The Suwalki Regiment fought in August 1920 at the battle of Warsaw, and I'm trying to work out their exact status. By my data they were in Luczynski's 9th Infantry Division.
These were volunteers, I understand, of ethnic Polish origin. I'm guessing they formed as one of the original "home defense" units on the borderlands to resist the encroachments of the Soviets (and others).
By Warsaw would they have been just another regular unit, or would they have retained a "partisan" character? Do people feel that they were better or worse than an average Polish unit of the time?
Mark
41st IR Suwalki
Based on the original "Ksiega Chwaly Piechoty" (Glory of the Infantry Book) published in 1937-1939 Warsaw, I quote:
"During battle for Warsaw regiment was incorporated into 5th army, fought galantly under Borkow and repelled enemy to the other side of Wkra river, forcing the enemy to retreat towards Nasielsk.".
Full regiment name was "41th Marshall`s Jozef Pilsudski Suwalski Infantry Regiment" (41 Suwalski Pulk Piechoty Marszalka Jozefa Pilsudskiego). Formed in december 1918 in Zambrow, and yes, it consisted of volounteers. Its initial name was "1st suwalski riflemen regiment". Also, in the beginning it had only two battalions, and only in august 1919 it was reinforced with 3rd battalion formed from "watching" units of the Defence of Kresy Suwalskie HQ. It`s first commander was mjr Mieczyslaw Mackiewicz (19th dec 1918 to 5th oct 1919) and the last one was mjr Kazimierz Hozer (from 21 sept 1920 till the end of war).
Regiment fought on the whole eastern front, from Lithuania (Wilno) through Belarus (Grodno) till Ukraine (Kijev) and was relocated many times to different parts of the front. Pilsudski agreed to become supreme commander of the regiment after battle for Lida town (16th april 1919 - place around Wilno) where the regiment fought bravely and forced russian forces to retreat after very heavy fighting. Pilsudski personally thanked them for that. For their effort in polish-bolshevik war, Virtuti Militari cross had been granted for the regiments banner (+42 soldiers recieved it).
Regiment had its day of celebration on 8th may each year, the date when Kijev had been conquered.
I have info on where they`ve been during the war, but I`m too lazy to copy everything here
If you`re interested in some other details or looking for some info about precise soldier (although I`d prefer those who were "brave enough to recieve medals") I can search and pass the results here. I hope it helps.
Volunteers, at least at the beginning (3rd battalian was already a regular unit). During first few months, regiment was "securing" the area after Germans left, or even helped them leave
Then it was just about Soviets. Also, initially regiment was a part of Lithuanian-Belorussian Division. The first time regiment fought with "others" was in late august 1920, and they fought against Lithuanians. That was propably also the last time as my book doesn`t mention it again.
Now I don`t quite follow you with the last question? They were not sth like mere "partisants", they were a regular unit although their act of creation came thanks to volunteering and local authorities and people giving money for their equipment. Since the very beginning they were fighting in many bloody battles and during 1918-1920 lost 14 officers and 264 soldiers killed and dead from wounds. They had pretty tough times during battle for Lida, around Kijev and Grodno, before they actually reached Warsaw.
Judging from the sources of the regiment, how the unit was created, it`s safe to say they did a good job during the war and were of above avarage performance at least at some times (Pilsudski didn`t give his name for a unit for nothing). Although most units got their VM crosses, it`s usually mentioned like "regiment X recieved silver VM cross 5th class" while here, they don`t mention which class it was. Also, 52 officers and 191 soldiers recieved Cross of Valour. Adding those 42 VM crosses mentioned earlier, that propably means they were quite brave, since the ammount of medals they recieved is above avararge for sure (although their losses are "medium" comparing to other regiments which lost even 400 men).
"During battle for Warsaw regiment was incorporated into 5th army, fought galantly under Borkow and repelled enemy to the other side of Wkra river, forcing the enemy to retreat towards Nasielsk.".
Full regiment name was "41th Marshall`s Jozef Pilsudski Suwalski Infantry Regiment" (41 Suwalski Pulk Piechoty Marszalka Jozefa Pilsudskiego). Formed in december 1918 in Zambrow, and yes, it consisted of volounteers. Its initial name was "1st suwalski riflemen regiment". Also, in the beginning it had only two battalions, and only in august 1919 it was reinforced with 3rd battalion formed from "watching" units of the Defence of Kresy Suwalskie HQ. It`s first commander was mjr Mieczyslaw Mackiewicz (19th dec 1918 to 5th oct 1919) and the last one was mjr Kazimierz Hozer (from 21 sept 1920 till the end of war).
Regiment fought on the whole eastern front, from Lithuania (Wilno) through Belarus (Grodno) till Ukraine (Kijev) and was relocated many times to different parts of the front. Pilsudski agreed to become supreme commander of the regiment after battle for Lida town (16th april 1919 - place around Wilno) where the regiment fought bravely and forced russian forces to retreat after very heavy fighting. Pilsudski personally thanked them for that. For their effort in polish-bolshevik war, Virtuti Militari cross had been granted for the regiments banner (+42 soldiers recieved it).
Regiment had its day of celebration on 8th may each year, the date when Kijev had been conquered.
I have info on where they`ve been during the war, but I`m too lazy to copy everything here
If you`re interested in some other details or looking for some info about precise soldier (although I`d prefer those who were "brave enough to recieve medals") I can search and pass the results here. I hope it helps. I`d forget about that!These were volunteers, I understand, of ethnic Polish origin. I'm guessing they formed as one of the original "home defense" units on the borderlands to resist the encroachments of the Soviets (and others).
By Warsaw would they have been just another regular unit, or would they have retained a "partisan" character? Do people feel that they were better or worse than an average Polish unit of the time?
Volunteers, at least at the beginning (3rd battalian was already a regular unit). During first few months, regiment was "securing" the area after Germans left, or even helped them leave
Then it was just about Soviets. Also, initially regiment was a part of Lithuanian-Belorussian Division. The first time regiment fought with "others" was in late august 1920, and they fought against Lithuanians. That was propably also the last time as my book doesn`t mention it again. Now I don`t quite follow you with the last question? They were not sth like mere "partisants", they were a regular unit although their act of creation came thanks to volunteering and local authorities and people giving money for their equipment. Since the very beginning they were fighting in many bloody battles and during 1918-1920 lost 14 officers and 264 soldiers killed and dead from wounds. They had pretty tough times during battle for Lida, around Kijev and Grodno, before they actually reached Warsaw.
Judging from the sources of the regiment, how the unit was created, it`s safe to say they did a good job during the war and were of above avarage performance at least at some times (Pilsudski didn`t give his name for a unit for nothing). Although most units got their VM crosses, it`s usually mentioned like "regiment X recieved silver VM cross 5th class" while here, they don`t mention which class it was. Also, 52 officers and 191 soldiers recieved Cross of Valour. Adding those 42 VM crosses mentioned earlier, that propably means they were quite brave, since the ammount of medals they recieved is above avararge for sure (although their losses are "medium" comparing to other regiments which lost even 400 men).
Thanks for taking the time to reply so thoroughly. That pretty much answers all my questions. I have been researching, and then wargaming, some battles around Borkowo and the status of the Suwalki Regt was brought up.
I wondered about the "partisan" thing because many units at the time which were self-raised naturally took on a irregular character -- lack of uniforms, a tendency to fight by way of raids and infiltration, officers appointed from within etc. When such units were absorbed into the regular armies they had a tendency, and this is certainly not true of all, to be more motivated but less disciplined than normal regulars. I just wondered if this was true of any Polish units.
Mark
I wondered about the "partisan" thing because many units at the time which were self-raised naturally took on a irregular character -- lack of uniforms, a tendency to fight by way of raids and infiltration, officers appointed from within etc. When such units were absorbed into the regular armies they had a tendency, and this is certainly not true of all, to be more motivated but less disciplined than normal regulars. I just wondered if this was true of any Polish units.
Mark
Mark, it could be like that with some 'young' units raised in late 1918 and could keep up to early 1919 but in overall, I doubt it was common. Remember that most of the units incorporated into Polish Army fought through more or less, whole world war (or rather people, not precise units) and were both well drilled and experienced. 41st is an example of carrying out orders literally, during the big retreat after Soviets broke through the lines they were falling back in order and even hold for two days at one town (HQ gave them such order to prevent further encirclment of other units and to give them time to evacuate from the area).