This article is about a Second World War formation. For the First World War formation, see2nd Polish Corps in Russia. For the Polish Army in the First World War, seeBlue Army (Poland).
Victims of Soviet deportations from occupied Poland in 1939–40 had been processed by the NKVD and sent to prison or exile in Siberia.[1] TheNazi-Soviet pact of August 1939[2][3] effectively ended on 22 June 1941 when the GermanWehrmacht invaded the USSR.[4] The release of many thousands of former citizens of Poland (including Ukrainians and Belarusians) from the SovietGulags, following the signing of thePolish-Russian Military Agreement on 14 August 1941, allowed for the creation of a Polish Army on Soviet soil.[5][6] Its first commander, GeneralMichał Tokarzewski, began the task of forming this army in the Soviet village ofTotskoye on 17 August. The commander ultimately chosen byWładysław Sikorski to lead the new army,Lieutenant GeneralWładysław Anders, had just been released from theLubyanka prison in Moscow, on 4 August, and did not issue his first orders or announce his appointment as commander until 22 August.
This army grew over the following two years and provided the bulk of the units and troops of the Polish II Corps.
AFPU cameraman, Sergeant Eric Deeming, wearing snow camouflage, filming troops of the 2nd Coy., 1st Battalion, 1st Carpathian Rifles Brigade, 3rd Carpathian Rifles Division, returning from a patrol. Height 1210, north of Rionero in Vulture.
In 1944, the Polish II Corps numbered about 50,000 soldiers. During three subsequent battles, it suffered heavy losses (in the final stage of the Battle of Monte Cassino, even the support units were mobilised and used in combat) and it was suggested to General Anders that he withdraw his units. However, since the Soviet Union broke off diplomatic relations with the Polish government and no Poles were allowed out of the USSR, Anders believed that the only source of recruits lay ahead – in GermanPOW camps and concentration camps. During the fighting in Italy in June 1944, the II corps was considered to be the most determined formation in the entire British 8th Army as the British historian H.P. Willmott wrote: "in the Allied camp the Poles were probably unequalled in their willingness and determination to get to close quarters with the enemy".[7] On 12 June 1944, the Polish 3rd Carpathian Division had replaced the 4th Indian Division along the Penne-Atri-Pineto line.[7] The II corps was assigned to lead the Allied advance along the Adriatic Sea and by 20 June 1944 the Poles had reached Fermo and were closing in on Ancona.[7] After advancing 60 miles over a four day period, the II corps was halted by a German counterattack which drove the Poles back to the Chienti river.[7]
By 1945, new units were added, composed mainly of freed POWs and Poles forcibly conscripted into theWehrmacht. This increased the Corps' strength to around 75,000 men, approximately 20,000 of whom were transferred to other Polish units fighting in the West. After the war, the divisions of the Corps were used in Italy until 1946, when they were transported to Britain and demobilised. The total establishment of the Polish II Corps in 1946 was 103,000.
The majority of soldiers remained in exile and settled inBritain, although some elected to settle in other countries such as Canada[8] or Australia, either obtaining immigration visas there or relying on previous ties for repatriation.[9]
The Corps had a consistently high fighting reputation and was well-regarded by the American and Commonwealth troops with whom they fought.
Those that settled in Britain were transported from many ports, includingToulon, France.
In May 1945, the Corps consisted of 55,780 men, one bear and approximately 1,500 women in auxiliary services. Their bear mascot, namedWojtek, was officially entered onto the unit roll as a private soldier, subsequently being promoted to corporal. The majority of the Corps were Polish citizens who had been deported by theNKVD to theSovietGulags during the Soviet Union's annexation of Eastern Poland (Kresy Wschodnie) in 1939. FollowingOperation Barbarossa and theSikorski-Mayski Agreement, many of them were released and allowed to join thePolish Armed Forces in the East being formed in Southern Russia and Kazakhstan. For political reasons, the Soviet Union soon withdrew support for the creation of a Polish Army on its territory and reduced the supply rate, which resulted in GeneralWładysław Anders withdrawing his troops to British-heldPersia andIraq. From there, they were moved to British-controlledPalestine, where they joined forces with the 3rd Carpathian Division, which was composed mainly of Polish soldiers who had managed to escape to FrenchLebanon throughRomania andHungary after thedefeat of Poland in 1939.
The main bulk of the soldiers were from the easternvoivodeships of pre-war Poland. Although the majority were ethnic Poles, there were also other nationalities, including Jews, Belarusians and Ukrainians. After being relocated toPalestine, many Jewish soldiersdeserted and fled into the countryside. However,Menachem Begin – the future Prime Minister of Israel and at the time a II Corps soldier – though urged by his friends to desert, refused to remove his uniform until he had been officially discharged.[10]
At the time of its demobilisation in 1946, the 2nd Polish Corps establishment was as follows (note that there were some differences between this order of battle and the one at the time of the battle for Monte Cassino in 1944):
Emblem of the Polish 2nd Warszawski Armoured DivisionBreast badge of the 4th 'Skorpion' Armoured RegimentGen. Anders inspecting Armoured Forces Training Centre with Gen. Przewlocki and Col. Szostak in the background Italy 1945
^Sources differ on how Begin left Anders' Army. Many indicate that he was discharged, e.g.:
Eitan Haber (1979).Menachem Begin: The Legend and the Man. Dell Publishing Company. p. 136.ISBN978-0-440-16107-3. "A while later Anders's Chief of Staff, General Ukolitzky, did agree to the release of six Jewish soldiers to go to the United States on a campaign to get the Jewish community to help the remnants of European Jewry. The Chief of Staff, who was well acquainted with Dr. Kahan, invited him to his office for a drink. There were a number of senior officers present, and Kahan realized that this was a farewell party for Ukolitzky. 'I'm leaving here on a mission, and my colleagues are throwing a party but the last document I signed was an approval of release for Menahem Begin.'"
Bernard Reich (1990)Political Leaders of the Contemporary Middle East and North Africa Greenwood Publishing Group.ISBN978-0-313-26213-5. p. 72. "In 1942 he arrived in Palestine as a soldier in General Anders's (Polish) army. Begin was discharged from the army in December 1943."
Harry Hurwitz (2004).Begin: His Life, Words and Deeds. Gefen Publishing House.ISBN978-965-229-324-4. p. 9. "His friends urged him to desert the Anders Army, but he refused to do any such dishonourable thing and waited until, as a result of negotiations, he was discharged and permitted to enter Eretz Israel, then under British mandatory rule".
"Biography – White Nights"Archived 13 February 2016 at theWayback Machine. Menachem Begin Heritage Center. Retrieved 16 January 2012. "Many of the new recruits deserted the army upon their arrival, but Begin decidedly refused to follow suit. 'I swore allegiance to the Polish army – I will not desert,' he resolutely told his friends when he was reunited with them on Jewish soil. Begin served in the Polish army for about a year and a half... At the initiative of Aryeh Ben-Eliezer and with the help of Mark Kahan, negotiations began with the Polish army regarding the release of five Jewish soldiers from the army, including Begin, in return for which the members of the IZL delegation would lobby in Washington for the Polish forces. The negotiations lasted many weeks until they finally met with success: The Polish commander announced the release of four of the soldiers. Fortunately, Begin was among them."
Others give differing views, e.g.:
Amos Perlmutter (1987).The Life and Times of Menachem Begin Doubleday.ISBN978-0-385-18926-2. p. 134. "In the Ben Eliezer-Mark Kahan version, Begin received a complete, honorable release from the Anders Army. The truth is that he only received a one-year leave of absence, a kind of extended furlough, in order to enable him to join an Anders Army Jewish delegation which would go to the United States seeking help for the Polish government-in-exile. The delegation never materialized, mainly due to British opposition. Begin, however, never received an order to return to the ranks of the Army."
^Madeja, Witold (1984).The Polish Second Corps and the Italian Campaign 1944–1945. Game Publishing Company. p. 19.
Anders, Władysław (1949).An Army in Exile: The Story of the Second Polish Corps. London: Macmillan.OCLC1264912.
Biegański, Witold (1967).Krótki informator historyczny o Wojsku Polskim w latach II wojny światowej (in Polish). Vol. 5, Regularne jednostki Wojska Polskiego na Zachodzie. Warsaw: Wydawn. Ministerstwa Obrony Narodowe.ISBN9788311074194.
Błagowieszczański, Igor (1983).Artyleria w II wojnie światowej (in Polish). Warsaw: Wydawn. Ministerstwa Obrony Narodowej.ISBN9788311069091.
Davies, Norman (1982).God's playground, volume II. Columbia University Press.ISBN0-231-05352-5.
Dzikiewicz, Bronisław (1984).Z teodolitem podMonte Cassino (in Polish). Warsaw: Wydawn. Ministerstwa Obrony Narodowej.ISBN9788311070431.
Frontczak, Kazimierz (1974).Siły Zbrojne Polski Ludowej. Przejście na stopę pokojową 1945–1947 (in Polish). Warsaw: Ministerstwa Obrony Narodowej.OCLC2848794.
Król, Wacław (1982) [1st pub. 1976].Polskie dywizjony lotnicze w Wielkiej Brytanii 1940–1945 (in Polish) (2nd ed.). Warsaw: Wydawn. Ministerstwa Obrony Narodowej.ISBN9788311067455.
Madeja, Witold (1984).The Polish 2nd Corps and the Italian Campaign. Allentown, PA: Game Publishing Company.OCLC8481892.
Majewski, Adam (1972).Wojna, ludzie i medycyna (in Polish). Lublin: Wydawn. Lubelski.OCLC4912032.
Odziemkowski, Janusz (1998).Służba Duszpasterska Wojska Polskiego 1914–1945 (in Polish). Warsaw: Bellona.ISBN9788311088146.
Paśnicki, Jan (1994). "Podniebni artylerzyści".Polska Zbrojna (in Polish). (Article by former pilot of 663 DSA on the 50th anniversary of the unit and continue the tradition of the British 663 Squadron)
Polak, Michał (2005). "Logistyczne zabezpieczenie działań 2 Korpusu Polskiego (grudzień 1944 – kwiecień 1945)".Przegląd Historyczno-Wojskowy (in Polish).4 (209). Warsaw.
Przemyski, Andrzej (1990).Ostatni komendant. GenerałLeopold Okulicki (in Polish). Lublin: Wydawnictwo Lubelskie.
Roberts, Geoffrey (1989).The Unholy Alliance. Stalin's Pact with Hitler. Indiana University Press.
Sarner, Harvey (1997).General Anders and the Soldiers of the Second Polish Corps. Cathedral City, CA: Brunswick Press.ISBN1-888521-13-9.
Stefancic, David (2005).Armies in exile. Columbia University Press.ISBN0-88033-565-3.
Thornton, Martin (1 June 1997). "The Second Polish Corps, 1943–46: Were They a Functional Mixture of Soldiers, Refugees and Social Workers?".Journal of Slavic Military Studies.10 (2). London: Frank Cass:125–137.doi:10.1080/13518049708430294.ISSN1556-3006.
Vincent, Isabel (1997).Hitler's silent partners : Swiss banks, Nazi gold, and the pursuit of justice. New York: William Morrow.ISBN9780688166311.
Poland
