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Przysposobienie Wojskowe Kobiet (Female Military Training) was a Polish organization for women, which existed in the interbellum period as well as during World War II. This was not a paramilitary organisation. [1]
In the autumn of 1918 Poland regained national independence, which had been lost as a result of the Partitions of Poland. Soon afterwards, numerous conflicts with several neighbouring states started, and in many cases Polish women organized to actively participate in them, as auxiliaries to the Polish Army. The most famous example of such a unit was the Ochotnicza Legia Kobiet (Voluntary Legion of Women), created in late 1918 or early 1919 in Lwów, for which Poles fought with the Ukrainians. The first commandant of the Ochotnicza Legia Kobiet, Colonel Aleksandra Zagorska, lost her only son, 14-year-old Jerzy Bitschan, in this conflict. Poems and a song were written about him years later.
The Ochotnicza Legia Kobiet also actively participated in the Polish-Soviet War of 1919-1921, it had some 2 500 members and after the Peace of Riga it was dissolved, in 1923. But several women, with Maria Wittek as their leader, did not want to give up. They wanted equality, also concerning military service, which, in their opinion, should also be available to females.
Przysposobienie Wojskowe Kobiet was created in 1928 and its members were volunteers, women and girls over 15 who wanted to prepare themselves for future military service. Enjoying the support of the government and the army, the organization had several facilities, in which summer and winter camps took place. Many of the camps that were built and used by Przysposobienie Wojskowe Kobiet, are now popular places for vacationing - Garczyn by Kościerzyna in Pomerania, Istebna by the Olza River in Cieszyn Silesia, Charzykowo near Poznań, Spała by Tomaszów Mazowiecki, but also Koszewniki near Grodno, now located in Belarus.
During the Polish September Campaign, members of the organization distinguished themselves and the most famous personality associated with Przysposobienie Wojskowe Kobiet is undoubtedly Elżbieta Zawacka, whose activities helped the Polish Army Headquarters in London to give women of the organization the same rights and privileges as those enjoyed by male soldiers. Women actively took part in Home Army actions.
There were numerous women soldiers in the Warsaw Uprising. After its collapse, the Germans treated them as regular soldiers, according to the Geneva Convention. Unlike civilians from Warsaw, they were not sent to concentration camps such as Ravensbrück and Stutthof, but to special POW camps, operated by the Wehrmacht, mainly Stalag VI-C in Oberlangen and Oflag IX-C in Molsdorf. In the Stalag VI-C there were almost 2,000 women-soldiers, they were freed by the 1st Armoured Division (Poland) of General Stanisław Maczek. Oflag IX-C was freed by the Americans of the US Third Army led by General George S. Patton.
After the war, all Polish women-soldiers were gathered in Burg, Hessen, where they received English uniforms with a "Poland" sign on their sleeves.
Stefania Wojtulanis-Karpińska, pilot in Polish Air Force and British Air Transport Auxiliary in World War Two. [4]
In January 2017 the association "Ogólnopolska Grupa Rekonstrukcji Historycznej Przysposobienia Wojskowego Kobiet" was founded.
National Armed Forces was a Polish right-wing underground military organization of the National Democracy operating from 1942. During World War II, NSZ troops fought against Nazi Germany and communist partisans. There were also cases of fights with the Home Army.
Oflag VII-A Murnau was a German Army prisoner-of-war camp for Polish Army officers during World War II. It was located 2 km (1.2 mi) north of the Bavarian town of Murnau am Staffelsee.
In Germany, stalag was a term used for prisoner-of-war camps. Stalag is a contraction of "Stammlager", itself short for Kriegsgefangenen-Mannschaftsstammlager, literally "main camp for enlisted prisoners of war". Therefore, "stalag" technically means "main camp".
Major Wanda Gertz was a Polish woman of noble birth, who began her military career in the Polish Legion during World War I, dressed as a man, under the pseudonym of "Kazimierz 'Kazik' Żuchowicz". She subsequently served in the Ochotnicza Legia Kobiet of the Polish Armed Forces during the Polish–Soviet War. In the interwar period she became a reserve officer but faced discrimination and was stripped of her officer rank. She worked closely with Marshal Piłsudski and remained an activist in the cause of women in the military.
The Jaworzno concentration camp was a concentration camp in WW2 German-occupied Poland and later in Communist Poland. It was first established by the Nazis in 1943 during the Second World War and was later used from 1945 to 1956 by the Soviet NKVD and then by the Ministry of Public Security and other agencies of the Polish communist regime. Today the site is an apartment complex and also houses a memorial to the camp's victims.
Elżbieta Zawacka, known also by her war-time nom de guerre Zo, was a Polish university professor, scouting instructor, SOE agent and a freedom fighter during World War II. She was promoted to brigadier general of the Polish Army by President Lech Kaczyński on 3 May 2006. Sometimes called "the only woman among the Cichociemni", she served as a courier for the Home Army, carrying letters and other documents from Nazi-occupied Poland to the Polish government in exile in London and back. Her regular route ran from Warsaw through Berlin and Sweden to London. She was also responsible for organizing routes for other couriers of the Home Army.
Oflag IX-C was a German prisoner-of-war camp for officers (Offizierlager) during World War II, located just to the south of the village of Molsdorf, near Erfurt in Thuringia.
Stalag VI-C was a World War II German POW camp located 6 km west of the village Oberlangen in Emsland in north-western Germany. It was originally built with five others in the same marshland area as a prison camp (Straflager) for Germans. From 1939 till 1945 the Oberlangen camp was a Prisoner of War camp.
Oflag 64 was a World War II German prisoner-of-war camp for officers located at Szubin a few miles south of Bydgoszcz, in Pomorze, Poland, which at that time was occupied by Nazi Germany. It was probably the only German POW camp set up exclusively for U.S. Army ground component officers. At most other camps there were several nationalities, although they were usually separated into national compounds.
Oflag XXI-B and Stalag XXI-B were World War II German prisoner-of-war camps for officers and enlisted men, located at Szubin a few miles southwest of Bydgoszcz, Poland, which at that time was occupied by Nazi Germany.
Maria Wittek served in the Polish Army and associated organizations from age 18 and, following retirement, in 1991 became the first Polish woman to be promoted to brigadier-general.
Voluntary Legion of Women was a voluntary Polish paramilitary organization, created by women in Lviv in late 1918. At that time possession of the city was contested by the Poles and Ukrainians, and women decided to assist the Polish soldiers in all possible ways, including fighting on the front line.
Jadwiga Piłsudska-Jaraczewska was a Polish pilot, who served in the Air Transport Auxiliary during the Second World War. She was one of two daughters of Józef Piłsudski.
Aleksander Kawałkowski (1899–1965) was a Polish soldier and diplomat. He joined the Polish armed forces in 1915, and then the recreated Polish Army in 1918. During the time of the Second Polish Republic, he was a lecturer in the Oficerska Szkoła Inżynieryjna military academy, a member of the Wojskowe Biuro Historyczne, and a member of the Ministry of Religion and Education. From 1934 to 1936 he was a Polish military attaché in Paris and then became Polish consul general in Lille, France. After the fall of France during the Nazi invasion, he was active in the Polish underground in France during World War II. After the liberation of Paris in 1944, he joined the Polish government in exile at the rank of minister.
Lt. Col. Aleksandra Zagórska, firstly, Bitschan, secondly, Zagórska, aka Aleksandra Bednarz – was a lieutenant colonel in the Polish Armed Forces, a soldier in the Legions, organizer and commandant of the Voluntary Legion of Women and an independence activist.
Halszka Wasilewska, sometimes called Halina,, WW2 nom-de-guerre Krystyna, was one of the first women to attain the rank of Major in the Polish Armed Forces. She was a Legionnaire in the First World War and the subsequent Polish-Soviet War in 1920. She participated in the battle for Lwów and in the Polish-Ukrainian War. As an officer, she had special responsibility for training in the women's Polish Armed Forces during the interbellum. With the outbreak of the Second World War, she directed training for the women in the Polish Underground Army. She was captured and tortured by the Nazis and held in Ravensbrück concentration camp for two years. After liberation she rose to the rank of Major of the Women's forces in General Maczek's 1st Armoured Division in post-war Germany. She was the elder sister of the communist activist Wanda Wasilewska, who has overshadowed her in history.
Nazi Germany operated around 1,000 prisoner-of-war camps during World War II (1939-1945).
Maria Cetys was a participant in the Warsaw Uprising, liaison officer of the "Kryska" grouping of the Home Army. Previously, she worked as a tax clerk. She was also an instructor of the Przysposobienie Wojskowe Kobiet.
Stefania Cecylia Wojtulanis-Karpińska, was a Polish aviator. She was a sports pilot in the inter war period and was a Captain in the Polish Air Force. She flew in the British Air Transport Auxiliary during the Second World War, when she was known as Barbara Wojtulanis. She was one of the first two Polish woman pilots to join the British Air Transport Auxiliary, the other being Anna Leska.
Anna Leska was a Polish pilot certified to fly gliders, balloons and aeroplanes. She was one of the two first Polish woman pilots to join the British Air Transport Auxiliary, the other being Stefania Wojtulanis-Karpińska.
