35th Infantry Division (Poland)
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

35th Infantry Division (Polish: 35. Dywizja Piechoty) was a reserve 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
Second Polish Republic The Second Polish Republic, at the time officially known as the Republic of Poland, was a country in Central Europe, Central and Eastern Europe that existed between 1918 and 1939. The state was established on 6 November 1918, before the end of ...
. It did not exist in peacetime organization of the army, and was formed between August 31 – September 4, 1939, during the
Invasion of Poland 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 aft ...
. The division consisted mainly of units which until September 1 manned Fortified Area of
Wilno Vilnius ( , ; see also #Etymology and other names, other names) is the capital and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the munic ...
(Obszar Warowny Wilno), and forces of the
Border Protection Corps The Border Protection Corps ( pl, Korpus Ochrony Pogranicza, KOP) was a military formation of the Second Polish Republic that was created in 1924 to defend the country's eastern borders against armed Soviet incursions and local bandits. Other ...
, which guarded northeastern corner of the country. After its formation, the division joined Operational Group
Wyszków Wyszków (; yi, ווישקאָוו ''Vishkov'') is a town in eastern Poland with 26,500 inhabitants (2018). It is the capital of Wyszków County in Masovian Voivodeship. History The village of Wyszków was first documented in 1203. It was grant ...
. On September 7, 1939, the division, commanded by Colonel Jarosław Szafran, was sent to the area south of
Białystok Białystok is the largest city in northeastern Poland and the capital of the Podlaskie Voivodeship. It is the tenth-largest city in Poland, second in terms of population density, and thirteenth in area. Białystok is located in the Białystok Up ...
, where it waited for train transports to move it westwards. On the next day however, Polish Commander in Chief
Edward Śmigły-Rydz Edward is an English given name. It is derived from the Anglo-Saxon name ''Ēadweard'', composed of the elements '' ēad'' "wealth, fortune; prosperous" and '' weard'' "guardian, protector”. History The name Edward was very popular in Anglo-Sa ...
ordered the division to march to the rail junction at
Czeremcha Czeremcha ( uk, Черемха, ''Cheremkha'') is a village in Hajnówka County, Podlaskie Voivodeship, in eastern Poland, close to the border with Belarus. It is the seat of the gmina (administrative district) called Gmina Czeremcha. It lies app ...
, where it boarded trains to
Lwów Lviv ( uk, Львів) is the largest city in western Ukraine, and the seventh-largest in Ukraine, with a population of . It serves as the administrative centre of Lviv Oblast and Lviv Raion, and is one of the main cultural centres of Ukraine ...
, some 500 kilometers south (see also
Battle of Lwów (1939) The Battle of Lwów (sometimes called the ''Siege of Lwów'') was a World War II battle for the control over the Polish city of Lwów (now Lviv, Ukraine) between the Polish Army and the invading Wehrmacht and the Red Army. The city was seen as the ...
). By September 13, 35th Infantry Division was ready to take part in action. On the next day, it manned western line of defence of the city, and on September 15, it attacked the advancing
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 Kortumowa Gora and Holosko. Polish attack, in which bayonets were used, halted the Germans, which had to call for artillery support. On September 18, in order to create a link with 10th Motorized Cavalry Brigade, the 35th I.D. attacked along the line Holosko – Brzuchowice. The attack began in the afternoon, and by evening, Polish forces captured complex of a sanatorium along the road to Brzuchowice. Meanwhile, however, 10th Motorized Cavalry Brigade was ordered to break through to Hungary. On September 19, Polish defenders of Lwów found out about forces of General
Kazimierz Sosnkowski General Kazimierz Sosnkowski (; Warsaw, 19 November 1885 – 11 October 1969, Arundel, Quebec) was a Polish independence fighter, general, diplomat, and architect. He was a major political figure and an accomplished commander, notable in p ...
, which tried to break into the city from forests in the area of
Jaworów Jaworów may refer to: * Jaworów, Lower Silesian Voivodeship (south-west Poland) * Jaworów, Łódź Voivodeship (central Poland) * Jaworów, Lublin Voivodeship (east Poland) *the Polish name for the town of Yavoriv Yavoriv ( uk, Яворів, ; ...
. General
Władysław Langner Władysław Aleksander Langner (18 June 1896 in Jaworów 28 September 1972) was a Polish general, best known as commander of the Siege of Lwów in 1939. Early career Władysław Langner spent his childhood in the Polish town of Tarnów, where h ...
immediately ordered the 35th I.D. to attack German positions near Zamarstynow and Holosko. After initial success, Poles were repelled by German tanks, and failed to aid General Sosnkowski. The 35th I.D., which had used up all its ammunition, capitulated in forests near Brzuchowice. Its commandant, Colonel Jarosław Szafran, was later captured by the Soviets, and murdered in
Katyn massacre The Katyn massacre, "Katyń crime"; russian: link=yes, Катынская резня ''Katynskaya reznya'', "Katyn massacre", or russian: link=no, Катынский расстрел, ''Katynsky rasstrel'', "Katyn execution" was a series of m ...
. Furthermore, the
NKVD The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (russian: Наро́дный комиссариа́т вну́тренних дел, Naródnyy komissariát vnútrennikh del, ), abbreviated NKVD ( ), was the interior ministry of the Soviet Union. ...
murdered the following officers of the division: * Colonel
Lucjan Janiszewski Lucjan is a given name of Polish origin. Notable people with the name include: *Lucjan Brychczy (born 1934), Polish football player *Lucjan Dobroszycki (1925–1995), Polish scientist and historian specializing in modern Polish and Polish-Jewish hi ...
, who commanded divisional infantry, * Colonel Piotr Parfianowicz of 205th Infantry Regiment, * Colonel Edward Koscinski of 206th Infantry Regiment, * Colonel Wladyslaw Jozef Mikolajczyk of 207th Infantry Regiment, * Colonel Wladyslaw Aleksander Suryn of 33th Light Artillery Regiment * Major Doctor Jan Wincenty Krolikiewicz of Sanitary Company, * Major Erwin Ludwik Herman Bordolo of Field Court Nr. 33.


Sources

* Tadeusz Jaruga: Wojsko Polskie : krótki informator historyczny o Wojsku Polskim w latach II wojny światowej. 7, Regularne jednostki Wojska Polskiego w 1939 : organizacja, działania bojowe, uzbrojenie, metryki związków operacyjnych, dywizji i brygad. Warszawa : Wydawnictwo Ministerstwa Obrony Narodowej 1975. * Jerzy Prochwicz, Korpus Ochrony Pogranicza w przededniu wojny, Część II. Przemiany organizacyjne i przygotowania wojenne KOP w 1939 roku, Wojskowy Przegląd Historyczny Nr 4 (150) z 1994 r., s. 3–13, * Ryszard Dalecki: Armia „Karpaty" w wojnie obronnej 1939 r., Rzeszów 1989, wyd. II, {{ISBN, 83-03-02830-8


See also

*
Operational Group {{Unreferenced, date=October 2008 Operational Group ( pl, Grupa Operacyjna, abbreviated GO) was the highest level of tactical division of the Polish Army before and during World War II and the invasion of Poland. It was corps-sized, although variou ...
*
Polish army order of battle in 1939 This article discusses the Polish order of battle during the invasion of Poland. In the late 1930s Polish headquarters prepared "Plan Zachód" (''Plan "West''), a plan of mobilization of Polish Land Forces, Polish Army in case of war with Germany. ...
* Fall Weiss Military units and formations established in 1939
35th Military units *35th Fighter Wing, an air combat unit of the United States Air Force *35th Infantry Division (United States), a formation of the National Guard since World War I *35th Infantry Regiment (United States), a regiment created on 1 July 1 ...