Polish reenactors dressed as pro-west Polish troops
The Polish Armed Forces in the West were military formations of Polish troops loyal to Poland's government-in-exile (the Polish Underground State) during World War II. The Polish troops of the western forces were trained in France in 1940 and from 4 June 1940 to July 1945 they were trained from London in the United Kingdom. Exiled Polish troops in the Soviet Union split in two: they either joined the western forces or became members of communist rebel groups allied to the Soviet Union. The Polish Armed Forces in the West's wing back in Poland, the Polish Home Army, were forsaken by the USSR in 1944 and crushed in the Warsaw Uprising, while the Soviets at times fought with their forces. The Polish government-in-exile's forces were forced to remain in exile until the fall of communism in 1990, when they were allowed to return to a free Poland without being arrested.
History[]
On 1 September 1939, the Chancellor of Nazi Germany Adolf Hitler launched an invasion of Poland with over 3,000,000 German troops. The country was overrun within a month with assistance from the Red Army of the Soviet Union, and many Polish soldiers were captured by the Soviets while retreating east and were sent to gulags, where many of them died. 14,210 escaped from occupied Poland and fled to France, where they were organized in military formations to fight against the Germans as World War II became a global war. The Polish were forced to retreat across the English Channel in June 1940 when Germany took over France, and they moved into the United Kingdom, where they were joined by the similar "Free French" forces of Charles De Gaulle. Wladyslaw Sikorski was the commander of the Polish Armed Forces in the West, and Wladyslaw Anders took command of their soldiers themselves. The Polish were bolstered by Soviet-held prisoners-of-war after Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union on 21 June 1941, and liberated POWs were also recruited. At their height, the Polish Armed Forces in the West were composed of 89,300 (35.8%) Wehrmacht draft deserters from Poland, 83,000 (33.7%) USSR evacuees from 1942, 35,000 (14%) evacuees from France in 1940, 21,750 (8.7%) liberated POWs, 14,210 (5.7%) escapees from occupied Europe, 7,000 (2.8%) recruits from liberated France, 2,290 (.9%) from Argentina, Canada, and Brazil, and 1,780 (.7%) from the United Kingdom.
The Polish Armed Forces in the West were untested in battle until 1944, when the invasion of Europe began. The Polish forces took part in the invasion of Italy, led by Anders, who replaced Sikorski after his death in an air crash. Anders' Polish forces fought with distinction in the Battle of Monte Cassino in January-May 1944, where they distinguished themselves in two assaults on the German defenses at the old Benedictine abbey on the top of the mountain. In the second attack, after months of bloody attacks that failed, the Polish were able to inflict significant losses on the Germans, and they took over the abbey. The Polish raised their flag over the mountain, a symbol of bravery to Poland's people. The anthem "The Red Poppies on Monte Cassino" by Feliks Konarski was written about the battle, and it became one of the most famous Polish anthems.
Polish forces also distinguished themselves in the campaign in Normandy in northern France in June-August 1944. The Polish 1st Armored Division assisted the advance of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders of Canada during the campaign against the Falaise Gap, and they took part in many tank battles in the French countryside around Caen and Falaise. The Poles won the Battle of St. Aigan-de-Cramesnil on 8 August 1944 against the German tank ace Michael Wittmann's German tanks and infantry, and later captured Vimoutiers to the northeast of the town of Chambois, where by 18 August 1944 the Germans had withdrawn. The Poles were successful in capturing Hill 262 from Walther Model's German forces, but on 20 August 1944 they were forced to fight a bloody defensive battle in which they were forced to the summit of the mountain with little ammunition and men left. Just then, Canadian reinforcements arrived and the Allies succeeded in defeating the German attack. The Polish forces under Stanislaw Maczek moved in to Chambois to seal off the German escape routes, and they were able to close the gap.
After the Normandy campaign, the Polish continued their advance. But at the same time as their involvement in France, trouble brewed back in Poland. From 1 August to 2 October, 49,000 troops of the Polish Home Army (the armed wing of the Polish Underground State) were up in arms against the 25,000-strong garrison of the capital of Warsaw under Rainer Stahel. The Red Army of the Soviet Union was rapidly advancing on Warsaw, but Josef Stalin ordered his army to halt and allow the destruction of the pro-West Polish forces. Stalin saw the PAFW as obstacles to his takeover of Poland with his communist rebels, so he withdrew his forces and allowed the Germans to stop the revolt, despite efforts from the RAF, USAF, and SAAF to help the rebels. Poland was occupied by the Soviets and became a communist republic after the end of the war.
On 29 October 1944, the Poles on the Western Front liberated the city of Breda in the Netherlands after taking part in a push through Belgium with the British and Canadians, gaining fame after it was reported that no civilians were killed, and after the civilians greeted the Polish enthusiastically. The Polish assisted the Canadians and British in the final push through the Netherlands and ended the war on 6 May 1945 in the port of Wilhelmshaven, where they accepted the surrender of the German Kriegsmarine fleet there.
After the end of World War II in Europe on 12 May 1945, the PAFW were still hoping to recapture their homes from the communists. They were involved in the plans for Operation Unthinkable, the plan to attack the Soviet Union's lands in eastern Europe and restore democracy there. However, the operation was never carried out and the Polish Armed Forces in the West were declared traitors by the communist government. Many Poles, including Anders, died in exile in the West, never to see their homeland again. In 1990, the last survivors of the army were able to return home to Poland when communism fell in Eastern Europe and Poland became free and democratic.