The German unprovoked invasion of Poland began at dawn on September 1, 1939. German forces were overwhelmingly superior on land, air and sea. However, the Poles fought bravely even though their struggle was doomed from the start. In fact, they also undertook some counterattacks that had excellent, albeit temporary, results. The battle at Fraustadt was an operation of this type.
The Cavalry Brigade (TI) "Greater Poland" (Wielkopolska Brygada Kawalerii) belonged to the Poznań Army and was deployed across the German border in Silesia. The Brigade was commanded by Brigadier General Roman Abraham and had the 15th, 16th and 17th Ulan Regiments , the 7th Mounted Rifle Regiment, the 7th Mounted Artillery Regiment, the 3rd Engineer Company and the 7th Transmission Company. The Brigade was also reinforced with parts of the 55th Infantry Regiment (SP).
The TI on the first day of the German invasion fought back against the invaders with good results. At 01:00 on the morning of September 2, Abraham ordered a detachment of cyclists to reconnoitre in an adjacent forest. In the morning reconnaissance aircraft of the Polish Air Force informed Abraham that there were no serious German forces facing him.
The Germans, underestimating their opponents had left very small forces against the TI. After this report, which was also confirmed by the cyclists, the Polish brigadier ordered his men to prepare for an attack. The target was the German town of Fraustadt across the border. The body of the operation was the 2nd Company of the 55th Infantry under Captain Edmund Lessisz, reinforced with a platoon of machine guns, a platoon of light artillery, supported by a platoon of lanyards, a platoon of cyclists and a platoon of light tanks.
The main force numbered 300 soldiers who together with their armaments boarded common buses and set off. The other forces followed. The first clash took place at the Grenschutz border post. The attack was undertaken by a Polish platoon under Lieutenant Konwicki. After a short conflict, the surviving Germans retreated and the station was captured by the Poles, taking a lot of loot.
Immediately afterwards a second Polish platoon captured a second border post and approached the village of Gegerstorf where German units were stationed waiting to advance into Polish territory. Instead the Germans began to take Polish fire by surprise. Panic soon prevailed especially when the Polish TKS tanks and the 3rd Platoon of Second Lieutenant Stefan Perkiewicz also arrived in the village. The village, which the Germans abandoned in a state of insanity, was captured and the Poles reached the outskirts of Fraustadt, which they bombarded with their guns, pursuing the enemy 8 km deep into German territory.
However, Abraham having information about the German advances further east, ordered his forces to retreat. During the retreat of German nationality, armed "Polish" citizens, believing that the approaching military unit was German, came out with swastika flags to welcome it! After a brief exchange of fire the Germans were captured and handed over to the police. The whole operation had no tactical or strategic impact, but it helped boost Polish morale and showed that the Germans were, if nothing else, invincible.
TI "Greater Poland" continued to fight against the Germans. He took part in the great battle of Bzura fighting heroically and successfully. On 11 September, together with the 11th Infantry Division (IP) it again attacked the German 24th Infantry Division. On September 16, after the retreat, together with two other TIs formed the Joint Cavalry Brigade under the command of Abraham and on September 18 fought heroically and victoriously against the famous German 29th Motorized Division. The TI managed to enter Warsaw and continued to fight until September 28 when the city surrendered.
It is worth noting that Captain Lessisz was captured by the Germans and sent to a POW camp. But the vengeful Germans had not forgotten the humiliation of Fraustand. They looked for him among the captives, found him and killed him, after first torturing him horribly... They were so cheap.