Not Yet Lost: The Polish 10th Cavalry Brigade, 1939 

SEPTEMBER 1939.Using its armored cars and tankettes, the 10th Cavalry Brigade—known as the Black Brigade and commanded by Colonel Stanisław Maczek—repeatedly harassed German columns, striking vulnerable supply lines and troop concentrations, thus disrupting the Germans’ blitzkrieg tactics.

Despite being heavily outnumbered and facing superior German firepower, the Black Brigade skillfully executed a fighting withdrawal to avoid annihilation. Eventually, Marshal of Poland, Edward Rydz-Smigły, ordered the brigade to cross the Hungarian border, where they were temporarily interned.

Although the unit lost about half of its men, it was never defeated in open combat.

The surviving members of the Black Brigade later made their way to France, Great Britain, and eventually back to Europe to continue the fight.