Reply With Quotetake care,man!
Polish-Soviet war (UPDATED)
Well since I will have 2000 posts today I decided to post some rare photos...
Here are photos from Polish-Soviet war 1919-1921 War starded shortly after poladn regained independence after 123 years of being divide betwen Russia,Germany and Austro-Hungary. Generally Soviet command wanted to "bring" revolution to Germany which was in disorder after WW I after initial succes in Polish forces lead by Piłsudski recaptured large parts of former Poland (pre partition). Piłsudski plan was to create buffer states and separate poland form russia (of course there were disputes about borders with lithuania etc.) He even cooperated with ukrainian nationalist Semen Petlura and Polish army with Petlura help drove as far as to Kiev inside Soviet teritory (Well SU was in disorder after revolution they were fighting "Whites" so it wasn't dificult). But then in 1920 Soviet counterofensive began and Polish forces were driven back to warsaw and Wistula,Wieprz rivers... when situation was almost hopeles and soviets were on outskirs of Warsaw (15km from warsaw) Polish counterofensive began from the south into the left wing of Tuchaczevski Army... this created panic in Soviet ranks and they started retreat in disorder... before peace talks started poland recaptured lost teritories and menaged to take enaught enemy land to have good arguments in peace talks...
1. What is interesting - Stalin was Political Oficer in Budionny Army (South wing of soviet ofensive) and is belived to be real commanding oficer on the southern front. And it was he who refused help to Tuchaczevski when he got in trouble-this leaded to disaster as a consequence.... Altrought Soviet sources denny this very strong (guess why).
2. Anditionaly what is interesting Polish army constantly read all Soviet mesages since most of them were aired without coding and those which were encrypted were decrypted very fast since Polish inteligence had orginal Soviet codebooks)
3. De Gaulle (yes this frenchmen) was an officer who was send by France as a liaison oficer - He received some polish medals after war.
4. Ferdinand Fosch (again frenchmen)
After war...
Red line - Polish Border 1922 (after Riga treaty)
Pink-Teritories captured/recaptured by Poland before IV 1920
Light red- Teritories liberated before XI 1918
Collection of photos (mainly with Piłsudski)
Polish Austin-Putilov "Poznańczyk" (captured Soviet "Styenka Razin"). [Photo source 1]
Abandoned "Ukrainyets" after the skirmish (the name is written under the turret). A slogan painted on the side: "Vsya Vlast Sovyetam" means "All the Power to the Councils". The other one, "Putilovets", possibly had a slogan "Smyert burzhuaziy" ("Death to the bourgeoisie").
Two Austins of the 2nd series, captured by the Polish. This is probably a photo of the cars captured at Malorita. Note the nationality markings "RSFSR" (Russian Socialist Federal Soviet Republic). [Photo source 1
(These cars taken in 1939 by germans in Modlin - they were there as monuments)
Polish Austin-Putilov "Poznańczyk", ex-"Styenka Razin". The car was in original Soviet light grey painting, with red "Stenka Razin" inscription in Cyrilic. The new name "Poznańczyk" was painted in black, with a capture date. Polish name was also painted on the slant plate before the driver. Later (before August 1920?) the vehicle got a white skull with bones painted on the front radiator plate.
Fokker E.V, No. 00.1 (german No. E187/18), 7th "Kosciuszko" Squadron, April 1919.
"[img][/img]"Enemy at the border!!! Joint the Volountier Army
OK More tomorow since it is 1.32 AM in Warsaw now...
take care,man!
yeah the Poles had among the best code breakers prior to WW2. We had to, we lived in a neighbourhood that was skitchy at best and we needed to know who was doing what when.
Where did you find that photos??
Bolszewika BIJ!! BIJ!! BIJ!!
Hello,
A long time ago I posted about the several French troops send to help the Polish army against the Soviets. The 1st Polish armored unit has been also built with the help of France :
http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums...ic.php?t=20112
Regards,
David
Taken (without permission) from: http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?t=51835
Great job by Fredd who translated it.
It was early spring of 1919 when American Relief Administration (ARA) sent young captain American Air Service, Merian C. Cooper to Lvov with transport of flour. However due of hostilities between Poles and Ukrainians rail was destroyed. So captain Cooper decided to help fighting Poles. After few days of fight rails to the city was reestablished.
He wrote afterwards:
‘I found Lvov was indeed a town starving, the Polish inhabitants' spirit unbroken’
I Lvov he decided to join to struggle against Bolsheviks (he hated Commies). So at this point we should say something about Cooper himself. He was Scottish origin. His ancestors settled in St. Mary’s River on border between Floryda and Georgia. His grand grand father colonel John Cooper himself carried wounded gen. Kazimierz Pulaski away during the battle of Savannah. They were close friends.
So having such ancestor…..
But back to captain Cooper, he was born 24th November 1894 in Jacksonville (FL) died in 1973.
In 1915 quited (a year before graduation) from US Naval Academy Annapolis. He was disappointed how the Navy treated the aviation (to be exact he had problems with military discipline, either). Later for short period of time he served in Georgia National Guard. But joined a fly school in Long Island, NY. Graduated 1917. Eventually landed with American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) in Europe. Shortly afterwards shot down behind enemy lines. His planes burned. He was seriously injured moreover his family received letter he was KIA. Fortunately last weeks of the war spent in a POW’s hospital.
After the armistice he refused Distinguished Service Cross saying:
"...There was absolutely nothing more courageous in my conduct that in that of the dead and living of my comrades ..."
In may 1919 he along with general Rozwadowski met marshal Pisludski and offer his service saying he were ready to quit USAF and join Polish Army. At first Pilsudski fought he wanted to become a mercenary so was very displeased. Bur Cooper, as later wrote:
"I jumped to my feet and told him I would accept no promotion in rank until I earned it in battle, and that I would never accept one cent over and above what a Polish officer received. The fiery, piercing eyes of the Marshal looked at me for a second; then he stood and clasped my hand."
The proposition was accepted by Poles. So he went to Paris to discharge. There he met his friend major Maj. Cedric R. Fauntleroy. Who just signed a contract as an adviser with the Polish government. He met gen. Rozwadowski in Paris and started to form unit consisting of US soldiers who volunteer to fight against communist.
Eventually he pick up eight of them:
Lt. George M. Crawford Pennsylvania, Lt. Kenneth O. Shrewsbury West Virginia, Cpt. Edward C. Corsi Brooklyn, NY, Lt. Carl Clark Kansas, Lt. Edwin L. Noble in Massachusetts i Cpt. Arthur H. Kelly from Virginia.
None of them had Polish origin nor spoke word in Polish. In Ritz they met Polish prime minister at Igacy Paderewski and presented himself and Fauntleroy spoke:
"We are all Americans, none of Polish blood, we came willingly to fight in the armies of new sister republic of the United States against all enemies of Poland."
Paderewski replied (visibly touched):
"Nothing has ever touched me so much as the offer of you young men to fight and, if necessary, to die for my country."
24th September 1919 they arrived Warsaw in train they changed plain clothes to Polish officers uniform (imagine consternation of co - passengers).
The main obstacle to overcome was lack of planes. Division consisted of 8 Americans and three Polish aviators received old post – 12 Austrian Albatross D.III. 23rd October another flyer joined the division Lt. Harmon Rorison (3 confirmed German Fokkers).
Division consisted of two wings – the first “Kosciuszko” and the second “Pulasky” . First action took place 28 January 1920 – dropping messages to the line of front (in order to avoiding interception very important messages mustn’t be delivered by radio).
First ‘real’ action took place 5th march 1920 when Lt. Rorison gunned soviet’s units and dropped one 50 kg bomb.
For the rest see: http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?t=51835
or (if you can read polish): http://www.zwoje-scrolls.com/zwoje13/text17.htm
or (even better) buy and read:
Yes, it was a great work, but some Americans of Polish origin from AHF reacted wrongOriginally Posted by David Lehmann
Thank you once more
Chris
well
interesting thread i never heard about this conflict...!!!1 :P
Re: well
we've defended Europe from communists, and you forgot Poland
Dajcie juz spokoj z tym wyslawianiem polski na kazdym kroku, gdzie sie nie wejdzie to ciagle polish, poland... Oni jakos nie robia ciagle postow o swoich jednostkach, podbojach itd. wyluzujcie troche bo niedlugo bedzie wstyd se w lokacji napisac Poland.
Excellent post.
oni to znaczy kto? Rosjanie,Izraelczycy, Kandyjczycy?
pozdro
PS> sorry for polish....
Re: Polish-Soviet war
Another interesting aspect was a wide scale use of radio jamming. A nice thing is that our guys weren't jamming the frequencies used by soviets with noise. Instead the polish transmitters were constantly repeating: "In the beginning, God created the heavens and earth..."2. Anditionaly what is interesting Polish army constantly read all Soviet mesages since most of them were aired without coding and those which were encrypted were decrypted very fast since Polish inteligence had orginal Soviet codebooks
Hey, I was able to read the whole poster!
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