swords in poland?

[ausjulius]

poland seems to be one of the nations in europe where for a long time use of swords in combat has been popular in the military, from what i understand even in the 1930s there was saber fencing being taught and premoted as useful technique in modern combat,
the older swords from the 1700s .. some are very attractive, and to admit the balance and feel is much better than many others from western europe from the same time.

i do wounder is there still any production of swords in poland today,
is there still a firm making swords or the military or for private sale?

and does the military still teach any form of sword fencing of some sort to maintain the tradition?

[clockwork]

I have see a few local made modern sword in Poland and in Cheq Rep. but most are sold to tourist or for reenactments. They actually break out the forge and work on them in the square on occasion.

[Jim McDougall]

Great question Ausjulius! and we've had quite a few fascinating discussions on the Polish swords and in particular, the cavalry, most recently on the famed 'Winged Hussars of Poland'. Using the search, under the heading 'Polish cavalry' quite a few threads come up.

One of the most prevalent myths of World War II was that of Polish cavalry boldly attacking tanks on horseback with lance and sabre. While there were in fact situations involving Polish cavalry in combat, they typically functioned with infantry tactics dismounted, and did have sabres and often lances on occasion.

The myth derived from a skirmish in Pomerania near Krojanty September 1, 1939 where two squadrons of the 18th Pomeranian Uhlans (lancers) did attack a German infantry battalion successfully. Shortly afterwards, German armoured personnel carriers arrived and with heavy machine gun fire, killed about one third of the Polish unit. The following day, correspondents, including one Italian writer, visited the battle site and saw corpses of Polish horses and cavalrymen on the field, along with a number of German tanks which had arrived some time later. The Italian writer drew his own romantic conclusions, which the Germans decided was excellent propoganda, and the myth was begun.

The Polish were indeed brilliant swordsmen, and thier heritage as gallant cavalrymen was well earned. They did not of course charge foolishly at tanks with swords and lances, but did use these weapons effectively against infantry. These Polish units had anti tank weapons, and were actually well trained in thier use as the units were in transition to mechanized in some cases.

I once had a good friend who was Polish and spoke with great pride of his father, who had been one of these brave cavalrymen in WWII. He was of course quite young, and said he always remembered his fathers 'huge' sabre, which he always handled most fondly. Years later my friend served in the Korean War himself, and not surprisingly in the U.S. Seventh Cavalry, then mechanized with tanks.

A great book on Polish swords is "Polish Arms-Side Arms" by A.Nadolski (Warsaw, 1974), which gives a fantastic history of the swords in Poland. The author also speaks of his own fathers Polish cavalry sabre almost tearfully, as he notes that it had "..disappeared in the flames of 1939".

The Poles, as are the Hungarians, brilliant fencers, and it would be hard to imagine that there is not considerable training available there, though I am not familiar with its military application in present times.
There are a number of commercially produced representations of historic Polish swords, some of which are most well done.

Very best regards,
Jim

[Gonzalo G]

The polish saber form the II WW, the Szabla Wz34, was an excellent weapon, an austere and well made weapon. And I like it´s aesthetics.
Regards

Gonzalo

[broadaxe]

I believe you will find further interest in this link: http://www.myarmoury.com/talk/viewtopic.php?t=14852