First Polish Army (1944–45)

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This article is about the First Polish Army on the Eastern Front in 1944–1945. For other army units with similar names, see First Army (disambiguation).
Polish First Army (Pierwsza Armia)
Field Army
EngagementsWorld War II
Commanders
Notable
commanders
General Stanislaw Poplawski
(1945)

The Polish First Army (

capture of Warsaw in January 1945, and the capture of Berlin
in May 1945.

Formation

The First Army was formed in the Soviet Union in 1944, from the previously existing Polish I Corps as part of the

Polish I Corps).[1] The new formation was to be composed of two infantry divisions, one artillery and one armor brigade, one support and one air regiment, four independent battalions, and support units.[1] On 29 July 1944 the Polish units were reorganized into the 1st Polish Army.[2]
From October 12 to 14, 1943, the First Polish Infantry Division made an assault on Lenino near Smolensk and sustained twenty-five percent losses. Later, the 1ST Kosciuszko Infantry Division fought in Berlin around the Reich Chancellery and the Reichstag. At this stage of the war, the Polish role in the Soviet drive westward was fairly substantial, contributing 200,000 troops; this was approximately ten percent of the force taking part in Zhukov's and Konev's drive on Berlin.

Personnel

Soldiers of 1st Tadeusz Kościuszko Infantry Division at a prayer, 1943

Initially, the Polish personnel of the First Polish Army were recruited from Polish soldiers taken prisoner during the 1939

Lublin government
).

Until October 1944, the First Army was commanded by Lt. Gen. Zygmunt Berling. His second-in-command was Lt. Gen. Karol Świerczewski. Col. Włodzimierz Sokorski was the chief political officer.[citation needed] The corps took part in combat from September 1943.

Operational history

Oct 43
Jan 45
Mar 45
Apr 45
class=notpageimage|
Polish 1st Army route of march, 1943–1945

Operating under the auspices of the

Lvov-Sandomierz Operation, fighting in the battles during the Soviet crossing of the river Vistula around Dęblin and Puławy.[4] In September 1944, units of the First Army were involved in heavy fighting during the latter stages of the Warsaw Uprising after crossing the river Vistula following the capture of Warsaw
's eastern Praga district, but suffered heavy losses.

After eventually taking control of

Vistula–Oder Offensive, and afterwards it moved towards Bydgoszcz. The Polish First Army then fought in Pomerania, breaking through the Pomeranian Wall (Pommernstellung) fortified line and capturing Fortress Kolberg, a heavily fortified city, in March. Its units advanced northeast as far as Gdańsk and Kępa Oksywska. [pl] During the battles to penetrate the Pomeranian fortifications, the 1st "Warsaw" Cavalry Brigade made the last mounted charge of Polish cavalry at the village of Schoenfeld.[5]

The Polish First Army on their way to Berlin, 1945

In the spring of 1945 the army, now numbering 78,556 soldiers, was redeployed to the front on the

Berlin Zoo.[9]

The army was disbanded after the war on August 22, 1945.[10] Its constituent units went on to serve in the armed forces of the newly created Polish People's Republic.[11]

Organization

The 1st Polish Army was very similar in organisation to other standard general purpose

organic tank brigade. In manpower it was broadly equivalent to an American infantry corps, having a strength of 74,530 men on May 1, 1945.[6] At the end of the war in 1945, it consisted of the following large units (honorific names given in brackets)[12]

Organization as of May 1, 1945

See also

Notes

  1. ^ a b Grzelak, p. 101
  2. ^ Grzelak, p. 104
  3. ^ Grzelak, pp. 155–156
  4. ^ Polish Army, 1939–1945 by Steven J Zaloga, p.27[permanent dead link]
  5. ^ Zaloga, p. 27
  6. ^ a b Grzelak, p. 120
  7. ^ Krivosheev, p. 158, Grzelak, p. 120
  8. ^ Grzelak, p. 295
  9. ^ Polish Army in the East 1943–1945
  10. ^ Grzelak, p. 311
  11. ^ Grzelak, pp. 311–312
  12. ^ Grzelak, p. 121
  13. ^ THE ORGANIZATION AND ORDER OF BATTLE OF MILITARIES IN WORLD WAR II by Charles D. Pettibone, p.353

Sources

  • Czesław Grzelak and others, Armia Berlinga i Żymierskiego, Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Neriton, 2002.
  • G. F. Krivosheev, Soviet casualties and combat losses in the Twentieth Century, London: Greenhill Books, 1997.
  • Steven J. Zaloga, The Polish Army 1939–45, Oxford: Osprey, 1998.

External links

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