The Polish Army 1939-45 (Men-at-Arms)

Poland was the first of the Allied nations to succumb to German aggression in the Second World War, but by the most tortuous of routes her army managed to remain in the field through all five years of bloody fighting. In fact by the war’s end the Polish Army was the fourth largest contingent of the Allied coalition after the armed forces of the Soviet Union, the United States and Great Britain. Polish soldiers fought in nearly every major campaign in the European theatre, and their tale is a complicated and tragic one. The heroic efforts of the Polish Army were often rendered meaningless by political events far outside their control.Fate was very cruel to the Polish nation during those years, and especially cruel to her soldiers.

The Polish Army of 1939 was very much a creature of its founder, Josef Pilsudski. Pilsudski, the erstwhile socialist and revolutionary, had formed and led the barefoot Polish forces in the battles for independence in 1918.

Poland was the first of the Allied nations to succumb to German aggression in the Second World War, but by the most tortuous of routes her army managed to remain in the field through all five years of bloody fighting. Polish soldiers fought in nearly every major campaign in the European theatre, and their tale is a complicated and tragic one. This richly detailed text by Steven Zaloga relates the story of the Polish Army during the Second World War, from the first wave of Stukas in 1939 to its eventual conclusion.