Battle of Jarosław
The Battle of Jarosław (known as the Defence of Jarosław in Polish sources) took place between 10 and 11 September 1939 in the city of Jarosław on the San River. During the battle the Polish forces of General Stanisław Maczek successfully held the river crossings in the town for two days against the Nazi German Wehrmacht, which was enough time for the Polish 10th Motorized Cavalry Brigade to cross the river and retreat further eastwards. Before the battle. Contrary to most other Polish armies during the Polish Defensive War of 1939, the Kraków Army managed to withstand  the initial German assault on Silesia and retreat steadily eastwards. The Carpathians in the south and the Vistula river to the north provided enough cover for the army to focus on delaying actions in the path of the advancing Germans. However, the German numerical and technical superiority meant that the Polish forces were too weak to counter-attack and the best choice for the army was to hold the lines of rivers and major towns on the path of the Polish retreat. One such line was to be prepared along the San River by General Wacław Scaevola-Wieczorkiewicz, the pre -war commanding officer of the Przemyśl-based 10th Corps Area, one of the peacetime units in the Polish Army. The preparations started on 7 September. However, as most forces in the area were already mobilized and most march battalions were sent to the front, the defensive positions along the river banks were severely undermanned. The following day in the area between Przemyśl and Rozwadów, the Polish commander had only 10 battalions of infantry, one battalion of engineers and 42 pieces of artillery at his disposal. The central area of the line around Jarosław (between Radymno and Sieniawa was manned by  four battalions of infantry and 20 guns under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Jan Wójcik of the 2nd Legions' Infantry Division. The forces were insufficient to guard the river line, and especially so because the summer of 1939 was uncommonly dry and the level of water in Polish rivers was very low, allowing the armoured forces to cross them by fording. At the same time, the German 4th Light Division under Major-General Alfred Ritter von Hubicki and the 2nd Panzer Division under Lieutenant-General Rudolf Veiel were approaching the town of Jarosław from the north-west, aiming at crossing  the river and cutting off the retreating Kraków Army from the east. During the night of 10 September, the earlier unit moved from the area of Rzeszów through Pruchnik and Zamiechów to Radymno at the San River. In the early morning the Germans took the Polish defenders by surprise and crossed the river, unopposed. Defence of Jarosław. Around the same time Colonel Stanisław Maczek arrived at Jarosław. His unit, the Polish 10th Motorized Cavalry Brigade, was one of only two fully motorized Polish units and had been used by the commanding officer of the Kraków Army as an "armed firefighter