Uniforms and Insignia of the Polish Underground State

[StefanM]

PPsh 41 in use during the Warsaw Uprising.

Where would AK battle group "GURT" have sourced these Russian weapons? During the Rising or earlier from Russian partisan groups? Or AL groups involved in the Rising?

[dastier]

The AK may have captured these from Waffen SS (Waffen-Sturm-Brigade RONA ie Kaminski Brigade) or German Police units before or during the Uprising; or from Soviet partisans. I found these by searching the internet:

Waffen-Sturm-Brigade RONA, Warsaw Uprising.


Soldier on left is armed with what appears to be a PPsh 41


SS soldiers with Russian SMGs


SS and Cossacks, Warsaw Uprising

[dastier]

Catching up on some of the posts in this thread, besides the rkm.28 that Scout mentioned, this Bataliony Chłopskie na Lubelszczyźnie partisan is wearing the German issue holster for the Vis 35.



I noticed that in this photo, the Polish partisans are wearing M16 or M17 helmets - possibly Austrian, German or Polish 10. Brygada Kawalerii helmets.



However the greatcoats - are they Polish issue?

[Scout]

SS soldiers with Russian SMGs

PPD-40 and PPSh41, I believe.

Great pics all of them. Thanks for sharing.

Catching up on some of the posts in this thread, besides the rkm.28 that Scout mentioned, this Bataliony Chłopskie na Lubelszczyźnie partisan is wearing the German issue holster for the Vis 35.

Does 'rkm' mean the same as 'wz' (model)?

[dastier]

PPD-40 and PPSh41, I believe.

Great pics all of them. Thanks for sharing.


'rkm' - Does 'rkm' mean the same as 'wz' (model)?

'rkm' - reczny karabin maszynowy...

Alternatively, reczny karabin maszynowy or RKM, which translates to hand held machine gun, refers to magazine fed machine rifles or light machine guns such as the Bren or the BAR. This method of classification based on feed system was maintained until the beginning of World War Two." (Crufflers.com)

[dastier]

Where would AK battle group "GURT" have sourced these Russian weapons? During the Rising or earlier from Russian partisan groups? Or AL groups involved in the Rising?

Though its not really germane to this thread, but to illustrate the point that any soldier might use a battlefield pick up...

...here's a photo identified as a Soviet soldier using a Finnish Suomi.

[3mk]

Hi guys! Great informative posts, thanks for keeping this thread alive

The Russian weapons used in the Warsaw Uprising could of been from the Polish First Army? On Wiki it says the 1st Army suffered 5,660 casualties during the Warsaw Uprising, most of these I assume are from the soldiers trying to cross the Vistula.

I'm hoping we can squeeze something in about propaganda/news papers/documents made by the Resistance. Here's an example from the Warsaw Uprising of a poster printed by the AK.

[StefanM]

I'm hoping we can squeeze something in about propaganda/news papers/documents made by the Resistance. Here's an example from the Warsaw Uprising of a poster printed by the AK.

Maybe this should be the subject of its own new thread Emil?

[dastier]

Further research indicates this photograph as Aserbeidschanische Feld-Bataillon I./111 of the infamous Angriffsgruppe Dirlewanger, commanded by the sadistic pedophile and rapist Oskar Dirlewanger, and assigned during the Warsaw Uprising to Kampfgruppe Reinefarth.

From August 5, 1944 Kampfgruppe Reinefarth took part in fighting in the Wola area of Warsaw. In several days, Kampfgruppe Reinefarth and Angriffsgruppe Dirlewanger executed approximately 40,000 civilian inhabitants of Warsaw in what is now known as the Wola massacre, the main “cleansing” tasks having been assigned to troops of Angriffsgruppe Dirlewanger.

For more info: Azeri SS Volunteer Formations - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[3mk]

Good idea Stephan, I'll create one soon. Looking forward to do a couple of write ups on Resistance manufactured weapons soon too! Also, the picture of the AK soldiers in greatcoats and M16/18 helmets. The Poles did have a double breasted greatcoat, the wz.24. Although from the pictures I think these are captured German greatcoats. The m16/18 helmets might of been from 10. Brygada Kawalerii like Dastier said, or they could of been reissued to Germans and captured? Maybe there was a warehouse full of surplus m16/17 helmets in Poland. It's possible, a couple thousand wz.31 shells survived the war to be converted into wz.31/50 helmets.