Armoured Forces Training Centre - Armoured Forces Training Centre of the

Polish Forces in the West The Polish Armed Forces in the West () refers to the Polish military formations formed to fight alongside the Western Allies against Nazi Germany and its allies during World War II. Polish forces were also raised within Soviet territories; the ...

. In December 1944 Gen

Anders Anders is a male name in Scandinavian languages and Fering, Fering North Frisian, an equivalent of the Greek Andreas ("manly") and the English Andrew. It originated from Andres (name), Andres via metathesis (linguistics), metathesis. In Sweden, A ...

ordered formation of the Armoured Forces Training Centre in Italy. The Centre was to be commanded by Lt Col Szostak and administered by the base of the 2nd Corps. Training personnel was appointed by the commanding officers of the 2nd Armoured Brigade, the Carpathian Ulan Regiment, the 7th Armoured Regiment and the 7th Anti-tank Artillery Regiment. The Centre was to retrain officers and train tank drivers, armoured car drivers, gunners, self-propelled and tractor artillery drivers, and radio operators. The trained personnel was to be sent to the 7th Armoured Regiment for further specialist training according to the training programmes prepared by Lt. Col Szostak. Subsequently they were allocated to the front line regiments. Units of the Centre were located in the neighbouring Italian towns. *

Gallipoli The Gallipoli peninsula (; tr, Gelibolu Yarımadası; grc, Χερσόνησος της Καλλίπολης, ) is located in the southern part of East Thrace, the European part of Turkey, with the Aegean Sea to the west and the Dardanelles ...

: headquarters, Armoured Reconnaissance Unit, General W. Anders Officer Cadet Armoured Cavalry School and Signals Squadron *

Galatone Galatone (Griko: translit. ) is a town and ''comune'' located in Salento, in the province of Lecce (Apulia, southern Italy), the former seat of the Marquess of Galatone. It is one of the most populous towns of the province where the Greek dialec ...

: battle tank and artillery units *

Alezio Alezio ( cms, Alytia; la, Aletium) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Lecce in the Apulia region of south-east Italy. History Alezio (despite legend assigning its foundation to a king of Crete) was a centre of the Messapi, who would ca ...

: reserve battle tank unit *

Lecce Lecce ( ); el, label=Griko, Luppìu, script=Latn; la, Lupiae; grc, Λουπίαι, translit=Loupíai), group=pron is a historic city of 95,766 inhabitants (2015) in southern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Lecce, the province ...

: repair unit Work of the Centre led to the formation of the 2nd Warsaw Armoured Division. Gen Anders, secret order nr 23 of 11 May 1945, outlined the structure of the division by re-organizing and reinforcing 2nd Armoured Brigade. Field Marshal

Alexander Alexander is a male given name. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history. Variants listed here are Aleksandar, Al ...

, Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces responsible for all military operations in the Mediterranean Theatre, inspected the marching troops of the Division on the fields of Loreto airfield and said "if I were to select the best unit commanded by me, I would choose you". In 1945 there were about 2000 men and instructors in the Centre. In August 1946 the Centre was shipped to the United Kingdom and joined the

Polish Resettlement Corps The Polish Resettlement Corps (PRC; pl, Polski Korpus Przysposobienia i Rozmieszczenia) was an organisation formed by the British Government in 1946 as a holding unit for members of the Polish Armed Forces who had been serving with the British Arm ...

Command structure

Commander Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countries this naval rank is termed frigate captain. ...

: Lt Col

Szostak Szostak is a gender-neutral Polish surname that may refer to *Alex Szostak (born 1986), Scottish rugby league footballer * Edward Szostak (1911–1990), Polish basketball player *Jack W. Szostak (born 1952), Canadian-American biologist of Polish-Br ...

* Deputy Commander: Mjr C. Florkowski * Battle Tank Unit: C.O. Mjr W. Samira :The unit consisted of: Introductory Training Squadron, Battle Tank

Squadron Squadron may refer to: * Squadron (army), a military unit of cavalry, tanks, or equivalent subdivided into troops or tank companies * Squadron (aviation), a military unit that consists of three or four flights with a total of 12 to 24 aircraft, de ...

, Tank Gunner Training Squadron, Tank Driver Training Squadron * Armoured Cavalry Unit: C.O. Capt. Cichocki :The unit consisted of: Introductory Training Squadron, Armoured Car and Tank Squadron, Gunner Training Squadron, Armoured Car Drivers Squadron (Stag Hounds), and Signal Squadron *

Artillery Artillery is a class of heavy military ranged weapons that launch munitions far beyond the range and power of infantry firearms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach defensive walls and fortifications during siege ...

Unit: C.O. Capt. J Obierek :The Unit consisted of: Battery of Artillery Tractor Drivers, Self-Propelled Artillery Training Battery * Reserve Battle Tank Unit: C.O. Capt. M. Kosiewicz :The Unit consisted of 3 squadrons * General W. Anders Officer Cadet Armoured Cavalry School: C.O. Capt. C. Orzeszko : The School consisted of: Tank Study Section, Tank (type C) Repair Section

Bibliography

* A. Suchcitz, M. Wroński: ''Barwa Pułku 7 Pancernego- zarys monograficzny''. Wydawnictwo Instytutu Tarnogórskiego. Tarnowskie Góry 2002. * Lalak Zbigniew: ''Broń pancerna w PSZ 1939-1945. Pegaz-Bis: O.K. Media''. Warsaw 2004. * Marian Żebrowski - ''"Zarys historii polskiej broni pancernej 1918-1947"''. Zarząd Zrzeszenia Kół Oddz. Broni Pancernej. London 1971. {{Authority control Military units and formations of Poland in World War II Driver's education Military units and formations established in 1944 Military units and formations disestablished in 1947