to lieutenant colonel and sent to the Higher Military School in Warsaw. He graduated the following year and served until 1927 as head of Section II (intelligence) in Lwów. Later that year he moved to Grodno, where he became deputy commander of the 76th Infantry Regiment. In 1929, after finishing his training, he became commander of the Grodno-based 81st Infantry Regiment, holding that post until 1934. During that time, on 1 January 1931, he was promoted to colonel. In 1935 he was transferred to Częstochowa, where he became commander of infantry (practically, deputy commander of the whole division) in the 7th Infantry Division. In October 1938 Maczek's experience as a commander of "flying" troops received recognition from his superiors, and he was given command of the Polish 10th Motorized Cavalry Brigade, the first fully motorized formation in the Polish Army. September 1939 On the outbreak of war in September 1939, the 10th Motorized Cavalry Brigade was attached to the Kraków Army defending Lesser Poland and Silesia. Equipped with only light tanks and tankettes and with only one artillery battery of just eight heavy cannons, the brigade went into battle on the first day of war. After the Battle of Jordanów, Maczek's unit faced the entire German XVIII Corps of Gen. Eugen Beyer and successfully shielded the southern flank of the Polish forces, along the Beskids. Supported by only a few battalions of Border Guards and National Defence troops, Maczek's motorized brigade faced two Panzer divisions (4th Light Division under von Hubicki and 2nd Panzer Division under Veiel), as well as the 3rd Mountain Division under Eduard Dietl. For five days Maczek's brigade fought bravely and efficiently, slowing the pace of the German Blitzkrieg to a bloody crawl: despite numerical and technical superiority, the Germans were unable to make more than 10 kilometres headway per day. Maczek's men took maximum advantage of the mountainous terrain, halting many German attacks and occasionally counter-attacking. However, after the front of the Kraków Army was broken to the north of the brigade's position, Maczek's formation was pulled out of the front line. The brigade then fought as a screening unit, defending the bridges and fords in Lesser Poland, until it arrived at Lwów and joined the city's defences. It formed a mobile reserve during the battle for Lwów, allowing other Polish units to withdraw towards the Romanian Bridgehead. However, the plan was made obsolete by