Defeating Stereotypes – Poland, Grunwald & A Military Legacy (Northern Poland & Berlin #38a)

When I was growing up, it was not of the ordinary to hear distasteful jokes about people of Polish dissent. This was a very strange phenomenon to a southerner because there were very few people of Polish dissent living in the region. In the first twenty-five years of my life, I can count on one finger how many Polish Americans I knew. Racially incendiary remarks had filtered out of midwestern cities that had large populations of Polish immigrants. They were the residue of long-standing stereotypes of Eastern European immigrants in America during the early 20th century. Jokes and other racially based comments were the usual products of ignorance and fear. The remarks made it sound like Poland was filled with terribly backward people. Nothing could have been further from the truth.

What made (and still makes) such jokes and remarks maddening is the people making them have no idea how important Poles have been to American history. Whether it was as the labor force that helped fuel America’s industrial supremacy or a couple of Poles whose assistance played a key role in American victory during the Revolutionary War. I wonder how many of those who disparage Poles know about Theodore Kosciuszko and Casimir Pulaski. The former has a National Historic Site dedicated to him. The latter has a National Monument named after him. These two Poles’ names and stories have pride of place at nationally significant sites. Unfortunately, many never want to let the truth get in the way of a stereotype. A little bit of knowledge would go a long way in dispelling ignorance. ?

Lost Cause - Outnumbered, Outgunned & Overwhelmed

The same kind of false stereotypes I heard growing up were used as an explanation for Poland’s defeat by Germany in the first month of World War II. Many forget (or have no idea) that Poland was invaded by both Germany and the Soviet Union. Outnumbered, outgunned and with basically zero external support, the Poles fought valiantly, but they were overwhelmed. This was not because the Polish military was a poor fighting force. They were up against two mighty powers, the same ones which would go on to fight each other in the most violent campaign of the worst war in human history.

The Polish military did not lose because it was incompetent. While they made mistakes, any nation on the losing end of a war can say the same. The truth is that no matter how well the Poles fought, there was little chance that they could achieve victory. Their only hope was to hold out as long as possible until support arrived from allies such as Britain and France. That support was not forthcoming. The Poles were left with no other choice except to either flee or surrender. Poland’s valiant effort did not stop false stories being told about Poland’s performance in the war. The standard tale used against Poles is that their calvary made charges against German armored columns. The result was death and defeat. This is not true. Though ten percent of Polish forces were cavalry, they would dismount before engaging with the enemy. Polish cavalry was present on the field of battle, but they were not charging German tanks. That would be suicidal. The biggest problem was that the Wehrmacht was more modern, both in military doctrine and technology, then Polish forces.

Forgotten Achievement – Defeating Bolshevism

The Poles also suffer from regional bias in Europe. Eastern Europeans in general and specifically Poles have been cast as economically, politically, and culturally backward when compared to central and western Europeans. The false cavalry narrative plays into preexisting biases. The story infers a level of backwardness in Polish military operations that was endemic to the entire country and representative of the people. Never mind, that horsepower was utilized by all armies during the war, including the vaunted Wehrmacht whose invasion force during Operation Barbarossa included 600,000 horses. I am quite certain that many of these saw their fair share of battle.

Those who disparaged Poland’s martial prowess during World War II somehow forgot that this was the same country that pulled off one of the greatest military feats of the 20th century. After being reconstituted as a nation the year before, they managed to hold off the Soviet onslaught that threatened to turn Europe towards Bolshevism. If not for Poland’s victory in the 1920 Battle of Warsaw, Germany could have fallen prey to the Bolshevik menace. Lenin’s stated aim was to take the revolution worldwide, starting with Germany. The Poles defeated the Red Army, the same cannot be said for British, American, and French forces that were involved in failed operations to support the White Army during the Russian Civil War.

Poland did what the Allied powers could not or would not know do by keeping the Bolshevik menace from making further inroads into Europe. Their role is analogous to Ukraine’s current fight to keep Russian influence at a greater distance from the rest of Europe. It is easy to forget the role of Poland’s military during a period of great peril for Europe. The upshot is that modern Poland has been given short shrift for their military efforts. This has the effect of causing those lacking in historical knowledge to assume that Poland has always been a minor military power in Europe, one that was at the mercy of its enemies. This is just as false as all the stereotypes of Poles. Poland has an extremely rich military history that goes all the way back to the Middle Ages. The most famous example of their military prowess and a point of national pride still today was their victory at the Battle of Grunwald.

Polish Ascendancy – A Medieval Military Victory

This anti-Polish sentiment came to me while my travel companion and I visited Grunwald Battlefield. The battlefield is one of the most important historic sites in Poland. It was where a combination of Polish and Lithuanian forces routed the Teutonic Knights on July 15, 1410. The victory often ranks at or near the top in the Polish military pantheon. It also destroys the idea of German martial superiority over the Poles. As such, the battlefield is a site of veneration, one that we were able to explore on a Sunday afternoon in late April.