Hi All,

Let me introduce myself. I am from the Netherlands and got a typical polish name inherited from my grandad who served the Polish army. My parents gave me also a Polish first name and so did we with our own childs. We cannot speak polish (but i have the ambition to learn this) but we still feel connected to Poland.

My grandfather never told alot about it (to save us the unpleasent expriences of the war) and passed away several years ago.

As we are still very proud and curious about his history we found a box with several items from the army.

We are trying to figure out what these items are about.

Is there anyone here who recognizes these items?

Warm greetings from the Netherlands and have a great new year and I will drink a good shot of vodka tonight to celebrate the new year!

by Zestyclose_Ear5437

24 comments

  1. On the second photo is a document that allows him to wear a medal of the battle of Monte Casino – I guess it’s because he fought over there but I’m not a historian

  3. Ooh Monte Casino
    That’s some crazy stuff your grandpa went through. Also, there’s a non-zero chance he met Wojtek 🙂

  4. My grandfather was at Monte Cassino too and was a mechanic, good chance they have met!! I have never seen any memorabilia from my grandpa and I cannot ask him as he passed away in 1989.

  5. Your grandad was in a tanker regiment (pancerny means armored) not sure about his rank since it’s the first time I’ve seen “pancerny” as “stopień” (rank) but I’m no historian.

    Big deal is that he fought in the Battle of Monte Casino which is a pretty significant moment in polish WW2 history and a pretty heroic one too!

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Monte_Cassino

    There is even a song about the event:

    https://youtu.be/Pc_6LHp82uA

  6. Your grandfather was a goddamn hero. Greetings from Belgium.

  7. God. Monte cassino- he made it throught really tough sheet. Your grandpa is a real hero sabatton would write songs about

  8. Your grandpa was a soldier (a private, I assume, although it’s not entirely clear from the document) in the 4th “Scorpion” Tank Regiment of the 2nd Polish Corps. It’s an interesting military unit as it was formed somewhere in the Soviet Union (Tajikistan? Kyrgyzstan?) from Poles forced into penal colonies by Stalin and was then moved across the entire Middle East into Tunisia and eventually Italy. Your grandpa had a medal for the battle of Monte Cassino and he might’ve fought in the battles of Ancona and Bologna as well, as that’s where the regiment fought later. He probably stayed in the West as the post-1944 Soviet-backed government considered veterans of the Polish Armed Forces in the West to be potential subversives.

  10. Your grandfather served in 2nd Polish Corps in Italian Campaign 1944-1945. I can see badge of 4th Polish Armored Regiment ,,Scorpion” which was part of 2nd Warsaw Armored Brigade in 2nd Polish Corps. I see a memorial cross and legitimation which he recevied for service.He have fought under Monte Casino which is in Poland very famous battle won by our soldiers. There are few books about 2nd Polish Corps in English of you want to know more about your grandfather.

  11. From the fact that he fought in [Ander’s army](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anders%27_Army) I can deduce that he was exiled to USSR in early years of the WWII where after Sikorski-Majski [agreement](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sikorski%E2%80%93Mayski_agreement) he escaped alongside other poles through Middle East and he eventually joined the Second Corps and he served in the fourth armoured brigade. There is Polish Wikipedia site about it, though I didn’t find English one. He fought in the Italian theatre and in the remarkable [battle of Monte Cassino](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Monte_Cassino). As for the items, they are worth quite a penny (but don’t sell them – those are family items). On first photo you have second corps cigarette case, two second Warsaw armoured division stripes (this division was formed after WWII in the west so your grandfather most likely served there too), two eagles without crown (weird, it is communist emblem, most likely bought many years after the war as a souvenir). There are also some certificates. The cross with scorpion is an emblem of the fourth Polish armoured brigade

  12. Cross of Monte Cassino. /thread

    Your grandfather, Sir, was a hero and a gentleman.

  13. Your grandfather is a hero. 2nd Army Corps – Battle of Monte Cassino. I can see patches from Gen. Maczek’s armoured division? (hand with the sword in a armoured glove) but the legitimation for Monte Cassino is really sth. My grandmothers cousin died on hill 593. What a hellish battle that was. Salute!

    Edit: I can see it’s not from Gen. Maczek’s armoured core but from a lancer regiment that thought with the 2nd Army Corps – tank division. 4th Armored Regiment “Skorpion” and they did a hellish fight in a spot called “Gardziel” in the Cassino battle.

  15. Your grandfather was serving in the 4th Armoured Regiment of the Polish II Corps. The two emblems on the top with the curled hands holding a sword are from the 2nd Warsaw Brigade which you sew onto your sleeve. The 4th regiment was a part of the 2nd brigade which was a part of the II corps.

    The 4 books on the first page are documents for receiving medals and they are signed by Władysław Anders which is extremely neat. The box is probably a cigarette case and the two eagles might be the ones he wore on his uniform.

    The medals on the other picture are ones he got with the little books (black cross, little silver one with a mermaid). The SPK medal is a medal of the Polish Veterans Association, the eagle on a steering wheel is a medal for a driver, the two identical scorpion pins are what he would wear on his beret to identify the regiment he served in.

    The rest I can’t quite make out but what I know for sure is that’s it’s a real shame nobody asked him to tell all his stories because he must have had some amazing war stories. He was in the 2nd Polish Corps seemingly fighting all the way since its baptism of fire to it’s last battle. When the war ended he was in Italy and then was transported to the UK where his unit was demobilised.

  16. I’d just like to share that a tank from your grandfather’s regiment (for all we know one that he at the very least could have seen with his own very eyes, if not driven)
    Can be played with in a video game – War Thunder

    [https://warthunder.com/pl/news/1794–pl](https://warthunder.com/pl/news/1794–pl)

    Perhaps you’ll find that interesting

  17. On forth photo i can see “odznaka wzorowego kierowcy psznz”, odznaka 8 armii,krzyż pamiątkowy Monte Cassino medal 25 lecia stowarzyszenia polskich kombatantów (spk), proporczyki 4 pułku pancernego skorpion and other things,first image 4 pułk pancerny skorpion naszywka , odznaka rozpoznawcy 4 pułku pancernego skorpion ,2 orzełki milicji obywatelskiej , pamiątkowa papierośnica 2 korpus polskich sił zbrojnych na zachodzie

  19. Oh my lord, I’ve got shivers just by looking at it. Respect to your grand father.

  21. Very cool – yeah we got stuff like that too – plus old documents from early 1900s – very cool

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