Anders' Army

Anders' Armywas the informal yet common name of thePolish Armed Forces in the Eastin the 1941–42 period, in recognition of its commanderWładysław Anders.The army was created in theSoviet Unionbut, in March 1942, based on an understanding between the British, Polish, and Soviets, it was evacuated from the Soviet Union and made its way throughIrantoPalestine.There it passed under British command and provided the bulk of the units and troops of thePolish II Corps(member of thePolish Armed Forces in the West), which fought in theItalian Campaign.Anders' Army is notable for having been primarily composed of liberated POWs and forWojtek,a bear who had honorary membership.

Establishment in the Soviet Union

At the start of theSoviet invasion of Poland(17 September 1939), the Soviets declared that thePolish state,previouslyinvaded by Axis forceson 1 September 1939, no longer existed, effectively breaking offPolish–Soviet relations.^[1]Soviet authorities deported about 325,000 Polish citizens fromSoviet-occupied Polandto the Soviet Union in 1940–41.^[2]Due to British mediation and pressure, the Soviet Union and thePolish government-in-exile(then based in London) re-established Polish–Soviet diplomatic relations in July 1941 after theGerman invasion of the Soviet Unionstarted on 22 June 1941. TheSikorski–Mayski agreementof 30 July 1941 resulted in the Soviet Union agreeing to invalidate the territorial aspects of the pacts it had had withNazi Germanyand to release tens of thousands of Polishprisoners-of-warheld in Soviet camps. Pursuant to the agreement between thePolish government-in-exileand the Soviet Union, the Soviets granted "amnesty"to many Polish citizens, from whom a military force was formed. A Polish–Soviet military agreement was signed on 14 August 1941; it attempted to specify the political and operational conditions for the functioning of the Polish army on Soviet soil. Stalin agreed that this force would be subordinate to the Polish government-in-exile, while operationally being a part of the Soviet-GermanEastern Front.^[3]

On 4 August 1941 the Polish prime minister and commander-in-chief, GeneralWładysław Sikorski,nominated General Władysław Anders, just released from theLubyankaprison inMoscow,as commander of the army. GeneralMichał Tokarzewskibegan the task of forming the army in the Soviet village ofTotskoyeinOrenburg Oblaston 17 August. Anders announced his appointment and issued his first orders on 22 August.

Officers of the Polish and Soviet armies during exercises in the winter of 1941.Władysław Andersis sitting on the right.

The formation began organizing in theBuzulukarea, and recruitment began in theNKVDcamps among PolishPOWs.By the end of 1941 the new Polish force had recruited 25,000 soldiers (including 1,000 officers), forming three infantry divisions:5th,6thand7th.Menachem Begin(the future leader of the anti-British resistance groupIrgun,prime minister ofIsraelandNobel Peace Prizewinner) was among those who joined. In the spring of 1942 the organizing center moved to the area ofTashkentinUzbekistanand the8thdivision was also formed.

The recruitment process met obstacles. Significant numbers of Polish officers were missing as a result of theKatyn massacre(1940), unknown at that time to the Poles. The Soviets did not want citizens of theSecond Polish Republicwho were not ethnic Poles (such as Jews, Belarusians, Lithuanians and Ukrainians) to be eligible for recruitment. The newly established military units did not receive properlogisticalsupport or supplies. Some administrators of Soviet camps holding the Poles interfered with the already authorized release of their Polish inmates.^{[citation needed]}

The Soviets, coping with the deteriorating war situation, were unable to provide adequate food rations for the growing Polish army, which was sharing its limited provisions with the also growing group ofPolish civilian deportees.^[4]After theAnglo-Soviet invasion of Iran(August–September 1941), Stalin agreed on 18 March 1942 to evacuate part of the Polish formation as a military force toIran,and the soldiers transferred across theCaspian SeafromKrasnovodskto the port ofPahlaviin Iran. Eventually all the soldiers and civilians gathered were allowed to leave the Soviet Union and to enter British-controlled territories.

Under British command

More military personnel and civilians were transferred later that summer, up to the end of August, by ship and by an overland route fromAshgabat,Turkmenistanto the railhead inMashhad,Iran. Thousands of former Polish prisoners walked from the southern border of the Soviet Union to Iran. Many died in the process due to cold weather, hunger, and exhaustion. About 79,000 soldiers and 37,000 civilians – Polish citizens – left the Soviet Union.^[5]

Anders' Army was transferred to the operational control of the British government, as part of the BritishMiddle East Command.The unit travelled through Iran,IraqandPalestine,where many of its soldiers joined thePolish Second Corps,a part of thePolish Armed Forces in the West.With the corps, troops from Anders' Army fought in theItalian Campaign,including theBattle of Monte Cassino.Their contribution is commemorated in Poland in names of streets and other places.

Jewish soldiers and civilians

When Anders' Army left the Soviet Union on its journey towards the Middle East, families of the soldiers and groups of Jewish children, war orphans, joined the Jewish soldiers. After arriving inTehran,Iran, the children were transferred into the hands of the emissaries who brought them to Palestine. Central in obtaining permission for Jewish groups to cross the Iraqi border – permission that had initially been denied – were individuals likePolish Red Crossworker Halina Dmochowska, and prayers were later said for her in various synagogues in Palestine.

When Anders' Army reached Palestine, of its over 4,000 Jewish soldiers, 3,000 left the army.^[6]

Of the Jewish officers and men in Anders' Army who fought in the Italian campaign, 28 were killed and 62 were wounded. 136 of Anders' Jewish soldiers were decorated, including 6 Jews who received the Order of the "Virtuti Militari",the highest Polish Military Decoration for Gallantry.^[7]In Italy, Jewish and ethnic Polish soldiers of Anders' Army fought alongside Jewish soldiers in British units, including theJewish Brigadeof theBritish Eighth Army.^[8]^{[better source needed]}

In 2006, a memorial to Anders' Army was erected in the Catholic cemetery onMount ZioninJerusalem.^[9]^{[better source needed]}

Notable veterans of Anders' Army

Wojtek(1942–1963), bear
Menachem Begin(1913–1992), sixth prime minister ofIsrael(1977–1983)
Julian J. Bussgang(1925-2023), mathematician, author of theBussgang theorem
Józef Czapski(1896-1993), Polish officer, painter, author, delegated by Anders to investigate the 1940 disappearance of Polish officers in what became known as theKatyn massacre
Moszek "Monty" Kuper (1920-2011), Texas real estate developer, philanthropist, humanitarian
Alexander Nadson(1926–2015), post-war Belarusian religious leader and Apostolic Visitor for the BelarusianGreek-Catholicfaithful abroad
Stanisław Nicewicz(1916–2021), Polish officer of the 11 Szwadron Żandarmerii and carpenter.
Nikodem Sulik(1893–1954), Polish WWII general
Stanisław Szostak(1898–1961), Polish officer
Leonid Teliga(1917–1970), Polish sailor and writer, the first Pole to single-handedly circumnavigate the globe
Vincent Zhuk-Hryshkevich(1903—1989),Belarusianemigre politician, president-in-exile (1971—1982)
George Chlystek(born 1923), Polish Corporal, fought at El Alamein, Tobruk and Monte Cassino
Alf Krauzowicz of Dobrzanica, Tarnopol(1924-1977), Polish Private, fought at Monte Cassino, Ancona, Bologna and more

References

^See telegrams:No. 317 of September 10 Archived2009-11-07 at theWayback Machine:Schulenburg, the German ambassador in the Soviet Union, to the German Foreign Office. Moscow, September 10, 1939–9:40 p.m.;No. 371 of September 16 Archived2007-04-30 at theWayback Machine;No. 372 of September 17 Archived2007-04-30 at theWayback MachineSource: The Avalon Project at Yale Law School. Last accessed on 14 November 2006;(in Polish)1939 wrzesień 17, Moskwa Nota rządu sowieckiego nie przyjęta przez ambasadora Wacława Grzybowskiego(Note of the Soviet government to the Polish government on 17 September 1939 refused by Polish ambassador Wacław Grzybowski). Last accessed on 15 November 2006.
^Brzoza, Czesław; Sowa, Andrzej Leon (2009).Historia Polski 1918–1945[History of Poland: 1918–1945] (in Polish). Kraków:Wydawnictwo Literackie.p. 695.ISBN 9788308041253.
^Halik Kochanski(2012). The Eagle Unbowed: Poland and the Poles in the Second World War, pp. 163–173. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.ISBN 978-0-674-06814-8.
^Anders, Lt.-General Wladyslaw. An Army in Exile. MacMillan & Co. Ltd, 1949, pp. 98–100.
^Czesław Brzoza, Andrzej Leon Sowa,Historia Polski 1918–1945[History of Poland: 1918–1945], p. 531.
^Halik Kochanski (2012). The Eagle Unbowed: Poland and the Poles in the Second World War, pp. 197–198.
^"Museum of the Jewish Soldier in WW2".
^United States Holocaust Memorial Museum."Jewish Brigade Group".United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.Retrieved8 July2018.
^"The Saga Of The Polish Anders Army: SHELDON KIRSHNER".Retrieved2019-10-07.

External links

Artists in Arms: Arts & Culture on the Trail of Anders' Army, 1941–1945,extended multimedia guide from Culture.pl

[SCHULENBURG-1] See telegrams:No. 317 of September 10 Archived2009-11-07 at theWayback Machine:Schulenburg, the German ambassador in the Soviet Union, to the German Foreign Office. Moscow, September 10, 1939–9:40 p.m.;No. 371 of September 16 Archived2007-04-30 at theWayback Machine;No. 372 of September 17 Archived2007-04-30 at theWayback MachineSource: The Avalon Project at Yale Law School. Last accessed on 14 November 2006;(in Polish)1939 wrzesień 17, Moskwa Nota rządu sowieckiego nie przyjęta przez ambasadora Wacława Grzybowskiego(Note of the Soviet government to the Polish government on 17 September 1939 refused by Polish ambassador Wacław Grzybowski). Last accessed on 15 November 2006.

[Brzoza_Sowa_Historia_Polski_1918–1945_695-2] Brzoza, Czesław; Sowa, Andrzej Leon (2009).Historia Polski 1918–1945[History of Poland: 1918–1945] (in Polish). Kraków:Wydawnictwo Literackie.p. 695.ISBN 9788308041253.

[Kochanski_163–173-3] Halik Kochanski(2012). The Eagle Unbowed: Poland and the Poles in the Second World War, pp. 163–173. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.ISBN 978-0-674-06814-8.

[4] Anders, Lt.-General Wladyslaw. An Army in Exile. MacMillan & Co. Ltd, 1949, pp. 98–100.

[Brzoza_Sowa_Historia_Polski_1918–1945_531-5] Czesław Brzoza, Andrzej Leon Sowa,Historia Polski 1918–1945[History of Poland: 1918–1945], p. 531.

[Kochanski_197–198-6] Halik Kochanski (2012). The Eagle Unbowed: Poland and the Poles in the Second World War, pp. 197–198.

[7] "Museum of the Jewish Soldier in WW2".

[8] United States Holocaust Memorial Museum."Jewish Brigade Group".United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.Retrieved8 July2018.

[9] "The Saga Of The Polish Anders Army: SHELDON KIRSHNER".Retrieved2019-10-07.

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