Polish WWII military leader remembered on death anniversary

Officials on Wednesday paid tribute to prominent Polish World War II military leader Gen. Władysław Anders to mark the 51st anniversary of his death.

Władysław Anders

NAC

Born in 1892, Gen. Anders was captured by the Soviets in February 1940 and imprisoned in Moscow.

When Hitler turned on Stalin in June 1941, Anders was released from the Lubyanka prison and given the task of forming an army from the survivors among the 1.5 million Poles who had been captured by the Soviets in 1939 or later deported to the Soviet Union.

Anders led some 77,000 soldiers, accompanied by over 43,000 civilians who had suffered starvation in labour camps and gulags out of the Soviet Union into Persia.

In 1943, the Second Polish Corps under Gen. Anders’ command landed in Italy.

On the 51st anniversary of #WładysławAnders’ death, we encourage you to go through the #IPN’s 🇬🇧/🇵🇱 publications devoted to Anders and the #2PolishCorps.

✅➡https://t.co/X89WVxfdiw
✅➡https://t.co/YkpFU3dk0G
✅➡https://t.co/P4QuOk0Y2T pic.twitter.com/5lUvIkvoA0

— Institute of National Remembrance (@ipngovpl_eng) May 12, 2021

After the war, the communist government in Poland deprived Anders of Polish citizenship and military rank. These were posthumously reinstated after the collapse of communism in 1989.

After #WW2, Anders refused to return to Poland, then a Soviet puppet state, which took his citizenship because of his ties to the #PolishGovernmentInExile.
In 1946, he became Inspector-General of the Polish forces-in-exile and settled down in #GreatBritain. pic.twitter.com/khxYCjSBOY

— Institute of National Remembrance (@ipngovpl_eng) May 12, 2021

Anders died in London on May 12, 1970, the 26th anniversary of the Battle of Monte Cassino, and was buried, in accordance with his will, at the Polish War Cemetery at Monte Cassino in Italy.

#OTD in 1970 Polish Army general Władysław Anders passed away, a top commander who essentially influenced the course of the 🇵🇱 military operations during #WW2. His most spectacular success was a victory in the battle of #MonteCassino, Italy. pic.twitter.com/uWDGzsdmVN

— Chancellery of the Prime Minister of Poland (@PremierRP_en) May 12, 2021

On 12 May 1970, exactly 26 years after his soldiers had entered the battle of #MonteCassino, Władysław Anders, the CO of the #2PolishCorps, passed away in #London. He was buried next to his men at the Monte Cassino Polish War Cemetery. #WW2 pic.twitter.com/uU1jC815kc

— Institute of National Remembrance (@ipngovpl_eng) May 12, 2021

(mk-gs)

Source: PAP