Military history of Poland during World War II

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(Redirected from
Polish contribution to World War II
)
Polish contribution to World War II
Pilots of the No. 303 Squadron, from left: P/O Ferić, Flt Lt Kent, F/O Grzeszczak, P/O Radomski, P/O Zumbach, P/O Łokuciewski, F/O Henneberg, Sgt. Rogowski, Sgt. Szaposznikow
One of the four Polish Enigma doubles assembled eight years after Poland was first to crack the German machine, in 1932
ORP Dragon, in Polish Navy service from January 1943
Anti-aircraft mounting with three Polish Polsten cannons
Crew of submarine ORP Sokół with Jolly Roger marking number of sunk or damaged enemy ships
Demonstration of Zygalski sheets (perforated sheets)

In World War II, the Polish armed forces were the fourth largest Allied forces in Europe, after those of the Soviet Union, United States, and Britain.[a][1][2][3][4][5][6][7] Poles made substantial contributions to the Allied effort throughout the war, fighting on land, sea, and in the air.

Polish forces in the east, fighting alongside the

across the Vistula and Oder Rivers to the Battle of Berlin
.

In the west, Polish paratroopers from the

North Africa Campaign (siege of Tobruk); the Italian campaign (including the capture of the monastery hill at the Battle of Monte Cassino); and in battles following the invasion of France (the battle of the Falaise pocket; and an armored division in the Western Allied invasion of Germany
).

Particularly well-documented was the service of 145 Polish

RAF after July 1940, 32 in wholly Polish Squadron 303 after 31 August 1940 and 34 in entirely Polish Squadron 302.[9] Other instances of service flying French planes[clarification needed] in the Polish Air Force
took place during the Battle of Britain at the same time, and from 1944 the Polish Air Force (also with British planes) was established in Britain.

Some Polish contributions were less visible, notably the prewar and wartime

Polish intelligence
network also proved of great value to Allied intelligence.

The

intelligence service were established outside of Poland, and contributed to the Allied
effort throughout the war.

Invasion of Poland

The invasion of

World War II in Europe. The Soviets invaded Poland on September 17 German-allied Slovakia
invaded also

British poster designed by Marek Żuławski, London 1939
Polish Army soldier showing last remaining part of destroyed German bomber Heinkel He 111 in Warsaw 1939.

In keeping with the terms of the

Romanian bridgehead area. The last remaining Polish Army units capitulated
in early October.

In accordance with their treaty obligations, the United Kingdom and France declared war on Germany on September 3. Hitler had gambled, incorrectly, that France and Britain would allow him to annex parts of Poland without military reaction. The campaign began on September 1, 1939, one week after the signing of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact containing a secret protocol for the division of Northern and Central Europe into German and Soviet spheres of influence. It ended on October 6, 1939, with Germany and the Soviet Union occupying the entirety of Poland.

German losses included approximately 16,000

captured
.

German losses during the Polish campaign amounted to 50% of all casualties they would suffer until their invasion of USSR in 1941; and the campaign that lasted about a month consumed eight months worth of supplies.[11]

Aid to Jews

Jewish prisoners liberated by Polish Home Army from German Gęsiówka camp during 1944 Warsaw Uprising

There was a substantial group of Poles who risked their lives during the German occupation to save Jews. German-occupied Poland was the only European territory where the Germans punished any kind of

Polish Government-in-Exile in Great Britain.[12]

Most Jews who survived the German occupation of Poland were saved by Poles unconnected with Żegota. Estimates of Jewish survivors in Poland range from 40,000 to 50,000 to 100,000–120,000. Scholars estimate that it took the work of ten people to save the life of one Polish Jew.

those who were Polish citizens number the greatest.[14] There are 6,339[15] Polish men and women recognized as "Righteous" to this day, amounting to over 25 percent of the total number of 22,765 honorary titles awarded already.[16]

Polish resistance

The main resistance force in

exiled Polish Government in London and its activity concentrated on sabotage, diversion and intelligence gathering.[18] Its combat activity was low until 1943[17][19] as the army was avoiding suicidal warfare and preserved its very limited resources for later conflicts that sharply increased when the Nazi war machine started to crumble in the wake of the successes of the Red Army in the Eastern Front. Then the AK started a nationwide uprising (Operation Tempest) against Nazi forces.[18] Before that, AK units carried out thousands of raids, intelligence operations, bombed hundreds of railway shipments, participated in many clashes and battles with the German police and Wehrmacht units and conducted tens of thousands of acts of sabotage against German industry[20] The AK also conducted "punitive" operations to assassinate Gestapo officials responsible for Nazi terror. Following the 1941 German attack on the USSR, the AK assisted the Soviet Union's war effort by sabotaging the German advance into Soviet territory and provided intelligence on the deployment and movement of German forces.[18] After 1943, its direct combat activity increased sharply. German losses to the Polish partisans averaged 850–1,700 per month in early 1944 compared to about 250–320 per month in 1942.[citation needed
]

Browning wz.1928

In addition to the Home Army, there was an underground ultra-nationalist

Polish People's Army PAL, both communist resistance movement. From 1944, the advancing Red Army was also seen as a foreign occupation force, prompting skirmishes with the Soviets as well as Soviet-backed partisans. In the later part of the war, when Soviet partisans started attacking Polish partisans, sympathizers and civilians, all non-communist Polish formations were (to an increasing extent) becoming involved in actions against the Soviets.[21]

The

Polish People's Army PAL, and numbered about 6,000 soldiers (although estimates vary).[22]

There were separate resistance groups organized by Polish Jews:

Żydowska Organizacja Bojowa ("Jewish Combat Organization") (ŻOB). These organisations cooperated little with each other and their relationship with the Polish resistance
varied between occasional cooperation (mainly between ZZW and AK) to armed confrontations (mostly between ŻOB and NZS).

Other notable Polish resistance organizations included the

better source needed
]

Throughout the war the German state was forced to divert a substantial part of its military forces to keep control over Poland:

Henryk Dobrzański "Hubal"'s Detached Unit of the Polish Army – first partisan of World War II and his partisan unit – winter 1940
batalion Zośka under command of Wacław Micuta
Members of AK "Wiklina" entering Zamość 1944
Cyprian Odorkiewicz commander of "Krybar" Regiment (second from left) inspects ammunition for PIAT anti-tank weapon belonging to "Rafałki" unit during Warsaw Uprising 1944
1944 Warsaw Uprising – Patrol of Lieut. Stanisław Jankowski ("Agaton") from Batalion Pięść, 1 August 1944: "W-hour" (17:00)
Number of Wehrmacht and police formations stationed in General Government
(does not include annexed territories of Poland and parts of Kresy)[24]
Period Wehrmacht Police and SS

(German forces only)

Total
October 1939 550,000 80,000 630,000
April 1940 400,000 70,000 470,000
June 1941 2,000,000

(invasion of the Soviet Union)

50.000 2,050,000
February 1942 300,000 50,000 350,000
April 1943 450,000 60,000 510,000
November 1943 550,000 70,000 620,000
April 1944 500,000 70,000 570,000
September 1944 1,000,000 80,000 1,080,000
Sabotage and diversionary actions of the Union of Armed Combat (ZWZ) and Home Army (AK) from 1 January 1941 to 30 June 1944[25]
Action type Action totals
Damaged locomotives 6,930
Delayed repairs to locomotives 803
Derailed transports 732
Transports set on fire 443
Damage to railway wagons 19,058
Blown up railway bridges 38
Disruptions to electricity supplies in the Warsaw grid              638
Army vehicles damaged or destroyed 4,326
Damaged aeroplanes 28
Fuel tanks destroyed 1,167
Fuel destroyed (in tonnes) 4,674
Blocked oil wells 5
Wagons of wood wool destroyed 150
Military stores burned down 130
Disruptions of production in factories 7
Built-in faults in parts for aircraft engines 4,710
Built-in faults into cannon muzzles 203
Built-in faults into artillery projectiles 92,000
Built-in faults into air traffic radio stations 107
Built-in faults into condensers 70,000
Built-in faults into (electro-industrial) lathes 1,700
Damage to important factory machinery 2,872
Various acts of sabotage performed 25,145
Planned assassinations of Germans 5,733

Intelligence

for his invaluable contributions to the Allied North African campaign.
Holocaust

Polish intelligence supplied valuable

British secret services from continental Europe in between 1939 and 1945 came from Polish sources.[26] The total number of those reports is estimated at 80,000, and 85% of them were deemed high or better quality.[27] Despite Poland becoming occupied, the Polish intelligence network not only survived but grew rapidly, and near the end of the war had over 1,600 registered agents[26] (Another estimate gave around 3500[citation needed
]).

Western Allies had limited intelligence assets in Central and Eastern Europe, and extensive Polish intelligence network in place proved to be a major asset, even described as "the only allied intelligence assets on the Continent" following the French capitulation.[28][29][30] According to Marek Ney-Krwawicz [pl], for the Western Allies, the intelligence provided by the Home Army was considered to be the best source of information on the Eastern Front.[31]

During a period of over six and a half years, from late December 1932 to the outbreak of World War II, three mathematician-cryptologists (

decryption results at Pyry, the United Kingdom might have been unable to read Enigma ciphers.[33] In the event, intelligence gained from this source, codenamed Ultra, was extremely valuable to the Allied prosecution of the war. While ULTRA's precise influence on its course remains a subject of debate, ULTRA undoubtedly altered the course of the war.[34]

As early as 1940, Polish agents (including

German-occupied Poland, especially the destruction of the Warsaw Ghetto, and the secretive German-Nazi extermination camps.[35][36]

Home Army intelligence report with V1 and V2
schematic drawings.
Bug River
.

Home Army and V1 and V2). Analysis of the German rocket became vital to improving Allied anti-V-2 defenses (see Operation Most III).[37]

Operations of the II Bureau, the intelligence service of the Polish government in exile, extended beyond Poland and even beyond Europe. Polish agents provided reports on German war production, morale and troop movements, including information on German submarine operations.

better source needed] landings in North Africa. These were the first large-scale Allied landings of the war, and their success in turn paved the way for the Allies' Italian campaign.[citation needed
]

Some Poles also served in other Allied intelligence services, including the celebrated

The researchers who produced the first Polish-British in-depth monograph on Home Army intelligence (Intelligence Co-operation Between Poland and Great Britain During World War II: Report of the Anglo-Polish Historical Committee of 2005) and who described contributions of Polish intelligence to Allied victory as "disproportionally large"[42] have also argued that "the work performed by Home Army intelligence undoubtedly supported the Allied armed effort much more effectively than subversive and guerilla activities."[43]


Polish Forces (West)

Army

Polish Armed Forces in the West
at the height of their power[44]
Deserters from the German Wehrmacht 90,000
Evacuees from the USSR 83,000
Evacuees from France in 1940 35,000
Liberated
POWs
21,750
Escapees from occupied Europe 14,210
Recruits in liberated France 7,000
Polonia from Argentina, Brazil and Canada 2,290
Polonia from the United Kingdom 1,780
Total 254,830
By July 1945, when recruitment was halted, some 26,830 Polish soldiers were declared KIA or MIA or had died of wounds. After that date, an additional 21,000 former Polish POWs were recruited.

After the country's defeat in the 1939 campaign, the

French Mandate Syria, to which many Polish troops had escaped from Romania.[47] The Polish Air Force in France had 86 aircraft with one and a half of the squadrons fully operational, and the remaining two and a half in various stages of training.[47]

By the fall of France, numerous Polish personnel had died in the fighting (some 6,000) or had been interned in

Polish government in exile followed Anders' advice for a transfer of some 80,000 (and around 20,000 civilians), in March and August 1942, across the Caspian Sea to Iran permitting Soviet divisions in occupation there to be released for action.[48] In the Middle East, this "Anders' Army" joined the British Eighth Army, where it formed Polish II Corps.[49]

British Prime Minister Winston Churchill reviewing Polish troops in England, 1943.

The Polish Armed Forces in the West fought under British command and numbered 195,000 in March 1944 and 165,000 at the end of that year, including about 20,000 personnel in the Polish Air Force and 3,000 in the Polish Navy. At the end of World War II, the Polish Armed Forces in the west numbered 195,000 and by July 1945 had increased to 228,000, most of the newcomers being released prisoners of war and ex-labor camp inmates.

Air force

The Polish Air Force first fought in the 1939 Invasion of Poland. Significantly outnumbered and with its fighters outmatched by more advanced German fighters, remained active up to the second week of the campaign, inflicting significant damage on the Luftwaffe.[50] The Luftwaffe lost, to all operational causes, 285 aircraft, with 279 more damaged, while the Poles lost 333 aircraft.[51]

After the fall of Poland many Polish pilots escaped via Hungary to France. The Polish Air Force fought in the Battle of France as one fighter squadron GC 1/145, several small units detached to French squadrons, and numerous flights of industry defence (in total, 133 pilots, who achieved 53–57 victories for a loss of 8 men in combat, what was 7.93% of allied victories).[52]

Later, Polish pilots fought in the

303 Fighter Squadrons), with 89 Polish pilots. Together with more than 50 Poles fighting in British squadrons, a total of 145 Polish pilots defended British skies. Polish pilots were among the most experienced in the battle, most of them having already fought in the 1939 September Campaign in Poland and the 1940 Battle of France. Additionally, prewar Poland had set a very high standard of pilot training. The 303 Squadron, named after the Polish–American hero, General Tadeusz Kościuszko, claimed the highest number of kills (126) of all fighter squadrons engaged in the Battle of Britain, even though it only joined the combat on August 30, 1940[53]
These Polish pilots, constituting 5% of the pilots active during the Battle of Britain, were responsible for 12% of total victories in the Battle.

The Polish Air Force also fought in 1943 in Tunisia—the Polish Fighting Team (nicknamed "Skalski's Circus")—and in raids on Germany (1940–45). In the second half of 1941 and early 1942, Polish bomber squadrons formed a sixth of the forces available to RAF Bomber Command but later they suffered heavy losses, with little replenishment possibilities. Polish aircrew losses serving with Bomber Command from 1940 to 1945 were 929 killed. Ultimately eight Polish fighter squadrons were formed within the RAF and had claimed 629 Axis aircraft destroyed by May 1945. By the end of the war, around 19,400 Poles were serving in the RAF.[54]

126 German aeroplanes shot down by the 303 squadron during the Battle of Britain. Painted on a Hurricane.
Polish flag flying over the ruins of conquered Monte Cassino monastery, May 1944.
The Polish 1st Armoured Division in the Normandy Campaign, 1944.

Polish squadrons in the United Kingdom:

Aircraft shot down by Polish squadrons in the West during World War II[55][56]
1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 total
destroyed 266 1/6 202 90 114¾ 103 38½ 769 5/12
probable 38 52 36 42 10 2 177
damaged 43⅔ + 3/5 60½ 43 66 27 18 252 1/6

Navy

Just on the eve of war, three destroyers—representing most of the major Polish Navy ships—had been sent for safety to the United Kingdom (Operation Peking). There they fought alongside the Royal Navy. At various stages of the war, the Polish Navy comprised two cruisers and a large number of smaller ships. The Polish navy was given a number of British ships and submarines which would otherwise have been unused due to the lack of trained British crews. The Polish Navy fought with great distinction alongside the other Allied navies in many important and successful operations, including those conducted against the German battleship Bismarck.[57] During the war the Polish Navy, which comprised a total of 27 ships (2 cruisers, 9 destroyers, 5 submarines and 11 torpedo boats), sailed a total of 1.2 million nautical miles, escorted 787 convoys, conducted 1,162 patrols and combat operations, sank 12 enemy ships (including 5 submarines) and 41 merchant vessels, damaged 24 more (including 8 submarines) and shot down 20 aircraft. 450 seamen out of the over 4,000 who served with the Navy lost their lives in action.[58][59]

ORP Grom, a destroyer in the Polish Navy

This does not include a number of minor ships, transports,

BRT to Allied shipping; losing 18 ships (with capacity of 76,000 BRT) and over 200 sailors during the war.[60]

Polish Forces (East)

Polish 1st Tadeusz Kościuszko Infantry Division
of the Polish Armed Forces of the East.
Polish flag raised on the top of Berlin Victory Column on May 2, 1945.

After the

Armia Ludowa
, was integrated with the Polish People's Army in January 1944.

The Polish First Army was integrated in the

Prague Offensive
. In the final operations of the war the casualties of the two armies of the LWP amounted to approximately 67,000.

Poles in the German Armed Forces

Hundreds of thousands of former Polish citizens, particularly residents of

Volksliste), volunteered for service in the German Armed Forces.[63]
These were mostly members of the German minority in Poland who were considered by the Nazi authorities to be ethnically German (Volksdeutsche). In 1939 during the Invasion of Poland they created the paramilitary organisation Volksdeutscher Selbstschutz, and actively supported German forces in occupied Poland.[64]

On the Western Front, German military personnel of Polish ethnicity, held in prisoner-of-war camps, became a substantial source of manpower for the Polish Armed Forces in the West. Nearly 90,000 former German military personnel were eventually recruited into the Polish Armed Forces in the West. By Victory Day (9 May) in 1945, a third of Polish service members in the West were former members of the German Armed Forces.[63]

Battles

Polish infantry, 1939
Warsaw Uprising, 1944

Major battles and campaigns in which Polish regular forces took part:

Battle Date Location Poland and its allies Enemies Result
Invasion of Poland (1939)
Invasion of Poland 1 September – 6 October 1939 Poland Poland Poland  Germany
 Soviet Union
 Slovakia
Defeat
Battle of Westerplatte 1–7 September 1939 Poland Poland Poland  Germany
 Free City of Danzig
Defeat
Battle of Mokra 1 September 1939 Poland Poland Poland  Germany Victory
Battle of the Border 1–4 September 1939 Poland Poland Poland  Germany Defeat
Raid on Fraustadt 2 September 1939 Germany Poland Poland  Germany Victory
Battle of Wizna 7–10 September 1939 Poland Poland Poland  Germany Defeat
Battle of Warsaw 8–28 September 1939 Poland Poland Poland  Germany Defeat
Battle of the Bzura 9–19 September 1939 Poland Poland Poland  Germany Defeat
Battle of Lwów 12–22 September 1939 Poland Poland Poland  Germany
 Soviet Union
Defeat
Battle of Tomaszów Lubelski 17–26 September 1939 Poland Poland Poland  Germany Defeat
Battle of Wilno 18–19 September 1939 Poland Poland Poland  Soviet Union Defeat
Battle of Grodno 20–24 September 1939 Poland Poland Poland  Soviet Union Defeat
Battle of Szack 28 September 1939 Poland Poland Poland  Soviet Union Victory
Battle of Kock 2–5 October 1939 Poland Poland Poland  Germany Defeat
Armed Forces in the West (1939–1945)
Battle of the Atlantic 3 September 1939 – 8 May 1945 Atlantic Ocean  
Belgium
France France (until 1940)
 Free France (from 1940)
Brazil Brazil
(from 1942)
 Germany
 Italy (until 1943)
Victory
Norwegian Campaign
9 April – 10 June 1940 Norway  Norway
 United Kingdom
France France
Poland Poland
 Germany Defeat
Battle of Narvik
9 April – 8 June 1940 Norway  Norway
 United Kingdom
France France
Poland Poland
 Germany Victory
Battle of France 10 May – 25 June 1940 France France France
 Belgium
 Netherlands
 United Kingdom
 Canada
Poland Poland
Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia
 Luxembourg
 Germany
 Italy
Defeat
Battle of Dunkirk 26 May – 4 June 1940 France  United Kingdom
 Canada
 France
Poland Poland
 Belgium
 Netherlands
 Germany Retreat
Battle of Britain 10 July – 31 October 1940 United Kingdom (airspace)    Germany
 Italy
Victory
North African Campaign
10 June 1940 – 13 May 1943 North Africa  United Kingdom
 Canada
 Australia
 New Zealand
 South Africa
 Southern Rhodesia
 India
 United States
Poland Poland
Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia
 Free France
 Greece
 Italy
 Germany
 Vichy France
Victory
Battle of Tobruk 10 April – 27 November 1941 Libya  Australia
Poland Poland
Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia
 United Kingdom
 India
 Germany
 Italy
Victory
Sinking of the Bismarck
26–27 May 1941 Atlantic Ocean  United Kingdom
Poland Poland
 Germany Victory
Operation Crusader 18 November – 30 December 1941 Libya  United Kingdom
 India
 Australia
 New Zealand
 South Africa
Poland Poland
Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia
 Germany
 Italy
Victory
Dieppe Raid 19 August 1942 France  Canada
 United Kingdom
 United States
 Free France
Poland Poland
 Germany Defeat
Italian Campaign
10 July 1943 – 2 May 1945 Italy  
Italian Co-Belligerent Army (from September 1943)
Italian Resistance
 Germany
 Italy (until September 1943)
 Italian Social Republic (from September 1943)
Victory
Battle of Monte Cassino 17 January – 18 May 1944 Italy  
Italian Co-Belligerent Army
 Germany
 Italian Social Republic
Victory
Normandy Landings
6 June 1944 France  
Luxembourg
 Germany Victory
Invasion of Normandy
6 June – 30 August 1944 France  
Luxembourg
 Germany Victory
Battle of Ancona 16 June – 18 July 1944 Italy Poland Poland
 United Kingdom
 Germany Victory
Operation Totalize 8–9 August 1944 France  Canada
Poland Poland
 United Kingdom
 Germany Victory
Battle of Falaise
12–21 August 1944 France  United Kingdom
 United States
 Canada
Poland Poland
 Free France
 Germany Victory
Operation Tractable 14–21 August 1944 France  Canada
Poland Poland
 United Kingdom
 Germany Victory
Siegfried Line Campaign
25 August 1944 – 7 March 1945 France/Germany  
France
 Germany Victory
Hill 262 12–21 August 1944 France Poland Poland  Germany Victory
Operation Market Garden 17–25 September 1944 Netherlands/Germany  United Kingdom
 United States
 Canada
Poland Poland
Netherlands Dutch resistance
 Germany Defeat
Battle of Arnhem 17–26 September 1944 Netherlands  United Kingdom
Poland Poland
 Germany Defeat
Battle of the Scheldt 2 October – 8 November 1944 Belgium/Netherlands    Germany Victory
Gothic Line late August 1944 – early March 1945 Italy  United Kingdom
 United States
 Canada
Poland Poland
 India
 New Zealand
 South Africa
Brazil Brazil
Greece Greece
Italian Resistance
 Germany Indecisive
Western Allied invasion of Germany 22 March – 8 May 1945 Germany    Germany
Kingdom of Hungary (1920–1946) Hungary
Victory
Spring 1945 offensive in Italy 6 April – 2 May 1945 Italy  United States
 United Kingdom
Poland Poland
 Italian Social Republic
Brazil Brazil
 India
 New Zealand
 South Africa
 Germany
 Italian Social Republic
Victory
Battle of Bologna 9–21 April 1945 Italy Poland Poland
 United Kingdom
 United States
 Italian Social Republic
Brazil Brazil
 Germany Victory
Armed Forces in the East (1943–1945)
Battle of Lenino 12–13 October 1943 Soviet Union (Belarus)  Soviet Union
Poland Poland
 Germany Indecisive
Operation Bagration 22 June – 19 August 1944 Soviet Union/Poland  Soviet Union
Poland Poland
 Germany Victory
Lvov–Sandomierz Offensive
13 July – 29 August 1944 Ukraine/Poland  Soviet Union
 Polish Underground State
 Germany
Kingdom of Hungary (1920–1946) Hungary
Victory
Lublin-Brest Offensive
18 July – 2 August 1944 Belarus/Poland  Soviet Union
Poland Poland
 Germany
 Romania
Victory
Battle of Studzianki 9–16 August 1944 Poland  Soviet Union
Poland Poland
 Germany Victory
Vistula-Oder Offensive
12 January – 2 February 1945 Poland  Soviet Union
Poland Poland
 Germany Victory
Battle of Poznań 24 January – 23 February 1945 Poland  Soviet Union
Poland Poland
 Germany
Kingdom of Hungary (1920–1946) Hungary
Victory
East Pomeranian Offensive
24 February – 4 April 1945 Poland/Germany  Soviet Union
Poland Poland
 Germany Victory
Battle of Kolberg 4–18 March 1945 Germany  Soviet Union
Poland Poland
 Germany Victory
Battle of Berlin 16 April – 2 May 1945 Germany  Soviet Union
Poland Poland
 Germany Victory
Battle of the Seelow Heights 16–19 April 1945 Germany  Soviet Union
Poland Poland
 Germany Victory
Battle of Bautzen 21–30 April 1945 Germany  Soviet Union
Poland Poland
 Germany Indecisive
Prague Offensive
6 – 11 May 1945 Czechoslovakia    Germany
Kingdom of Hungary (1920–1946) Hungary
 Slovakia
Victory
Underground actions (1939–1945)
Detached Unit of the Polish Army (Hubal's partisans) October 1939 – 30 April 1940 Poland Poland Polish resistance  Germany Defeat
Czortków uprising 21–22 January 1940 Poland Poland Anti-Soviet Polish students  Soviet Union Defeat
Polish resistance in France 1940–1944 France Free France French Resistance
Polish Underground State Polish resistance
 Germany Victory
Zamość uprising December 1942 – mid-1944 Poland  Polish Underground State
supported by
Soviet Union Soviet partisans
 Germany Victory
Operacja Główki
1943–1944 Poland Polish Underground State  Germany Partial success
Warsaw Ghetto Uprising 19 April – 16 May 1943 Poland
People's Guard
 Germany Defeat
Operation Belt 20–21 August 1943 Poland  Polish Underground State  Germany Victory
Operation Chain late November 1943 Poland  Polish Underground State  Germany Victory
Operation Tempest January–October 1944 Poland  Polish Underground State  Germany Partial success
Battle of Murowana Oszmianka 13–14 May 1944 Poland/Belarus  Polish Underground State Lithuania Lithuanian Territorial Defense Force Victory
Battle of Porytowe Wzgórze 14–15 June 1944 Poland  Polish Underground State
Soviet Union Soviet partisans
 Germany Victory
Battle of Osuchy 25–26 June 1944 Poland  Polish Underground State  Germany Defeat
Operation Ostra Brama 7 – 15 July 1944 Poland/Lithuania  Polish Underground State
 Soviet Union
 Germany Tactical victory
Lwów Uprising 23–27 July 1944 Poland/Ukraine  Polish Underground State  Germany Victory
Warsaw Uprising 1 August – 2 October 1944 Poland  
Polish Army in the East
aerial supply only
 United Kingdom
 United States
 South Africa
limited aid
 Germany Defeat
Battle of Kuryłówka 7 May 1945 Poland  Polish Underground State  Soviet Union Victory
Attack on the NKVD Camp in Rembertów 21 May 1945 Poland  Polish Underground State  Soviet Union Victory
Augustów roundup 20–25 July 1945 Poland  Polish Underground State  
Communist Poland
Defeat

Technology

360 degree tank periscope of Polish inventor Rudolf Gundlach was first used in Polish 7TP tank.
Polish mine detector of Józef Kosacki being used close to a Universal Carrier that has been destroyed by a mine, Tilly-sur-Seulles, France (June 1944)

Weapons

Polish engineers who escaped German-occupied Poland contributed to weapon developments during the war. A Polish/Czech/British team brought the 20 mm Polsten to fruition as a simpler and cheaper to produce but as effective derivative of the 20 mm Oerlikon gun.

The Polish Home Army was probably the only World War II resistance movement to manufacture large quantities of weaponry and munitions. In addition to production of pre-war designs they developed and produced during the war the

hand grenades. During the Warsaw Uprising Polish engineers built several armoured cars, such as the Kubuś
, which also took part in the fighting. The KIS was designed and made in the Jan Piwnik's "Ponury" ("Grim") guerrilla unit that was operating in Holy Cross Mountains region. It was probably the only kind of modern firearm that could be manufactured in the forest without the need for sophisticated tools and factory equipment during the Second World War.[citation needed]

See also

Notes

a

M. K. Dziewanowski has noted that "if Polish forces fighting in the east and west were added to the resistance fighters, Poland had the fourth largest Allied army in the war (after the USSR, the U.S. and Britain)".[72]

b

Yugoslav partisans were roughly similar to those of the Polish and Soviet partisans in the first years of the war (1941–1942), but grew rapidly in the latter years, outnumbering the Polish and Soviet partisans by 2:1 or more (estimates give Yugoslavian forces about 800,000 in 1945, to Polish and Soviet forces of 400,000 in 1944).[77][78]

References

  1. . Poland had the fourth largest Allied army in the war (after the USSR , the U.S. , and Britain)
  2. ISBN 978-1-317-79951-1. Inside Poland there were large resistance forces, the Polish Home Army (AK) being the fourth largest fighting force on the allied side, ranking behind the Soviet, American and British but before the French.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link
    )
  3. . ... the Polish Army made up the fourth largest fighting force among all Allied ...
  4. . ... veterans of the Polish army, air force, and navy—in total the fourth largest manpower contribution to the Allied war ...
  5. . ...making it the fourth largest of the allied armies after the Soviet, American, ...
  6. . .. Polish forces constituted the fourth largest Allied army ..
  7. . ..it was then the fourth largest allied army in Europe (after the Soviet, U.S., and British armies).
  8. .
  9. ^ Gasior, Mariusz. "The Polish Pilots Who Flew In The Battle Of Britain". Imperial War Museum.
  10. ^ "The Avalon Project : Nazi-Soviet Relations 1939–1941". Yale.edu. Archived from the original on 2009-11-07. Retrieved 2009-10-23.
  11. .
  12. ^ Richard Lukas, Forgotten Holocaust, 2d rev. ed. Hippocrene Books, 2005, Chapters V and VI. Also see Richard Lukas, Did the Children Cry? Hippocrene Books, 1994, Chapter VI.
  13. ^ "Righteous Among the Nations – per Country & Ethnic Origin January 1, 2008".
  14. ^ "Yad Vashem actual statistic by country".
  15. ^ “Righteous Among the Nations” by country at Jewish Virtual Library
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Bibliography

Further reading

  • Kinloch, Nicholas. From the Soviet Gulag to Arnhem: A Polish Paratrooper's Epic Wartime Journey. Pen and Sword. 2023. ISBN

External links