Picture of the day

[The Kurgan]

Just as an aside, my Polish grandfather fought in Monte Cassino (as well as in France and Poland), and with the exception of a shot-off finger, and another partially shot-off finger, lived to tell about it. He was part of a Carpathian infantry division, but the exact name of his division escapes me (name is on a large war monument in a Polish cemetery in Brantford, Ontario). Sadly, he passed away before I was old enough to ask him alot of probing questions. He was not the type to divulge information, and kept the war packed away deep in his memory. A family feud over ownership of his estate left us without access to his uniform, medals, and other memories. I am so fuming mad that I lost out on this -- sometimes friends are closer than family!

I remember a photo of him, in full uniform, and it closely resembled the tans in the photo above. He was a funny man, and loved to brew wine,... he learned this trade from spending time in Italy, and having Italian friends that immigrated with him to Canada.

 

[moonshot5]

A Polish partisan during the Warsaw uprising, according to the post. What type of rifle is this one?

 

[screwtape]

A Polish partisan during the Warsaw uprising, according to the post. What type of rifle is this one?

Looks like a Czech Zb 26 LMG - the precursor to the Bren. They were exported to a lot of small countries during the 1930s before Czechoslovakia was occupied by the Germans, and after the occupation, the Germans continued to produce them. Apparently a lot of them were issued to the Waffen SS and also to occupation troops, so it would have been quite possible for a Polish partisan to have acquired one from a slightly unlucky former owner.

I presume the Luger or P-38 in the standard German military clamshell holster that he's wearing set for a cross-draw would have come from a similar source.

 

[vermintrex]

A Polish partisan during the Warsaw uprising, according to the post. What type of rifle is this one?

confident looking fellow

 

[fugawi]

Yeah ...ready to give some payback to the Germans, but didn't know what was coming for Warsaw and Poland.

First betrayal by the Soviets, later the Brits and the Yanks!

 

[donor]

Yeah ...ready to give some back to the Germans, but didn't know what was in store for Warsaw and Poland.

First betrayal by the Soviets, later the Brits and the Yanks!

...and than by our own politicians who signed us all to nonsense called "EU".

 

[fugawi]

Here's a few more Polish partisan photos...

Polish A.K. partisan armed with rkm wz. 28 (Polish copy of FN M1918)

Mix of German and Soviet weapons.

 

[fugawi]

More pics...

Warsaw Uprising fighters armed with Polish made Błyskawica SMG.

 

[fugawi]

More weapons from the Warsaw Uprising...

Besides the use of the Błyskawica, the partisan in the center is aiming what appears to be a French Berthier

K pattern flamethrower - made in A.K. workshops

close up wz. K flamethrower

Soviet SVT-40; Mauser with what appears to be a stock disc; boy partisan with some sort of black powder pistol, cut down rifle or what???

 

[vermintrex]

More weapons from the Warsaw Uprising...

Besides the use of the Błyskawica, the partisan in the center is aiming what appears to be a French Berthier

K pattern flamethrower - made by the A.K.

Soviet SVT-40; Mauser with what appears to be a stock disc; boy partisan with some sort of black powder pistol, cut down rifle or what???

desperate times....hope none of us ever have to experience it firsthand.

thanks for the thread guys

 

[fugawi]

Desperate times indeed!

The Warsaw Uprising began on August 1st 1944 as part of Operation Tempest and last 63 days before the surviving partisans negotiated surrender terms and capitulated.

Jubilant Poles at the beginning of the Uprising...

A quarter million Polish combatants and civilians died during the Warsaw Uprising. Atrocities were committed by Waffen SS Cossack units, Waffen-Sturm-Brigade RONA (Kaminski Brigade) and SS-Sturmbrigade Dirlewanger upon civilian men, women, children and wounded combatants during the Wola and Ochota Massacres.

Siege guns, Stuka dive bombers and Sturmpanzers were deployed to defeated the partisans.

After capitulation the surviving civilian population and Polish partisans were distributed to forced labour, POW, and concentration camps in other areas under German control.

Hitler ordered that what was left of Warsaw be razed to the ground.

Apologies for hijacking the thread somewhat...

 

[vandoo66]

desperate times....hope none of us ever have to experience it firsthand.

thanks for the thread guys

Canadians cannot fathom what freedom really means. It was never taken away suddenly but has been chipped at through the years. We are frogs in ever hotter water.

 

[vandoo66]

F**K, you know your day is starting out shi**y when this is your 10:30 am reflection...nonetheless I stand by what I said.

 

[Sharps '63]

You're speaking the truth. Most Canadian sheeple don't know and couldn't care less while their rights and freedoms are slipping away.

F**K, you know your day is starting out shi**y when this is your 10:30 am reflection...nonetheless I stand by what I said.

 

[762shooter]

Canadians cannot fathom what freedom really means. It was never taken away suddenly but has been chipped at through the years. We are frogs in ever hotter water.

Well, I'm 61 years old and I can say with certainty that our lives today are far more constrained than when I was in my teen years.

 

[kjohn]

65 here. I am so glad I was born when I was. I have lived either in a small town or in the country all my life. I see so many changes, some good, i.e. health care, communications, travel, food; some not good, i.e. government rules and regulations, overwhelming and overbearing bureaucracy, every man for himself attitude, and so on.

We live in a wonderful country that is slowly drifting toward a "1984" situation. There were thousands upon thousands of real "heroes" in war time. Now, the so called heroes get paid millions for playing a game. Meanwhile, our politicians and bureaucrats are busy chiseling our armed services veterans. A pitiful way to say thanks.

 

[vandoo66]

Amen Bros!
ps. Please excuse the familiarity, as I know none of you, yet I feel a connection in time.

 

[hnachaj]

It was the 2nd Carpathian who captured Monte Cassino. They were led most of the time by General Anders. My father was a jeep driver for an AA officer from Sicily to the end.
Henry

 

[hnachaj]

Bingo screwtape... you've won the virtual kewpie doll. Anders' Army http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anders'_Army

This drawing piqued my curiosity, I had always wondered if the artist made a mistake with the armament drawn or what? But a fortuitous post on another forum lead me to the 1946 book In Their Country's Service- Women Soldiers of the Polish 2nd Corps http://www.scribd.com/doc/78110902/In-Their-Country-s-Service-Women-Soldiers-of-the-Polish-2nd-Corps containing photos of Poles armed with SVT-40s and Mosin Nagants.

Map of gulags in the Soviet Union where Polish soldiers of Anders' Army were interned and their journey to Iran and eventual reformation as the Polish 2nd Corps in Palestine.

General Anders in the center left. Note Soviet officer center right - NKVD commissar?

Polish Soldiers in review at Yangi Yul, Uzbekistan SSR 1942.

Many Polish soldiers were in ill health after being starved and worked to death in the Gulags.There are Polish cemeteries along their journey to freedom in Siberia, Uzbekistan and Iran:

Burial somewhere in the Soviet Union

War Memorial to Polish soldiers in Uzbekistan

Polish Cemetery in Tehran

My father was captured by the Russians. As he was a lowly corporal, he was in a Russian POW camp in Poland. The Germans bombed the Russians but not the POW camp. Noncom officers were sent to Siberia where they had to make their own way to Palestine. Strangely, my father 's voyage to Palestine was via Bagdad as he had pictures of same and not Tehran! He was assigned to the AA for airfields in North Africa. I think they use 3 shot bofors 40mm and 75mm. He was part of the II Corp. They had British uniforms which I have kept and for colder weather a lamb vest called a "skurka" which covered your lower back. The commanding officer had captured a Horst limousine which was transported to Sicily. My father became a jeep driver to an officer in charge of AA batteries. It was the life of luxuries as the wash was done by Italian women, plenty of wine and Italian brandy. Mote Cassino was an eye opener. My godmother's husband was a medic there for the Polish II Corp. He was a friend of my father.

My good friend's father was a Polish tank commander in France. Too may "brew ups" drove him to drink. Another of my father's friend was also in tanks in France. He got shot through a helmet in the forehead and survived! It was tough looking at him with an 3/4 inch hole in his forehead.

I will have to scan some pictures about Anders Army from a book I have and also many pictures, once I get some time. I think I will start a Polish thread, instead.
Henry

 

[bearhunter]

Well, I'm 61 years old and I can say with certainty that our lives today are far more constrained than when I was in my teen years.

You are right in many ways Ed but they are far more open than they were in many ways when we were teens.

Good health, decent wages and benefits allowed us to travel, raise families, buy houses and retire in relative comfort. In many ways, information is now much easier to access, though for how long, only time and the lethargy of the plebes will tell.

Far to many years of Liberal and Progressive Conservative guidance has caused our futures to be frittered away for political gain.

In many ways, it is fraudulent as hell and they have a "Get Out of Jail Fee" card.

The piper is piping his tune and demanding payment. I wonder what his retribution for failure of payment will be????