Polish Forces

Comrades in arms

FBbrummbar

Hungarian and Polish soldier at the Hun-PL border in 1939. During the hard days of the German (and Russian) invasion of Poland, tens of thousands of Polish civilians and soldiers left their country towards Hungary and Romania. Earlier, the Hungarian government refused to take part in military operations against Poland, furthermore, Germans were prohibeted to use Hungarian territory to attack Poland. Members of the Polish Army were treated as special military refugees, not pow's in Hungary. Most of them (like Gen. Stanislaw Maczek) used Hungary as a secure transit-state towards western allies. Polish civilians received accomodation, medical care, financial help and relatively free movement in Hungary during their stay, until the German occupation of Hungary in March 1944. Hundreds of Polish refugee children/teenagers were educated in Polish schools in Hungary during WW2. They were important reinforcements of the post-war society of Poland. Behind the soldiers is a Polish Tankette TK-3