Information on poles in german army

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spider08
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Location: Great Britain

Information on poles in german army

#1

Post by spider08 » 23 Sep 2007, 22:43

I have been told by my father that my grandfather fought in the german army during WW2 as he was from Silesia. We know he was in the Polish army at the start of WW2 and we also know he fought in the 5 Kresowa Division at Bologna. The bit in the middle is difficult to research - any pointers please.
Also looking for photos of him whilst in the 5 Kresowa Division
Any help would be gratefully accepted

Sam Wren
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I can't tell you much about Polish units in Italy but...

#2

Post by Sam Wren » 08 Oct 2007, 12:51

The 1st Polish Armd Div, which fought in Normandy, suffered fairly heavy casualties and did not have many replacements available in England. However, many of the German POWs turned out to be Poles who had been conscripted and many of them were eager to fight the Germans, so, the (apparently very pragmatic) Poles took on many of these ex-Wehrmacht Poles as replacements. It is possible that the same thing occurred in Italy.


sam


Cyprek
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#3

Post by Cyprek » 02 Nov 2007, 12:25

It is possible that the same thing occurred in Italy.
Sure it occured. The Wehrmacht was the major souce of replacements for the Polish forces in the west. I've read about of a Sherman tank squadron which almost entirely compri=sed of the former "Hermann Göring" tankers.

Ze-Pole
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#4

Post by Ze-Pole » 02 Nov 2007, 19:14

Hello,
Absolutely, the "german" prisonners from Poland were proposed to join the 1rst polish armroed division. The advantage was that these men militaryly trained.
But there were also a lot of "french", polish young men from North of France, area liberated by General Maczek's Division. They were enough numerous also.
Ze-Pole

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