Polish Artillery Badges/Patches/shoulder titles,etc,etc

[philip ABRG]

I am looking for photographs of badges,patches,titles, etc worn by the Polish soldiers who served in the Artillery units that fought in the Netherlands with the Armoured Division

1st Polish Motorized Artillery Regiment (1 pułk artylerii motorowej) - Lt.Col. J. Krautwald
2nd Polish Motorized Artillery Regiment (2 pułk artylerii motorowej) - Lt.Col. K. Meresch
1st Polish Anti-Tank Regiment (formed in 1945 from smaller units) (1 pułk artylerii przeciwpancernej) - Major R. Dowbór
1st Polish Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment (1 pułk artylerii przeciwlotniczej) - Lt.Col. O. Eminowicz, later Maj. W. Berendt

Thanks in advance

[A.J. Zawadzki]

Hi Philip,

Let's take these one at a time. First up is the 1st Polish Motorized Artillery Regiment. Collar pennons were traditional artillery green/black. Typical POLAND titles on each shoulder, and the 1st Armoured Division winged hussar helmet insignia on the left sleeve. Here’s a Service Dress tunic (which belonged to Władysław Stankiewicz) and Battledress tunic with the collar pennons having a metal pine sprig insignia added. More on this below.



Also worn in this regiment was the 'Death's Battery' insignia, a black triangle with skull and crossbones worn on the right sleeve below the shoulder title. There were two main types, bullion thread and also metal. Enlisted versions did not have the perniter edging/piping. This insignia, introduced in 1944, commemorates a unit of the 1st Mountain Artillery Regiment, an ancestor of the pre-war 1st Polish Motorized Artillery regiment which was decorated with the Virtuti Militari following the 1920 Polish-Bolshevik war.



Here’s a photo of Captain Jerzy Zarski in 1940 pattern BD with the pine sprig / 'Podhale swastika' insignia added to the collar pennons. This insignia was unique to the 1st Motorized Artillery regiment, and distinguished the pennon from that of the same green/black pennons used by 2nd Motorized Artillery Regiment.



On occasion the regiment was also further distinguished from the 2nd Motorized Artillery with the use of a metal numeral on the shoulder strap. Władysław Stankiewicz is pictured in his BD from a photo taken in 1944.



The basic collar pennon and regimental badge, along with examples of both the emlisted and officer grade of the badge and the award document.



Out of time for now. Stay tuned for the other regiments.

Regards,
Tony

[StefanM]

An excellent and informative post....many thanks Tony

[philip ABRG]

Thanks very much Tony, look forward to the others

[Gary J]

Philip,
Check out post 933 in the thread "Polish Regimental badges ww2" ...
https://www.warrelics.eu/forum/polis...s-ww2-9351-32/

Gary J.

[philip ABRG]

Thanks mate will do

[civil]

Welcome everybody,
Great forum, more powerful source of artifacts of PSZ then any museum in Poland.
Below pennon from Muzeum Wojska Polskiego in Warsaw and metal numerals worn on shoulder straps.

[A.J. Zawadzki]

Hi Civil,

Thanks for your post. I was going to wish you a welcome to the forum as this is your first post, but then I see you’ve been a member since 2008! Anyway, a perfect lead in to discussing the 2nd Polish Motorized Artillery Regiment.

Essentially the same cloth uniform insignia as with the 1st Mot. Art., although the collar pennons were always plain (no metal insignia applied). There was no special unit insignia, such as with the ‘Death’s Battery’.



A look at some variants of the 1st Armoured Division insignia in use at the time:



As with the 1st Mot. Art., the use of a metal numeral “2” on the shoulder strap was also known to be used – as pictured above in Civil’s post, and here:



And the regimental badge and document. The badge pictured with the document (with twin threaded posts and enamelwork in the pennon) is attributed to Belgian manufacturer Altenloh. The more commonly seen version is the single post type by German firm Steinhauer.



Regards,
Tony

[civil]

Polish artillery tractor -circa 1942.

[A.J. Zawadzki]

Next up, the 1st Polish Anti-Tank Artillery Regiment. The SD pictured below belonged to 2nd Lt. Antoni Koś, part of a comprehensive surviving grouping of items from this officers wartime service.




Detail showing the collar pennon construction:



Period photo of a sergeant in BD:



BD uniform on display at the “Generaal Maczek Museum in Breda, Nederland”:



Beret belonging to Lt. Antoni Koś, standard black for all of the Polish armoured regiments both 1st and 2nd Corps. The bullion thread eagle is a product of London based maker Czesław Budziarek, popular in the 1st Polish Armoured Division:



A little bit of an aside, two British made rank star types most commonly found on period 1st Armoured Div. uniforms. The type with the perforated fastening blades is found on the Koś tunic and beret above.



The regimental badge, a product of Spink & Son, London



The badge “legitymacja”



Regards,
Tony