Władysław Anders

A soldier, an owner of a racing stable, a rider. A commander of 15. Regiment of Uhlans of Poznań. The conqueror of Monte Cassino.

______________________________________________________________

He was born on August 11, 1892 in Błonie.

Within his equestrian career, Władysław Anders started, among others, in National Dressage Competitions or International Equestrian Competitions at Łazienki in Warsaw.

The knight of many honours, among others, Virtuti Militari (four times), Polish Cross of Valour (eight times), the Order of Polonia Restituta (twice), the Gold Cross of Merit with Swords (four times), the Cross of Independence.

After outbreak of Greater Poland uprising in December 1918, he became a Chief of Staff of Greater Poland Army. Between April 1919 and September 1921, he was in command of 15th Regiment of Uhlans of Poznań; he was also its coorganizer. He received the Cross of Virtuti Militari for valour during the war with Bolsheviks, from the marshal Józef Piłsudski.

In 1934, he was appointed a general.

In 1937, he became a commander of the Cavalry Brigade of Nowogród and he went to war with it in 1939. He fought in the regions of Płock and Warsaw.

After soviet aggression on 17th September 1939, the Anders’s units fought with Red Army and tried to force their way towards south. Gen. Anders, injured twice, was taken prisoner on 29th September in the region of Sambor near Lvov.

In February 1940, he was transported to Moscow, to the central prison of NKVD (Soviet secret police) at Łubianka.

He was exempt after outbreak of the German-Soviet war and signing the agreement Sikorski-Majski. Since 4th August 1941 he was a creator and commander of Polish Armed Forces in USSR. On 24 March 1942, the first stage of Polish Army evacuation from Soviet Union. Until November 1942, more than 115 thousand people were sent to Iran, including about 78 thousand soldiers and 37 thousand civilians. There were over 18 thousand children among the evacuated people.

In summer of 1942, Gen. W. Anders became a commander of Polish Army at the East (Iraq, Palestine) and of 2nd Polish Corps; he commanded the latter during the Italian campaign (Battle of Monte Cassino; Battle of Ancona).

At the beginning of 1944, the 2nd Corps was transported to Italy to fight with Germans within the 8th British Army.

On 11th May 1944 at 11 p.m., the Corps artillery started the critical battle of Monte Cassino. At one o’clock, two Infantry Divisions (Kresowa and Karpacka) started attack and on 18th May at 10:30, the patrol of 12th Regiment of Podolian Uhlans stuck the white-red banner on ruins of the Benedictine cloister on Monte Cassino.

Gen. Władysław Anders was one of these Polish generals that were deprived of Polish citizenship by communist authorities.

A year after his death, the Council of Ministers of Polish People’s Republic rescinded a law of 1946 on Polish citizenship withdrawal, however this was done secretly (without publication in the Law Gazette).