WOW! A Polish Bandenkampfer SB/WP set!

[SiPo]

Nice set Alex.

[mr.dogtag]

Right,
There were many deserters from Wehrmacht especially in Italy where II Polish Corps fought ( winning the battle of Casino etc.)
I recently bought a great grouping of tags & docs of a Pole from Upper Silesia who deserted from Wehrmacht and joined 1st Polish Independent Parachute Brigade in France in 1944.
Al

[Ohlau]

Well, I think, the best for Józef (Josef) was he saved his live and returned to Poland.
I will bet, that (before war of course) he never expected trip to Leros...

[lucius79]

Silesia is an area of interest for me being that is where some of my people are from.
Upper Silesia was a contested area before the war - this was an area of action for the frei korps - the only non military award allowed to be worn on the military uniform was the FUR SCHLESSIEN eagle for participation in this undeclared war.

Germany claimed this area although the population was quite mixed, poles, Czechs and Germans, although lower Silesia and other parts of east Prussia were mostly ethnic German - mass migrations of German civilians during and after the war reshaped the ethnic map of these areas.

Of course Poland after the war was under Soviet control and not independent at all, many Poles who served the allies were imprisoned by the soviets on their return, also it is worth noting that a lot of returning poles came back to find their homes were now literally no longer Polish but part of the USSR - the West did not compel the soviets to return that part of Poland acquired through the Hitler Stalin pact, they gave them German lands in the west in stead which made no one happy as the Poles fighting with the British were always promised that ALL of Poland would be free again and always felt betrayed that Churchill didn't fulfill his word.
I remember being surprised when I read that one of the Normandy beaches were manned solely by Polish troops serving the Germans and not German troops, but many of these Poles could have considered themselves Ethnic German, surnames and the language used do not always provide proof of ones ancestry in areas of mixed origin.