The Prusy Army (Polish: Armia Prusy) was one of the Polish armies to fight during the Invasion of Poland in 1939. Created in the summer of 1939 as the main reserve of the Commander in Chief, it was commanded by Gen. Stefan Dąb-Biernacki. One of the meanings of Prusy in Polish is Prussia, but this name only served as a codename and the region of operations of this army was far from East Prussia. This is in contrast to other Polish armies in 1939 which were named after the geographical regions where they formed.
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According to the "Plan West" (Plan Zachód, code name for the Polish mobilization plan) it was to be composed of units mobilized as the second and third waves and its main purpose was to cooperate with the nearby armies "Łódź" and "Kraków". It was being mobilized in two groups after the outbreak of hostilities. It consisted of 6 infantry divisions, 1 cavalry brigade and a battalion of tanks. Once ready, it was supposed to stop the main German thrust.
The Polish military strategists correctly predicted that German forces would try to push in between the armies "Lodz" and "Krakow," but they failed to predict the fast pace of the German advance. Therefore, "Armia Prusy" was to be fully mobilized only by the 14th of September, 1939, and it needed to be ready as soon as the late night of September 3, 1939. The Poles were ready to fall back, but they were surprised by how fast they would have to fall back to prevent destruction of their units. This miscalculation lead to the capture of the city of Lodz -- a major setback to the Polish plan of defending Poland west from the Vistula river at least untll October, 1939. More surprising should be that the "Polish schedule" was followed by the French one year later; they did refuse to read the report pointing out mistakes of the Polish military, and drawing conclusions on how to avoid them in the future. The report was prepared by the Polish generals and handed to the French, and the British in their respective languages, in late 1939, (British read the report).
The northern group was to back up the Łódź Army near Łódź and Sieradz, while the southern group was to support Kraków Army by preparing the defence of central Vistula river area. Because of fast German advance both groups entered combat separately and most units did not reach full mobilization. Due to the deteriorating situation in the battle of the border, it was decided to push partially mobilized units of Prusy Army to the front as soon as possible.
The northern group, seriously damaged in the battles of Piotrków and Tomaszów Mazowiecki (September 5 - September 6) was forced to cross the Vistula. The southern group, much less organized and poorly commanded, fought in the battle of Iłża, after which it was cut off from Vistula, encircled near Radom and destroyed (September 8–9). Units of the Army which retained cohesion or broke through the German lines later fought in the defense of Warsaw or joined the other Armies in the northern-central Poland.
The army was commanded by General Stefan Dąb-Biernacki; his chief of staff was Tomasz Obertyński. Biernacki was in direct command of the Northern Group; the Southern Group was commanded by General Stanisław Skwarczyński.
| Unit | Polish name | Commander | Remarks | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Army units - gen. Stefan Dąb-Biernacki | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 39th Infantry Division | 39 Dywizja Piechoty | col. Brunon Olbrycht | reserve | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 44th Infantry Division | 44 Dywizja Piechoty | col. Eugeniusz Żongołłowicz | reserve | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Northern group - gen. Stefan Dąb-Biernacki | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 13th Infantry Division | 13 Dywizja Piechoty | col. Władysław Zubosz-Kaliński | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 19th Infantry Division | 19 Dywizja Piechoty | gen. Józef Kwaciszewski | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 29th Infantry Division | 29 Dywizja Piechoty | col. Ignacy Oziewicz | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Wileńska Cavalry Brigade | Wileńska Brygada Kawalerii | col. Konstanty Drucki-Lubecki | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1st tank battalion | 1 battalion czołgów | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Southern group - gen. Stanisław Skwarczyński | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 3rd Legions Infantry Division | 3 Dywizja Piechoty Legionów | col. Marian Turowski | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 12th Infantry Division | 12 Dywizja Piechoty | gen. Gustaw Paszkiewicz | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 36th Infantry Division | 36 Dywizja Piechoty | col. Michał Ostrowski | reserve | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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