17 Greater Poland Infantry Division was a unit of the

Polish Army The Land Forces () are the land forces of the Polish Armed Forces. They currently contain some 62,000 active personnel and form many components of the European Union and NATO deployments around the world. Poland's recorded military history stret ...

in the interbellum period. It garrisoned

Gniezno Gniezno (; german: Gnesen; la, Gnesna) is a city in central-western Poland, about east of Poznań. Its population in 2021 was 66,769, making it the sixth-largest city in the Greater Poland Voivodeship. One of the Piast dynasty's chief cities, ...

and neighboring towns, such as

Pleszew Pleszew (; german: Pleschen) is a town in central Poland, in Greater Poland Voivodeship, about 90 km southeast of Poznań. It is the capital of Pleszew County (''powiat pleszewski''). Population is 17,892 (2004). History The oldest permanen ...

and

Września Września (german: Wreschen) is a town in west-central Poland with 28,600 inhabitants (1995). It is situated in the Września County, Greater Poland Voivodeship (since 1999), previously in Poznań Voivodeship (1975–1998), on the Wrześnica Riv ...

. The unit was formed on June 9, 1919, as 3rd Division of Greater Poland Rifles. In 1921 it was renamed into 17 Greater Poland Infantry Division. During the

Polish September Campaign The invasion of Poland (1 September – 6 October 1939) was a joint attack on the Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union which marked the beginning of World War II. The German invasion began on 1 September 1939, one week after ...

, the Division, under Colonel Mieczyslaw Mozdyniewicz, was part of the

Poznań Army Army Poznań ( pl, Armia Poznań) led by Major General Tadeusz Kutrzeba was one of the Polish Armies during the Invasion of Poland in 1939. Tasks Flanked by Armia Pomorze to the north and Łódź Army to the south, the Army was to provide f ...

. It was destroyed by the

Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previous ...

in mid-September 1939, during the

Battle of the Bzura The Battle of the Bzura (or the Battle of Kutno) was the largest Polish counter-attack of the German invasion of Poland and was fought from 9 to 19 September.''The Second World War: An Illustrated History '', Putnam, 1975, Google Print snippet ...

. The 17th Division was briefly reformed as part of the

People's Army of Poland The Polish People's Army ( pl, Ludowe Wojsko Polskie , LWP) constituted the second formation of the Polish Armed Forces in the East in 1943–1945, and in 1945–1989 the armed forces of the Polish communist state ( from 1952, the Polish Peo ...

in 1945–46.Jerzy Kajetanowicz: Polskie wojska lądowe 1945-1960 : skład bojowy, struktury organizacyjne i uzbrojenie. Toruń; Łysomice: Europejskie Centrum Edukacyjne, 2005. , and M. Szczurowski – "Słownik biograficzny wyższych dowódców LWP", s. 122-124. o

References

17th 17th {{Poland-mil-stub

See also

References