White Eagle company
The company "White Eagle" was a Kryptonym for the initiative to create an armed unit of Polish volunteers under the leadership of the German Wehrmacht on the Second World War should attend.
history
On November 4, 1944, Army Group Center published guidelines for the recruitment of Poles . The units should initially consist of twelve thousand volunteers and initially be assigned to the 2nd , 4th and 9th Army . The only opinion that should be expressed in relation to them is the following: The German Wehrmacht is waging a resolute struggle to protect Europe against Bolshevism . Every honest helper in this unconditional struggle is welcome as a comrade to the Wehrmacht .
The Poles were to be dressed and equipped in Wehrmacht uniforms. The arming of the units was only planned after two months of probation and was subject to strict controls. The candidates were promised the same rights as the German soldiers: the same food, the possibility of shopping at lower prices, medical care and pastoral care within the framework of free religious activity. They were guaranteed insurance in the event of injury or death. The widows and orphans should receive regular payments, parents a one-off support. The pay should be 90 zloty for the common soldier, 108 zloty for a corporal and 150–210 zloty for a platoon leader . Higher ranks were not intended for Poles.
Given the catastrophic catering at the time, the guarantee of good care certainly played no small role for possible volunteers. Volunteering with the prospect of being sent into battle in an unspecified future also meant a chance to escape the work company, camp, or prison.
This is also confirmed by the assessments of the Polish government-in-exile , which has carefully observed the recruitment attempts: The recruitment for this auxiliary service is laborious and shows only minimal success. For the most part, they were only achieved in camps and prisons. The Germans brought a group of 50 young men, supposedly "volunteers", to Krakow for propaganda purposes . These people come from Warsaw , have been to Pruszków and Auschwitz concentration camp , from where they were sent to a camp near Breslau . There they were forced to do "voluntary" service in the German army. News comes from the provinces that in numerous cases the local occupation organs are forcing people to report; elsewhere it is again spread that a German-Polish understanding has been reached and that the members of the Polish Home Army have been ordered to join the ranks of the to strengthen the new German formation against the Bolsheviks .
According to the Polish government in exile, 471 volunteers had been recruited by the beginning of December 1944. Potential volunteers were also put off by the ever more brutal methods of recruitment - in Radom were for. B. Raids were organized and those who refused to “voluntarily” enter German services were sent to work on trenches. The treatment of the recruits also did little to match the promises made earlier. So received z. For example, a company of 170 men from a barracks in Cracow was wearing Slovak uniforms, and the introduction of ruthless drill and German command quickly led to desertions .
The Polish formations were no longer sent into battle - the winter offensive had started too quickly. Incidentally, the "volunteers" had not even received weapons. The last, completely absurd attempt to send the Poles into battle was made in March 1945 by the pro-German Polish politician Władysław Studnicki , who appealed to Heinrich Himmler to release the Poles from the camps that still existed and some of them to the front to send.