This article is about a Second World War formation. For the First World War formation, see Polish II Corps in Russia. For the Polish Army in the First World War, see Blue 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] The Nazi-Soviet pact of August 1939[2][3] effectively ended on 22 June 1941 when the German Wehrmacht invaded the USSR.[4] The release of many thousands of former citizens of Poland (including Ukrainians and Belarusians) from the Soviet Gulags, following the signing of the Polish-Russian Military Agreement on 14 August 1941, allowed for the creation of a Polish Army on Soviet soil.[5][6] Its first commander, General Michał Tokarzewski, began the task of forming this army in the Soviet village of Totskoye on 17 August. The commander ultimately chosen by Władysław Sikorski to lead the new army, Lieutenant GeneralWładysław Anders, had just been released from the Lubyanka 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 German POW camps and concentration camps.
By 1945, new units were added, composed mainly of freed POWs and Poles forcibly conscripted into the Wehrmacht. 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 in Britain, although some elected to settle in other countries such as Canada[7] or Australia, either obtaining immigration visas there or relying on previous ties for repatriation.[8]
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, including Toulon, France.
In May 1945, the Corps consisted of 55,780 men, one bear and approximately 1,500 women in auxiliary services. Their bear mascot, named Wojtek, 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 the NKVD to the SovietGulags during the Soviet Union's annexation of Eastern Poland (Kresy Wschodnie) in 1939. Following Operation Barbarossa and the Sikorski-Mayski Agreement, many of them were released and allowed to join the Polish 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 General Władysław Anders withdrawing his troops to British-held Persia and Iraq. From there, they were moved to British-controlled Palestine, where they joined forces with the 3rd Carpathian Division, which was composed mainly of Polish soldiers who had managed to escape to French Lebanon through Romania and Hungary after the defeat of Poland in 1939.
The main bulk of the soldiers were from the eastern voivodeships of pre-war Poland. Although the majority were ethnic Poles, there were also other nationalities, including Jews, Belarusians and Ukrainians. After being relocated to Palestine, many Jewish soldiers deserted 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.[9]
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 the Wayback 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.
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Poland
