Polish POWs - 1939

Discussions on all aspects of Poland during the Second Polish Republic and the Second World War. Hosted by Piotr Kapuscinski.
Terese Fehlberg
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Re: Polish POWs - 1939 - 1st co. telegraph

#61

Post by Terese Fehlberg » 04 Apr 2014, 04:21

Gentlemen,
Thank you very much for your assistance. You have given me a lot to consider. I understand little of military terminology.
May I say that the name 1st Company Telegraph was supplied from the files of the Museum in Lambowicze-Opole.
I have not been able to establish whether my father, at the time of war, was with the border guard (he did have a badge with KOP on it) or some other group, or, as has been suggested to me that he and others were probably seconded into an army group at some point. My relatives don't seem to differentiate between KOP and border guard.
I was told that all "border guard" units, at some crucial point, came under some other military body in Slobodka, Braslaw area, however, I can't get more than generalisations.
Did infantry also have men on horseback? My father's unit was entirely so.
I hope to clear up some questions when I visit Braslaw in September (provided WW3 hasn't broken out).
I have not followed this enquiry for many months as I've been reading BDMs (births, deaths and marriages) from the Braslaw area and this has, for me, been an interesting but labourious experience. Today I am to become a grandmother for the first time - so there goes my spare time for a while.
Again, thank you.
Terese

gebhk
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Re: Polish POWs - 1939

#62

Post by gebhk » 04 Apr 2014, 10:53

Hi Terese

I'm afraid there appears to have been no such beast a 1st Telegraph Company. Indeed there appear to have been no active telegraph companies in the polish army OdB altogether. There were 6 depot companies numbered 2, 3, 8, 13, 15 and 16 based in Zegrze near Warsaw (2&3), Krakow (8), Brzesc (13) and Jaroslaw (15&16). So nothing really that tallies with mobilisation in Wilno or to the best of my knowledge, with Seroczyn-Wola Wodynska-Domanice. 2 telegraph stations Nr 1 were formed, however these were formed in Warsaw (Post & Telegraphy Command) and Zegrze (Army) respectively. I suspect the Museum records' information contains an error, a common one and one that could easily have occured in any number of points especially given a (I presume) number of translations from one language to the next (Polish-German-Polish-?English).

What does match the names and date of capture is the 1st Infantry Division signals units. These were mobilised by the peacetime Ist Infantry Division Signals Company and included a telephone company (Kompania Telefoniczna 1DP), a radio platoon (Pluton radion 1DP) and an HQ platoon (Pluton lacznosci KG 1DP), the last including a telegraph section which operated the division's Hughes machine(s), morse coders and related gear. My money is on the Telephone Company if you are looking for records,however the others are also possibilities if that fails. Please note that the HQ platoons are frequently referred to as Station Platoons (Pluton Stacyjny). Do you know specifics of what your father did for a living in the armed forces, ie what was his specialisation? That could give a strong clue to his allocation.

To answer your other question, yes, most of the divisional signals were horse-mobile - the predominant mode of transport in the telephone companies being wz 37L Squad Telephone Wagons (Woz telefoniczny druzynowy wz 37L), allocated 2 per squad. Officers and senior NCOs were mounted and the admin personnel was transported on the wagons of the admin sections.

Best wishes and good luck with your researches
K
Last edited by gebhk on 05 Apr 2014, 01:21, edited 1 time in total.


gebhk
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Re: Polish POWs - 1939

#63

Post by gebhk » 04 Apr 2014, 11:12

PS from what you write it is almost certain your dad was in KOP (Korpus Ochrony Pogranicza) before the war not the Border Guard (Straz Graniczna, SG). However you need to keep that distinction clear when interrogating archives and other reference materials because they were separate formations with different chains of command, aims and objectives, areas of responsibility and location. The main difference was that KOP was first and foremost a military unit while the SG was not.

BW
K

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tigre
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Re: Polish POWs - 1939

#64

Post by tigre » 06 Feb 2016, 23:27

Hello to all :D; a little complement..........................

Polish PoWs around Krobanow - Lodz - Fall 1939.

Source: http://odkrywca.pl/pokaz_watek.php?id=661515#955565

Cheers. Raúl M 8-).
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image021.png
Polish PoWs taken by the IR 95 around Krobanow - Lodz marching into captivity................................
image021.png (327.29 KiB) Viewed 1266 times

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tigre
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Re: Polish POWs - 1939

#65

Post by tigre » 27 Feb 2016, 20:19

Hello to all :D; a little more..........................

Polish PoWs - Fall 1939.

Source: FOTO-Prop-Komp-621-POLEN-39-GALIZIEN-PANZER-Panzermanner-Poln-Sold

Cheers. Raúl M 8-).
Attachments
image047.jpg
Polish PoWs marching into captivity; a German armored column was moving in the opposite direction (in the foreground a Pz Kw I)...................................
image047.jpg (38.61 KiB) Viewed 1241 times

Isabella
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Re: Polish POWs - 1939

#66

Post by Isabella » 22 Mar 2016, 12:08

My father was a polish Pow for over 3 years in Germany . He was an extremely brilliant man who spoke , read and wrote in 8 other languages . My siblings and I have many many stories and a suit case of photos during this time. After my fathers release he was emediately taken by the American army in Paris and becoming a leutanant colonel and working along side American General Omar Bradley . My father then staying in the US army for 15 years. He met my mother in Paris , married and had and raised my 3 siblings in Paris then followed his Army orders and moved to New York USA and had me , the youngest daughter. He emediately found a job as an engineer and worked for Mr. Rockefeller who owns Rockafeller center NY and climbed up the ladder quickly . He worked till he was 70 and was not easily replaced when he retired . My father was a very distinguished gentleman . His presence commanded respect and this is what I witnessed as a child and growing up as people shook his hand with such great honor in their eyes and wanting him to write a book about his experience , he declined . My father died suddenly of an aneurysm close to 90 of never being sick in his life . My siblings and I have a lot of stories and photos of WW2 , many POWs, letters and photos of other POWs and after. If u r interested , let me know . It brings me great joy to be able to share these with genuine people with common interest , thank u kindly

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tigre
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Re: Polish POWs - 1939

#67

Post by tigre » 22 Mar 2016, 22:37

Hello Isabella :D; very interesting and moving story, thanks for sharing here :wink:. Cheers. Raúl M 8-).

jillsivertson
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Re: Polish POWs - 1939

#68

Post by jillsivertson » 13 Apr 2016, 16:31

If you're asking about Polish POW's taken by the Germans, as far as I know after Poland capitulated they were screened and released, for the most part. Unfortunetly some were held for use as slave labor and many were taken later for slave labor. As for the Polish POW's taken in eastern Poland in 1939 and held by the Russians many never made it home. I believe you were inquiring about the POW's taken by the Germans.

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wm
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Re: Polish POWs - 1939

#69

Post by wm » 14 Apr 2016, 00:09

To be quite correct Poland never capitulated. For the Polish military leaders it was something absolutely out of the question.
Isabella wrote: If u r interested , let me know . It brings me great joy to be able to share these with genuine people with common interest , thank u kindly
I'm sure many people are interested, especially in Poland. It would be nice to create a new topic solely for the pictures/stories - and with a good title. This would enable Google to index them properly resulting in a much greater outreach than posting on a single forum.

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