History /
Polish historical myths - to break or not to break them? [257]
Why can`t you contribute to this thread yourself , do some research , maybe you could find some english source for Pawian :D.
Why? I read your source in English.it mentioned nothing about wings. Frankly ,as a military historian,granted with not much knowledge of specifically Winged Hussars I also tend to agree with the assesments pawian pointed out regarding simple physics,ie,you strap stupid great wings to your back then attempt to charge on horseback you are going to get dragged backwards. Whatsmore, the so called scary sound.............Oh, behave, in a battle with cannons roaring,muskets firing,dead and dying screaming and the thunder of thousands of hooves charging................bah, sorry,but youd need a set of marshal stack amps turned up to 11 to make any whistly whiny sound heard.........................
So,in short, Polish Hussars did exist. Did they wear huge wings into battle? Probably as ofton as Vikings wore horns in their helmets.*
* Vikings never wore horns in their helmets,it was a 19th century revisionism/romantisism thing,much as the whole wings in battle seems to be.
Just a bthought here but.....if Winged Hussars were such a war winning thing (which,in their day the hussars were undoubtadly) didnt Napoleon form any Winged hussars units either in his imperial army directly or within the Duchy of Warsaw forces?
He certainly employed Lancers,or Uhlans,both Polish and French "Polish" lancers,in fact, Britain copied the idea in many ways for our lancers,even down to the flat topped four pointed helmet :)
My suggestion for this would be that back in 1812 people who actually went to war on horseback knew fine well that the wings thing was a dud and had probably rarely been worn in battle. Sure, pennets of feathers maybe on saddles,but far from the Angel wings one see's in romantic paintings.