10th Mounted Riflemen Regiment during a regiment inspection in motor formation

    The photo number DRM 1901_004 dating back to 1938–1939 shows 10th Mounted Riflemen Regiment during a regiment inspection in motor formation. In the foreground, you can see the colour guard in PF 508 III Łazik. PF 508 111/W Łazik was created in 1935 as an all-terrain passenger car being a development of the PF 508 III Junak civilian car. In the military version, the designers reduced the bodywork, in particular the side boards, to ensure fast getting in and out with long guns. The car did not have a permanent roof which was replaced with a tarpaulin for poor weather. The depleted body and lack of roof allowed firing in all directions without leaving the vehicle. The windscreen was foldable to facilitate forward firing. Inside the vehicle, gun mounts and grenade pouches were fitted. Some models had a vertical extension for mounting a hand-held Browning machine gun model 28. Parallel to the colour guard and behind it, solo and sidecar Sokół motorcycles are visible. The Sokół 1000 M 111 motorcycle was developed for the army by Eng. Tadeusz Rudowski in 1936. Those motorcycles came in two versions, i.e. solo and with a sidecar. The solo version was intended for messengers, officers and was used as liaison vehicles, whereas the version with the sidecar was used in reconnaissance units as support vehicles after fitting a light machine gun (rkm model 28 Browning) in the sidecar. At the same time, a special platform (instead of the sidecar) was developed to allow the installation of a heavy machine gun enabling, among other things, air defence fire. The design assumptions and price (around 4,200 Polish zloty) meant that most produced vehicles were sent to military units, where they became basic motorcycle equipment. The light machine gun (RKM) model 28 was developed in the first half of 1920s and its creation was necessitated by the use of several types of obsolete models on the one hand and the army's switch to 7.92 Mauser ammunition on the other. The beginnings of independence and the struggle for the borders were characterised by the variety of models of weapons, their ammunition, but also by the variety of close combat weapons and uniforms. It is not hard to imagine that a single unit could have different types of light machine guns with different ammunition that fitted only one model which resulted from the inheritance of weapons and ammunition from the partition armies or bringing weapons of French and allied design by the Blue Army. In such circumstances, logistics must have been a real challenge for the quartermaster services trying to keep the various divisions and formations in top fighting condition. The driving force behind the creation of new individual and team weapon models was the decision to standardise the calibre of the ammunition used to the 7.92 Mauser cartridge. Following numerous competitions, the Browning design was chosen (delivery of 10,000 weapons plus a licence for documentation to enable later production) manufactured at the FN plant. Since 1930, light machine guns (rkm) were produced at the Gun Factory in Warsaw where, by 1939, 13,000–14,000 guns were made, the price of which, with a toolbox and a set of spare parts, was 2060 zloty. In the background, you can see different varieties of Polish Fiat 621 truck with the load-carrying capacity of 2,5 tonnes. Riflemen of 10th Mounted Riflemen Regiment were wearing uniforms resembling those of the armoured units, i.e. double-breasted black leather jackets model 36, officers wore black coats lined with black cloth, breeches and long boots, while riflemen and non-commissioned officers wore trousers with clips and laced-up boots. The uniforms were combined with German helmets model 1916 or black berets model 37. To emphasise the “horse-riding origin”, spurs were worn in units of 10th Mounted Brigade.

Przemysław Kucia