Warsaw Armoured Motorized Brigade
military unit
The Warsaw Armoured Motorized Brigade (Polish: Warszawska Brygada Pancerno-Motorowa, WBP-M, WBPanc-Mot) was a motorized unit of the Polish Army during the interbellum period. The brigade was one of two such units in Poland (the other being the 10th Motorized Cavalry Brigade (Poland); several more were planned). Not fully formed by September 1, it was nonetheless partially combat ready and immediately rushed into battle during the Polish September Campaign. Following heavy losses during the Battle of Tomaszów Lubelski, it was disbanded on September 20, 1939.
History
The Brigade was formed in early June 1939, when the Polish Minister of Military Affairs, General Tadeusz Kasprzycki, gave order to transform the 1st Regiment of Mounted Rifles from the Garwolin garrison into a motorized unit. On June 10, 1939, Colonel Stefan Rowecki was appointed brigade commander (later, under the pseudonym "Grot" (spearhead), he became the first commander of the Home Army, and was killed by the Germans). The new unit was also based on other regiments, such as the 1st Rifle Regiment from Rembertów, the sapper battalion from Puławy and the 2nd Motorised Artillery Battalion from Stryj (8×75mm guns), which joined it on September 6.
The unit was equipped with Polish-made TKS tankettes (13 tankettes, 2 of them with 20mm guns, 11th Recce Tank Company), and British-made Vickers E light tanks (17 machines, 12th Light Tank Company). The tankettes (except for the tankettes equipped with 20mm AT MG 38FK), were no match for even the PzKpfw II on the German side, and the Vickers E were outclassed by PzKpfw III and PzKpfw IV.
On September 1, 1939, the Brigade left the barracks and concentrated its forces around Garwolin. It stayed there until September 3 as a reserve of the Commander-in-Chief of the Polish Army, then was ordered to prepare the defence of the Vistula river line between Dęblin and Solec.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Oct 27, 2024. The linked authority identifier is Q7970883. VIAF identifies the subject as 5669153126239924750008. 1 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1939.
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