Polish Lancers 1919

[Rogerc]

So as I had these out for a game that was called off I thought I might share my growing collection of Poles for the 1919-20 Russso-Polish war. More details on the blog.
https://gapagnw.blogspot.com/2018/12/polish-lancers-1919-1920.html
polish legion by Roger Castle, on Flickr

[traveller]

Nice work! 

An interesting conflict!

[Mark Plant]

How are you going to do tachankas? (taczenki) That usually seems to be the sticking point for 25mm.

[Rogerc]

Thanks Traveller, it is a really interesting conflict.

Mark Warlord games have a really nice Tachanka for WW2 I think I can just Swap the heads on the crew and we should be there. If not I may require new crew but the cart and horses should work just fine. Warbases also do one in 28mm MDF but I am not quite as keen. The Eureka miniatures one is lovely but its too small to fit with other 28mm figures.

[Mark Plant]

Actually, it would be the Warlord cart that would bother me, if I was going to be bothered. It's clearly one of the later Soviet purpose built ones, rather than a commandeered civilian carriage.

I've seen the Eureka one in among 28mm and it didn't bother me. Sure, it was too small if you got to study it beside cavalry, but it did at least make for a less bulky item (and at least in that game it spent its time far enough away from other figures anyway).

But then I use an N scale train with 15mm figures, because I worry more about footprint than staying in scale.

[Rogerc]

Thanks Mark, I will have another good look before I decide which one I am going to buy. Already bought and sold the Eureka one due to the scale, might need to consider the Warbases one, watch this space.

[Mark Plant]

If you've sold it, you'll never come round to the Eureka one. The consensus does seem to be it is too small.

The Warbase on is post RCW too -- the lack of back seat is a giveaway. I confess I would take the Warlord one and give it a seat. I like their horses more.

Beautiful figures, by the way. I didn't have patience to do those conversions in 15mm.

[Rogerc]

First weekend of Fbruary we have the York show so I will mkae  adecision then. Your right the Warlord horses are much nicer.

[ts]

Why not use some kind of civilian carriage, eventually with some small changes?
Tachangas then were not in military production, but mostly civilian carts with perhaps some refurbishing were in use.
When it comes to the Poles, I have only seen one photo with a simple East-European farm cart in use with a cavalry unit, never the more "high-class" carriages used by the red army.
Furthermore the Poles cavalry explicitly writes, they preferred to fight cavalry from a dismounted position, if time allowed it, with their machine guns on the ground. So Poles fighting fighting from a racing or standing cart, like the Red Army is often shown, would be rather unique.

[Mark Plant]

I think the point of using nice carts is that they were sprung. Taking an unsprung cart cross-country would be unpleasant.

Infantry often took their mgs in ordinary carts.

[ts]

I fully agree with you.
It was different tactics, I guess caused by mainly different resources at hand.

[carlos marighela]

So tactically they were Poles apart?

It’s the diminutive crew and horses that make the Eureka tachankaclook small. I have one and to be honest it doesn’t bother me.

[cuprum]

Tachanka had high mobility and speed, thanks to the sprung base, which allowed her to accompany the cavalry on the march, without limiting its speed.
The machine gun on the tachanka is always ready for battle without prior preparation. Tachanka allows you to maneuver fire on the battlefield, quickly focusing the fire of many machine guns in the right place.
The tactics of using a tachanka  in a cavalry battle is simple - the tachankas drove to the flanks, turned around, and opened fire on the enemy. The cavalry at this moment attacked the enemy in equestrian ranks. Tachanka often acted "waves" when half fired, and the other half, under their cover, moved to a new place for firing. They acted in the same way during the retreat, covering their troops.
In addition, tachankas, with a significant number, could be used to transport infantry, increasing the mobility of the army. Makhno used them very widely and successfully, the speed of which the army was moving was incredible for that time  thanks to the tachankas.

[ts]

So tactically they were Poles apart?
Yes.
The Poles mainly was an infantry army, first when 1 Cavalry Army under Budyonny attacked, the Poles formed and fought in large cavalry groups.
The Poles also thought the use of Tachankas very "un-sportly"  .
I have never seen any mentioning of the Poles using or forming units of Tachangas during the Polish-Russian conflict 1919-21.

[cuprum]

I am not very familiar with the tactics of using the tachanka by the Poles.
I am aware of another feature in the actions of cavalry in battle. The Red cavalry, with the exception of the Cossacks, preferred to use pistols and revolvers in the cavalry battle to defeat the enemy (many riders had two pistols at once). The Poles (like the Cossacks) relied more on lances and sabers.
Sabers red cavalry preferred to attack against the infantry.