The charge at Krojanty , battle at Krojanty or skirmish of Krojanty was a cavalry charge that occurred during the Invasion of Poland in the Second World War . It took place on the evening of September 1 , 1939 , near the Pomeranian village of Krojanty . Polish soldiers advanced east along the former Prussian Eastern Railway to railroad crossroads 7 kilometres from the town of Chojnice ( Konitz ) where elements of the Polish cavalry attacked and dispersed the German infantry battalion . Soon after the attack the cavalry received machine gun fire from German armoured cars stationed nearby and was forced to retreat . Delay of the German advance is claimed as successful completion of the Poles ' mission . Happening on the first day of the war , it was one of its first clashes , and part of the larger Battle of Tuchola Forest . The incident became notable as reporters visiting the site soon after saw the dead bodies of horses and cavalrymen which led to false reports of Polish cavalry attacking German tanks . Nazi propaganda took advantage of this , suggesting that the Poles attacked intentionally , believing that the Germans still had the dummy tank s the Versailles treaty restrictions had permitted them . The scene of Polish cavalry charging the Panzers with their lances has become a myth . Before the battle . Polish units were engaged in battle from 0500 against elements of German 76th Infantry Regiment ( Colonel Hans Gollnick ) of 20th Motorised Division under Lt . Gen . Mauritz von Wiktorin , which operated on the left ( northern ) flank of XIX Panzer Corps under Gen . Heinz Guderian . Early in the day Polish cavalry had intercepted German infantry moving towards the Free City of Danzig ( Gdańsk ) and slowed their progress . At 0800 the Germans broke through Polish Border Guard units south of the Polish cavalry , which forced the Polish units in the area to start a retreat towards a secondary defence line at the river Brda ( Brahe ) . 18th Pomeranian Uhlans Regiment ( " 18 . Pułk Ułanów Pomorskich " ) was ordered to cover the retreat . The battle . The 18th Pomeranian Uhlans spotted a group of German infantry resting in a clearing in the Tuchola Forest heath near the railroad crossroads of Chojnice - Runowo Pomorskie line . Colonel Kazimierz Mastalerz decided to take the enemy by surprise and ordered Eugeniusz Świeściak , commander of the 1st squadron , to execute a cavalry charge at 1900 hours , leading two squadrons , about 250 strong . Most of the two other squadrons , and their TKS / TK - 3 tankette s , were held back in reserve . The charge was successful : the German infantry unit was dispersed , and the Poles occupied the clearing . However German armored reconnaissance vehicles appeared from the forest road , probably part of " Aufklärungs - Abteilung 20 " , and soon the Polish units came under heavy machine gun fire , probably from Leichter Panzerspähwagen equipped with MG 34 , or Schwerer Panzerspähwagen equipped also with a 20 mm gun . The Poles were completely exposed and began to gallop for cover behind a nearby hillock . Commander Świeściak was killed , as was Mastalerz , who tried to save him . About a third of the Polish force was dead or wounded . On the other hand , the German advance was halted long enough to allow the withdrawal of Polish 1st Rifle battalion and National Defence battalion " Czersk " from the nearby battle of Chojnice . The Polish cavalry charge impressed the Germans and caused a delay in the offensive of the German 20th Motorised Infantry Division which considered a tactical retreat . This was however prevented by personal intervention of Gen . Guderian , who in his memoirs stated that he encountered his staff " wearing helmets , preparing an anti - tank gun for a possible Polish cavalry attack , " and that " the panic of the first day of war was overcome quickly " . Aftermath and the myth . The Polish cavalry charge stopped the German pursuit for the day , and the units of Czersk Operational Group were able to withdraw southwards unopposed . Also , it took the Germans several hours to reorganise and continue the advance . On September 2 , 1939 , the 18th Pomeranian Uhlans Regiment was decorated by Gen . Grzmot - Skotnicki , the commander of the Operational Group , with his own Virtuti Militari medal for valour shown in this combat . The same day , German war correspondents were brought to the battlefield , together with two journalists from Italy . They were shown the corpses of Polish cavalrymen and their horses , as well as German tanks that had arrived at the place after the battle . One of the Italian correspondents , Indro Montanelli , sent home an article , in which he described the bravery and heroism of Polish soldiers , who charged German tanks with sabres and lances . Although such a charge did not happen and there were no tanks used during the combat , the myth was used by German propaganda during the war . German propaganda magazine Die Wehrmacht reported on 13 September that the Poles had gravely underestimated German weapons , as Polish propaganda had suggested that German armored vehicles were only covered with sheet metal , leading to a grotesque attack . After the end of World War II it was still used by Soviet propaganda as an example of stupidity of pre - war Polish commanders , who allegedly did not prepare their country for the war and instead wasted the blood of their soldiers . George Parada states : Contrary to German propaganda , Polish cavalry brigade s never charged tank s with their sabre s or lance s as they were equipped with anti - tank weapon s such as 37 mm Bofors wz . 36 ( exported to UK as " Ordnance Q . F . 37 mm Mk I " ) antitank guns , that could penetrate 26 mm of armour at 600 m at 30 degrees . The cavalry brigades were in the process of being reorganized into motorized brigades . Another weapon was anti - tank rifle model 1935 ( karabin przeciwpancerny wz . 35 ) . Its calibre was 7 . 92 mm and it could penetrate 15 mm of armour at 300 m at 30 degrees . In 1939 , the Germans were mainly equipped with the small Panzer I and Panzer II models which were vulnerable to such weapons . The myth of the cavalry charge against tanks was perpetuated by the Polish film Lotna ( 1959 ) in an invented reconstruction of this scene .