History / Polish weapons and militaria - got any? [153]

Not sure if this counts but I have a Polish Home Army (Armia Krajowa or AK) cap from the Warsaw Rising 1944. It is adapted from a German railway man's cap and was discovered in a cellar in the Srodmiescie district of Warsaw and most likely belonged to a soldier from IV Battle Group 'GURT' Armia Krajowa.

I collect mainly period photos of Nazi occupied Warsaw (some of which are on: Polandww2.com), but also have a large collection of Polish WWII medals, badges and insignia.

• 
  AKHAT.jpg
  

History / Polish weapons and militaria - got any? [153]

I have been collecting for many years.
My long dead father was 'tanker' in Pulk 4 Pancerny 'Skorpion' 2 Warszawska Dywizja Pancerna (4th Armoured Regiment 'Skorpion' of the 2nd Warsaw Armoured Division).

This is a photo of him outside "Skorpion's" post-war base at Potenza Picena in Province of Macerata, Marche, Italy.

History / Polish weapons and militaria - got any? [153]



Thank you.
Here are two more :-)

• 
  Pulk 4 Pancerny ‘Skorpion’ : Potenza Picena
  
• 
  Pulk 4 Pancerny ‘Skorpion’ : Potenza Picena
  

Genealogy / Pilipczuk, Mankowski(a), Demusiak, Molczan...HELP PLEASE [17]


If you haven't done so already you should make contact the ushmm.org/museum/exhibit/focus/its/ which has access to the International Tracing Service (at Bad Arolsen) archives which hold the survived records of millions of concentration camp victims. But you should be aware that a significant number (in some cases as much as 80%) of concentration camp records were destroyed by the SS camp authorities ahead of the Soviet and western allied forces liberation of the camps, so you may never find out a conclusive answer.

The other situation be be aware of is that it could take an age to get a reply before the USHMM gained access to the ITS records I had to wait almost 2 years for a definitive reply via Polish Red Cross and ITS.

You could also try searching the indeks.karta.org.pl/ KARTA Foundation who have an indeks.karta.org.pl/wyszukiwanie.asp online searchable database 'Index of the Repressed' ?

Good luck with your research!

Life / Polish and Slavic Art [48]

Stanislaw Gliwa 1910-1986.
War artist in thornb2b.co.uk/UPLOADS/PAZUR_PIRAT.jpg - Polish 2nd Corps and later a printer in England.

History / Polish weapons and militaria - got any? [153]


I havn't seen this medal before? What is on the other side of it and do you know what year was it awarded?

History / Polish weapons and militaria - got any? [153]


Many thanks ;-)
So grandfather was a soldier during Polish-Soviet war?

History / Polish weapons and militaria - got any? [153]


If you're fighting the war....my total respect!


No idea? Nobody still alive to ask :-(
The Polish-Soviet war is still little appreciated.

History / Polish weapons and militaria - got any? [153]


I agree ;-) Zamoyski's Warsaw 1920: Lenin's Failed Conquest of Europe is an easier reading style, and I think a better book.


Totally agree! Poland saved Germany (and the rest of western Europe) from the Bolshevik repression that itself had to endure for so many decades....try getting that point across to some of the numbskull neo-nazi fantasists on this forum ;-)))

History / Polish weapons and militaria - got any? [153]


I have hardback copy. Available from Amazon. Not sure if paperback edition is available?
As historian I am not sure there is anything new here that is not in Red Star White Eagle but is for sure an easier writing style to read than N.D.

Warsaw 1920: Lenin's Failed Conquest of Europe
Adam Zamoyski
Hardcover: 224 pages
Publisher: HarperPress (4 Feb 2008)
Language English
ISBN-10: 0007225520
ISBN-13: 978-0007225521
Product Dimensions: 20.6 x 13.8 x 2.4 cm

There is a new Katyn book authored here in UK which contains newly researched archival documents. I cannot tell you too much right now as the author is still negotiating with a publisher (I know the author personally a Polish lady living in London). When the deal has been concluded I will let you know as I read this is an area of interest to you?

I am very interested in gen. Anders plan to unite the entire Polish Army from Italy and Germany as one force to be perpared for striking back into Poland against USSR and also Anders involvement in anti-communist resistance. There is not much published in English on this matter or the near mutiny of sections of 2nd Corps in Italy after Yalta declaration is also not much discussed even by Polish 2nd Corps veterans.

History / Polish weapons and militaria - got any? [153]


Not many are aware of this.

I have been conduction primary research this area for a while now using original papers from archives so I know that the sources are not secondary sources.

The British government of the time were very aware of Anders plans and made damn sure than everything was done by both Britain and US to stop Anders creating such a united Polish 'Free' Force on German soil whose purpose was liberating Poland from the Soviets. I have copies of most of the original secret papers by the British government and intelligence services that show just how seriously they took Anders plan. These documents are in Public Recourd Office in London where I took photographs of the actual wartime papers which have now been declassified. The Polish 2nd Corps was effectively infiltrated by NKVD (and the Brits had their own agents in 2nd Corps) so these plans were known by Soviets who again did their utmost to stop Anders using anti-Anders propaganda in US and British media and by the Soviet spy network operating in British Government and Foreign Office.

The Polish Airforce in Britain was deliberately grounded by the British authorities on several occasions just in case they were going to be used to support Anders plans.


Many thanks PolskaMan.......I found title on: worldcat.org

Zamojszczyzna by Zygmunt Klukowski


I think Polish is already in process of being produced (or would you prefer English?) I will ask.

History / Polish weapons and militaria - got any? [153]


I became interested in this very subject as I had read in Civil War or New Occupation, Poland after 1944. (Ajnenkiel, Andrzej, ed. 2001. Rytm.Warsaw) something dr. Józef. Garliński had written "......that a common slogan amonst the 2nd Corps was ‘One atom bomb and we could again return to Lwów." which I thought was a natural view to hold given the situation that many Polish forces had found themsleves in after it became clear that Poland's western allies were not going to stand in the way of Stalinist expansionism in eastern Europe.

Then I obatined a copy of a OSS (forrunner of CIA) secret report entitled General Wladyslaw Anders' Polish Second Corps as a source of international misunderstanding Department of State (US). Office of Research Intelligence R&A;;3522, 1 1946 (Microfilm). Which summarised the US intelligence reports about Anders views on a united Polish Armed Force that he wanted in Germany and his firmly held opinion that a WWIII between USA and USSR was likely to occur very soon after WWII and the Polish Forces outside of Poland should be held in readiness for this war and the liberation of Poland from USSR.

Will see what I can do re posting some examples ....I have about a dozen full DVDs of document photographs I have taken at PRO archive! I also have many connected to SOE and Poland especially cichociemni both during WWII and the efforts to return as many as possible from Soviet occupied Poland after WWII....ths is also a very interesting story that not many people are aware of. There were also stories of an anti-communist intelligence operation in Poland sponsored by OSS/CIA that was made up of former cichociemni working alongside former Gestapo officers but I have not yet found actual documents to support this...they may still be classified?

History / Polish weapons and militaria - got any? [153]

A couple more A.K. caps in my collection (if the URL link works?):

Biege cap is from thornb2b.co.uk/UPLOADS/AK_Barbara.jpg - Batalionu “Barbara” 16 pp Armii Krajowej formation from Tarnów.

The dark blue cap is I think from thornb2b.co.uk/UPLOADS/AK_KOT.jpg - A.K. unit 'KOT' which operated around Poznań circa 1946-47 but I am not 100% sure.

History / Polish weapons and militaria - got any? [153]


Mainly Poland. I have been collecting for some years so other collectors often contact me when they find interesting militaria ;-) but it is much more difficult to collect such items these days as many find homes in museum exhibits! Which I guess is as it should be.

There are many fake items around which makes things difficult unless you are careful.
I have also been collecting Polish forced worker <P> badges, photos and documents and even these cloth <P> and "OST" badges are now being faked.

History / Polish weapons and militaria - got any? [153]


Today, if you come across an WWII A.K. cap for less that $350 you would find a bargain ;-) Polish/German helmets from Warsaw Rising $600 +

Look at this single 'Skorpion' regiment collar badge recently on eBay:
cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX: IT&item=200291345944

History / Polish weapons and militaria - got any? [153]

Nor me ;-)

This is also current Allegro auction : Legitymacja krzyża Monte Cassino 4 pułk pancerny

This must end at 450-650zl ?

History / Polish weapons and militaria - got any? [153]


Do you remember if the seller sold this medal with the correct award document as I am surprised gen. Stefan 'starba' Baluk would let someone sell one of his medals? I know he has a lot of medals on his uniform though :-)

History / Unusual soldier (The bear - named Voytek) [71]


Your friend should contact either The Polish Institute and Sikorski Museum which produced a small booklet about "Woytek" and cost £1.50, they also house the life-size bronze statue of "Woytek" sat amongst ammunition boxes.

They don't have email so address is:

The Polish Institute and Sikorski Museum
20 Princes Gate
London SW7 1PT
Great Britain.
Telephone: +44 (0)20 7589 9249

For information about the regiment your friend should contact:

The Polish Ex-Combatants Association (SPK)
(Stowarzyszenie Polskich Kombatantow)
240 King Street
London W6 0RF
United Kingdom

To allow "Wojtek" into Great Britain the British Army gave the bear his own Polish soldier's number so he officially became a serving soldier just as the other Poles. So he was entitled to soldiers pay and pension.

• 
  Wojtek
  

History / Polish weapons and militaria - got any? [153]


I think you are right :-)) The gen. Baluk I met in Warszawa was a former cichociemni

History / Polish weapons and militaria - got any? [153]


It was a real honour.
Stefan Baluk was 93 when I first met him. He once told me that when he was parachuted into Poland the plane was at such a high altitude that his nose started bleeding heavily in the unpressurised cabin of the RAF plane and the whole of the front of his jump-overalls was covered in blood by the time he landed...it was so bad thathe looked as though he had been shot!

News / Poland Should Beef Up Military [286]


Amen to that.

History / Polish weapons and militaria - got any? [153]


This is just one of a number of declassified 'Secret' British Foreign Office documents (this one dated 5 March 1945) I found in London PRO archives that clearly shows that the British Foreign Office were willing to do anything it took (even working against prime-minister Churchill) to stop Gen. Anders from stationing the entire Polish Forces of the West and Anders' Army in occupied Germany in readiness for a push through Germany to liberate Poland from the Soviets.

The views and policy expressed in this document by F.O. officials was in my opinion heavily influenced by the infiltration of the British F.O. by Soviet agents such as Kim Philby, George Blake and other members of the 'Cambridge Five' who held senior positions of power in the British establisment.

The highlighting in the document is mine.

History / Polish weapons and militaria - got any? [153]


Yes, a lot of blood would have been spilt.
It is a very interesting subject, well to me at least, because I believe Anders contemplated that what would happen on the push towards Poland is that the ranks of a 'united' liberation Polish Forces would have picked up hundreds of thousands of new recruits from the liberated Polish POWs, forced workers and DPs that were also in Germany and also by the desertion of 150,000 plus Poles conscripted into the Red Army including those that were former prisoners in USSR but did not leave with Anders during the evactuations after the 'amnsety'.

There is every reason to suppose that this plan could have worked as this was what happened with the Polish 2nd Corps in Italy which was reinforced substantially by Poles conscripted into the Wermacht and were taken prisoner in Italy who after screening joined Anders' Army in the liberation of Italy.

I also have a declassified secret US Office of Research Intelligence (precursor to CIA) report in which Anders is recorded as telling the US ambassador in London that he anticipated that 95% of Poles in Poland would rise up against the Soviet army occupying Poland to support his Polish army in the liberation of Poland. Given the anticommunist resistance by the majority of the Polish population this is not an unreasonable assumption for Anders to have made at the time.

Source:
General Wladyslaw Anders' Polish Second Corps as a source of international misunderstanding : Department of State (US). Office of Research Intelligence R&A;;3522, 1 1946 (Microfilm).

History / Polish weapons and militaria - got any? [153]


According to Stefan Korboński (a Polish statesman and a leader of the underground resistance against the Germans in World War II) in 1942 all Poles of military age in the western territories that had been incorporated into the Reich were rounded up and placed on the Volksliste , and automatically drafted into the German Army.

90,000 of these press-ganged Wehrmacht conscripts later served with the Polish Forces.

In Gdańsk (Danzig) and Pomerania all Poles were automatically registered as German by Gauleiter Forster. By end of WWII there were 400,000 Poles conscripted into German Army and Organisation Todt (a technical paramiltary organisation). Such was the scale of Gualiter Forster's registration policy for all Poles in his juristriction that Gauleiter Greiser of Reichsgau Wartheland complained to Himmler that Forster was indescriminately allowing Poles with no claim to German ethnicity on the Volksliste!


This bit seems lost in translation to me?

History / Polish weapons and militaria - got any? [153]


I repeat: Such was the scale of Gualiter Forster's registration policy for all Poles in his juristriction that Gauleiter Greiser of Reichsgau Wartheland complained to Himmler that Forster was indescriminately allowing Poles with no claim to German ethnicity on the Volksliste!

Unless you are saying Gauleiter Greiser was a Pole ;-)

No hard feelings but I am inclined to believe Korbońnski rather than you ;-)


Maybe this is lost in translation also?

History / Polish weapons and militaria - got any? [153]


No, none at all..

But if you are saying that Gualiter Forster was not persuing (in Gdansk Pomerania ) the compulsorily regististration of all Poles as German, and that all men of military age were not subsequently conscripted into the German Army then we have learnt something new from you. I expect Gauleiter Greiser would also have been surprised to learn Forster was not persuing the compulsorily regististration of all Poles to Volksliste as he had complained to Himmler!

History / Polish weapons and militaria - got any? [153]


Okay accepted :-)


I believe Stalin was aware of Anders plan, afterall he had the 'Cambridge Five' and other agents in place within the British F.O. hence why the F.O. did their utmost to make sure the Polish forces were not united as one in Germany as Anders had wanted. This is clear from the document link. Also Anders' 2nd Corps was infiltrated by Soviets in fact one of his A.D.C's was discovered to be a Soviet agent and punished for it; the British also had their agents with the 2nd Corps. At this time however Stalin had not yet got the atomic bomb so was not ever going to take any overt military action that would really upset his allies the USA and UK. Anyway he didn't need to as the British F.O. did his job for him. IMO.

The British government already saw the dangers of mutiny in Anders' 2nd Corps after Yalta and had been gradually working towards neuturalising Anders since he asked for his troops to be withdrawn from the Italian front after the Yalta announcement. Whether the plan had any merit is almost irrelavant as we will never know how it might have worked out; the fact that Anders had a plan to liberate Poland from Germany is very little known or mentioned in literature about Anders even though it is alluded to in declassified secret Allied documents.

History / Polish weapons and militaria - got any? [153]


The period in question is really much later from mid-1945 to 1946/7 and before the British plan to demobilise Polish Forces via Polish Resettlement Corps. According historian to Dr. Józef Garlińksi there was apparently a widely used saying amongst Polish 2nd Corps along the lines of "Give us one atom bomb and we could again return to Lwów!" which kind of summed up the sentiment of the Poles that had experienced Soviet hospitality in the Russian camps in the Siberian artic regions.

History / Why will Poland always be the puppet of America? [159]


Polish politics are just as simple. There are only the communists but since they are all in disguise things look more complicated than they are to 1jola :-))

History / Polish weapons and militaria - got any? [153]

Rather than stealing a machine, I believe Polish cryptographers built replicas of the German Enigma machine based on their decoding material and using information given to them by the French. The Polish cryptographers did what was thought to be impossible and built two copies of the German Enigma machine and gave one to the French and the other to the British at the begining of WWII and they also handed over the details of the Cyclometers, Bombas and Zygalski sheets. I have seen one of these original Polish built Enigma encoding machines in the museum collection of the Sikroski Institute in London.

In 2000 Britain gave the Polish government an Enigma machine in belated recognition of the importance of the work of Polish cryptographers and their vital role in WWII. Also 43% of all intelligence reports received by Britain regarding Europe during WWII came from the Polish Intelligence Bureau.