Somewhat Manly Nerd » your now daily history lesson http://somewhatmanlynerd.com/blog infrequent blogging from some dude Mon, 13 Apr 2026 18:14:27 +0000 en-US hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.4.1 Why Did No One Tell Me This http://somewhatmanlynerd.com/blog/2009/03/04/why-did-no-one-tell-me-this/ http://somewhatmanlynerd.com/blog/2009/03/04/why-did-no-one-tell-me-this/#comments Thu, 05 Mar 2009 01:42:16 +0000 CajoleJuice http://somewhatmanlynerd.com/blog/?p=1370 I’m still reading The Second World War, and I have felt the need again — I think this is going to become a common occurrence — to quote something out of the book. I just finished reading the chapter covering the rout of Poland at the hands of the German blitzkrieg, and had a tough time wrapping my head around this tidbit:

Their [Poland's] horse cavalry, of which they had twelve brigades, charged valiantly against the swarming tanks and armoured cars, but could not harm them with their swords and lances.

WHAT? Why have I never heard of this terrible mismatch before? I knew Poland was defeated in a shorter timespan than it will take me to read just the first volume of The Second World War, but I thought they at least had tanks. Well, they technically did have one armoured brigade, but still — horses versus tanks? I thought that type of shit only happened in matches of Civilization.

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