Second Army (Poland) and Related Topics

Memorial in Bautzen to Polish and Soviet soldiers and civilians fallen near the town of Wuischke.

Battle of Bautzen (1945)

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One of the last battles of the Eastern Front during World War II.

Monument to Polish soldiers in Crostwitz

It was fought on the extreme southern flank of the Spremberg-Torgau Offensive, seeing days of pitched street fighting between forces of the Polish Second Army under elements of the Soviet 52nd Army and 5th Guards Army on one side and elements of German Army Group Center in the form of the remnants of the 4th Panzer and 17th armies on the other.

Marking new Polish-German border on Oder River in 1945

First Polish Army (1944–1945)

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Army unit of the Polish Armed Forces in the East.

The Polish First Army on their way to Berlin, 1945

As the Red Army moved into Polish areas west of the Curzon Line, draftees from those areas also became available for the First Polish Army (and Second Polish Army) in accordance with the August 15, 1944, decree of the Polish Committee of National Liberation (the Lublin government).

The Brandenburg Gate amid the ruins of Berlin, June 1945

Battle of Berlin

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One of the last major offensives of the European theatre of World War II.

Main thrusts of the Red Army and its eastern allies

April 1945: a member of the Volkssturm, the German home defence militia, armed with a Panzerschreck, outside Berlin

Polish Army on their way to Berlin in 1945

2nd Lt. William Robertson, US Army and Lt. Alexander Sylvashko, Red Army, shown in front of sign East Meets West symbolizing the historic meeting of the Soviet and American Armies, near Torgau, Germany.

Raising a Flag over the Reichstag, a photograph taken during the Battle of Berlin on 2 May 1945

A devastated street in the city centre just off the Unter den Linden, 3 July 1945

German women washing clothes at a water hydrant in a Berlin street. A knocked-out German scout car stands beside them, 3 July 1945.

Red Army soldiers celebrating the capture of Berlin, May 1945

Victory Banner raised on the roof of the Reichstag on 1 May 1945

Polish flag raised on the top of Berlin Victory Column on 2 May 1945

Soviet soldiers' graffiti made on a historical French gun in Berlin, now back in Paris

Field Marshal Ferdinand Schörner's Army Group Centre launched a counter-offensive aimed at breaking through to Berlin from the south and making a successful initial incursion (the Battle of Bautzen) in the 1st Ukrainian Front region, engaging the 2nd Polish Army and elements of the Red Army's 52nd Army and 5th Guards Army.

Karol Świerczewski

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Polish and Soviet Red Army general and statesman.

Michał Rola-Żymierski, Marian Spychalski and Karol Świerczewski (from left to right)

Świerczewski's monument near his place of death, in Bieszczady mountains. It has since been demolished.

Popular scientific conference on Karol Wacław Świerczewski in Stężnica in Gmina Baligród

In the winter of 1944 and the spring of 1945 he led the Polish Second Army during the fighting for western Poland and the Battle of Berlin.

1st Ukrainian Front

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Major formation of the Soviet Army during World War II, being equivalent to a Western army group.

1st Ukrainian Front Standard for Victory Parade - at the Central Armed Forces Museum in Moscow

By this time the Polish Second Army was operating as part of the Front.

Emblem worn by LWP soldiers; the "Piast eagle" without the crown

Polish People's Army

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The Polish People's Army (Ludowe Wojsko Polskie, LWP) constituted the second formation of the Polish Armed Forces in the East in 1943–1945, and in 1945–1989 the armed forces of the Polish communist state (from 1952, the Polish People's Republic), ruled by the Polish Workers' Party and then the Polish United Workers' Party.

T-55A tanks of the Polish People's Army (Martial law in Poland)

The communist-led Polish forces soon grew beyond the 1st Division into two major commands – the First Polish Army (initially under Zygmunt Berling) and the Second Polish Army (commanded by Karol Świerczewski).

Prague offensive

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The last major military operation of World War II in Europe.

Demarcation line between the Soviet and American armies, May 1945

Marshal Konev hailed as the Soviets enter Prague, 9 May 1945

To honor the participants of the operation, the Soviet Union instituted the Medal "For the Liberation of Prague".

Olšany Cemetery in Prague: Honorary burial site of Soviet soldiers fallen during the battle of the city.

Furthermore, 4th Panzer Army had just won the Battle of Bautzen, damaging the Soviet 52nd and Polish 2nd Armies.

Polish Land Forces

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The Land Forces (Wojska Lądowe) are a military branch of the Polish Armed Forces.

Polish infantry advancing during the Battle of Warsaw; Polish–Soviet War, August 1920

Polish army's 7TP tanks on military manoeuvres before the Invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany, 1939.

Polish flag raised over Berlin on the Victory Column; World War II, 2 May 1945

Polish soldiers during Anakonda 2016 exercises

Polish Military Contingent in Afghanistan - KTO Rosomak

Polish 120 mm battery during the Battle of Warsaw; Polish–Soviet War, August 1920

Two Polish armies, the First Army (Poland) and the Second Army fought with the Red Army on the Eastern Front, supported by some Polish Air Force elements.