Unit
History
On
September 17, 1939 the Red Army crossed the eastern border of
Poland
fulfilling Stalin's pact with Hitler to partition Poland. The Red Army
captured almost 60% of Poland's pre war territory including almost 1/3 of
Poland's pre war population. Almost 350,000 Polish soldiers ended up in Soviet
captivity. During the Soviet occupation of eastern Poland almost 1,000,000
Poles
(some estimates say 1,800,000) were deported to Russia. The Poles
were spread
out all over Russia in the infamous Gulags.
The Soviets were not enthusiastic about a
Polish London backed
army on its territory. So from the very beginning the
Soviets created
difficulties for the Polish authorities. After the Poles
refused to send any
unprepared divisions to the front, the Soviets cut the
food rations for the
polish army and the civilians who were with the army.
This forced the Poles to
begin a slow evacuation of these troops to Persia.
Stalin soon offered the
entire army to Britain and ended the existence of
the Polish Army on Soviet
soil, much to the dismay of the Polish
Government. By the summer of 1942 the
entire Polish army was evacuated to
the Middle East, later becoming the Polish
2nd Corps and distinguishing
itself throughout the Italian campaign.
Although this Polish Army left the Soviet Union, hundreds of
thousands of
other Polish laborers and prisoners who had never even heard about
this
polish army being organized remained in Soviet captivity. They were still
working in Soviet death factories and died by the thousands.
When the Germans discovered the mass
graves in Katyn they
announced to the world that the Soviets were
responsible for the murders. After
its own investigation the Polish
government in London reached the same
conclusion. Stalin used this
accusation as an excuse to break off all relations
with the exiled Polish
government. Soon after, he set up an organization of
Polish communists who
began work under NKVD supervision to organize a Polish
Army in the USSR. To
make things look legitimate the Polish communists even
asked Stalin for
permission to organize this army. On May 8, 1943 Stalin
"generously"
granted his permission. Soon after, the first Polish "volunteers"
were
gathered in a military camp in Sielce near Moscow. For the volunteers,
joining this new Polish Army was the only chance of escaping exile their exile
and returning to Poland. But from the very beginning it was clear that this
army
was created to fulfill Stalin's imperial ambitions.
Among the few professional officers who
survived the NKVD
massacres and the exodus of the Polish Army to Persia was
a pre war colonel
named Zygmunt Berling. He "volunteered" to take command
of the Polish Army in
the USSR. Unlike two years earlier, the Soviets
readily provided for the new
army. The 1st Division of the new army was
ready only two months after Stalin
first granted permission for its
formation. On July 15, 1943 its troops swore an
oath of allegiance. Soon
after, Stalin allowed the Poles to expand the Polish
army into a corps. By
September 1, 1943 the 1st Division was on its way to the
front line.
Although not ready, it continued training and readying for it's
baptism of
fire. In early October 1943 it was attached to the Soviet 33rd Army.
On
October 9, 1943 it replaced the Soviet 42nd Infantry Division. The Poles were
positioned against the heavily fortified positions of the German XXXIX
Panzer
Corps under general Martinek near Smolensk. The division was ordered
into battle
on October 12.
Battle of
Lenino
After a short artillery
bombardment the 1st Division went
forward and in two days of bloody
fighting in the Lenino area the Poles managed
to break through the German
lines, inflicting heavy casualties on the Germans.
However, the neighboring
Soviet divisions were repelled by the Germans leaving
the Polish
flanks exposed. On October 14th, faced
with the prospect of
being cut off and destroyed the Poles withdrew, giving
up all the territory they
had captured. For many years this battle was
portrayed in communist propaganda
as the biggest Polish victory since
middle ages. In fact, the battle of Lenino
was a meaningless slaughter of
Polish troops. For no gains whatsoever, the 1st
Division suffered 510
killed, 765 missing, 116 captured and 1776 wounded. The
division was
decimated!
Operations in the Area
of Lublin
After the Lenino
battle, the 1st Division was moved into reserve
and remained inactive until
the middle of 1944. In its next action it moved
along with the newly
created Polish 1st Army, crossing the Bug River and
reaching Lublin, first
major city in what was to become the new Poland after the
war. On July 26
units of the division triumphantly marched through the streets
of Lublin
and two days later reached the Wisla River (Vistual) taking up
defensive
positions on the eastern bank of the river between Deblin and Pulawy.
The
1st Division was responsible for the defense of 12 kilometers of the front
line. Only days after arriving, the division received orders to cross the river
and establish bridgeheads between Deblin and Pulawy. Rushed preparations,
poor
reconnaissance, lack of sufficient artillery, boats and other
equipment, inept
leadership (Gen. Swierczewski swam in the river in front
of the German positions
and wasn't shot at, so he assumed that the Germans
were not defending the river)
led to heavy loses during the attempted river
crossing. The division was to
reach combat readiness by July 31 and be
prepared for the assault on the morning
of August 1. Because of the lack of
the crossing equipment 1st Division was not
able to start the crossing as
scheduled, and watched helplessly as 2nd Division
unsuccessfully tried to
cross the river. Late in the day the 1st division
finally received some
boats and prepared to cross the river the following night.
At 2.10 in the
morning, the first elements of the 2nd infantry regiment reached
the
western bank of the river and successfully established a small bridgehead.
Unfortunately, the leading elements of the crossing company made too much noise
resulting in the second company coming under heavy fire, reaching the
western
bank with heavy casualties. The third company attempting to cross
the river was
decimated and never even reached the western bank. Realizing
the criticalness of
the situation the divisional commander ordered 3rd
regiment across the river.
Despite several attempts 3rd regiment could not
reach the west bank. At 3.10 in
the morning the divisional penal company
made a final attempt to cross the river
over the blown bridge but was
stopped by heavy German fire. By noon of August 2
it was all over most of
the soldiers who made it to the other bank of the river.
Most were either
killed or taken prisoners, with only a few swimming back to the
other bank.
Despite their initial failure, the neighboring 2nd Division managed
to
establish a bridgehead but they too were heavily counterattacked and forced
to abandon their bridgehead on August 5th. During the four days of the fight the
1st and 2nd divisions lost 1443 killed and missing. Heavy losses
considering
there were no gains whatsoever. However, they did tie down
significant German
forces in the area which allowed the Soviet 8th Guards
Army to establish a
bridgehead near Magnuszew.
Magnuszewo Bridgehead
After the failure of the
crossing the 1st Division along with
remainder of the 1st Army was moved
towards Magnuszewo (south of Warsaw) into
this new Soviet bridgehead.
Because of the heavy losses the 1st Division was
kept in the reserve.
However, by the middle of the August the Division took up
defensive
positions on the eastern bank of the river just north of the
bridgehead.
Once again the lack of reconnaissance and poor leadership lead to
bloody
and pointless fighting for a strategically unimportant island on the
Wisal
River. The entire 3rd battalion of the 2nd regiment was destroyed (the
battalion commander Maj. Rembeza as well as 3 company commanders were killed).
Fights for Rembeza Island exposed all the shortcomings of the divisional
and
regimental command as well as the poor coordination between the
infantry and
artillery. On several occasions divisional artillery bombarded
Polish troops on
the island causing more casualties than the Germans! By
September 6, 1st
Division was pulled back from the Maguneszewo bridgehead
and was sent towards
Warsaw. During the battle for Rembeza Island the
division lost approximately 500
men killed, wounded and sick.
Operations during the Warsaw
Uprising
On August 1st 1944
the Warsaw uprising began. The Soviets were
no more then 30 kilometers from
the eastern suburbs of Warsaw and the liberation
of the capital of Poland
was expected any day. Units of the Polish underground
-Home Army (Armia
Krajowa) fought alone bravely for 40 days against overwhelming
German
forces before any serious attempt was made by the Soviets to come to
their
aid. By the end of August Stalin decided to demonstrate that he was
willing
to help the insurgents. The 1st Infantry Division was pulled out of the
Magnuszewo bridgehead and was attached to the Soviet 47th Army, 125 Infantry
Corps and along with two Soviet divisions was ordered to liberate the
eastern
part of the Polish capital - Praga (not be confused with Czech's
capital). On
September 10th after a 90 minute artillery bombardment they
attacked the German
lines. After a day and night of heavy fighting the
Poles reached the line
Zielona-Wawer. The next day the attack continued and
the troops of the 1st
Division captured several villages. During the fight
a large group of Home Army
partisans joined the 1st Infantry Regiment and
continued to fight alongside them
through the liberation of Praga. The
following day the attack resumed but soon
stalled near Kozia Gorka. The
German defenses were based on a chain of bunkers
which proved very
difficult to break through. Gen Bewziuk (the divisional
commander) decided
to try and attack the German defenses without artillery and
tank support.
This was thrown back with heavy casualties. The assault groups
from the 3rd
battalion (under the command of Chorazy Kochan) made several
attempts to
break through the German lines but also failed with heavy losses.
Finally,
tanks arrived which were able to neutralize the German defenses. In the
late afternoon lead elements of the 1st infantry regiment entered Praga.
Fighting continued the remainder of the day and into the night. The next day
companies of the 1st regiment could muster no more than 30 to 40 men each!
On
September 13th/14th 1st and 2nd regiments reached the banks of the Wisla
river
near the destroyed "Kierbedz" bridge. The 3rd regiment was stopped by
heavy
German fire at the railroad bridge but by the morning of the 15th it
had cleared
its sector of German defenders and reached the banks of the
Wisla River too. On
the other side of the river thousands of insurgents
continued their fight
against the Germans. For the first time in the almost
6 weeks there was a real
opportunity to help the insurgents. During the
fighting for the liberation of
Praga the 1st Division had suffered 496
killed and almost 1300 wounded. After
over a week of heavy fighting the
troops of the 1st division were pulled back
into reserve and the majority
of the soldiers did not participate in the
unsuccessful attempts to cross
the Wisal River. Only one infantry company which
was attached to the 1st
Cavalry Brigade attempted to cross the Wisla. Although
1st Division did not
participate in the crossing of the river in full strength
it is worth
mentioning that during the crossing the Soviet officers sabotaged
the
crossing of the Polish troops. In several instances Soviet officers showed
up drunk or did not show at all! The Soviets pulled out from Warsaw all the
battle worthy infantry and tank units as well as all artillery. In all between
September 16-23 the Poles lost almost 5000 men killed, wounded and missing.
On
September 23 marshal Rokossowski ordered the entire army into defensive
positions and to await further instructions. Meanwhile the uprising in
Warsaw
continued until October 2 when the remaining insurgents capitulated.
1st
Division remained in the Warsaw area to train and refit until January
1945. For
a short time between October 10th and 28th the division was
engaged with Germans
north of Warsaw near Legionowo.
Capture of Warsaw
The last months of 1944 saw the
1st Division preparing for the
next huge offensive which was to take place
in January 1945. 1st Army was
station in front of Warsaw with the majority
of troops including 1st Division
being moved south of the capital. The
division, along with other troops was
supposed to move north towards Warsaw
cutting off the German garrison and
destroying any German resistance in the
city. Hitler had declared Warsaw a
"Festung" and the Polish command
therefore expected heavy fighting, not even
establishing a timetable for
the capture of the city. But then to everyone's
surprise the Germans pulled
out of Warsaw offering no resistance. It took 1st
division almost two days
to reach Warsaw with the first troops entering the city
two days after the
last German troops were driven out under pressure from the
6th and 2nd
divisions.
The 1945 Winter
Offensive
Shortly after entering
Warsaw the entire 1st army was moved
northwest towards Bydgoszcz, remaining
in 1st Byelorussian Front reserve under
Marshal Zukov. 1st Division reached
Bydgoszcz after a grueling two
week
winter march. On January 28, Zukov ordered the Polish
troops to cross the
pre-war Polish-German border to pursue the retreating
Germans.
Without any rest or refitting the
division was thrown into
action against the fortified line on the old
Polish German border. The so called
Pommern Stellung was a line of
fortification build in the 1930's by Germany to
defend Pommerania from a
possible Polish attack. By 1945 some of the
fortifications were obsolete
but with the addition of field works built in the
summer of 1944 they
proved to be a very difficult obstacle to cross. New army
commander gen.
Poplawski (after the disastrous river crossing in Warsaw in
September gen.
Berling was removed from command of the army and sent to Moscow
to attend a
military college) split the army into two assault groups with 1st
division
spearheading the right column of the army. Due to a severe shortage of
gasoline the army had to rely on horse drawn wagons for transport.
On the January 29, 1st Division crossed
the old Polish German
border at Sepolno-Krajewskie and Wiecbork. On the
night of January 29/30
soldiers of the 1st army captured the first German
prisoners and learned that in
front of the Polish troops lay a heavily
fortified line. Despite this
information gen. Poplawski did not think it
necessary to send any reconnaissance
groups to probe the German defenses.
Instead the army command just ordered the
tired and hungry troops forward,
resulting in unnecessary casualties. 1st
division advanced towards the
German line and by late afternoon the leading 3rd
infantry regiment arrived
at the Gwda River, crossing over at Grudna. However,
instead of continuing
the march towards Jastrowie, the 3rd regiment marched
toward Podgaje. The
initial attack on the village was repelled and 3rd
regiment's 4th company
was cut off and decimated after fierce fighting, all the
survivors being
taken prisoner. Gen. Bewziuk sent reinforcements and a fierce
battle raged
for three days. Finally on Fabruary 3rd the last German troops
pulled back
and Podgaje was taken.
Once again, poor
reconnaissance and leadership lead to
unnecessary loss of life. During the
3 days of the combat 1st division suffered
233 killed, 520 wounded and 58
missing. Also, on entering Podgaje, the soldiers
of the division found a
terrible sight. In an old barn, Germans of the 15th
Waffen SS Divison
burned alive 32 soldiers of the 4th company who were taken
prisoner 3 days
earlier.
For 3 days movement of the
entire northern column was halted.
After the bloody battle for Podgaje the
1st division was again pulled back into
army reserve. However the division
remained in reserve for only 3 days because
on the February 6th gen.
Poplawski ordered them to exploit the initial success
of the 4th Division
which broke through German line at Dobrzyce. Heavy fighting
continued as
the division moved forward, finally reaching Miroslawiec on
February 20th.
After taking Miroslawiec the entire army
was again put in
reserve and wasn't called into battle until March 1st when
the entire army was
used between the 1st and 2nd Byelorussian Fronts. The
first division along with
the army engaged in heavy fighting until finally
breaking the German front after
three days of attacks. Between March 5th
and 7th the 1st, 2nd and 4th divisions
participated in the liquidation of
the German cauldron south of Swidwina. During
this action Poles took
captured the commander of the 10th SS Corp, Gen. Leutn
Gunther von Krappe
and the commander of the "Barwalde" division Gen. Leutn
Wilhelm von Raithl.
By March 8th almost all of Western
Pommerania was captured and
cleared of German troops. On March 9th 1st
Division moved northeast together
with the remainder of the 1st army toward
Szczecin, reaching the Odra River by
late afternoon on March 10th. When the
1st Division without any serious
opposition advanced towards the Oder, the
rest of the 1st Army got involved in a
bloody battle for Kolobrzeg that
lasted for 11 days. For almost a month, between
March 10th and April 6th,
1st divison spent their time in defensive positions on
the Odra River,
receiving reinforcements and awaiting orders for the last
offensive in the
war.
The Berlin Operation
At 6:15 in the morning on April
16, 1945 after a 30 minute
bombardment 1st division began crossing the Odra
River at Siekierki. Once again
artillery failed to destroy German machine
gun nests and artillery positions.
1st and 2nd regiment crossed the river
under heavy German fire and sustained
heavy losses. Despite these losses
the crossing continued and by April 16 the
entire 1st and 2nd regiments
were on the west bank of the Odra River holding a
small bridgehead (about
1.5 by 3.0 kilometers). During the night of the
16th/17th the 3rd regiment
also crossed the river and reinforced the bridgehead.
In the first day of
the crossing the division suffered 41 killed, 190 wounded
and 10 missing
Between April 17 and 19 the rest of the
1st army crossed the
river and managed to break through the German lines to
link up with the heavily
pressed 1st Division. Soon after they pushed the
German forces further west
reaching Hohenzollern canal on April 24th. Here
the division was ordered to take
up defensive positions to protect the rear
of the troops that were encircling
Berlin. On April 25th 1st regiment was
attached to the 2nd division and helped
to beat back a German counter
attack at the Ruppiner canal. This German counter
attack is sometimes
referred to as "Steiner's odsiecz".
The 1st Division Storms Berlin
In the last days of April it was
decided that Polish units
should participate in the capture of Berlin. For
Stalin and the Polish
communists it would be a huge propaganda victory.
They could show the Poles in
Poland and the indeed the rest of the world
that the Polish army created in the
Soviet Union was the army that defeated
Hitler's Germany, and not the Polish
armies of the west.
On April 29, 1st Division was ordered
into trucks and quickly
moved to Wittenau and then Charlottenburg, part of
the northeastern suburbs of
Berlin. At 3:00 AM 3rd regiment loaded onto
trucks and at 7:30 AM on April 30
the leading elements reached Berlin. 1st
Division was attached to the 2nd
Armored Guard Army and its regiments were
split among brigades of the 12th Armor
Guard Corps. The first to join the
Soviets in the battle for Berlin was 3rd
regiment. During two days of
bloody fighting the regiment attacked German
positions along
Franklinstrasse towards Charlottenburg Chauussee and on May 2nd
they linked
up with the troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front.
2nd regiment arrived soon after the 3rd
regiment and was sent
into the battle on May 1st. The regiment attacked
German positions along
Berlinerstrasse working towards Tiergarten finally
reaching buildings of the
Berlin's Politechnik (technical Institute), which
was turned into a stronghold.
After capturing the Politechnik the regiment
continued its assault through the
sport stadium and along Kurfurstenallee
and by the middle of the day they had
linked up with the Soviet units
assaulting from the south.
1st regiment
was the last one to enter the battle for Berlin.
The regiment was sent to
action at Schlossplatz between Neue Kanstrasse and
Bismarckstrasse and
continued its assault towards the east. By late afternoon
they had captured
Weimarerstrasse and the underground train station at
Bismarckstrasse. By
the afternoon of May 2nd they had advanced to
Herdenbergstrasse and reached
the Politechnik building, which was being held by
2nd regiment. By May 2nd
the German defenders of Berlin capitulated. The Poles
received news of the
capitulation on May 2nd at 7:00 AM. However, fighting with
remnants of the
German defenders continued until 1:00 PM. During three days of
bloody
fighting 1st Division lost 593 soldiers, suffering 98 killed, with 441
wounded. The youngest soldier of the division killed during the battle for
Berlin was Corporal Aleksander Bacerczyk who was only 17 years old. Poles were
also credited with eliminating 1000 German defenders and capturing 2500,
destroying 171 MG positions, 28 artillery pieces and 3 tanks.
After the war the division returned to
Poland. Although the world war was
over, the men of the division found
themselves fighting another enemy - their
fellow countrymen. Guerilla
fighting in Poland continued until 1947.
History
On
September 17, 1939 the Red Army crossed the eastern border of
Poland
fulfilling Stalin's pact with Hitler to partition Poland. The Red Army
captured almost 60% of Poland's pre war territory including almost 1/3 of
Poland's pre war population. Almost 350,000 Polish soldiers ended up in Soviet
captivity. During the Soviet occupation of eastern Poland almost 1,000,000
Poles
(some estimates say 1,800,000) were deported to Russia. The Poles
were spread
out all over Russia in the infamous Gulags.
The Soviets were not enthusiastic about a
Polish London backed
army on its territory. So from the very beginning the
Soviets created
difficulties for the Polish authorities. After the Poles
refused to send any
unprepared divisions to the front, the Soviets cut the
food rations for the
polish army and the civilians who were with the army.
This forced the Poles to
begin a slow evacuation of these troops to Persia.
Stalin soon offered the
entire army to Britain and ended the existence of
the Polish Army on Soviet
soil, much to the dismay of the Polish
Government. By the summer of 1942 the
entire Polish army was evacuated to
the Middle East, later becoming the Polish
2nd Corps and distinguishing
itself throughout the Italian campaign.
Although this Polish Army left the Soviet Union, hundreds of
thousands of
other Polish laborers and prisoners who had never even heard about
this
polish army being organized remained in Soviet captivity. They were still
working in Soviet death factories and died by the thousands.
When the Germans discovered the mass
graves in Katyn they
announced to the world that the Soviets were
responsible for the murders. After
its own investigation the Polish
government in London reached the same
conclusion. Stalin used this
accusation as an excuse to break off all relations
with the exiled Polish
government. Soon after, he set up an organization of
Polish communists who
began work under NKVD supervision to organize a Polish
Army in the USSR. To
make things look legitimate the Polish communists even
asked Stalin for
permission to organize this army. On May 8, 1943 Stalin
"generously"
granted his permission. Soon after, the first Polish "volunteers"
were
gathered in a military camp in Sielce near Moscow. For the volunteers,
joining this new Polish Army was the only chance of escaping exile their exile
and returning to Poland. But from the very beginning it was clear that this
army
was created to fulfill Stalin's imperial ambitions.
Among the few professional officers who
survived the NKVD
massacres and the exodus of the Polish Army to Persia was
a pre war colonel
named Zygmunt Berling. He "volunteered" to take command
of the Polish Army in
the USSR. Unlike two years earlier, the Soviets
readily provided for the new
army. The 1st Division of the new army was
ready only two months after Stalin
first granted permission for its
formation. On July 15, 1943 its troops swore an
oath of allegiance. Soon
after, Stalin allowed the Poles to expand the Polish
army into a corps. By
September 1, 1943 the 1st Division was on its way to the
front line.
Although not ready, it continued training and readying for it's
baptism of
fire. In early October 1943 it was attached to the Soviet 33rd Army.
On
October 9, 1943 it replaced the Soviet 42nd Infantry Division. The Poles were
positioned against the heavily fortified positions of the German XXXIX
Panzer
Corps under general Martinek near Smolensk. The division was ordered
into battle
on October 12.
Battle of
Lenino
After a short artillery
bombardment the 1st Division went
forward and in two days of bloody
fighting in the Lenino area the Poles managed
to break through the German
lines, inflicting heavy casualties on the Germans.
However, the neighboring
Soviet divisions were repelled by the Germans leaving
the Polish
flanks exposed. On October 14th, faced
with the prospect of
being cut off and destroyed the Poles withdrew, giving
up all the territory they
had captured. For many years this battle was
portrayed in communist propaganda
as the biggest Polish victory since
middle ages. In fact, the battle of Lenino
was a meaningless slaughter of
Polish troops. For no gains whatsoever, the 1st
Division suffered 510
killed, 765 missing, 116 captured and 1776 wounded. The
division was
decimated!
Operations in the Area
of Lublin
After the Lenino
battle, the 1st Division was moved into reserve
and remained inactive until
the middle of 1944. In its next action it moved
along with the newly
created Polish 1st Army, crossing the Bug River and
reaching Lublin, first
major city in what was to become the new Poland after the
war. On July 26
units of the division triumphantly marched through the streets
of Lublin
and two days later reached the Wisla River (Vistual) taking up
defensive
positions on the eastern bank of the river between Deblin and Pulawy.
The
1st Division was responsible for the defense of 12 kilometers of the front
line. Only days after arriving, the division received orders to cross the river
and establish bridgeheads between Deblin and Pulawy. Rushed preparations,
poor
reconnaissance, lack of sufficient artillery, boats and other
equipment, inept
leadership (Gen. Swierczewski swam in the river in front
of the German positions
and wasn't shot at, so he assumed that the Germans
were not defending the river)
led to heavy loses during the attempted river
crossing. The division was to
reach combat readiness by July 31 and be
prepared for the assault on the morning
of August 1. Because of the lack of
the crossing equipment 1st Division was not
able to start the crossing as
scheduled, and watched helplessly as 2nd Division
unsuccessfully tried to
cross the river. Late in the day the 1st division
finally received some
boats and prepared to cross the river the following night.
At 2.10 in the
morning, the first elements of the 2nd infantry regiment reached
the
western bank of the river and successfully established a small bridgehead.
Unfortunately, the leading elements of the crossing company made too much noise
resulting in the second company coming under heavy fire, reaching the
western
bank with heavy casualties. The third company attempting to cross
the river was
decimated and never even reached the western bank. Realizing
the criticalness of
the situation the divisional commander ordered 3rd
regiment across the river.
Despite several attempts 3rd regiment could not
reach the west bank. At 3.10 in
the morning the divisional penal company
made a final attempt to cross the river
over the blown bridge but was
stopped by heavy German fire. By noon of August 2
it was all over most of
the soldiers who made it to the other bank of the river.
Most were either
killed or taken prisoners, with only a few swimming back to the
other bank.
Despite their initial failure, the neighboring 2nd Division managed
to
establish a bridgehead but they too were heavily counterattacked and forced
to abandon their bridgehead on August 5th. During the four days of the fight the
1st and 2nd divisions lost 1443 killed and missing. Heavy losses
considering
there were no gains whatsoever. However, they did tie down
significant German
forces in the area which allowed the Soviet 8th Guards
Army to establish a
bridgehead near Magnuszew.
Magnuszewo Bridgehead
After the failure of the
crossing the 1st Division along with
remainder of the 1st Army was moved
towards Magnuszewo (south of Warsaw) into
this new Soviet bridgehead.
Because of the heavy losses the 1st Division was
kept in the reserve.
However, by the middle of the August the Division took up
defensive
positions on the eastern bank of the river just north of the
bridgehead.
Once again the lack of reconnaissance and poor leadership lead to
bloody
and pointless fighting for a strategically unimportant island on the
Wisal
River. The entire 3rd battalion of the 2nd regiment was destroyed (the
battalion commander Maj. Rembeza as well as 3 company commanders were killed).
Fights for Rembeza Island exposed all the shortcomings of the divisional
and
regimental command as well as the poor coordination between the
infantry and
artillery. On several occasions divisional artillery bombarded
Polish troops on
the island causing more casualties than the Germans! By
September 6, 1st
Division was pulled back from the Maguneszewo bridgehead
and was sent towards
Warsaw. During the battle for Rembeza Island the
division lost approximately 500
men killed, wounded and sick.
Operations during the Warsaw
Uprising
On August 1st 1944
the Warsaw uprising began. The Soviets were
no more then 30 kilometers from
the eastern suburbs of Warsaw and the liberation
of the capital of Poland
was expected any day. Units of the Polish underground
-Home Army (Armia
Krajowa) fought alone bravely for 40 days against overwhelming
German
forces before any serious attempt was made by the Soviets to come to
their
aid. By the end of August Stalin decided to demonstrate that he was
willing
to help the insurgents. The 1st Infantry Division was pulled out of the
Magnuszewo bridgehead and was attached to the Soviet 47th Army, 125 Infantry
Corps and along with two Soviet divisions was ordered to liberate the
eastern
part of the Polish capital - Praga (not be confused with Czech's
capital). On
September 10th after a 90 minute artillery bombardment they
attacked the German
lines. After a day and night of heavy fighting the
Poles reached the line
Zielona-Wawer. The next day the attack continued and
the troops of the 1st
Division captured several villages. During the fight
a large group of Home Army
partisans joined the 1st Infantry Regiment and
continued to fight alongside them
through the liberation of Praga. The
following day the attack resumed but soon
stalled near Kozia Gorka. The
German defenses were based on a chain of bunkers
which proved very
difficult to break through. Gen Bewziuk (the divisional
commander) decided
to try and attack the German defenses without artillery and
tank support.
This was thrown back with heavy casualties. The assault groups
from the 3rd
battalion (under the command of Chorazy Kochan) made several
attempts to
break through the German lines but also failed with heavy losses.
Finally,
tanks arrived which were able to neutralize the German defenses. In the
late afternoon lead elements of the 1st infantry regiment entered Praga.
Fighting continued the remainder of the day and into the night. The next day
companies of the 1st regiment could muster no more than 30 to 40 men each!
On
September 13th/14th 1st and 2nd regiments reached the banks of the Wisla
river
near the destroyed "Kierbedz" bridge. The 3rd regiment was stopped by
heavy
German fire at the railroad bridge but by the morning of the 15th it
had cleared
its sector of German defenders and reached the banks of the
Wisla River too. On
the other side of the river thousands of insurgents
continued their fight
against the Germans. For the first time in the almost
6 weeks there was a real
opportunity to help the insurgents. During the
fighting for the liberation of
Praga the 1st Division had suffered 496
killed and almost 1300 wounded. After
over a week of heavy fighting the
troops of the 1st division were pulled back
into reserve and the majority
of the soldiers did not participate in the
unsuccessful attempts to cross
the Wisal River. Only one infantry company which
was attached to the 1st
Cavalry Brigade attempted to cross the Wisla. Although
1st Division did not
participate in the crossing of the river in full strength
it is worth
mentioning that during the crossing the Soviet officers sabotaged
the
crossing of the Polish troops. In several instances Soviet officers showed
up drunk or did not show at all! The Soviets pulled out from Warsaw all the
battle worthy infantry and tank units as well as all artillery. In all between
September 16-23 the Poles lost almost 5000 men killed, wounded and missing.
On
September 23 marshal Rokossowski ordered the entire army into defensive
positions and to await further instructions. Meanwhile the uprising in
Warsaw
continued until October 2 when the remaining insurgents capitulated.
1st
Division remained in the Warsaw area to train and refit until January
1945. For
a short time between October 10th and 28th the division was
engaged with Germans
north of Warsaw near Legionowo.
Capture of Warsaw
The last months of 1944 saw the
1st Division preparing for the
next huge offensive which was to take place
in January 1945. 1st Army was
station in front of Warsaw with the majority
of troops including 1st Division
being moved south of the capital. The
division, along with other troops was
supposed to move north towards Warsaw
cutting off the German garrison and
destroying any German resistance in the
city. Hitler had declared Warsaw a
"Festung" and the Polish command
therefore expected heavy fighting, not even
establishing a timetable for
the capture of the city. But then to everyone's
surprise the Germans pulled
out of Warsaw offering no resistance. It took 1st
division almost two days
to reach Warsaw with the first troops entering the city
two days after the
last German troops were driven out under pressure from the
6th and 2nd
divisions.
The 1945 Winter
Offensive
Shortly after entering
Warsaw the entire 1st army was moved
northwest towards Bydgoszcz, remaining
in 1st Byelorussian Front reserve under
Marshal Zukov. 1st Division reached
Bydgoszcz after a grueling two
week
winter march. On January 28, Zukov ordered the Polish
troops to cross the
pre-war Polish-German border to pursue the retreating
Germans.
Without any rest or refitting the
division was thrown into
action against the fortified line on the old
Polish German border. The so called
Pommern Stellung was a line of
fortification build in the 1930's by Germany to
defend Pommerania from a
possible Polish attack. By 1945 some of the
fortifications were obsolete
but with the addition of field works built in the
summer of 1944 they
proved to be a very difficult obstacle to cross. New army
commander gen.
Poplawski (after the disastrous river crossing in Warsaw in
September gen.
Berling was removed from command of the army and sent to Moscow
to attend a
military college) split the army into two assault groups with 1st
division
spearheading the right column of the army. Due to a severe shortage of
gasoline the army had to rely on horse drawn wagons for transport.
On the January 29, 1st Division crossed
the old Polish German
border at Sepolno-Krajewskie and Wiecbork. On the
night of January 29/30
soldiers of the 1st army captured the first German
prisoners and learned that in
front of the Polish troops lay a heavily
fortified line. Despite this
information gen. Poplawski did not think it
necessary to send any reconnaissance
groups to probe the German defenses.
Instead the army command just ordered the
tired and hungry troops forward,
resulting in unnecessary casualties. 1st
division advanced towards the
German line and by late afternoon the leading 3rd
infantry regiment arrived
at the Gwda River, crossing over at Grudna. However,
instead of continuing
the march towards Jastrowie, the 3rd regiment marched
toward Podgaje. The
initial attack on the village was repelled and 3rd
regiment's 4th company
was cut off and decimated after fierce fighting, all the
survivors being
taken prisoner. Gen. Bewziuk sent reinforcements and a fierce
battle raged
for three days. Finally on Fabruary 3rd the last German troops
pulled back
and Podgaje was taken.
Once again, poor
reconnaissance and leadership lead to
unnecessary loss of life. During the
3 days of the combat 1st division suffered
233 killed, 520 wounded and 58
missing. Also, on entering Podgaje, the soldiers
of the division found a
terrible sight. In an old barn, Germans of the 15th
Waffen SS Divison
burned alive 32 soldiers of the 4th company who were taken
prisoner 3 days
earlier.
For 3 days movement of the
entire northern column was halted.
After the bloody battle for Podgaje the
1st division was again pulled back into
army reserve. However the division
remained in reserve for only 3 days because
on the February 6th gen.
Poplawski ordered them to exploit the initial success
of the 4th Division
which broke through German line at Dobrzyce. Heavy fighting
continued as
the division moved forward, finally reaching Miroslawiec on
February 20th.
After taking Miroslawiec the entire army
was again put in
reserve and wasn't called into battle until March 1st when
the entire army was
used between the 1st and 2nd Byelorussian Fronts. The
first division along with
the army engaged in heavy fighting until finally
breaking the German front after
three days of attacks. Between March 5th
and 7th the 1st, 2nd and 4th divisions
participated in the liquidation of
the German cauldron south of Swidwina. During
this action Poles took
captured the commander of the 10th SS Corp, Gen. Leutn
Gunther von Krappe
and the commander of the "Barwalde" division Gen. Leutn
Wilhelm von Raithl.
By March 8th almost all of Western
Pommerania was captured and
cleared of German troops. On March 9th 1st
Division moved northeast together
with the remainder of the 1st army toward
Szczecin, reaching the Odra River by
late afternoon on March 10th. When the
1st Division without any serious
opposition advanced towards the Oder, the
rest of the 1st Army got involved in a
bloody battle for Kolobrzeg that
lasted for 11 days. For almost a month, between
March 10th and April 6th,
1st divison spent their time in defensive positions on
the Odra River,
receiving reinforcements and awaiting orders for the last
offensive in the
war.
The Berlin Operation
At 6:15 in the morning on April
16, 1945 after a 30 minute
bombardment 1st division began crossing the Odra
River at Siekierki. Once again
artillery failed to destroy German machine
gun nests and artillery positions.
1st and 2nd regiment crossed the river
under heavy German fire and sustained
heavy losses. Despite these losses
the crossing continued and by April 16 the
entire 1st and 2nd regiments
were on the west bank of the Odra River holding a
small bridgehead (about
1.5 by 3.0 kilometers). During the night of the
16th/17th the 3rd regiment
also crossed the river and reinforced the bridgehead.
In the first day of
the crossing the division suffered 41 killed, 190 wounded
and 10 missing
Between April 17 and 19 the rest of the
1st army crossed the
river and managed to break through the German lines to
link up with the heavily
pressed 1st Division. Soon after they pushed the
German forces further west
reaching Hohenzollern canal on April 24th. Here
the division was ordered to take
up defensive positions to protect the rear
of the troops that were encircling
Berlin. On April 25th 1st regiment was
attached to the 2nd division and helped
to beat back a German counter
attack at the Ruppiner canal. This German counter
attack is sometimes
referred to as "Steiner's odsiecz".
The 1st Division Storms Berlin
In the last days of April it was
decided that Polish units
should participate in the capture of Berlin. For
Stalin and the Polish
communists it would be a huge propaganda victory.
They could show the Poles in
Poland and the indeed the rest of the world
that the Polish army created in the
Soviet Union was the army that defeated
Hitler's Germany, and not the Polish
armies of the west.
On April 29, 1st Division was ordered
into trucks and quickly
moved to Wittenau and then Charlottenburg, part of
the northeastern suburbs of
Berlin. At 3:00 AM 3rd regiment loaded onto
trucks and at 7:30 AM on April 30
the leading elements reached Berlin. 1st
Division was attached to the 2nd
Armored Guard Army and its regiments were
split among brigades of the 12th Armor
Guard Corps. The first to join the
Soviets in the battle for Berlin was 3rd
regiment. During two days of
bloody fighting the regiment attacked German
positions along
Franklinstrasse towards Charlottenburg Chauussee and on May 2nd
they linked
up with the troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front.
2nd regiment arrived soon after the 3rd
regiment and was sent
into the battle on May 1st. The regiment attacked
German positions along
Berlinerstrasse working towards Tiergarten finally
reaching buildings of the
Berlin's Politechnik (technical Institute), which
was turned into a stronghold.
After capturing the Politechnik the regiment
continued its assault through the
sport stadium and along Kurfurstenallee
and by the middle of the day they had
linked up with the Soviet units
assaulting from the south.
1st regiment
was the last one to enter the battle for Berlin.
The regiment was sent to
action at Schlossplatz between Neue Kanstrasse and
Bismarckstrasse and
continued its assault towards the east. By late afternoon
they had captured
Weimarerstrasse and the underground train station at
Bismarckstrasse. By
the afternoon of May 2nd they had advanced to
Herdenbergstrasse and reached
the Politechnik building, which was being held by
2nd regiment. By May 2nd
the German defenders of Berlin capitulated. The Poles
received news of the
capitulation on May 2nd at 7:00 AM. However, fighting with
remnants of the
German defenders continued until 1:00 PM. During three days of
bloody
fighting 1st Division lost 593 soldiers, suffering 98 killed, with 441
wounded. The youngest soldier of the division killed during the battle for
Berlin was Corporal Aleksander Bacerczyk who was only 17 years old. Poles were
also credited with eliminating 1000 German defenders and capturing 2500,
destroying 171 MG positions, 28 artillery pieces and 3 tanks.
After the war the division returned to
Poland. Although the world war was
over, the men of the division found
themselves fighting another enemy - their
fellow countrymen. Guerilla
fighting in Poland continued until 1947.
