My boss used this story about how the polish used Armor Piercing Lances against the USSR during WWII because they were too proud of their Calvary skills to adjust to modern times and build tanks. They were then defeated handily by the Russian tanks. Can someone provide some references to this claim? I’d like to learn more.
There's quite a lot of confusion in your story.
Poland fought a war with the Soviet Union in 1919-20; neither side had much in the way of armor, and cavalry was used extensively. Marshal Pilsudski was skilful, and the war went well for Poland, until the Soviets were able to pull the army together. The battle of Battle of Komarów in particular featured large cavalry forces on both sides-- and was a Polish victory.
What I _think_ your boss is referring to is the defeat of Poland in 1939 by the Germans-- its true that Poland still had cavalry, and had few tanks-- but basically the problem for Poland was being sandwiched between two much larger enemies, the Soviet Union and the Nazis.
So no, the Poles weren't "defeated by Russian tanks", but rather German tanks, and aircraft. Poland had their own tanks, and no Polish cavalry ever charged German tanks with lances-- that's a bit of silliness. About %10 of the Polish Army in 1939 was cavalry-- the horse were used for mobility, effectively the soldiers fought as dragoons.
See: "The Mythical Polish Cavalry Charge" for an exploration of just where your boss' story comes from . . .
THANK YOU. The whole thing sounded very off and I was like wait? Does he mean Germany? Also it sounded a little racist/urban myth-y
But of course I just sat there and made a weird face.