Polish Armed Forces in the East
The Polish armed forces in the Soviet Union (Polish Polskie sily Zbrojne w ZSRR ) were the largest regular military association that fought alongside the Red Army in World War II.
Anders Army (1941-1942)
In 1941, after the German invasion of the Soviet Union, presented the Soviet government with the consent of the Polish government in exile (Sikorski - Maisky Agreement of 30 July 1941) from Poland, who had been deported in the years 1939-1941 in the Soviet Union, Polish armed forces. Under the agreement, they were led by a Polish general, and came under the operational Soviet High Command. After their commander, the fallen into Soviet captivity General Władysław Anders in 1939, she was called Anders Army. Until the end of 1941 three divisions were raised in Busuluk in the Orenburg Oblast, after the transfer to Tashkent is a fourth.
Since the Soviets were not in a position to adequately equip these units and to cater, they were laid in March 1942 on Iran in the Middle East, where they were part of the British Middle East Command. They formed here the basis for the preparation of the 2nd Polish Corps, which was used from 1944 in the Italian campaign.
Berling Army (1943-1944)
General
Following the discovery of the Katyn massacre and the severance of diplomatic relations with the Polish government in exile, Stalin decided to build again Polish Armed Forces in the Soviet Union. In March 1943, signed by Stalin and the representatives of the Confederation of Polish Patriots, Wanda Wasilewska and Zygmunt Berling, an agreement on the formation of these forces. Commander was Zygmunt Berling. This created without the consent of the legal Polish government in exile.
1943 were established by later twelve infantry divisions the first two. In March 1944, the Polish 1st Army was created, these fought as part of the 1st Belorussian Front, among others, in Warsaw ( see Warsaw Uprising ). At the same time the preparation of the 2nd and 3rd Army, who would later form, together with the Polish 1st Army a front began.
On 21 July 1944, the Polish forces were in the Soviet Union merged with the Communist underground army Armia Ludowa and renamed Ludowe Wojsko Polskie ( "Polish People's Army "). In May 1945, the strength of the Polish Armed Forces was 330,000 soldiers.
The Ludowe Wojsko Polskie was until 1989 the army of the People's Republic of Poland.