From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Last picture of the 4th company of 2nd Home Army Legions' Infantry Regiment, shortly before the unit was disbanded and most of its soldiers arrested by the NKVD; January 1945
The
2nd Legions' Infantry Regiment
(
Polish
:
2. pułk piechoty legionow
, 2ppLeg) was a Polish military unit active between 1914 and 1944. Initially a part of the
Polish Legions in World War I
, after the war it was incorporated into the
Polish Army
. Disbanded after the
Invasion of Poland
in 1939, it was recreated during the
Armia Krajowa
's
Operation Tempest
.
The regiment was first formed in 1914 in
Krakow
, as part of the Polish Legions fighting alongside the
Austro-Hungarian Army
. Initially a part of the
Eastern Legion
, with time it was joined with the
2nd Brigade of the Polish Legions
. It avoided destruction on the fronts of the
Great War
and was merged into the newly reborn Polish Army in 1918. It took part in the
Polish-Bolshevik War
. After the
Peace of Riga
had been signed, the unit was partly demobilized and stationed in
Sandomierz
, where it formed a part of the
Polish 2nd Legions' Infantry Division
.
With that unit the regiment, headed by Col.
Ludwik Czy?ewski
, formed the backbone of the
Piotrkow Operational Group
at the start of the
Invasion of Poland
in 1939. Initially separated from its division, the regiment fought in the
battle of Borowa Gora
on 5 September. On 9 September it joined its division and covered its retreat towards
Warsaw
. After heavy fights on 12 and 13 September, fought in the area of
Błonie
,
Ołtarzew
and
O?arow
, the regiment crossed the
Kampinos Forest
and reached the
Modlin Fortress
. There, the regiment took part in
defence of that area
until the capitulation of the fortress on 29 September.
In August 1944, during the
Operation Tempest
, the 2nd Regiment was recreated from smaller partisan units as part of the 2nd Division fighting in the area of
Sandomierz
and
Opatow
. Commanded by Lt.Col.
Antoni Wiktorowski
Kruk
, it fought against the German Army in that area until September, when it was disbanded. However, its sub-units continued to operate in the area until January 1945, when they were overrun by the
Red Army
. Most
[1]
of its soldiers, much like the rest of
Armia Krajowa
, were then rounded up by the
NKVD
, disarmed and either forcibly conscripted to the Communist-supported
Polish People's Army
or sent to the
Gulags
in
USSR
.
Notes and references
[
edit
]
- ^
Stanisław Wyrzycki (2000).
2 Pułk Piechoty Legionow
(in Polish). Ajaks, Warsaw.
ISBN
83-85621-05-9
.