Soldier Information Request plus 'Ekspozytury Inf "W"?'
Article about: Hello All, I've been trying to research my late grandfather's service history, as well as other members of my Polish family from 1930+ (both grandfathers fought in WW2, as well as various di
Soldier Information Request plus 'Ekspozytury Inf "W"?'
Hello All,
I've been trying to research my late grandfather's service history, as well as other members of my Polish family from 1930+ (both grandfathers fought in WW2, as well as various distant relatives, and both of my grandmothers lived on the east side of Poland and were therefore taken to Siberia and subsequently moved through the Middle East, to Tengeru, and finally the UK).
At the moment though, I'd love your help and expertise in trying to figure out my grandfather, Stefan Masternak's, history.
I have attached some documents my family had, as well as parts of his service record which I have obtained from the MOD.
Any help in deciphering the documents and helping me to build a picture of his service would be greatly appreciated, and I'll tell you what myself and my parents believe to be true so far (I don't speak Polish so have been relying on Google translate/my parents translations, but we think this is fairly accurate):
1935-39 Poland
Joined Polish 8th Infantry Division in 1935, in Lublin (8 p.p.Legg.Lublin?)
Trained with or moved to the 45p.p section (??) in 1937 to 1938? (Box 11 on dark landscape document)
Served as an NCO/Corpral/Kapral from early on and throughout war
States he was 'Instruktor Piech. i sam.' / 'Instructor and car driver' (guessing this is for '8 Dywizja Piechoty'?)
Fought at the battles in Radom / Garbatka - September 1939 (any detailed sources out there?)
Captured by German Army in September 1939 and moved to Stalag 4-a as Prisoner of War (Ex-POW Card)
1939-45 Germany
Not sure which Stalag 4-a he was held at as I believe there were two in the area? (My mum remembers her mother telling stories about how Stefan used to occasionally visit Colditz for church/mass, could this be true if Stalag 4a was close?)
Don't have much information regarding POW timeline as all we have is Ex-POW Card. (Perhaps the Red Cross would have more info?) (Documents confirm he was in 'Niemcy/Germany' 1939-45, and 'Italy/Wlochy' 1945-1947?)
Liberated from Stalag 4-a in mid-late 1945 (Not sure by who ... Red Army? Americans? Sources online differ I think, not sure of dates either)
Enrolled into Anders Army/II Corp, in Italy, late 1945 (In Ancona according to documents?)
1945+ Italy
Service record/driving card states he was then in 'Eksposytura.Inf."W"' (or Eksp.Inf."W") from 1945-47
Don't know what his role was ... but it states: 'Magazymier mat. Pen???????' (Warehouse material something?) (Osobisty document, box 23)
Starkiewicz (Officers signature on bottom of driving card) listed as head of division "W" @ document Oddzia
Is eksp.inf."w" anything to do with the 'Station "W"' set-up in Budapest?, it is listed in various sources (e.g. Anglo-Polish Intelligence Books), but I can't find definitive details about what the division did. (His documents only ever mention Poland/Germany/Italy as far as I can see).
Commended/praised for services to 2 Korp/Eksp.inf."w" in 1946? (Page 9 in booklet, section XX), can't read the handwriting ... any idea what commendation it is?
[LIST][*]Involved with some sort of 'Court' 25/04/1946 to 12/05/1946. (Page 14 of booklet, first box). I think it's something like, "Rozkaz o sadach doraznych Nr 53 pkl 293 z dnia 26/04/1936 zostal mi podany do wiadomozci dnia 12/05/1946." which google translates to, "The Order of the Royal Courts of No. 53, Part 293, dated 26/04/1936, was given to me on 12/05/1946." Any ideas what this is referring to?
Trained as something to do with driving with S.Z.T 2 Korp in 1946 (Not sure what this is)
Officially acknowledged rank of Kapral in June 1946
Moved to Reserve in 1947? and then left the army in 1949?
Worked for a company called Plutontransport? (can't see date anywhere, page 15 of booklet) (also mentions 'magazyner/warehouseman' here)
He lived in Birmingham after the War. My mum remembers anecdotes from her mum about him being some sort of Chauffeur or driving some officers/someone important around or something? Although by the same token there were also jokes from my uncle that he used to be just an army Cook ... so ... yea, I got nothing on that one ...
Does anyone have any detailed sources or advice about the following they could direct me to:
- the 8p.p division or sources about the 1935+ battles around Lublin (or whatever 193X division he was in ...)
- any information regarding Stalag 4a or ideas on how to get any (Seems incredible that he spent over 5 years in a POW camp while the war raged on, crazy. Would there be any information about his time there in German sources? Or Red Cross perhaps?)
- any more information about Eksp.Inf."W" / (Perhaps refered to as: Ekspozytura "W" / Exposition "W", or maybe 'Placowka "W" / Station "W") (Not sure if I'm on the right track with this one though.)
- is 505/III a British Army Division or a Polish One? I can't seem to find it.
- also, what would be the best way to contact the Sikorski Institute about finding more information? what would I ask them for?
- are there any archives in Poland which may have more records?
Oh, I've ordered 'Army In Exile' so I look forward to reading that, and plan to grab some more books when I can (Bitwa o Monte Cassino etc). Been looking through the digitised Hoover institution archives as well ... some cracking stuff in there, even found a questionnaire filled in by my great-grandfather (although microfilm + scrawly handwriting + can't read Polish = not so fun ) and the letters/cuttings/random bits from the Polish Information Dept. in the Hoover archives are fantastic! Really interesting stuff.
I've tried my best to make the attached images readable within the forum limits, but if anyone would like higher res copies I could upload another set on a different server if needed. (Some of the booklet pages are blank but I thought I'd leave them here for completeness.)
The Information Department of the 2nd Corps Staff had its own liaison officer in Athens. Two branches were subordinated to the head of the Information Dept. The first branch ‘ESUW’ with its headquarters in Jerusalem was headed by Maj. F. Wierzbicki. Because of its penetration of the Jewish agency it became a source of excellent information from Poland. Independently, it uncovered the communist underground in Palestine and throughout the Near and Middle East. The second branch, code named ‘W’, was initially headed by Maj. J. Pacak, and subsequently by Maj. Z. Starkiewicz. Branch ‘W’ had beneath it five posts scat- tered from southern Italy to Austria, Bavaria and France. They gathered detailed information about the communist movement in France and Italy as well as deeply penetrating communist Yugoslavia. Before their liquidation, both branches created a series of companies in Western Europe and the Near East, which allowed them to continue and finance their intelligence work over the following years.
Thanks Krakow1, yea that's one of the only sources I have for what the branch did or references to being in Italy. Would love to get an insight into the daily work/information collection they did. I've seen there is a book out there called, 'Organa informacji Wojska Polskiego w latach 1943-1956, by Kontrwywiad wojskowy' so maybe that would give me some leads.
I think my father is also tempted to get the service records of his father. We think he was a radioman/something to do with signals, so it'd be interesting what information we get on him if the MOD has the records.
"Szkoly i kursy wojskowe : "Schools and military courses " : 5th scan from bottom says : 15.1.46 - 26.2.46 6 week course for military drivers, and driving heavy military vehicles passed with best marks. (Unit given as Expozytura "W").
On that same page I think the other two entries are: "Sep/35 - Apr/36 NCO School, 8p.p. Lublin"
and then the next one I'm not sure, maybe "krws?? Dywizyjny 45p.p strez.kres.rowne" which I think is " ???? division, 45p.p Rifleman, Kresy, Rowne" (Current day Ukraine, Rivne)
I think it was the '45th Kresy Rifles, Rowne' but not 100% sure, I'll do some more googling :P
Soldier Information Request plus 'Ekspozytury Inf "W"?'
) and the letters/cuttings/random bits from the Polish Information Dept. in the Hoover archives are fantastic! Really interesting stuff.
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