Destruction of German delegation to Soviets in October 1939?

German campaigns and battles 1919-1945.

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Njorl
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Destruction of German delegation to Soviets in October 1939?

Post by Njorl »

Hello all,

Here are parts of memoirs of two Polish officers of 9th Mounted Rifles Regiment (Podolska Cav. Bde) from September Campaign. They both describe the same event or its aftermath - destruction of 3 German armoured cars.

2nd Lieutenant Czesław Hake, commissary officer
(...) From diary: Oszczepalin Pierwszy, 2.X.39r. - a plane flying low was seen yesterday. It was ours. We crossed a river. On the road 3 knocked-out armour cars. Massacre inside.(...)

(...) One of our wachmeisters told me a story about finishing-off of these hitlerite armoured vehicles. I don't remeber though which cavalry regiment did it. Our men were in a scrub, about 500 metres from the road. They had an AT gun and AT rifles. When enemy vehicles appeared on the distant horizon, the sharpshooters with AT rifles hid in the potatoe field. They were given the task to finish off the last vehicle. They were to start as soon as AT gun fired. The enemy was allowed to move to point where road passed near the scrub and the the AT gunner pulled the trigger.
The vehicle stopped after second shot. A few seconds later the second armour was pierced. In the same time uhlans coped with third armoured car that turned out to be radio. They hit the engine which burst into flames. Krauts bailed out and then our lmgs started its play.
All that lasted over a dozen seconds. Later it was found out, that two holes made by our projectiles in armour of first car were so close to each other that they could both be covered with a palm.(...)
Jan Kaczorowski, since Sept. 6th head medical officer of regiment
(...) After this incident the Brigade reached Kock, where following event took place on October 1st: mounted officers recon squad identified 3 German armour units on move towards Kock. 10th Uhlan Regiment, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Busler, had set up an ambush and destroyed the enemy. Only 2 German mechanicians survived - wounded in the head. Interrogation and captured documents revealed, that this was Hitler's delegation sent from Breslau to Brest-Litvovsk to agree details of partition of Poland. A map found in vehicles had Curzon line drew in blue, which separated areas of German and Soviet influence over captured Polish territory. (...)
Was it really official German delegation to Soviets? Who could have travelled in those armoured cars? What unit did they belong to?

Any help would be appreciated.

Regards,

MJU
"Always be ready to speak your mind and a base man will avoid you" W. Blake, Proverbs of Hell
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tigre
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Destruction of German delegation to Soviets in October 1939?

Post by tigre »

Hello Njorl, It seems I've found the info which I had been looking for some time ago.....

Take a look here, its matchs.......the delegation belonged to the 13 ID (Mot) and comprised three armoured cars of the AA 13...(one of them a radio vehicle)......

http://www.feldgrau.net/phpBB2/viewtopi ... highlight=

Cheers. Tigre.
Serás lo que debas ser o no serás nada. General José de San Martín.
Njorl
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Post by Njorl »

Hello again tigre,

It indeed appears to match the event :!:

Look at these pictures I found on http://www.odkrywca.pl:
SdKfz 232 Funk
Image

These photos leave no doubts - see 1.10.1939 on the crosses.
Image

Image

And close-up on the cross
Image

So we have Leutnant Achim Scheiber and Hauptmann Helmut Lunke. Could the latter be division's Ic?

Many thanks tigre,

Cheers!

MJU

Edit: Found another photos
Image

Image
"Always be ready to speak your mind and a base man will avoid you" W. Blake, Proverbs of Hell
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tigre
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Destruction of German delegation to Soviets in October 1939?

Post by tigre »

Hello Njorl, glad to greet you again; yes, he was the 13 ID's Ic (Hauptmann Helmut Lunke). The Lieutenant was the Scout Patrol Leader.
Did your sources shows some kind of map/sketch of the place where the ambush took place?. Cheers. Tigre. 8)

PS: if someone has any 13 ID (Mot)'s books, may be could help with the Divisional point of view. :[]
Serás lo que debas ser o no serás nada. General José de San Martín.
Njorl
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Joined: Tue Oct 25, 2005 3:26 am
Location: Poland

Post by Njorl »

Hello tigre,

Unfortunately the memoirs I've cited from have no maps nor sketches. I would have posted those photos before but wasn't sure if they show the same event as in the memoirs. The bushes and wooded terrain in the background made me refrain from doing this as I thought the platoon was engaged in open terrain.

There might be other descriptions of this event. I'll look for some more information on 10th Uhlan Regiment. I'll let you know when I found anything new.

In the meantime 2 more photos from same source (Odkrywca forum).

Image

Image

Cheers,

MJU
"Always be ready to speak your mind and a base man will avoid you" W. Blake, Proverbs of Hell
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