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Help with trying to piece together my Father's wartime service during the 1939 September campaign in Poland

Article about: Hi, I am trying to piece together the service history of my father who was a soldier in the Polish 2nd Corps. Sadly, he died a number of years ago but we have his medals through which I'm ho

  1. #1

    Default Help with trying to piece together my Father's wartime service during the 1939 September campaign in Poland

    Hi,

    I am trying to piece together the service history of my father who was a soldier in the Polish 2nd Corps.
    Sadly, he died a number of years ago but we have his medals through which I'm hoping to gain more knowledge of his wartime service. Thanks to the help of Andrzejku98 in reply to my first posting, I have now managed to confirm his service number in the Carpathian Lancers from 1940 onwards.
    However, the gap is 1939. I know he was awarded the '39 campaign medal so he was clearly in a Polish fighting unit in 1939 but am struggling to find his date of conscription and the unit he was serving in during the September campaign.
    I do know that he escaped through Hungary, arrived in Syria and remained in the Carpathian Lancers until demobbed in 1948 in the UK. Given that he fought at Tobruk, I am presuming that he must have arrived in North Africa late 1939 or early 1940.
    His name is Alfred Florek born on 2//2/1921 in Biecz, Malopolskie, Poland. His father was called Josef and his mother was Maria. That's all I know.

    Can anyone in this forum help please?
    Anton

  2. #2
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    Have you applied to the Ministry of Defense UK for his file. His record book should be there, and that is where his 1939 allocation is. When you get to know allocation, you can recreate the combat trail in September 1939.

  3. #3

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    Thank you for your reply Filipe.
    I have written to the Ministry of Defence but the office is close due to the national lockdown in the UK so it may be some time before I get a confirmation that his records are in the archive.
    Whilst waiting I was hoping that I might gain some sense of which Polish armed forces escaped to Hungary in 1939.
    Nonetheless your reply and advice is much appreciated.

  4. #4
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    Greetings,
    Wow...i think this is going to be very difficult without some other information.

    You might want to try writing to :
    Central Military Archives
    ul Czerwonych Beretow 124
    00-901 Warsaw-Rembertow
    Poland

    It is my understanding that they may have some service records pre-1939

    Likely the majority of soldiers that escaped through Hungary were involved in the fighting in the Southern Front, primarily from Army 'Karpaty'.
    Army 'Karpaty' consisted of the 11th (my grandfathers), 24th and 38th infantry divisions.
    the 11th division consisted of the 48th (my grandfathers), 49th and 53rd regiments. the 24th had the 17th, 38th and 39th regiments and the 38th had the 96th 97th and 98 th regiments. Also attached to Army 'Karpaty' were 2 mountain brigades, national defense battalions as well as the artillery regiments associated with each of the infantry divisions.

    Army 'Karpaty' was driven back to the southeast of Poland, now the Ukraine, in the area of Lwow ( Lviv) in close proximity to the Hungarian and Romanian borders.

    Army 'Krakow' though was driven east as far back as Tomaszow Lubelski, not that far north of Lwow, so it is possible that some of those soldiers also found their way south, although there were a lot of Germans between them and Lwow who were attacking my grandfather. General Maczek and his 10th motorized cavalry brigade were part of Army 'Krakow' and did manage to break through to Lwow and finally to Hungary.

    So, you can see how difficult this is going to be. hopefully you can find some extra thread of information.

    Good luck
    Mike

  5. #5

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    Thanks Mike.
    It seems that the Central Military Archives in Poland can only help if you know the regiment as the database isn't centralised through surnames.
    I suspect, like you, that my father served in the Army Karpaty and am hoping that the MoD in the UK will have this information when I eventually get a response.
    However, as he served in the Carpathian Lancers which was formed during April from 1940 in North Africa I was hoping that someone from the forum might be able to provide a link to the regimental personnel list with previous service details.
    Thank you so much for taking the time to respond to my post. This is very much appreciated.
    Anton

  6. #6

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    Hi Anton,

    I can’t directly help with your quest, but if you follow this link there are some other links with information that might be useful.

    Sorry I can’t help more.

    Looking for Information On My Father Polish 9th Lancers 4th Infantry Division

  7. #7
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    Greetings,
    One unusual thing that I noticed is that his birthdate is 1921 which would make him 18 years of age in 1939.
    During the Second Polish Republic mandatory military service started at the age of 21 years, usually for a 2 year period.
    If he lied about his age you may have to search under a different date of birth.

    Mike

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