The official AHF Poland quiz thread

Discussions on all aspects of Poland during the Second Polish Republic and the Second World War. Hosted by Piotr Kapuscinski.
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Mischa
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Re: The official AHF Poland quiz thread

#121

Post by Mischa » 12 Apr 2010, 20:28

wojtop79 wrote:ORP Orzeł (Eagle) sinking German troop transport ship "Rio de Janeiro" on 4th of April 1940 near Norway?
Hello,
of course, You turn.
Regards
Mischa

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Re: The official AHF Poland quiz thread

#122

Post by wojtop79 » 14 Apr 2010, 06:57

Thank you!

This one should be easy :)

He was a doctorate holder in linguistics and the head designer of a submarine.
He was a German general yet he never commanded unit larger than a company.
He was a military pilot yet all his combat medals have been earned while fighting on the ground.
He was awarded the highest possible civil medal in his country, only to be arrested the same day and sentenced to 12 years of prison.

Who was he?


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Re: The official AHF Poland quiz thread

#123

Post by wojtop79 » 16 Apr 2010, 04:42

I've made it too difficult I guess. Few tips.
He was Polish. He has been shot down by Soviets in September 1939 and seriously wounded, managed to escape Soviets and join the resistance. His resistance activities was the main reason for his arrest after the war. Among other duties he he was a courier travelling to the West to pass intelligence info.

p.s. the info about him is based on Wikipedia, so may be not 100% accurate.

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Re: The official AHF Poland quiz thread

#124

Post by henryk » 09 May 2010, 21:15


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Re: The official AHF Poland quiz thread

#125

Post by henryk » 23 May 2010, 19:46

Looks like wojtop79 is taking a hiatus. To keep the topic fresh, I am posting the interesting bibliography of the Polish hero, Kazimierz Leski.
Kazimierz Leski was born June 21, 1912 in Warsaw. His father, Maj. Juliusz Leski, had been an engineer and one of the pioneers of the Polish arms industry[1] in the period following the Polish-Bolshevik War. However, he fell out of grace after the May Coup d'Etat in Poland, when he remained loyal to the government. Because of that Kazimierz had to work as a railway worker in order to be able to pay for his studies at the Wawelberg and Rotwand College in Warsaw. He was also able to get a simple job in the foundry of the Pocisk munitions works. To be able to study professional books, he learned English, Russian and German, abilities that proved invaluable in his later life. Early in his life he also learned French.
Immediately upon graduating in 1936, he was offered a job at the Nederlandsche Vereenigde Scheepsbouw Bureaux design bureau (NVSB) in The Hague. The company was the leading design bureau in the Netherlands, working for all the major naval shipyards in the country. Initially working as a draughtsman, Leski learned the Dutch language, which allowed him to rise quickly through the ranks of the design bureau. His career in the Dutch shipbuilding industry was significantly sped up by the fact that Holland won a contract for construction of two modern Orzeł class submarines for the Polish Navy. He started additional studies at the Maritime Faculty of the Delft University of Technology and became one of the heads of the Submarine Division of the NVSB, responsible for the comparison of the projects with the supplied machinery. After he patented a new mounting for the ballast tank funnels, he was promoted and became an independent specialist. Soon afterwards Leski became the head designer for the Orzeł class submarines: the future ORP Orzeł and ORP Sęp, as well as the deputy to the lead constructor Niemeier.
After the works on the ship series were complete, Leski decided to return to Poland, where he joined the Polish Army and graduated from his third school: the NCO Aviation School in Dęblin.
Mobilized prior to the outbreak of the Polish Defensive War, he joined the Polish Air Forces. His Lublin R-XIII F plane was shot down by the Soviets on September 17, 1939, and Leski was badly injured. He was taken prisoner of war by the Soviet soldiers soon afterwards, but managed to escape from captivity and reach Lwów. From there he crossed the new Soviet-German "border of peace" and in October moved to Warsaw, where he joined an underground organization named Muszkieterowie (The Musketeers). The organization, later joined with the Home Army (Armia Krajowa), was an en cadre military organization and was primarily focused on intelligence. Thus Leski - still suffering from the wounds received in September of 1939 and unsuitable for front-line service in the Forest Units - became one of the leading officers of intelligence of the Musketeers and later the Home Army.
Among his most important achievements in that role was preparation of a complete list of German military units, their signs, numbers and locations. He and his cell also prepared detailed reports on logistics and transport schemes of the German units bound for the Eastern Front, on state of bridges, railways and roads in German-held Europe. Leski's unit also started to develop a communications network spanning across German-occupied Europe, from Poland to Portugal, France and - finally - the Polish Government in Exile in the United Kingdom.
In 1941 Leski made his first trip as a courier to France. In his first trip, he posed as a Lieutenant of the Wehrmacht. However, he decided to promote himself to the rank of Generalmajor for all other trips in order to be able to travel first class, as his wounds made it impossible for him to travel in crowded, third-class railway cars[2]. As General Julius von Halmann he managed to cross Europe several times in a row without his true identity being revealed. The disguise, his fluent knowledge of several languages and his excellently forged documents also allowed him to witness several events he did not plan. Among them was his 1942 visit to the Atlantic Wall construction site, which was made possible because he convinced one of the passengers in his car that his superiors might want to build a similar line of fortifications in the Ukraine[3]. On another occasion he visited the field staff of Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt[3]. Apart from his service in the intelligence and counter-intelligence, he also took over a cell focused on smuggling information and people in and out of German prisons in occupied Poland, notably the infamous Pawiak[4].
After the outbreak of the Warsaw Uprising of 1944, Kazimierz Leski was not commissioned. However, with a group of volunteers he formed an infantry battalion Miłosz and became a commander of its first company Bradl[5]. The unit fought with distinction in the area of Plac Trzech Krzyży in the Warsaw City Centre. For his bravery Kazimierz Leski was officially promoted to the rank of Kapitan and awarded with several medals, among them the Silver Virtuti Militari, Golden and Silver Cross of Merit with Swords and three times with the Cross of the Valorous. After the capitulation of the uprising, he managed to escape from a column of prisoners and, pretending to be a civilian, returned to the underground[6]. He became the commander of the Western Area of the Home Army and later the Delegature of Armed Forces at Home.
However, after the communist takeover of Poland he gradually dismantled his underground net and moved to Gdańsk. A member of the Wolność i Niezawisłość anti-communist resistance, under a false name of Leon Juchniewicz he became the first managing director of the demolished Gdańsk Shipyard. Among his tasks was the reconstruction of the shipyard which had been devastated by Allied air raids and by withdrawing Germans. In August of 1945 he was awarded with the highest civil award of the communist regime, but later the same day was arrested by the secret police who discovered his true identity.
Charged of attempting to overthrow the regime, he was sentenced to 12 years in prison. The sentence was later changed to six years. However, in 1951 he was not released. Instead, he was charged with cooperating with the German occupation forces and held in prison, where he was brutally tortured and held in solitary confinement for several years.
Finally, after the deaths of Stalin in 1953 and Bierut in 1956, Kazimierz Leski was set free and rehabilitated soon afterwards. Despite that, he could not find a job, as the new communist authorities of Poland still viewed former soldiers of the Home Army as suspect. Initially a clerk in the PWT publishing house, he had to give up work in the shipbuilding industry. Finally he became a member of the Polish Academy of Sciences. Awarded a Doctorate, for political reasons he was prevented from earning the rank of professor for his work on computer analysis of natural language codes. Despite that, he continued his scientific career, published 7 books and more than 150 other works. He also patented a number of inventions.
Largely unknown to the wider public, in 1989 – after the victory of Solidarity and fall of the communist regime in Poland – he published his memoirs, which immediately became a best-seller. For the book he received a number of prizes, among them the Polish PEN Club Prize and the Polish Writers' Society in Exile Award. He died on May 27, 2000, and was buried with military honours at the Powązki Cemetery in Warsaw.

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Re: The official AHF Poland quiz thread

#126

Post by henryk » 26 Jun 2010, 20:26

As wojtop79 has not logged in since 26 April, and it is clear I answered his question correctly, I am posting a new question.
What is the name of the Polish Army unit that:
-operated the first ships flying the banner of the Polish Navy since 1863 and the first Polish warships since 1792.
-formed as part of Haller Blue Army
-included descendants of exiled Poles from the November and January Risings
-formed core of the defence in the Battle of Warsaw, Polish-Bolshevik War
-fought in 1939
-had the name of a region of Russia/USSR (it is not Lithuania or Belarus)?

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Re: The official AHF Poland quiz thread

#127

Post by pst59 » 01 Jul 2010, 01:32

It was " 5th Rifle Division" also known as a "Siberian Division" or "5th Siberian Rifle Division"
Piotr

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Re: The official AHF Poland quiz thread

#128

Post by henryk » 01 Jul 2010, 20:43

You are correct. Your turn.
Here is some information on this interesting unit.
http://www.wikiwak.com/wak/5th_Rifle_Di ... 8Poland%29
Text removed to reduce length.
Polish 5th Siberian Rifle Division
(Polish: 5. Dywizja Strzelców Polskich; also known as the Siberian Division and Siberian Brigade) was a Polish military unit formed in 1919 in Russia during World War I. The division fought during the Polish-Bolshevik War, but as it was attached to the White Russian formations, it is considered to have fought more in the Russian Civil War. Its tradition was continued in the Polish Army as the 30th Polish Infantry Division.

In the turmoil of the Russian Civil War many nations started to form their own military units. ......................At the same time Poles present in Russia also started to form their own units. In accordance with treaties with France signed the year before, the units formed in Russia were to be a part of the Allied Polish Army.
The action of forming a new unit was started on July 1, 1918 by major Walerian Czuma, a veteran from the 2nd brigade of the Polish Legions who was taken POW during the World War I. Soon a new division was formed. The unit was composed of three infantry Regiments, supported by an assault battalion, Uhlans regiment, Artillery regiment, battalion of engineers, tabors and medical corps. The volunteers came from a variety of places: the core of the new unit was formed of POWs of the former Austro-Hungarian Army and local Poles. Some of the latter were descendants of Poles forcibly resettled to Siberia after failed November Uprising, January Uprising and other struggles with Imperial Russia.
Since the division was formally a part of the Blue Army (Polish Army in France), it was named the 5th Polish Rifle Division. The other Polish divisions at that time were 1st, 2nd and 3rd fighting with the Blue Army formed by general Józef Haller de Hallenburg in France and the Polish 4th Rifle Division of general Lucjan Kuban River region in southern Russia.
Civil War in Russia
The newly-formed division joined the ranks of the White Guard of admiral Alexander Kolchak. Together with the Entente expedition force and the White Russians, and elements of the Czechoslovak Legion, the unit defended Siberia against the Red Army. In defence of the Trans-Siberian Railway that was vital to counter-revolutionist supply, the division fought numerous battles against the Red forces. The unit of Major Walerian Czuma also had to fight with the harsh winter and logistic problems. War materiel and food transports were scarce, but the Poles made up lack of supplies with ingenuity, constructing three Armoured trains. Also, several vessels were turned into patrol boats and artillery monitors to defend the Ob River crossings. These were the first ships flying the banner of the Polish Navy since 1863 and the first Polish warships since 1792.
A large part of the once 16,000 men strong division were taken as POWs. However a group of about 900 led by Colonel Kazimierz Rumsza managed to evade capture and reached Irkutsk and from there escaped to Manchuria arriving at Harbin (February 21, 1920) and Irkutsk, from where they found safe passage to the port of Vladivostok and various ports of China and Manchuria. On June 1, 1920, the first organised group of Polish soldiers arrived to the port of Gdańsk. After three months on-board British ships, 120 officers and more than 800 soldiers and NCOs reached Poland. Some of them saw it for the first time.


Polish-Bolshevik War
The General Staff of the Polish Army initially wanted to demobilise all the veterans. However, all of them volunteered and were finally accepted. They were transferred to Greater Poland where they were formed into an infantry battalion and an "Officers Legion". Soon they were joined by approximately 5 000 volunteers from Kalisz, Kutno, Łódź, Włocławek and other towns of Western Poland and the "Officers Legion" became a core of the reformed Siberian Brigade (Polish: Brygada Syberyjska) formed on July 12, 1920.
The new unit was composed of two regiments: the 1st Siberian Infantry Regiment under Franciszek Dindorf-Ankowicz and the 2nd Siberian Infantry Regiment under Józef Werobej. The brigade was put under command of one of the Siberian veterans, colonel Kazimierz Rumsza.
Although the training of the new recruits was not finished, the extremely difficult situation on all fronts of the Polish-Bolshevik War forced the General Staff to transfer it to the front. The brigade was transferred to the area of the Modlin Fortress and on August 13 joined the 5th Army under general Władysław Sikorski. The Siberian Brigade became a core of the Polish defence lines in the area and managed to hold out all assaults on the fortress organised by the Red Army. After the Battle of Warsaw the brigade started a pursuit after the fleeing enemy forces and broke through the enemy front in the battles of Borków, Zawady and Joniec. Between August 22 and August 24, 1920, the Brigade fought heavy battles against the Red 4th Army and 3rd Cavalry Corps under Gay Dimitrievich Gay. Its elements took part in the later Battle of the Niemen and several skirmishes with Lithuanian forces occupying the region of Suwałki.

Interbellum
After the Peace of Riga had been signed the 2nd regiment was demobilised, while the 1st regiment remained in the Polish Army. On August 22, 1921 it was renamed to 82nd Siberian Infantry Regiment (Polish: 82 Syberyjski pułk piechoty). It was stationed in Brześć Litewski. In 1937 the name of Tadeusz Kościuszko, the original patron of the regiment, was added to the name of the unit.

World War II
Before the outbreak of the World War II the 82nd regiment was attached to the Polish 30th Infantry Division commanded by Brigadier general Leopold Cehak. It was secretly mobilized between March 23 and March 27, 1939, and moved to the village of Szczerców where it formed a defensive line at the Widawka River. After the outbreak of the Polish Defensive War of 1939 it was attacked on September 2.
The regiment fought in the ranks of the "Piotrków Corps" of the Polish Łódź Army under general Juliusz Rómmel.
And here is information on an officer born in Siberia, that was murdered at Katyń.
http://www.radaopwim.gov.pl/media/pliki ... _Katyn.pdf
page 190 of the pdf
Por. Eugeniusz DOBRZYN´ SKI s. Juliana i Julianny z Flisowskich, ur. 15 XI 1905 w Tajdze na Syberii. Absolwent Oficerskiej Szkoły Piechoty w Ostrowi Maz., służył w 85 i 60 pp, od 1937 w 50 pp jako dowódca 4 kompanii cekaemów. Por. mianowany ze starsz. 1 I 1934. Żonaty z Helena˛ Kazimiera˛ z d. Goła˛b.
Por. Eugeniusz Dobrzyński, son of Julian and Juliana (nee Flisowski), born. 15 Nov 1905 in Tajdze, Siberia. Graduate of School of Infantry Officers in Ostrow Maz, served in 85 and 60 infantry; from 1937, in the 50 nfantry as commander of four companies. Promoted to Colonel, 1/1/1934. Married to Helen Kazimiera (Goła)

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Re: The official AHF Poland quiz thread

#129

Post by pst59 » 02 Jul 2010, 17:55

Next question:
Image
what is the name of the ship?

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Re: The official AHF Poland quiz thread

#130

Post by pst59 » 11 Jul 2010, 17:13

Because nobody answered, I have put a next picture of the same ship.
Image
It should be easier.

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Re: The official AHF Poland quiz thread

#131

Post by AVV » 12 Jul 2010, 20:07

Good evening!
Unlucky ORP Jastrząb (ex-USS S-25, ex-HMS P-551)?

Best regards, Aleks

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Re: The official AHF Poland quiz thread

#132

Post by Halibutt » 13 Jul 2010, 13:32

AVV wrote:Good evening!
Unlucky ORP Jastrząb (ex-USS S-25, ex-HMS P-551)?

Best regards, Aleks
The naval gun in one of the pics seems to be the American 4"/50 caliber quick firing gun. It was used only on two classes of submersibles: Holland and Balao. As Poland used no Balao class SS and the only Holland class used by the Polish Navy was ORP Jastrząb, I believe you are right. Is he?
Cheers

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Re: The official AHF Poland quiz thread

#133

Post by pst59 » 13 Jul 2010, 18:27

Yes it is ORP Jastrząb.
It is your turn Alex.
Some additional information about the ship :http://www.navsource.org/archives/08/08130.htm

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Re: The official AHF Poland quiz thread

#134

Post by AVV » 13 Jul 2010, 20:43

Thanks!
An easy question concerning AFV.

Best regards, Aleks
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Re: The official AHF Poland quiz thread

#135

Post by Halibutt » 14 Jul 2010, 01:24

AVV wrote:Thanks!
An easy question concerning AFV.

Best regards, Aleks
Indeed, quite easy: it's most probably the PZInż.160 SP-AT. Most probably, because it's the only picture out there and nobody knows for sure whether it's a prototype, a mockup or a small-scale model.
Cheers

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