The Brigade was formed in early June 1939, when the
Polish Minister of Military Affairs, General
Tadeusz Kasprzycki, gave order to transform the
1st Regiment of Mounted Rifles from the
Garwolin garrison into a motorized unit. On June 10, 1939, Colonel
Stefan Rowecki was appointed brigade commander (later, under the pseudonym "Grot" (spearhead), he became the first commander of the
Home Army, and was killed by the Germans). The new unit was also based on other regiments, such as the 1st Rifle Regiment from
Rembertów, the sapper battalion from
Puławy and the 2nd Motorised Artillery Battalion from
Stryj (8×75mm guns), which joined it on September 6. The unit was equipped with Polish-made
TKS tankettes (13 tankettes, 2 of them with 20mm guns, 11th Recce Tank Company), and British-made
Vickers E light tanks (17 machines, 12th Light Tank Company). The
tankettes (except for the tankettes equipped with 20mm AT MG
38FK), were no match for even the
PzKpfw II on the German side, and the
Vickers E were outclassed by
PzKpfw III and
PzKpfw IV. On September 1, 1939, the Brigade left the barracks and concentrated its forces around Garwolin. It stayed there until September 3 as a reserve of the Commander-in-Chief of the Polish Army, then was ordered to prepare the defence of the
Vistula river line between
Dęblin and
Solec. On September 5, it became part of freshly created
Army Lublin, under General
Tadeusz Piskor. The first contact with the enemy took place on September 8: the Brigade delayed the German advance and covered the retreat of the Polish forces. In the course of time, it absorbed remains of other Polish armoured units. On September 10 Brigade's positions were attacked by the
4th and
14th Infantry Divisions of the
Wehrmacht. The Poles defended themselves, three days later counterattacked and the Germans retreated towards the
Vistula river. However, the Polish offensive was stopped by the Army Headquarters and the Brigade began withdrawal towards
Lwów (Lviv). On September 15, Rowecki ordered to destroy all unnecessary equipment and divided the Brigade into two columns. On September 16, the Brigade, together with other Polish units, was surrounded in the area of
Tomaszów Lubelski (see:
Battle of Tomaszów Lubelski). The Polish forces decided to attack the town of Tomaszów Lubelski; the offensive was carried out in the morning of September 17 by Warsaw Armoured Motorized Brigade, which managed to catch the
German XXII Corps by surprise. However, the Germans quickly organized a defence and the Polish attack failed, with the Brigade losing half of the equipment. On September 19, another Polish attack did not succeed, and one day later, after fierce fighting and destruction of large part of equipment, General Piskor decided to surrender. Rowecki ordered the destruction of remaining heavy equipment and all soldiers to try to break through the German encirclement on his own. He himself was not caught by the Germans, also hundreds of Brigade's soldiers managed to escape to
Hungary and later to
Great Britain, where they joined the Polish 1st Armoured Division of General
Stanisław Maczek. ==See also==