Wladyslaw Anders

Soldier, horseman, owner of a racing stable, commander of the 15th Poznań Lancers Regiment. Winner of Monte-Cassino.

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He was born on August 11, 1892 in Błonia.

In his equestrian career, he competed, among others, in the National Dressage Competitions or in the famous International Equestrian Competition in Warsaw's Łazienki Park.

Knight of many decorations, including: four Virtuti Militari War Orders, eight Crosses of Valour, two Orders of Polonia Restituta, four Gold Crosses with Swords, and the Cross of Independence.

After the outbreak of the Greater Poland Uprising in December 1918, he became the chief of staff of the Greater Poland Army. From April 1919 to September 1921, he commanded the 15th Poznań Uhlan Regiment, of which he was a co-organizer. For bravery shown during the war with the Bolsheviks, he received the Virtuti Militari cross from Marshal Józef Piłsudski.

In 1934 he was appointed general.

In 1937, he became the commander of the Nowogródzka Cavalry Brigade, with which he went to war in 1939. He fought in the area of ​​Płock and Warsaw.

After the Soviet aggression on September 17, 1939, Anders' units took up the fight against the Red Army, breaking through to the south. General Anders, wounded twice, was taken prisoner on September 29, near Sambor near Lviv.

In February 1940 he was transported to Moscow to the NKVD central prison in Lubyanka.

Released after the outbreak of the German-Soviet war and the signing of the Sikorski-Mayski Agreement. From August 4, 1941, the founder and commander of the Polish Armed Forces in the USSR. On March 24, 1942, the first stage of the evacuation of the Polish Army from the Soviet Union began. By November 1942, over 115 people had been sent to Iran, including about 78 soldiers and 000 civilians. More than 37 children were among those evacuated.

In the summer of 1942, General W. Anders became the commander of the Polish Army in the East (Iraq, Palestine) and the 2nd Polish Corps, which he commanded in the Italian campaign (Battle of Monte Cassino; Battle of Ancona).

In early 1944, the 2nd Corps was transferred to Italy to fight the Germans as part of the 8th British Army.

On May 11, 1944 at 23.00:18 p.m., the Corps' artillery began the breakthrough battle of Monte Cassino. At one in the morning, Kresowa and the Carpathian Infantry Division launched an attack, and on May 10.30 at 12 a patrol of the XNUMXth Podolian Cavalry Regiment planted a white and red banner on the ruins of the Benedictine monastery at Monte Cassino.

General Władysław Anders was one of those Polish generals who was deprived of Polish citizenship by the communist authorities.

A year after his death, the Council of Ministers of the People's Republic of Poland formally repealed the resolution of 1946 on depriving him of Polish citizenship, which was done secretly (it was not published in the Journal of Laws).