Captain Raginis, and The Bold 700

One man leads a small contingent of a few hundred. He is fighting for his country, for his people – for freedom. This small band of warriors stares down a tyrannical monster, one that numbers in the thousands. These brave warriors are outnumbered by many, but they will not surrender. Here, they make their last stand. For their country, they will fight to the last.

Sound familiar? For those of us that have watched 300, this may ring a few bells. It may come as a surprise that I am not talking about Leonidas of Sparta and the Battle of Thermopylae. I am talking about Captain Wladyslaw Raginis and the Battle of Wizna.

Alrighty, so the date is September 1st 1939, and Nazi Germany is on the offensive. So far they have gained Austria and the Sudetenland by threats and negotiation (more like sophisticated threats) alone. Now, however, it is time for the Wehrmacht to officially bear its teeth, and the helpless victim happens to be Poland.

By now, the Nazis have gained valuable combat experience from the Spanish Civil War, which, among other things, taught them that coordinated tank and aircraft attacks kick ass. When the Nazis come barging in on Poland, the Polish are caught off guard by the stunning speed and cohesion of the attacks. The Polish are pushed back, but they are determined to fight on.

Enter Captain Raginis. It is now September 7th, and Raginis is in charge of Polish defenses near the town of Wizna. The defenses are 9 kilometers long, with a total of 12 bunkers along the line. Raginis has at his disposal 700 men and 20 officers, armed with 6 pieces of 76mm artillery (medium caliber), 24 heavy machine guns, 18 machine guns, and two Kb ppanc wz.35 anti-tank carbines (essentially an anti-tank rifle).

On the 7th, German recon units attacked the village of Wizna, and Polish light forces retreated back to the bunkers. When German tanks tried to cross the bridge leading to the bunkers, Polish Combat Engineers blew up the bridge underneath them. This would be the first on a long line of frustrations for the Nazis.

Well, Heinz Guderian himself (a father of modern tank tactics, the bastard who invented the infamous Blitzkrieg) gets charged with destroying the miniscule force at Wizna. Guderian gathers up for the attack, and by the morning of the 8th, he has brought along 41,000 men and 1,200 officers. Let that sink in. Raginis has 700 men. Guderian has 42,000. This is why the Battle of Wizna is often referred to as the Polish Thermopylae. What with inaccurate numbers and all, the Polish forces are outnumbered 40 to 1. If you take just the raw numbers though, the Polish are out numbered 60 to 1.

These 42,000 Nazis are armed with some 108 mortars, 58 pieces of artillery, 108 howitzers (light artillery), 188 grenade launchers, 288 heavy machine guns, and 689 machine guns. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, they also had 350 PANZER TANKS. At least the Polish outnumbered the German tanks…

The Polish forces aren’t exactly the most highly skilled skull crackers this side of the Maginot Line, either; as I have said, the Germans have much more combat experience, not to mention a very organized and generally badass officer cadre.

Modern military tactics demand that when a commander wants to attack a fortified enemy line, the commander must bring a force ratio of 3:1. So, the Germans have exceed this vital ratio by a factor of 20. Victory seems in the palm of the Nazis.

Raginis would have none of that, at least without giving them a piece of his mind (in this case, some red hot lead). The morning of September 8th yields Nazi leaflets falling from the sky, dropped by German planes. They ask the Polish to surrender, spreading the lie that most of Poland lay in German hands already, and (in a Borg-like voice I assume) announce that resistance is futile. To keep morale up, Raginis (inside the bunker that was smack dab in the middle of the line) makes a bold statement to his troops. Their Captain, their brave Captain, will not leave his post alive, and the defense shall continue.

After the leaflets stop falling, enemy shells start to rain. German artillery grinds the Polish light arty to dust, and the Polish support guns are forced to retreat from the field. Raginis just lost his most reliable anti-tank weaponry.

Confident, the Nazis moved on. They launch an assault to the North and South of the line. To their surprise, resistance is stiff, and Nazi bodies start to litter the field. However, Polish forces were forced to retreat into the bunkers (tanks don’t play nice in the open). This allows the Nazi panzers to drive through the line, but they can’t, as the infantry is still getting ripped to shreds from the bunkers. The Nazis come to a distasteful stalemate. Its something they haven’t really tasted before.

The Polish kept on fighting, never giving ground until the 10th, two days later. At 12 o’clock noon that morning, German Combat Engineers (with the help of their tanks and artillery) had destroyed all but two of the original 12 bunkers. In an effort to make the Polish surrender, Guderian supposedly threatens that he will shoot POW’s if he doesn't see white flags. The rest of the Polish defenders, exhausted and numb, grudgingly surrender. All, save for Raginis.

Raginis proves to be a man of his word. He commits honor suicide by throwing himself on a grenade, to deny the enemy the satisfaction of taking him prisoner. I imagine Raginis climbing on top of his bunker, bullets whizzing all around him, then proceeding to do pelvic thrusts towards the Nazis while yelling, “You’ll never catch me alive b****es!!!” He then dunks a grenade over the side of the bunker, like an American Football Star scoring the winning touchdown, then leaping off the bunker, arms eagle-spread like those idiotic WWE wrestlers, all the while screaming, “FREEDOM!!!”

At this point, Raginis’ body was jam-packed with military-grade, high-explosive testosterone and adrenaline, so when the grenade went off, we can imagine the blast looked like this.

Overall, the Germans captured around 40 Polish, and an additional 40 Polish escaped (probably to go join the RAF, so that they could exact bloody revenge). In military combat, you usually capture an equal amount of soldiers that you kill (if you win). Not these guys. 90% of the Polish defenders gave their lives, selflessly, and without hesitation.

At this point, France and Britain had finally grown enough balls to declare war on the Nazis. However, they proceed to sit around and do f**king nothing. I curse because they really missed out on a prime time to strike; say, when their enemy was already tied up attacking a stubborn foe, and their rear was wide open. But noooo, that’s not how the French and British roll, apparently. Attacking at opportune moments, I mean.

Instead, they lounge around, not for a week, not for a month, but for eight months (!), drinking their tea/wine, so that when Nazi Germany attacks, they are standing there, pants down, with stupid looks on their collective faces. We all know how that goes.

Although their brave sacrifice did not save their country from Nazi and Communist rule, their fighting spirit lived on. Perhaps, the brave story of Raginis and his 700 gave the Polish populace courage and motivation to stand up against their oppressors (the TWO Warsaw uprisings).

Raginis is a national hero in Poland, and rightfully so. Recently, the Swedish power metal band Sabaton immortalized Raginis’ brave sacrifice in their aptly named song "40:1". Here is a sample of the lyrics.

So come bring on all that you’ve got,
come hell, come high water,
never stop!
Unless you are 40 to 1,
your lives will soon be undone,
undone!

Baptized in fire,
40 to 1!
Spirit of Spartans,
Death, and glory,
soldiers of Poland, second to none.
Wrath of the Wehrmacht,
Brought to a halt.

Always remember, a fallen soldier,
Always remember, fathers and sons at war,
Always remember, a fallen soldier,
Always remember, fathers and sons at war,
Always remember, a fallen soldier,
Always remember, buried in history!

No army may enter that land,
that is protected by Polish hand,
unless you are 40 to 1,
you force will soon be undone,
UNDONE!!!

Here’s a link to the video.