The Polish Second Army (Polish: Druga Armia Wojska Polskiego, 2. AWP for short) was a Polish Army unit formed in the Soviet Union in 1944 as part of the Ludowe Wojsko Polskie. The organization begun in August under the command of generals Karol Świerczewski and Stanislav Poplavsky, and the formation under command of general Świerczewski entered active duty in January 1945. The Second Army suffered heavy losses at the Battle of Bautzen during April 22-26, 1945. Subsequently, the Second Army was part of the final great Soviet offensive of World War II in Europe, the drive on Prague. In August 1945 most of the formation was used to create the Poznań Military District.
However soon it became apparent that this plan was flawed, as there were not enough recruits to fill the ranks of officers. A significant number of pre-war Polish NCOs and officers either:
Thus while the recruits to the pro-Soviet Polish Committee of National Liberation were able to fill most private and NCOs slots, the army had only about half of the needed number of officers; 33% of them young (under 25 years) and about 50% with no formal training (only secondary education). Although the Soviets always tried to control such allied formations by transferring a significant numbers of Soviet officers to those units, they found themselves having to fill about 50% of the officer positions in the Second Army (for several months in 1944, the commander of the Army was in the hands of the Soviet general, Stanislav Poplavsky). The situation of the Third Army was even more dire, which eventually led to the cancellation of plans for both the creation of the Third Army and the Polish Front.
The Second Army reached operational level in the beginning of January 1945.
The Army was given the task to advance towards Dresden and Bautzen on 16 April. Although the Army managed to advance, it had insufficient reinforcements of its own and the planned Soviet reinforcements were delayed, which made it vulnerable to the German counterattak. The Second Army suffered very heavy losses at the Battle of Bautzen during April 22-26, with 18 232 dead or missing (22% of total combat personnel), and over 50% of armor. The battle was one of the most costly in terms of lives in the history of Polish military.
Subsequently, in May, the Second Army was part of the final great Soviet offensive of World War II in Europe, the drive on Prague. By the time most Germans units have begun to surrender, the Army units have reached the town of Mělník.
Second Army Headquarters