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THE POLISH MILITARY CENTER AT LANGWASSER NEAR NUREMBERG (1945-1946) (Polski Osrodek Wojskowy Langwasser pod Norymberga (1945-1946))

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Brzoza C.

Studia Historyczne

2010

vol. 53

issue 2(210)

201-220

This article deals with the history of the largest Polish POW camp for NCOs and privates in the part of Germany that was occupied after the end of the war by the American 3rd Army. The camp was set up in the spring of 1945 and its population peaked at c. 5,000 Polish servicemen. Initially the Polish side hoped that the men gathered there would beef up the Polish Armed Forces in the West. However, due to Britain's opposition to those plans no more than c. 800 former POWs made it to the Polish 2nd Corps in Italy. The rest were faced with an alternative - returning to Poland or staying on and finding work in Germany. While only c. 20% of the camp residents chose to go back to Poland, the great majority (c. 3,000) joined the US Labor Service to work as guards at American military installations or German POW camps. After the recruitment phase came to an end, the Americans closed the Langwasser base and sent off the remaining Polish residents to various civilian DP centres in Germany. This article is based on reports and memos written by the HQ of the Polish Military Centre at Langwasser and the Polish Military Mission in Germany as well as assorted information published by the Langwasser camp weekly 'Pismo Zolnierza'. The author consulted also the unpublished memoir of Józef Weisbach, educational officer at Langwasser. All those sources are available at the Polish Institute and Sikorski Museum in London and the Polish Library in London. This article, which deals with an attempted expansion of the Polish Armed Forces to the French Zone of Occupation in the aftermath of Germany's surrender in 1945, is based on data gathered from various sources in the collections of the Polish Institute and General Wladyslaw Sikorski Museum in London. Brief references to the idea of forming Polish military units in the south-western parts of Germany under French can be found primarily in reports and memos written by liaison officers of the Polish Military Mission in Germany.

POLISH MILITARY UNITS IN THE FRENCH ZONE OF OCCUPATION IN GERMANY (1945–1946) (Polskie oddzialy wojskowe we francuskiej strefie okupacyjnej Niemiec (1945-1946))

100%

Brzoza C.

Studia Historyczne

2009

vol. 52

issue 2(206)

139-158

This article, which deals with an attempted expansion of the Polish Armed Forces to the French Zone of Occupation in the aftermath of Germany's surrender in 1945, is based on data gathered from various sources in the collections of the Polish Institute and General Wladyslaw Sikorski Museum in London. Brief references to the idea of forming Polish military units in the south-western parts of Germany under French can be found primarily in reports and memos written by liaison officers of the Polish Military Mission in Germany. After the end of the war large numbers of Polish prisoners of war and labourers eligible for conscription still found themselves in Germany. The Polish government in London tried to tap these reserves of manpower to bolster the Polish Armed Forces in the West. New recruits were directed to the Polish 2nd Corps in Italy, but it was not long before the British command put the brakes on any expansion of the Polish forces. It was then that the Poles tried to find a place for the newly-formed units with the French army of occupation. By the end of 1945 three Polish battalions and a few smaller units were collaborating with the French. However, in 1946 a political decision made in Paris dashed all hopes of an agreement: members of the Polish units were ordered to remove all signs which declared their national origins or allegiance. As a result some Polish troops moved on to the American Zone and were incorporated into the Polish Auxiliary Guard Companies, some enlisted with Groupement des Auxilieres Étrangeres, organized by the French, and the rest sought employment in civilian DIP camps. The article also mentions the creation in the French Zone of Polish military units under the auspices of the Communist-led government in Warsaw. These were the only Polish units that returned to Poland from the West without having to give up their arms.

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THE POLISH MILITARY CENTER AT LANGWASSER NEAR NUREMBERG (1945-1946) (Polski Osrodek Wojskowy Langwasser pod Norymberga (1945-1946))

POLISH MILITARY UNITS IN THE FRENCH ZONE OF OCCUPATION IN GERMANY (1945–1946) (Polskie oddzialy wojskowe we francuskiej strefie okupacyjnej Niemiec (1945-1946))