Osprey,.Men-at-Arms.#117.The.Polish.Army.1939-45.(1982).01Ed.OCR.8.12.pdf

The Polish Army

193 -45

Men-at-Arms· 1 17

OSPREY

PUBLISHING

The Polish Army

1939-45

Steven J Zaloga . Illustrated by Richard Hook

Senes editor Martin Windrow

FirS! published in Greallkitain in 1982 by

Osprey I'ubtishinl-;:. Elms COlin, Chapel Way. Bodey,

Oxrord OX:t ~ILI' United KinJ;:dom

Email: info@.05prC}publishing.com

C 198:i Osprc} Publishing LimiU.-d

Reprinted 1983. 1986. 1987, 1988. 1990. 1!)9.I (u"ice),

1996. 1998, \/000, :iOO 1

All righlS re.scrv~d. Ap.an from any fair dealing ror the

purpo5C of privme study, research, criticism or m-icw, as

pt:nniltcd UlKkr the Copyright Designs and Patents Act,

1988. no pan of this publication may be reproduced,

stOfl-d in a retrieval SySt('lll, or tr.Ulsmincd in any ronn or

by all}' means, electronic, electrical, chemical, mech3ilicill,

optic-.tI. phowoopying, recording or otherwise, "il..houllhe

prior pcnnission of lhe copyright 0\\11er. Enquiries should

be addfl"SS(.-d to the Puhlishers.

Filmscl in Gn:at Brilain

Primed in China through WQdd l'l'int LId.

Acknowltdg'fIIt11lS

Amhor 'll1d pUblisher wish to record their gralitude

to KrzYSZlOf Barbarski of the Sikorski Institute,

London, for his patienl help at every stagl': of the

prcparillion of this book.

To Babci

FOR A CATALOCUt: OF Al.I. nOOKS I'IJIIl.lSltl::U Il)"

OSI'IU'V MIl.lTAIO' ANII AVtATION PLEASE CONTACT:

The M'II·k.cling 1\-lall;\l-;:el', Osprey Direct UK.

PO /Sox 140, Wcllinghorough, NOl'lhants.

NKR 47.A, L'niled Kingdom.

Email: inro@ospreydircCl.co.uk

The Markering M:lIlager. Osprey Direci USA,

do l\'IOlorimoks InteJ'llaliolial. I>() Box I, Osceola,

WI 540:io-OOI)l, USA.

bnait: inli>@osprc}dil'ectllsa.coll1

www.ospre),publishing.colll

Tile Polis/' AT/1l)' 1939-45

Illtrodllctioll

rendered meaningless by political e\'ents far out-

side their control. Fate was vcry crucilO the Polish

nation during those years. and especially CfUel 10

her soldiers.

d was the first of the Allied nations to

b to Cerman aggression in the Second

Id "VaT, but by the most tortuous ofroutes her

managed to remain in the field through all

ears of bloody fighting. In facl by the war's

the Polish Army was the fourth largest

agent orlhe Allied coalition after the armed

of the Soviet Union, the United States

"reat Britain. Polish soldiers fought in nearly

major campa.ign in the European theatre,

or talc is a complicated and tragic onc.

ic efforts of the Polish Army were often

•

The Polish Army of '939 was very much a creature

of its founder, Josef Pilsudski. Pilsudski, lhe erst·

while socialist and revolutionary, had formed and

led the bClrefool Polish forces in the battles for

independence in 1918. After 125 years of foreign

Pola..d'. pride I • troop frotn • tno ted unit parad.... in

W•.r ••w befor.. th.. war. Th..y wear d stiff..aed lI:arr;liOD

cap, perh.,.. with th.. atnara..th ba.. d of Mounted Rifles.

1lld Polish i.e_Ol..,. cempaay pholOl"raphftl shortly b..for'"

doe ....... relaia the old fre-ach RSC S_lunu" CIIailter. aJKI do",

1-. paU_ lh_ beias: r~I_(:"'" by .hon -.....kJ.,.. •. Th", arm-

of-servic:e stripe aero.. 1M c:oat (:olla.. pou.u u. j .. lit " ... ibl...

1920 war proud and confident. Pilsudsk.i shunnt.-d

offcrs of political JlO"Irr. but by 1926 Poland",

iU-fated attempb at parliamentary democrat.:

prompted him to ta~e a coup d'etat. He ruled

the country from th~ hado.... until his death in

1935, when his supponen formed a 'colond'~

regime' which guided the country with far IC$

success until the outbreak. of war in 1939. The

army was Pilsudski' pride. and a grateful nation

spared no expense for ib upkeep. It received a

far larger share of the national budget than was

received by most other European armies of the

time, but this W'b 'itiU a pathetically small sum

compared to.the e.,,~nditures of Germany or the

Soviet Union. The money required to equip an

armoured division e:\.cttdni the total annual

budget fOI" the enti~ poli'ih Army-Poland was

a rural and backward counlry with little industry.

Pilsudski managed to .... ea\e the Army's disparate

strands into a cohesi\"e force, although its officers

had served in the imperial armies of Austro-

Hungary, Prussia and Czarist Russia, and il was

equipped with a remarkable hodge-podge of

hand·mc·down .... eapons from nearly evcry major

arsenal in Europe. Ho.... e\er. Pilsudski was not

a professionally tra.lllro officer, and the Polish

Army renected his frailties as ..... ell as his strengths"

Higher staff training and command organisation

wcrc rudimentary and there ..... as cxcessi\"c reliance

on 'improvisation'. The~ was lillie understanding

or enlhusiasm for the ne ..... technological tools 0

domination Poland was resurrecled by the Allied

victors at the Versailles peace conferencc. No firm

borders were establish cd. howcvcr, and it was

only through amH:d rcvolt that thc new western

borders with Germany were eSlablishcd. The real

contest waited in .he easl, whcre both Poland and

Bolshevik Russia were eyeing the cx·Czarist ter-

ritorics bel ween thcm, inhabitcd by a polyglOl

mixturc of Poles, Byelorussians, Ukrainians and

Jews. In 1920 lhc Polish Army under Pilsudski

took the initiative and seized Kiev, deep in the

Ukraine. They were just as dramatically routed

by the Red Cossack Horse Army, and Poland's

fatc hung in the balance. At thc moment of

Bolshevik viclory, however, thc southern forces

of lhe Red Army under the political command of

losef Stalin failed to corne lO lhe aid of Tukha-

chevsky's northern forces, who were pounding at

the gates of Warsaw itself. Pilsudski brilliantly

seized the opportunity, and lhe Red Army was

scnt reeling back in confusion. The euphoria of

the moment eclipsed lhe serious cconomic, social

and political problems the new state faced. Poland

was now sandwiched between twO tcmporarily

weak, but bittcr and vengeful neighbours.

The viCtorious Polish Army emerged from the

Plik z chomika:

Inne pliki z tego folderu:

Inne foldery tego chomika: