Vickers E Type A: 12th. Light Tank Company, Warsaw Armored Motorized Brigade

(Author's Collection)

     A gebirgsjäger of the 1. Gebirgs Division (1st. Mountain Division) pauses to examine an abandoned Polish Vickers E Type A which once belonged to the 12th. Light Tank Company, Warsaw Armored Motorized Brigade (WBP-M). The WBP-M had been engaged with the German 4. Infanterie-Division and 14. Infanterie “Sächsische” Division starting on September 10, 1939. The unit acquitted itself well, repulsing the German attack and even counterattacking the German forces who retreated back towards the Vistula River. However, the Germans renewed the attack, forcing the WBP-M to retreat towards Lwów. However, by this time, the Battle of Lwów was in its opening stages. On September 15, the unit’s commander, Stefan Paweł Rowecki, ordered that any equipment that was no longer necessary or was judged to be unserviceable was to be abandoned and the unit would, on September 17, be engaged in the opening phase of the Battle of Tomaszów Lubelski. By September 19, the unit was all but decimated and Rowecki ordered any remaining heavy equipment (such as tanks) be destroyed and each man seek to escape the German encirclement on their own.

     The vehicle in the ditch behind the Vickers E is a TK-3 tankette. The TK-3 was suitable as a reconnaissance or infantry support vehicle thanks to its low profile. However, with only a machine-gun for armament, it was utterly useless for tank-on-tank combat. Thus, losses of the TK-3 were high. The Polish purchased a license to build the Vickers E and also bought components to construct 50 examples. 38 were built with the parts for the remaining 12 kept as spares. All 38 were built as Type A which had the twin turrets, each with a Vickers machine gun. Later, 22 of the tanks were converted to the Vickers E Type B standard which featured a single turret with a 47mm gun.