Polish Armed Forces in the Soviet Union
The Polish Armed Forces in the Soviet Union ( Polish: Polskie Siły Zbrojne w ZSRR ) were the largest regular military unit that fought alongside the Red Army in World War II . At the same time, they were the largest Polish association that fought on the side of the Allies .
Anders Army (1941–1942)
As early as 1941, after the German invasion of the Soviet Union , the Soviet government, with the consent of the Polish government in exile ( Sikorski-Maiski Agreement of July 30, 1941) from the Poles who had been deported to the Soviet Union between 1939 and 1941, Polish armed forces. According to the agreement, they were led by a Polish general and were operationally under the Soviet high command . It was referred to as the Anders Army after its commander, General Władysław Anders , who was captured by the Soviets in 1939 . By the end of 1941, three divisions had been set up near Buzuluk in Orenburg Oblast , and a fourth after the relocation to Tashkent .
Since the Soviet Union was unable to adequately equip and supply these units, they were relocated via Iran to the Middle East in March 1942, where they were placed under the British Middle East Command. They formed the basis for the formation of the 2nd Polish Corps , which was used in the Italian campaign from 1944 .
Berling Army (1943–1944)
General
After the Katyn massacre was uncovered and diplomatic relations with the Polish government-in-exile were broken off, Stalin decided to build up Polish armed forces in the Soviet Union again. In March 1943, Stalin and the representatives of the Union of Polish Patriots , Wanda Wasilewska and Zygmunt Berling , signed an agreement on the formation of these armed forces. Zygmunt Berling became commander in chief. These were created without the consent of the legal Polish government in exile.
In 1943 the first two of the later twelve infantry divisions were set up. The 1st Polish Army was established in March 1944 and fought as part of the 1st Belarusian Front near Warsaw, among other places (see Warsaw Uprising ). At the same time, the establishment of the 2nd and 3rd Armies began, which were later to form a Polish Front together with the 1st Army .
On July 21, 1944, the Polish Armed Forces in the Soviet Union were merged with the communist underground army Armia Ludowa and renamed Ludowe Wojsko Polskie ("Polish People's Army"). In May 1945 the strength of this Polish armed forces was 330,000 soldiers.
The Ludowe Wojsko Polskie was the army of the People's Republic of Poland until 1989 .
Main battles
- 1943: Battle of Lenino
- 1944: Battle of Studzianki
- 1945: Vistula-Oder operation
- 1945: Battle of East Pomerania
- 1945: Battle of the Seelow Heights
- 1945: Battle of Bautzen
- 1945: Battle of Berlin
- 1945: Prague operation
See also
literature
- Peter Gosztony: Stalin's Foreign Armies - The Fate of the Non-Soviet Troops in the Red Army 1941–1945 . Bernard & Graefe Verlag, Bonn 1991, ISBN 3-7637-5889-5 .
- Steven J. Zaloga : The Polish Army 1939-1945 . Osprey Publishing, Oxford 2004, ISBN 0-85045-417-4 .