Polish army before World War II
The Polish army under Edward Rydz-Śmigły as bedeutendster part of that total armed forces of the Second Polish Republic was before the start of World War II from different armies as its strategic base structure which divisions were subordinated among others organizations. There were also associations of the air force and the navy. This line-up of armies changed immediately after the German raid began on September 1st. Further changes followed in the course of the war, which initially lasted a few weeks, in 1939. In the further course of the war until 1945, troop members were re-established as troop units in very different organizations with different objectives.
In September 1939 the army lost tens of thousands of dead, over 100,000 wounded and several hundred thousand prisoners. Poland did not formally surrender during the war. There were surrenders from regionally active units.
Structure and division of the individual armies
Army commanders, associations and their locations (below the army level), the armies were named after regions or cities and had the following names - from north to south:
Armia Karpaty
- 2nd Mountain Brigade ( 2 Brygada Górska )
- 3rd Mountain Brigade ( 3 Brygada Górska )
- Carpathian Half-Brigade of National Defense ( Karpacka Półbrygada ON )
- 1st Border Defense Regiment
- 1st motorized artillery regiment
- 9th heavy artillery regiment
Armia Kraków
Antoni Szylling ; Main strategic force against Germany
- 6th Infantry Division ( Kraków under Bernard Mond ),
- 7th Infantry Division ( Częstochowa under Janusz Gąsiorowski ),
- 11th Infantry Division ( Stanisławów under Bronisław Prugar-Ketling )
- 21st Mountain Division ( Nowy Sącz , Bielsko-Biała under Józef Kustroń ),
- 22nd Mountain Division,
- 23rd Infantry Division ( Katowice under Władysław Powierza ) and
- 55th Infantry Reserve Division ( Jaworzno under Stanisław Kalabiński ),
- 10th Motorized Brigade ( Rzeszów under Stanisław Maczek ),
- Kraków Cavalry Brigade (under Zygmunt Piasecki ),
- 1st Mountain Brigade ( Żywiec , Zakopane , Jasło under Janusz Gaładyk ),
- Śląsk Group under Jan Jagmin-Sadowski
- Bielsko group under Mieczysław Boruta-Spiechowicz
- Border Guard Force (KOP) - Brygada Górska
Armia Łódź
Juliusz Rómmel , Wiktor Thommée :
- 2nd Legion ( Kielce ), 10th ( Łódź ), 18th Inf.Division ( Łomża ), 30th Inf.Reservedivision ( Kobryn ), Wołyńska- ( Równe ) and Kresowa-Kav.Brig. ( Brody ) and the Sieradzka Brygada Obrony Narodowe
Armia Modlin
Emil Krukowicz-Przedrzymirski :
- 8th and 20th Infantry Divisions, Mazowiecka and Nowogródzka Cavalry Brigade, BON Warszawa
Armia Pomorze
Under Władysław Bortnowski :
- 4th, 9th, 15th, 16th and 27th Infantry Division, Pomerania. Cav. Brig., Pomorze and Chełm National Defense Brigade, Wisła Unit
Armia Poznań
- 14., 17., 25. u. 26th Infantry Division, Podolska and Wielkopolska Cavalry Brigade, Poznań and Kalisz National Defense Brigade.
Armia Prusy
- 3rd Legion, 12th, 13th, 19th, 29th and 36th Infantry Divisions, Wileńska Cavalry Brigade
See also
- Schematic war organization of the Wehrmacht on September 1, 1939
- Edward Rydz-Śmigły (1886–1941; Marshal of Poland from November 1936 )
- Polish military vehicles of World War II
- Border Guard Corps (pl.Korpus Ochrony Pogranicza, KOP)
- Polish Armed Forces in the West (Polskie Siły Zbrojne na Zachodzie, PSZ); regular allied army in World War II; Władysław Sikorski (1881–1943; their commander since Nov. 1939)
- Polish underground state (Polish: Polskie Państwo Podziemne, as a term coined by Jan Karski )
- Polish Armed Forces in the Soviet Union (Anders Army, later 2nd Polish Corps in the West and Berling Army, which later became the Polish Front in the Red Army)
- Today's Polish Armed Forces
- Tadeusz Kasprzycki (1891–1978; GM; Minister of War from 1935 to 1939)