This article deals with the history and development of tanks of the Polish army from their first use after World War I, into the interwar period, during World War II, the Cold War and modern era.
Overview
During and after World War I, Britain and France were the intellectual leaders in tank design, with other countries generally following and adopting their designs. After World War I, many nations needed to have tanks, but only a few had the industrial resources to design and build them. Poland designed tanks from those it acquired and the Polish armoured forces were given the single turret 7TP tank which was the best Polish tank available in numbers when the war broke out, derived from the Vickers Mark E tank. The Polish forces with the 7TP Light Tank series put up a valiant defense against the invading German Army in the opening phases of World War 2, and although the new Polish 9TP tanks were being produced, few reached the Polish forces before the German invasion overwhelmed the Polish army. Poland acquired and developed tanks and tankettes for its armoured forces and after Poland had been overrun, a government-in-exile (headquartered in Britain), armed forces, along with an intelligence service were established outside of Poland. They contributed to the Allied effort throughout the war. The Polish Army was recreated in the West, as well as in the East (after German invasion of the Soviet Union).
Inter War
After World War I the Polish Armed Forces received the Renault FT light tank, with 174 FTs being used by its forces. In 1918 the newly organized Polish 1st Tank Regiment (1 Pułk Czołgów) had been equipped with 120 of these tanks. The 1st Tank Regiment consisted of four tank companies organised into two Battalions and saw fighting during the Polish–Ukrainian War after the dissolution of Austria-Hungary in a Polish offensive in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia carried out by units of the Polish Army aided by the newly arrived Blue Army of General Józef Haller de Hallenburg. This army, composed of Polish forces which had fought for the Entente on the Western front,W. F. Reddaway. The Cambridge History of Poland, Vol. 1. Cambridge University Press. 1971. p. 477 numbering 60,000 troops,Orest subtelny. (200). Ukraine: a History. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, pg. 370 came with tanks supplied by the Western allies and partially staffed with experienced French officers. The unit was based on equipment and part of personnel of former French 505th Tank Regiment, and was equipped with the most modern tanks of the time, the Renault FT. After the war the 1st Tank Regiment, along with Gen. Haller's Army, returned to Poland, with all equipment. Thanks to this, Poland became the fourth biggest armoured power in the world at that time.
They also participated in the Polish-Soviet War, which by 1920 most of the French personnel had departed back to France. In July 1920, FTs tanks were used in the Defense of Grodno and defense of Lida, and Rowne as well as the Battle of Daugavpils. Then, they took part in the Battle of Warsaw in August 1920 and some damaged tanks were put on railway flatcars and used as parts of armored trains.
In 1924, 6 Renault TSF radio command tanks were bought in France. They were based upon the FT hull, fitted with a radio in a big superstructure in a place of a turret. They were not armed. Also, in 1929-1930, some of newer Renault tank designs were bought. They were 5 Renault M26/27 tanks and 1 Renault NC-27 tank. The M26/27 was a development of the FT, with the same hull and armament, fitted with a new track mechanism and with Kegresse rubber tracks. The Renault NC-27 was a further development of the FT, with a redesigned hull and new chassis, but a turret with gun or MG armament remained similar (they were proposed to the French Army under the designation NC-1; its further development led to the French D1 tank).
The Polish Armed Forces looked at the Carden-Loyd Mk.VI tankette and it met with an interest in Poland as it did in many other countries. As soon as in 1929 one tankette was bought and evaluated in Poland and it was decided to buy 10 tankettes Mk.VI and 5 tracked trailers. They were delivered in August 1929 and after divisional manoeuvres in September 1929, it was evaluated, that the tankettes fulfilled the needs of a reconnaissance vehicle for both infantry and cavalry. The TK (also known as the TK-3) tankette was a Polish design produced from 1931 that was based upon an improved chassis of the British Carden Loyd tankette. The TKS was an improved model with a new hull and a more powerful engine. The armour of the TK was up to 8 mm thick (10 mm on the TKS). In 1939, re-arming of the tankettes with 38FK 20 mm machine guns began, but only about 24 were completed before the outbreak of World War II.
Their advantages were: mobility, good obstacle crossing and small dimensions, making them difficult to spot. It was estimated, that they fit better as cavalry reconnaissance vehicles, than newly acquired wz.28 halftrack armoured cars. As a result, the Polish authorities decided to buy a licence for manufacturing Carden-Loyd Mk.VI.However, instead of producing Carden-Loyd Mk.VI, the Polish authorities decided to work an own, improved model, only generally basing on Carden-Loyd's composition which came to be known as the light reconnaissance tank TK-3 (also known simply as the TK) and a total of 300 TK-3 tankettes were built.
At the end of the 1920s, the Polish Armed Forces felt that they also needed a new tank model. The Military Institute of Engineering Research (Wojskowy Instytut Badań Inżynierii, WIBI) sent Captain Ruciński to the United States to legally acquire a Christie M1928 tank, its blueprint and license. The tank was to be used as a base for a new Polish light tank. The Poles however never received the machine and Christie fearing legal charges, refunded the purchase.
Due to this failure to purchase the master model and the possible license, at the end of 1930 the WIBI Tank Design Bureau began preliminary design work on their own wheeled/tracked tank, based on the Christie M1928 and Christie M1931 models, known under the working name "A la Christie".
The work was based on available data and advertising leaflets as well as notes and sketches that Captain Ruciński obtained from Christie. In 1932 the design drawings and a list of details were ready but soon the work slowed down because the designers were put in charge of a just-bought British Vickers Mark E tank that led to the 7TP light tank which was developed soon after. On 14 September 1931, Poland bought 38 tanks Vickers Mk.E Type A, with spare parts and a manufacturing licence.
At the end of 1934, because of the liquidation of WIBI and establishing of the Design and Testing Centre of the Armoured Forces reporting directly to the Armoured Forces Command, most of the "A la Christie" project documentation was destroyed under the supervision of a special commission. Only a few hand-written notes and calculations were left.
On 10 March 1935 design work on a new model called 10TP was started. Major Rudolf Gundlach headed the design team consisting of, among the others, engineers Jan Łapuszewski, Stefan Ołdakowski, Mieczysław Staszewski, Kazimierz Hejnowicz and a process engineer Jerzy Napiórkowski.
Despite the fact that in 1936 the vehicle design was not completely finished, it was included in the programme of Armoured Forces that was a part of a general projection of growth and upgrade for the Polish Army for 1936-1942. This programme was approved by the Armament and Equipment Committee (Komitet do spraw Uzbrojenia i Sprzętu, KSUS) in January 1936. The 10TP tank was specified on the list of the equipment scheduled for four tank battalions in the new motorised units. Around this time a large number of the Polish FTs were sold fictitiously to Uruguay and China, and in fact went to Republican Spain.3. R. Szubański, "Polska broń pancerna 1939"; Warsaw 1989
Assembly of the first tank prototype was commenced in 1937 in the Experimental Workshop (WD) located within the area of the State Engineering Plants (PZInż.) Factory in Ursus near Warsaw, where all Polish tanks were produced in the period of 1931-1939. The work was supervised by Captain Kazimierz Grüner. At the same time two motorised cavalry brigades were formed with the intention that they would be equipped with the tank.
Building of the tank was completed in July 1938. It took so much time because some basic assemblies that were not produced in Poland had to be acquired abroad like an engine of a sufficient output. It was not before 16 August that the 10TP tank rolled out for a first longer ride. It was driven by an experienced military specialist Sergeant Polinarek under personal supervision of the Chief of the Trial and Experiment Department in the Bureau of Technical Studies on Armored Weapons (Biuro Badań Technicznych Broni Pancernych, BBT Br. Panc.) Captain Leon Czekalski. The trials were kept secret because the activities of the German Abwehr and the members of the "Fifth Column" were then getting more and more intensive in Poland.Magnuski, Janusz, Armor in Profile 1/Pancerne profile 1, Warsaw: Pelta (1997) trans. by Witold Kałużyński
Successive trials being stopped by minor faults lasted until 30 September and then the tank was sent to the WD where design modifications were made. On 16 January 1939 the tank was tested, under supervision of its Chief Designer along a short distance trip to Łowicz and in the spring between 22 and 25 April, it went beyond Grodno, traveling along a total distance of 610 km. After this trip, when a total of nearly 2000 km were logged, the vehicle was sent again to the WD where it was nearly completely stripped down to check the wear on particular parts and assemblies, identify causes of malfunctions and to repair the damage. In May, the refurbished tank was demonstrated to generals and other top ranking military authorities. .7TP vol. II, Janusz Magnuski, Militaria 317, Warszawa 2009.
The designers, having analysed their experiences came to the conclusion that a tank of this type should be a purely tracked vehicle and any equipment needed for driving it on wheels was just an unnecessary weight. Getting rid of this weight allowed them to increase the armour thickness significantly while vehicle weight remained unchanged. Thus another development step of the 10TP was to be the 14TP tank. Its construction was started in the end of 1938 but it was not completed due to the war.Janusz Magnuski: "Czołg 10TP"; "Nowa Technika Wojskowa" nr. 6/96 Lekki czołg 10 TP
Before the tank could enter mass production, German invasion of Poland in September 1939 ended the independent existence of the Second Polish Republic.
Another route the Polish army took was to purchase some of the British designed Carden-Loyd Mark VI two man tankette (Poland ordered 10 or 11 of those two man tankettes on 29 June 1929. After the fall of Poland Polish units that made it to France used those two man tankettes in 1940) From this designed evolved the TK-3 tankette (based on TK-1 and TK-2 tankettes, about 300 built) and TKS tankette (based on TK-3 tankette, about 390 built) which were the only versions built in significant numbers.
The Polish Armed Forces also received from the French the Renault Char léger Modèle 1935 R light Infantry tank (Poland used 50 of those tanks) and also the Hotchkiss Char léger modèle 1935 H (Three Hotchkiss Char léger modèle 1935 H tanks had been exported to Poland in July 1939 for testing by the Polish Bureau of Technical Studies of Armoured Weapons. From the British it acquired some 6-Ton Type A light tanks (also known as Vickers Mark E) The Polish army used 38 of these tanks with small improvements as 22 Type B and 16 Type A tanks. The Polish Armed Forces used these to design their own variations such as the 7TP dw and 7TP jw light tank.