3rd Carpathian Rifle Division (Poland)
3 Dywizja Strzelców Karpackich | |
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Bronisław Duch |
The 3rd Carpathian Rifle Division (
The division participated in the
The Immediate Post War Period
After the cessation of hostilities in May 1945, the men and women of the Polish Armed forces were stationed across Europe. The 3rd Carpathian Division ended the war in Northern Italy and remained there for the next few months while their future was discussed in Moscow, London and Washington. The Divisional officers and troops naturally expected and hoped to return home to Poland however an ominous sign came in July 1945 when the British government withdrew formal recognition of The
According to the Polish Exiles of World War Two website and recent research, the 3rd Carpathian Division is listed as having 27,135 on roll in 1946 and of these 3,386 are also listed as having returned home to Poland after the war with the remaining men and women deciding to start new lives outside their homeland.
The Polish Resettlement Corps (PRC)
Once it became clear that Poland had lost its independence, members of the Polish armed forces began to either return to Communist Poland or stay with their units. The formation of the Polish Resettlement Corps was announced by the Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin in May 1946 and was a strategy to allow those Poles, who had made the heart rending decision not to return to their families, to transfer to Great Britain to start a new life. 110,000 joined the new Corps - mostly members of Polish II Corps - and, having been disarmed, a mass transportation from Italy to Great Britain began using dozens of troop transport ships. The remaining officers, men and women of the 3rd Carpathian Division were divided up into the 160 resettlement camps opened across the United Kingdom. The Corps was commanded by Polish General Stanislaw Kopanski - the former commander of the 3rd Carpathian Division in 1943.
The Polish Resettlement Act & The Resettlement of the Division
The new Labour government went on to pass the 1947 Polish Resettlement Act which established in law the right of serving members of all Polish forces to stay and become British citizens. The Polish Resettlement Camps become 160 mini Polish nations. Polish schools were established to teach English to adults and children alike, Sports were arranged, Polish cultural life celebrated, gardens were planted and facilities rep[aired. The advance parties arrived in the autumn of 1946 and during early 1947 the main elements of the division arrived at Brandon Station, Thetford, Norfolk for transportation to their camps. The 3rd Carpathian Division was distributed between numerous camps such as Riddlesworth in Norfolk which became home to 3rd Heavy Machine Gun Bn (3rd Karp. CKM), Hodgemoor Camp in Berkshire (Kw.Gl 3rd DSK), Woodlands Park Camp, Great Missenden, Buckinghamshire which became the new home of a sapper battalion from the 3rd Carpathian Division and London Road Camp in Thetford which was also home to another engineer battalion from the division. On arrival, the camps were a mixture of well maintained and almost derelict having been used for British and American troops during the war and even German prisoner of war camps.
In recent years a great deal of archival research has been completed and a book published by Zosia Bigus on the entire list of Polish Resettlement Camps.
Memorials to the Division
In Italy and close to Monte Cassino, 1,300 meters north east of the Polish Cemetery, is the 3rd Carpathian Division memorial. Situated on Hill 593, this high obelisk is made of Travertine and is dedicated to the 1,115 men of the 3rd DSK who were killed in the Italian campaign. It has recently been fully restored. In the UK, local groups or the families of Polish troops once based there have now erected memorials recording the people who arrived there after World War Two, their sacrifice and dedication to their homeland and to the country that gave them a new home. Examples can be found at
Commanders
- Stanisław Kopański (1943)
Order of battle
The division's order of battle between 1943 and 1946 was as follows:
Brigade | Sub-units | Notes |
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1st Carpathian Rifle Brigade 1 Brygada Strzelców Karpackich Peszek |
1st Rifle Battalion | |
2nd Rifle Battalion | ||
3rd Rifle Battalion | ||
2nd Carpathian Rifle Brigade 2 Brygada Strzelców Karpackich Szymański
|
4th Rifle Battalion | |
5th Rifle Battalion | ||
6th Rifle Battalion | ||
3rd Carpathian Rifle Brigade 3 Brygada Strzelców Karpackich (since 1945) |
7th Rifle Battalion | |
8th Rifle Battalion | ||
9th Rifle Battalion | ||
Reconnaissance Units (one of the following) |
3rd Carpathian Cavalry Regiment | |
12th Podolian Cavalry Regiment | ||
7th Lublin Cavalry Regiment | ||
Artillery units artyleria dywizyjna |
1st Carpathian Field Artillery Regiment | |
2nd Carpathian Field Artillery Regiment | ||
3rd Carpathian Field Artillery Regiment | ||
3rd Carpathian Anti-tank Artillery Regiment | ||
3rd Carpathian Light Anti-aircraft Artillery Regiment | ||
Support Units |
3rd Carpathian Medium Machinegun Battalion | |
3rd Carpathian Engineers Battalion
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3rd Carpathian Signals Battalion
|
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Rear Units jednostki tyłowe |
military police, court martial, military hospital, front hospitals, logistics units, transport battalions and such |
See also
- Polish contribution to World War II
References
- ISBN 9781472816047. Retrieved 11 November 2021.
- ISSN 0951-3558.
- S2CID 237927152.