Looking for a soldier from Pułk Ułanów Karpackich

[meyle77]

Looking to see if a soldier named M.Hillar served with the Pułk Ułanów Karpackich. I tried looking online but found Marian Hillar from Pulk Ulanow Krechowieckich.

Any help is appreciated !

Thanks !

[meyle77]

I tried looking online at both english and polish sources and found nothing regarding the carpathian lancers regiment.

[Thomas the Tank Engine]

Hi,
May I ask whether you need this info for commercial or private use?

Regards,
Tom

[meyle77]

Private research - nothing commercial.
If you want I can pm some details.

[Thomas the Tank Engine]

Thanks for the answer. I simply don't like being asked for help to discover later on ebay dealers using my descriptions to sell their stuff. My philosophy is to help fellow forum members with their research but not the dealers - if they want to sell antiques properly described, in my opinion, it's honest to order professional expertise and pay for it as long as they benefit commercialy from someone's work.
Here are the results of my research:
Lt. (por.) Marian Hilar (with one ‘l’) is mentioned in the book ‘Ułani Karpaccy’ (ed. Jan Bielatowicz) as the soldier of the Carpathian Lancers but with no time of service mentioned. Unfortunately the book has no index which is a serious drawback… The only information found is that he received no decorations during his service with the Regt. Lack of decorations in case of an officer may suggest he served with the Regt. either briefly or in a post-war period. In the first case he might have served with the Regt. in the ME before or after the Tobruk Siege period, which I found unlikely, as he’s not mentioned in the ‘Samodzielna Brygada Strzelców Karpackich. Spis żołnierzy’ (The Carpathian Rifle Brigade roll) by Zdzisław Picheta. The possibility of him appearing in the Regt. with the Polish ex-POWs evacuated from the USSR or with trained reinforcements from the UK is also unlikely as he’s not mentioned anywhere in the two-volume Carpathian bible titled ‘Trzecia Dywizja Strzelców Karpackich’ (comprising the list of ‘DeSKa’ soldiers which would include him alike the Carpathian lancers serving with the Regt. in the ME when their unit was still a part of the newly formed 3rd Carpathian Rifle Division). This theory is supported by the lack of Marian Hilar in any regimental battle order neither from the Tobruk Siege period nor ones from the Italian campaign as published in the ‘Ułani Karpaccy’ book. The mentioned absence in the battle orders and lack of any decorations leads to assumption he didn’t take part in the fight with the Regt., especially as an officer. This makes more possible the second guess that he appeared in the Carpathian Lancers Regt. after the war. In the post-war period most of officers arriving in the 2nd Polish Corps in Italy were ex-POWs evacuated from camps in Germany which had been liberated by the Western Allies. This theory needed a check of the Polish POWs roll which resulted in finding one person fitting the description, namely the roll kept by the Polish Red Cross includes reserve 2nd Lt. (ppor. rez.) Marian Hillar (with double ‘l’) of the Cavalry Corps born on 20 September 1912 in Grzybno (powiat [county] Chełmno). His POW no. is 794 which denotes his capture early in the war. The same roll gives also information about camps of his imprisonment mentioning Oflags XI B and II C without any further details. The first one was a short-living temporary POW camp in Braunschweig active from September 1939 to June 1940. The other one is a famous among Polish POWs camp, namely Woldenberg, now Dobiegniew in western Poland (N.B. My Granddad had a doubtful pleasure of residing in this camp).
The record held in the Oflag II C Museum in Dobiegniew, however limited, confirms that Marian Hillar, POW no. 794 was held in Oflags II C and XI B but in the rank of Lt.
Some interesting details adds the information from the archive of the Wojskowe Biuro Badań Historycznych (Military Bureau of Historical Resarch) specifically that reserve 2nd Lt. Marian Hillar (b. 1912) of the 18th Lancers who took part in the 1939 Defensive War, was held in three Oflags, XI B, II C and VII A (Murnau). The only difference with the previously mentioned information is his POW no. which is 791 (personally I guess the 794 is the appropriate one, as it is mentioned in two sources, unless the museum archive holds a copy of wrongly written Red Cross roll which is possible, though in my opinion rather unlikely).
The order of Hillar’s Oflag presence is not clear to me basing on the received information, but my guess is that he was sent first to the Oflag XI B, then transferred to the II C and subsequently to Murnau in Bavaria where he was liberated by the US troops in 1945.
Keeping in mind that the 18th Pomeranian Lancers (garrisoned in Grudziądz) were unlucky to be defeated within the first few days of September, this explains the low POW no.
I guess that Hillar was probably a 2nd Lt. who got promoted to the rank of Lt. while serving with the 2nd Polish Corps in Italy, otherwise, which I think is less likely to be true, he served in 1939 as a Lt. but his rank was recorded wrongly. The assumption of him being a 2nd Lt. in 1939 is advocated by the content of the 1935-1939 Officers’ Promotion roll (‘Awanse oficerskie w Wojsku Polskim 1935-1939’) by Ryszard Rybka and Kamil Stepan where Marian Hillar born 20 September 1912 is mentioned as a reserve 2nd Lt. in the Cavalry Corps with seniority (‘starszeństwo’) of his rank since 1 January 1936. He’s placed with a 97th position (‘lokata’) within this promotion.
The 2nd Polish Corps chapter of The fallen Polish Armed Forces personnel roll (‘Wykaz poległych i zmarlych żołnierzy Polskich Sił Zbrojnych na obczyźnie) doesn’t list Marian Hillar which advocates the hypothesis he didn’t die while serving with the 2nd Polish Corps but was rather demobilized from the Polish Forces.
To cut a long story short, the facts shown above are in my opinion enough to conclude that Lt. Marian Hillar of the Carpathian Lancers and 2nd Lt. Marian Hillar, born 20 September 1912, of the 18th Pomeranian Lancers, kept in at least three POW camps during WW2, might be the same person.
If you have any Hillar's memorabilia, especially docs which may confirm some of the information, I'd be happy to see their pics if it's not a problem.

Regards,
Tom

[meyle77]

Thank you VERY MUCH !
My research also led me to his service in 1939 with Pulk Ulanow Pomorskich as ppor. rez. Marian Hillar wachmistrz (dowódca 3 plutonu 3 szwadronu)
I will contact you tomorrow with photos and info on my findings.

Dziekuje !

[Thomas the Tank Engine]

You're very welcome
Proszę bardzo!

[meyle77]

So here is why my research started.
I was offered this army cot by a local collector. It is a regular WWII allied cot with mosquito net in a white duffel bag.
The cot has a marking POLISH CARPATHIAN LANCERS on the canvas and is attributed to 2nd Lt. Marian Hillar 158/III (meaning ?). As per Tom's research this soldier served in September of 1939 and spent the war in captivity to join the 2nd Polish Corps in 1945. It is then when he received and used this cot. Following his arrival to Toronto, Canada, he kept the cot in storage for many years until his death, when his son gave it to a local collector, who in turn traded it to me.

I intend to keep this piece and run a full research on Marian Hillar and especially his post POW service wit the 2nd Corps.

Thanks !

[A.J. Zawadzki]

. . . The cot has a marking POLISH CARPATHIAN LANCERS on the canvas and is attributed to 2nd Lt. Marian Hillar 158/III (meaning ?). . .

It appears to be the latter two-thirds of Hilar's army number, which typically follows the soldier's four digit year of birth. 158 would be the registration number and Roman numeral III represents the Polish Army in the East (2nd Corps) command region.

Regards,
Tony

[meyle77]

Thank you so his full number would 1912158 then ?