LAH in Poland 1939.

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tigre
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Re: LAH in Poland 1939.

#31

Post by tigre » 16 Mar 2012, 04:52

Hello MorgothB :D; thanks for sharing those interesting links here :wink:. Cheers. Raúl M 8-).

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tigre
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Re: LAH in Poland 1939.

#32

Post by tigre » 31 Dec 2019, 17:05

Hello to all :D; after a while............................

The LAH in Poland 1939.

Sources: https://forum.odkrywca.pl/topic/761570- ... 29/page/4/

Cheers. Raúl M 8-).

Feliz Año Nuevo - Happy New Year - feliz Ano Novo - gluckliches Neues Jahr - Bonne Année - Felice Anno Nuovo - Szczęśliwego nowego roku!! :thumbsup:
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Robert M Hammond
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Re: LAH in Poland 1939.

#33

Post by Robert M Hammond » 22 May 2020, 20:13

Dear Listers,
Hi! I am attempting to learn about the battle to take the bridge at Gola. I am wondering about the bridge, the explosives that were used, and why the Poles were not able to destroy the bridge with the explosives.
Most respectfully,
Robert Hammond

Robert M Hammond
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Re: LAH in Poland 1939.

#34

Post by Robert M Hammond » 06 Aug 2020, 08:29

Dear Listers,
Howdy! On May 27, 2020, I was fortunate to receive an email from Maciej Bednarek.
He shared with me the following: Thank you, greetings from Poland! The bridge in Gola was wooden, and was built long before World War I. Here you can see how it looks before WWI: https://fotopolska.eu/Gola_-_Golkowice_ ... _graniczne It ain't change so much before WW2.
Polish engineers used TNT, but the demolition cables were probably destroyed by german artillery (II./AR 46) or LAH mortars OR LAH soldiers silently swimmed through Prosna and cut the cables. In Gola on 1st Sept. were few border guards and soldiers. Two of them were killed in fight, the rest retreated to Bolesławiec.
Gola was a small village with about 50 houses with 100+ inhabitants. Some pre-war photos of Gola you can find here: https://fotopolska.eu/zdjecia/m3977,Gol ... ciaDo=1938

The next day, he sent me another email:
Prosna is about 10-12m wide in this place. And about 1-1,5m deep. It depends on the summer weather. Summer in 1939 in Poland was hot and not rainy, so in most rivers in Poland was low water level.

I have no idea where was the detonator, I have to look in my papers if someone mentioned where the detonator was. There were no barricade across the bridge, only white-red barrier on polish side.

Obrona Narodowa Battalions "Wieluń I" and "Wieluń II" were on 1st september in village Parcice, about 12 km northeast of Gola. In Gola were only board guards (Straż Graniczna) and few soldiers from so-called "pluton wzmocnienia Straży Granicznej" (border guard reinforcement platoon). Those platoons were mobilized in summer 1939, equiped like light infantry, and attached to the border guard units.

Can I ask, why you are interested in this episode? It's interesting that someone from big world heard about this bridge, village and fight.

I have emailed Maciej a few times since but I have not heard back. I hope he is okay and healthy! Does anyone know if he is well?

QUESTION: Does anyone have information as to what Polish units were in Boleslawiec?

Thank you and all the best,
Robert

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stoveb
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Re: LAH in Poland 1939.

#35

Post by stoveb » 19 Aug 2020, 15:46

Hi,

This is what I have discovered about the action at Gola in 1939. I am currently working on a book on the 9th Pionier Kompanie, SS-Panzer Regiment 1.

Cheers
Steve

The first action of the LSSAH in the Second World War was to secure the bridge over the Prosna River at Gola and the nearby customs house. The sub-unit to perform this act at 04.45 hours on the 1st September 1939 was the 2nd Zug from the 9th Kompanie under the command of Albert Frey. He wrote a book about his life story, and in it gives a suspenseful account of the desperate and heavily laden run over the bridge to capture the customs house, as it contained the detonator for the explosives set under the bridge by Polish forces. The Panzerspähwagen and Kradschützen troops quickly moved over the bridge and pushed on to their objectives, and then:

“After the Regiment Pionier Zug had disarmed the charges under the bridge, the Regiment then crossed the river, and set off to achieve their missions” (Frey, page 148)

The Pionier troops had entered the war within minutes of it starting. In a handwritten note on the published LSSAH KTB (Kriegstagebuch – war diary) for the Polish campaign, it was stated that the Pionier Zug commander, SS-Obersturmführer Cissy Hansen, along with two NCOs, Heinrich Bauch and Heinrich Wendt, were the men who secured the bridge undamaged. Willy Stratmann (1st Kompanie/I Bataillon) was a friend of Bauch, as they had shared a room in the infirmary together when he was recovering from angina. Stratmann had written Bauch’s love letters for him to his future wife. He met Bauch near the bridge at Gola that morning and learned from him that he had personally removed the fuse from the explosives in the nick of time, ensuring the advance of the Regiment. (Willy Stratmann, “Zwölf Jahre 1st Kompanie Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler”, page 112)

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