The Polish Army Tank Training Centre was a training unit of the Polish Tank Units in the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

, the

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...

and

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

Formation

On 20 September 1941 Major Szostak, Commander of the Polish Armoured Forces in the Soviet Union submitted a wide-ranging training plan for the Polish Units by proposing to create a training centre of tank and transport troops to be attached to the Soviet Tank Training School in Saratov. The plan was approved by Gen Anders and submitted to the Soviet authorities in Moscow. Their agreement was never received. Then Major Szostak, on his own initiative, approached Col Rogonin commanding officer of the Saratov Tank School with a plan to train Polish units which were being formed, on the School equipment. Col Rogonin favoured the plan but its approval was never received from the Ulianovsk Military District. At the beginning of January 1942 Gen Anders ordered further enlargement of the Polish Forces in the Soviet Union. At the same time the army command started making plans to adopt British army structure and Major Szostak, on 15 Jan 1942 ordered the formation of the following units: #Organisation Centre of Tank Units - c.o. Capt Bronislaw Rafalski #Tank Training Centre - c.o. Major Felsztynski (Order 150/tjn. Br. Panc.) Core of the Tank Training Centre was to consist of the 5th and the 6th Tank Battalions. At the beginning the Centre was located in the region of Carabalty in the vicinity of Frunze. The training started on 15 Feb. 1942. Towards the end of March troops were evacuated to

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

In the 2nd Polish Corps

After the evacuation to the Middle East, Gen. Anders ordered re-organisation of the army. On 4 April 1942 he ordered formation of the 2nd Tank Brigade. Gen. Paszkiewicz ( c.o. of the brigade) outlined structure of the

brigade A brigade is a major tactical military formation that typically comprises three to six battalions plus supporting elements. It is roughly equivalent to an enlarged or reinforced regiment. Two or more brigades may constitute a division. Br ...

and appointed commanding officers. Initially Tank Training Centre was attached to the brigade but later became a part of the Army Training Centre under a name of Transport and Tank Training Centre commanded by Major Szostak. Szostak major

Initially there was a shortage of the training equipment and even some light Italian tanks had to be transported to the Centre from the battlefields of North Africa. Training was progressing slowly due to the heat. On 19 October 1943 a full quota of Sherman tanks was received to train units of the 2nd Tank Brigade. The entire training of the tank units of the 2nd Polish Corps was conducted by the Centre, commanded by Lt.Col. Szostak. In March 1944 the Centre was stationed in St. Basilio and Metra in Italy and became part of the Reserve Armoured Troops Centre of the 2nd Polish Corps (Gen Anders order dated 15 April 1944). On 6 August 1944 the Centre became known as the 7th Armoured Regiment.

Commanders

* Major Stefan Felsztynski *Lt. Col

Stanislaw Szostak Stanislav and variants may refer to: People *Stanislav (given name), a Slavic given name with many spelling variations (Stanislaus, Stanislas, Stanisław, etc.) Places * Stanislav, a coastal village in Kherson, Ukraine * Stanislaus County, Cali ...

Deputy Commander: * Capt. Jozef Zymirski

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. {{ISBN, 83-922002-0-9 * Marian Żebrowski - ''"Zarys historii polskiej broni pancernej 1918-1947"''. Zarząd Zrzeszenia Kół Oddz. Broni Pancernej. Londyn 1971. military units and formations disestablished in 1943 military units and formations established in 1941 military units and formations of Poland in World War II