The 23rd Upper Silesian Infantry Division (Polish: 23. Gornoslaska Dywizja Piechoty) was a unit of the Polish Army in the interwar period (1921-1939). Created in 1921, its headquarters were stationed in Upper Silesian town of Tarnowskie Góry. Also, some other units were located in garrisons across the Polish part of Upper Silesia:
* in
Katowice
Katowice ( , , ; szl, Katowicy; german: Kattowitz, yi, קאַטעוויץ, Kattevitz) is the capital city of the Silesian Voivodeship in southern Poland and the central city of the Upper Silesian metropolitan area. It is the 11th most popul ...
Chorzów
Chorzów ( ; ; german: link=no, Königshütte ; szl, Chorzōw) is a city in the Silesia region of southern Poland, near Katowice. Chorzów is one of the central cities of the Upper Silesian Metropolitan Union – a metropolis with a population ...
, Rybnik and Wielkie Hajduki - 75th Infantry Regiment,
* in Żory and Będzin - 23rd Light Artillery Regiment.
In October 1938 the Division, under General
Jan Jagmin-Sadowski
Jan Jagmin-Sadowski (24 April 1895 in Grójec – 5 October 1977 in Warsaw), was a general of the Polish Army, having served in World War I as a member of Józef Piłsudski's legions, as well as commanding Polish forces during the invasion of Po ...
Antoni Szylling
Antoni Szylling (31 August 1884 – 17 June 1971) was a Polish general, considered, along with Generals Wiktor Thommée and Stanisław Maczek, to have been one of the most successful Polish Armed Forces commanders during the Invasion of Poland of ...
.
On September 1 and 2, the unit defended the so-called
Fortified Area of Silesia
The Fortified Area of Silesia ( pl, Obszar Warowny Śląsk) was a set of Second Polish Republic, Polish fortifications, constructed along the interbellum border of Poland and Weimar Republic, Germany in the area of then-divided Upper Silesia. It ...
, then it was ordered to support the 55th I.D., which was fighting around
Wyry
Wyry (german: Wyrow) is a village in Mikołów County, Silesian Voivodeship, in southern Poland. It is the seat of the gmina (administrative district) called Gmina Wyry. It lies approximately south of Mikołów and south-west of the regional ...
and
Kobiór
Kobiór (german: Kobier) is a village in Pszczyna County, Silesian Voivodeship, in southern Poland. It is the seat of the gmina (administrative district) called Gmina Kobiór. It lies approximately north of Pszczyna and south of the regional ca ...
. After several skirmishes with German 28th I.D., the Poles withdrew towards the
Nida River
The Nida is a river in central Poland, a left tributary of the Vistula river, into which it flows near Nowy Korczyn). The Nida has a length of 154 kilometres and a basin area of 3,844 km2.Biłgoraj. On September 19, the Division joined units attacking
Tomaszów Lubelski
Tomaszów Lubelski is a town in south-eastern Poland with 19,365 inhabitants (2017). Situated in the Lublin Voivodeship, near Roztocze National Park, it is the capital of Tomaszów Lubelski County.
History
The town was founded at the end of the ...
, but these efforts were fruitless. It fought until the capitulation of Army Kraków, September 20.