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The European theatre of World War II opened with the German invasion of Poland on Friday September 1, 1939, which was then followed by the Soviet invasion of Poland on September 17, 1939. The Polish Army was defeated after approximately a month of fighting. Poland never officially capitulated. After Poland had been overrun, a government-in-exile, armed forces, and an intelligence service were established outside of Poland. These organizations contributed to the Allied effort throughout the war. The Polish Army was recreated in the West, as well as in the East.
A paratrooper is a military parachutist—someone trained to parachute into an operation, and usually functioning as part of an airborne force. Military parachutists (troops) and parachutes were first used on a large scale during World War II for troop distribution and transportation. Paratroopers are often used in surprise attacks, to seize strategic objectives such as airfields or bridges.
The Home Army was the dominant Polish resistance movement in Poland, occupied by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, during World War II. The Home Army was formed in February 1942 from the Związek Walki Zbrojnej. Over the next two years, it absorbed most other Polish underground forces. Its allegiance was to the Polish government-in-exile, and it constituted the armed wing of what became known as the "Polish Underground State".
Stanisław Franciszek Sosabowski CBE was a Polish general in World War II. He fought in the Battle of Arnhem (Netherlands) in 1944 as commander of the Polish 1st Independent Parachute Brigade.
The 1st (Polish) Independent Parachute Brigade was a parachute infantry brigade of the Polish Armed Forces in the West under the command of Major General Stanisław Sosabowski, created in September 1941 during the Second World War and based in Scotland.
Operation Tempest was a series of anti-Nazi uprisings conducted during World War II by the Polish Home Army, the dominant force in the Polish resistance.
"Gray Ranks" was a codename for the underground paramilitary Polish Scouting Association during World War II.
Lieutenant Bolesław Kontrym, also known by codenames Żmudzin, Biały, Bielski and Cichocki, was a Polish Army officer, a Home Army soldier, participant in the Warsaw Uprising and organizer of underground secret-police force Cichociemni. After the war, he was executed for anti-Communist activities by the Polish security apparatus probably on 2 or 20 January 1953.
The 1st Grenadier Division was a Polish infantry formation raised in France during the early stages of World War II. The division was created as a result of the Invasion of Poland as part of the Polish Army in France, and took part in the Battle of France in 1940.
The French Forces of the Interior refers to French resistance fighters in the later stages of World War II. Charles de Gaulle used it as a formal name for the resistance fighters. The change in designation of these groups to FFI occurred as France's status changed from that of an occupied nation to one of a nation being liberated by the Allied armies. As regions of France were liberated, the FFI were more formally organized into light infantry units and served as a valuable manpower addition to regular Free French forces. In this role, the FFI units manned less active areas of the front lines, allowing regular French army units to practice economy of force measures and mass their troops in decisive areas of the front. Finally, from October 1944 and with the greater part of France liberated, the FFI units were amalgamated into the French regular forces continuing the fight on the Western Front, thus ending the era of the French irregulars in World War II.
The Polish resistance movement in World War II, with the Polish Home Army at its forefront, was the largest underground resistance movement in all of occupied Europe, covering both German and Soviet zones of occupation. The Polish resistance is most notable for disrupting German supply lines to the Eastern Front, providing military intelligence to the British, and for saving more Jewish lives in the Holocaust than any other Western Allied organization or government. It was a part of the Polish Underground State.
The Polish Armed Forces in the West refers to the Polish military formations formed to fight alongside the Western Allies against Nazi Germany and its allies during World War II. Polish forces were also raised within Soviet territories; these were the Polish Armed Forces in the East.
The Polish 4th Infantry Division was created following Polish independence after the end of World War I. The division participated in the Polish-Ukrainian War in 1919. During World War II, the division existed as three wholly separate organizations, the original incarnation of the division as part of the prewar Polish Army, the second incarnation armed and equipped by the western Allies, and the final incarnation armed and equipped by the Soviet Union. The second and third incarnations of this division existed simultaneously from 1944 until 1947.
Narodowa Organizacja Wojskowa was one of the Polish resistance movements in World War II. Created in October 1939, it did not merge with the Service for Poland's Victory (SZP)/Union of Armed Struggle (ZWZ); later Home Army (AK). Nevertheless, it recognized the Polish government in exile, which was located in London. The National Military Organization was politically related to the National Party (SN). In 1942/1943 it split into two parts; one merged with the Home Army, while another formed the National Armed Forces (NSZ). After the Warsaw Uprising, most of NOW members formed the National Military Union (NZW).
Adolf Pilch was a Polish resistance fighter. He became part of the Polish special forces (cichociemni) trained in the United Kingdom, and was parachuted into occupied Poland on 17 February 1943. There, as a member of the Armia Krajowa Polish resistance, he organized a cavalry partisan unit in the Nowogródek area, and broke through to the Kampinos forest near Warsaw, taking control of this area. At its height of operations his unit consisted of up to 1000 men. Between 3 June 1943 and 17 January 1945 his partisans fought in 235 battles.
Poles in France form one of the largest Polish diaspora communities in Europe. About one million people of Polish descent live in France, concentrated in the Nord-Pas de Calais region, in the metropolitan area of Lille, the coal-mining basin around Lens and Valenciennes and in the Ile-de-France.
Edward Pomorski was the last Minister Plenipotentiary of the Polish Government-in-Exile, in Belgium from 11 December 1970 to 31 December 1988. He was Commander of the Polish Resistance P.O.W.N. in Belgium and the Netherlands (1940–1945).
Jan Józef Więckowski nom de guerre Drogosław was a Sub-Scout Master in the Polish Scouting Movement, a 2nd Lieutenant of the Home Army and a Captain of the Polish Armed Forces, Polish resistance member during the Warsaw Uprising, both Chief and Chief of Security for the Second Company Rudy of Battalion Zośka, and a 1951 graduate of international economics from Stetson University.
The Polska Organizacja Walki o Niepodległość, also known as the POWN, was a Polish resistance army during World War II, It was founded in the south of France by Aleksander Kawałkowski in 1941, and conducted intelligence activities and propaganda. It operated at first primarily in France, where it was the major component of the Polish resistance in France during World War II, where it was also known by the code name "Monika" or "Monica" It was called : Monique-bas in the free zone) and Monique-haut in the occupied zone.
Transportkorps Speer was created in 1944 from Legion Speer and the units of the National Socialist Motor Corps that was serving the Organisation Todt. Short after its creation it became subordinated to the Wehrmacht. Yet, its major mission remained in support of OT, which at this time was mainly engaged in rebuilding and repair of bomb damaged industrial facilities and housing complexes. Transportkorps Speer was organized in motor transportation battalions and regiments, supported by depot, repair, engineering, signal, and medical units.