Useful Resources for Polish 2 Corps information

My Resources

My Twitter
@PolishIICorps

My Summary Presentation
Overview presentation of the history Polish 2nd Corps.

My Blog
https://pleszak.blog/

My Blog on Polish 2 Corps Uniform Identification

https://pleszak.blog/2021/03/02/polish-2-corps-uniform-identification/

List of Deportation Trains

Click on the link for a Microsoft Excel Spreadsheet

Deportation Trains Updated

Useful Groups

Kresy-Siberia Group

It’s a magnificent group with lots of information and everybody willing to help.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/KresySiberiaGroup/

They have a wonderful Virtual-Museum..
http://kresy-siberia.org/muzeum/?lang=en

and a very useful links page
http://kresy-siberia.com/mainref.html#r2

Kresy Family Group

https://www.facebook.com/groups/KresyFamily/

and their website
http://www.kresyfamily.com/

WW2 – 2 Korpus Polski Facebook page

https://www.facebook.com/groups/38519739600/

Polish Resettlement Corps Facebook page

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1066752887038278/

Forced Polish conscripts in the German Army

https://www.facebook.com/Polishhistorybook/

http://www.czeslawknopp.com/

Useful Websites

The Polish Institute and Sikorski Museum

Extensive online archives including family research page
http://www.pism.co.uk/
https://www.pism.co.uk/family_research.htm

War Relics Forum – Polish Armed Forces in the West (Polskie Siły Zbrojne na Zachodzie) 1939-1947

http://www.warrelics.eu/forum/polish-armed-forces-west-polskie-si-y-zbrojne-na-zachodzie-1939-1947/

The Polish Army archives

Pre-war individual and regiment records.

Centralne Archiwum Wojskowe
ul. Czerwonych Beretów bl. 124
00-910 Warsaw-Rembertów
Poland

http://www.caw.wp.mil.pl/

Email: informacja.caw@wp.mil.pl

Polish Military Historical Bureau (Wojskowe Biuro Historyczne)

Lots of detailed documents and links
https://wbh.wp.mil.pl/

Family name serach
https://wbh.wp.mil.pl/pl/skanywyszukiwarka_zaawansowana/

Polish Exiles of WW2

Lots of detailed documents and links
https://www.polishexilesofww2.org

Polish Resettlement Camps in England 1946-1969

http://www.polishresettlementcampsintheuk.co.uk/

Ships and Passenger Lists of Polish WW2 DPs arriving from Africa and Europe
http://www.polishresettlementcampsintheuk.co.uk/passengerlist/shipsindex.htm

The British National archives

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/

Polish POWs following the Polish 1939 Campaign

Central Museum for Prisoners of War in Łambinowice

Centralne Muzeum Jeńcόw Wojennych
ul. Minorytów 3
45-019 Opole
Poland

http://www.cmjw.pl/

Polish Army in France 1939-1940

Who subsequently did not serve under British Operational Command

Bureau Central des Archives Administratives Militaires
Place de verdun
Caserne Bernadotte
64023 Pau cedex
France

http://www.servicehistorique.sga.defense.gouv.fr

Swooping Eagle

The story of why Polish Soldiers came to the UK. Excellent website with lots of resouces.

https://swoopingeagle.com/

Family Name Searches

Program “Personal losses and victims of repression under German occupation”

http://www.straty.pl/index.php/en/szukaj-w-bazie

If they were deported to Siberia, you can search a list of deportees. The list is incomplete but there are lots on it:

Polish version:

https://indeksrepresjonowanych.pl/int/wyszukiwanie/94,Wyszukiwanie.html

English version:

https://stevemorse.org/siberia/siberia.html

Russian:
(you need to use Cyrillic and search alphabetically, so Pleszak = Плешак)

http://lists.memo.ru

Victims of political terror in the Soviet Union, a general database
http://base.memo.ru/

Victims of political terror, information available in Memorial archives
http://lists.memo.ru/index31.htm

Stalin’s execution lists, 1937–1954
http://stalin.memo.ru/

Repression victims executed in Moscow
http://mos.memo.ru/

Political Red Cross archives, 1918–1922
http://pkk.memo.ru/

PDF version of the book containing data on the Polish POWs who were held at an NKVD camp in Kozelsk and fell victims to the Katyn massacre (large document)
http://old.memo.ru/uploads/files/killed_in_katyn.pdf

Repression against the True Orthodox (Catacomb) Church members, late 1920s –1970s
http://histor-ipt-kt.org/

Repression against the Catholic Church members, 1918 – 1980s
http://cathol.memo.ru/

Hoover Institute’s Polish Archives

https://www.hoover.org/library-archives/collections/poland-during-world-war-ii

In particular hand-written testimonies in the Wladyslaw Anders Collection, 1939-1946.

http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/tf0p3000tg/

Request for persons persecuted by National Socialism, their families and representatives

https://www.its-arolsen.org/en/information/request-for-information-on-victims-of-nazi-persecution/

Mark Ostrowski’s excellent links

A very useful index for the Hoover archives:
HOOVER ARCHIVE INDEX_NEW SYSTEM ANDERS v3

Reports of Polish deportees, 1941
http://szukajwarchiwach.pl/800/41/0/-/247#tabSkany

database of those deported to Arkhangielsk Oblast
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/s7q8qfjpo4hvu0m/AACT_iMnFeiVox2AFWDXAAMJa?dl=0

Army Records

The British MOD will provide all the information about medals and Army career and some pre-Army history too. However it will usually be an English summary so when you ask, ensure you request their complete zeszyt ewidencyjny and you will get copies of original army records (hand written and in Polish). If they never claimed their English medals (probably 4 or 5) the MOD will supply them. It’s a free service if you can prove you are closely related.

Polish Army in Exile Records-British Ministry of Defence (MOD)
Send details of your relationship to the soldier in question and the possible units and dates of service using the Subject Access Request (SAR) form located at:

http://www.veterans-uk.info/service_records/sar.doc

The requests should be back up by the following documentation (photocopies of documents are acceptable):

1. If the ex-serviceman is deceased, the official next of kin must give authority for disclosure. To establish this authority, please complete a Certificate of Kinship,
located at :

http://www.veterans-uk.info/pdfs/service_records/raf_kinship.pdf

You ca request records of deceased service personnel at:

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/request-records-of-deceased-service-personnel

2. Once the authority to disclose is established, please provide the following documentation:

a) Death Certificate of ex-serviceman and
b) Marriage Certificate (in the case of widows), or
c) Birth Certificate (in the case of children) plus Death Certificate of the mother if applicable or her written consent if information is to be released to a person other than the widow, and
d) Any other documents, which prove kinship

Information is issued free of charge to the widows of ex-servicemen and to those who are residents in the post-communist countries. All other interested parties are charged £30 for the service. Payment can be made by cheque, UK Postal Order or International Money Order. These should be made payable to:

“Ministry of Defence – Accounting Officer”

Please apply by post or e-mail to:

MINISTRY OF DEFENCE
APC DISCLOSURES 5 (POLISH)
Building 60
RAF Northolt
West End Road
Ruislip
Middlesex
HA4 6NG
England

Tel: 0208 833 8603

Email: polishasstdisoff@northolt.raf.mod.uk
Email: polishdisoff@northolt.raf.mod.uk
Email: nor-polishdiscoffice@mod.uk

To claim any British war medals

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/applying-for-medals

Typical British Medals and Ribbon Bar awarded to members of thr Polish 2 Corps in order of precedence.

Typical Polish Medals and Ribbon Bar in order of precedence.

For further information on the Monte Cassino Cross see http://krzyz.montecassino.eu/

Military Cross of the Polish Armed Forces in the West
Krzyż Czynu Bojowego Polskich Sił Zbrojnych na Zachodzie

Was issued from 1989 until 1999 as an expression of recognition, respect and memory for the soldiers, pilots and sailors of the Polish Armed Forces in the West who participated in WW2.

Eleven clasps identifying the battles participated were available. For members of the Polish 2nd Corps this would have typically been a combination of:

TOBRUK (3 DSK Veterans), MONTE CASSINO, ANKONA, and BOLONIA.

The complete list of campaign clasps is:
NARWIK, LAGARDE, MAICHE-St. HIPPOLYTE, BITWA O ANGLIE (Battle of Britain), TOBRUK, MONTE CASSINO, ANKONA, FALAISE-CHAMBOIS, AXEL, ARNHEM, BREDA, BOLONIA, WILHELMSHAVEN, DZIALANIA BOJOWE LOTNICTWA (Air Force war operations), BITWY I KONWOJE MORSKIE (sea battles and convoys).

Siberian Exiles Cross
Krzyża Zesłańców Sybiru

To claim this medal is quite complicated and can take a long time to process. Applicants must have been exiled to Siberia and still alive on 1 January 2004.

To apply click the image below:

Thanks to Elizabeth Gradosielska Olsson from the Kresy Family group for the following documents. (Click on the link to open the document)

Notes on Siberian cross application

Blank application for SIBERIAN CROSS Polish-1

English version of SIBERIAN CROSS application-1

Example of filled in application Siberian Cross

Maps

The best maps of pre-WW2 Poland are from Map Archive of Wojskowy Instytut Geograficzny 1919 – 1939.

http://www.mapywig.org/

NCB (National Coal Board)

Iron Mountain provide a free information service for those that worked for the NCB in teh UK. In order to request information:

Complete that proforma below
Provide 2 pieces of identification

Send the completed proforma in the post to:

Iron Mountain (UK) Ltd
PO Box 3238
Stafford
ST16 9LS

Or email it to: Britishcoalrecords@ironmountain.co.uk

CES013 Request Proforma DPA v1.1 June 2009

Thanks

Mark Ostrowski for all the help over many years
Krzysztof Jeżewski for link to records of deceased service personnel
Lucyna Artymiuk for additional links
Tania Robinson for details of the NCB information request service