318 Kompania Kantyn Polowych i Bibliotek Ruchomych Group

[A.J. Zawadzki]

Hi James,

Some answers for you:

The bars I have highlighted with the yellow arrows. Am I correct to assume that the longer aluminium pair are shoulder bars? Is the smaller single one for a beret? . . .

Yes, you are correct. See picture below. Plastic and metal were used in additional to cloth and metal bullion thread.

Second question - what do the blue bars with the blue arrow signify?

Supply and Transport units. Pictured below is the cloth equivalent mounted to a pair of tropical shoulder flashes, and also an excerpt from “Wojsko Polskie 1939-1945, barwa i broń” [Stanisław Komornicki; Zygmunt Bielecki; Wanda Boguszewska; Adam Jońca;]

And lastly - Do the plastic badges signify anything specific (unit, year etc)?

Yes, these would date to late 1944 and the immediate post war years. The story goes that they are made from a supply of plastic found by the Poles after liberating an Italian harmonica factory. One of the resourceful soldiers came up with the idea of using the plastic to fashion some uniform insignia, which remained in perpetually short supply for the Poles.

The plastic was also used for other items such as cigarette cases and souvenirs such as the shield pictured below from my collection. This shield marked “Polish Army – Italy – 1944” contains full sized uniform insignia. All of these various handcrafted plastic items now have a strong collector following.

Regards,
Tony

[jamest8]

Tony

Thanks so much for the very full answer and the great photographs. This is such a great learning experience for me.

All the best

James