Border Guard Corps of the Polish Army

Border Guard Uniform

The Border Guard Corps ( Polish Korpus Ochrony Pogranicza , KOP ) was a Polish military formation , founded in 1924, which was supposed to protect the eastern borders of Poland from a possible Soviet attack. It was part of the Polish Army but was subordinate to the Ministry of Internal Affairs .

The KOP consisted of six brigades with a total of 20,000 men, a large number of them of Ukrainian, Belarusian and German origin. The KOP took on the brunt of the defensive battle against the advancing Soviet troops from September 17, 1939.

Commander

• 1924–1929: General Henryk Odrowąż-Minkiewicz
• 1929–1930: Colonel Stanisław Tessaro
• 1930–1939: General Jan Kruszewski
• 1939 -9999: General Wilhelm Orlik-Rückemann

Important fights under Orlik-Rückemann

• Battle of Szack (near Kowel ), September 28, 1939
• Battle of Wytyczno (near Włodawa ), October 1, 1939