Lublin Army ( pl, Armia Lublin) was an improvised

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 stre ...

created on September 4, 1939 from the

Warsaw Armoured Motorized Brigade The Warsaw Armoured Motorized Brigade ( pl, Warszawska Brygada Pancerno-Motorowa, WBP-M, WBPanc-Mot) was a motorized unit of the Polish Army during the interbellum period. The brigade was one of two such units in Poland (the other being the 10th ...

and various smaller units concentrated around the cities of

Lublin Lublin is the ninth-largest city in Poland and the second-largest city of historical Lesser Poland. It is the capital and the center of Lublin Voivodeship with a population of 336,339 (December 2021). Lublin is the largest Polish city east of ...

Sandomierz Sandomierz (pronounced: ; la, Sandomiria) is a historic town in south-eastern Poland with 23,863 inhabitants (as of 2017), situated on the Vistula River in the Sandomierz Basin. It has been part of Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship (Holy Cross Prov ...

and upper

Vistula The Vistula (; pl, Wisła, ) is the longest river in Poland and the ninth-longest river in Europe, at in length. The drainage basin, reaching into three other nations, covers , of which is in Poland. The Vistula rises at Barania Góra in ...

river. It was commanded by Maj. Gen.

Tadeusz Piskor Tadeusz Ludwik Piskor (1889–1951) was a Polish Army general. Life and career Piskor was born on 1 February 1889 in Bór Kunowski. Before World War I, he was a member of Polish pro-independence organizations. During World War I he served in t ...

. Lublin Army was not part of prewar Polish operational plans. It was improvised when it became obvious that quickly 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 previo ...

armored and motorized units would reach the Vistula river line.

Tasks

Lublin Army was tasked with defending the crossings of the

river from Modlin (north of

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officiall ...

) to

in the south. Polish planners wanted to reinforce it with elements of the

Prusy Army The Prusy Army ( pl, Armia Prusy) was one of the Polish armies to fight during the Invasion of Poland in 1939. Created in the summer of 1939 as the main reserve of the Commander in Chief, it was commanded by Gen. Stefan Dąb-Biernacki. The word ' ...

, which after the Battle of Radom had retreated from German encirclement, and managed to cross the Vistula. These elements, however, were of little military value, and were ordered to concentrate near Chelm. Instead, Lublin Army received 39th Reserve Infantry Division and improvised ''Sandomierz'' Group.

Operational history

Lublin Army came into contact with the enemy on September 8, near

Gora Kalwaria Gora may refer to: * Gora (surname) *'' Gora'', a Bengali novel by Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore * Gora (musical instrument) *'' G.O.R.A.'', a 2004 Turkish comedy film *Goparaju Ramachandra Rao ("Gora", 1902–1975), Indian social reformer an ...

and Dęblin. After the first clash, the Germans concentrated their efforts on eliminating the remnants of Prusy Army. On September 12, the Wehrmacht advanced in the area of

Annopol Annopol is a town in south-eastern Poland (historic Lesser Poland), located in Kraśnik County. It has been situated in Lublin Voivodeship since 1999, having previously been located in Tarnobrzeg Voivodeship (1975–1998). Annopol has an area ...

and

Solec nad Wisla Solec may refer to several places in Poland: * Solec, Warsaw, a neighbourhood in Śródmieście, Warsaw * Solec, Łódź Voivodeship (central Poland) * Solec, Gostynin County in Masovian Voivodeship (east-central Poland) * Solec, Piaseczno County i ...

. Under its pressure, Polish forces retreated towards Krasnik, where they merged with Krakow Army, and together fought in the

Battle of Tomaszow Lubelski A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force ...

(September 17–20).

Organization

The Army was commanded by general

; his chief of staff was colonel Jan Zawisza. Units: *

('' Warszawska Brygada Pancerno-Motorowa'') * Polish 39th Infantry Division * Smaller units (Combined Cavalry Brigade; Sandomierz Operational Group; part of 2nd Regiment of Heavy Artillery)

References

Armie i samodzielne grupy operacyjne Wojska Polskiego 1939

WIEM Encyklopedia WIEM Encyklopedia (full name in pl, Wielka Interaktywna Encyklopedia Multimedialna - "Great Interactive Multimedia Encyclopedia"; in Polish, ''wiem'' also means 'I know') is a Polish Internet encyclopedia. The first printed edition was released ...

Military units and formations of Poland in World War II Polish armies Military units and formations established in 1939 {{Poland-mil-stub