13th Kresy Infantry Division (Polish: ''13 Kresowa Dywizja Piechoty'' ) was a unit of the

Polish Army The Land Forces () are the Army, land forces of the Polish Armed Forces. They currently contain some 110,000 active personnel and form many components of the European Union and NATO deployments around the world. Poland's recorded military histor ...

in the interbellum period. It was named after

Kresy Eastern Borderlands (), often simply Borderlands (, ) was a historical region of the eastern part of the Second Polish Republic. The term was coined during the interwar period (1918–1939). Largely agricultural and extensively multi-ethnic with ...

. Its origins go back to the

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, when in June 1918 the 1st Division of Polish Rifles (''1 Dywizja Strzelców Polskich'', ''1re Division de Fusils Polonais'') was formed in the French town of Villers-Marmery. On July 8, 1918, the Division consisted of 227 officers and 10.000 soldiers, and it had been planned to be used in French attack on the German town of

Saarbrücken Saarbrücken (; Rhenish Franconian: ''Sabrigge'' ; ; ; ; ) is the capital and largest List of cities and towns in Germany, city of the state of Saarland, Germany. Saarbrücken has 181,959 inhabitants and is Saarland's administrative, commerci ...

, in the fall of 1918. Armistice, signed in November 1918, changed those plans. On September 9, 1919, the unit, after having been transformed to Poland, was renamed by

Józef Piłsudski Józef Klemens Piłsudski (; 5 December 1867 – 12 May 1935) was a Polish statesman who served as the Chief of State (Poland), Chief of State (1918–1922) and first Marshal of Poland (from 1920). In the aftermath of World War I, he beca ...

into 13th Infantry Division. Soon afterwards, it took part in the Polish-Soviet War, after which it was garrisoned in Rowne and other

Volhynia Volhynia or Volynia ( ; see #Names and etymology, below) is a historic region in Central and Eastern Europe, between southeastern Poland, southwestern Belarus, and northwestern Ukraine. The borders of the region are not clearly defined, but in ...

n towns, such as

Dubno Dubno (, ) is a List of cities in Ukraine, city and List of hromadas of Ukraine, municipality located on the Ikva River in Rivne Oblast (oblast, province) of western Ukraine. It serves as the capital city, administrative center of Dubno Raion ...

Brody Brody (, ; ; ; ) is a city in Zolochiv Raion, Lviv Oblast, Zolochiv Raion, Lviv Oblast, western Ukraine. It is located in the valley of the upper Styr, Styr River, approximately northeast of the oblast capital, Lviv. Brody hosts the administrati ...

Lutsk Lutsk (, ; see #Names and etymology, below for other names) is a city on the Styr River in northwestern Ukraine. It is the administrative center of Volyn Oblast and the administrative center of Lutsk Raion within the oblast. Lutsk has a populati ...

and Wlodzimierz Wolynski. 13 DP w 1938

Invasion of Poland

The Division, under Colonel

Władysław Kaliński Władysław Kaliński (pseudonym Zubosz) was a Polish Chartered Infantry Colonel who commanded the 13th Infantry Division during World War II and led the Battle of Tomaszów Mazowiecki before being captured after the fall of Warsaw. Biography He ...

, was mobilised on August 14 and 15, 1939. A few days later it was transported by rail to the area of

Bydgoszcz Bydgoszcz is a city in northern Poland and the largest city in the historical region of Kuyavia. Straddling the confluence of the Vistula River and its bank (geography), left-bank tributary, the Brda (river), Brda, the strategic location of Byd ...

, where it became part of the

Prusy Army The Prusy Army () 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. The word ''Prusy'' in the ...

and was transferred south, near the central Poland's rail junction of

Koluszki Koluszki () is a town, and a major railway junction, in central Poland, in Łódź Voivodeship, about 20 km east of Łódź with a population of 12,776 (2020). The junction in Koluszki serves trains that go from Warsaw to Łódź, Wrocław, Cz ...

. There, it remained as a rear unit, the last Polish division defending access to

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

. On September 6–7 it was engaged in bitter fights with

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

XVI Armored Corps of General

Erich Hoepner Erich Kurt Richard Hoepner (14 September 1886 – 8 August 1944) was a German general during World War II. An early proponent of mechanisation and armoured warfare, he was a Wehrmacht Heer army corps commander at the beginning of the war, lead ...

. With help from

Luftwaffe The Luftwaffe () was the aerial warfare, aerial-warfare branch of the before and during World War II. German Empire, Germany's military air arms during World War I, the of the Imperial German Army, Imperial Army and the of the Imperial Ge ...

, units of the German 4th Armored Division managed to break through Polish positions and capture

Tomaszów Mazowiecki Tomaszów Mazowiecki (, or ''Tomashuv'') is a city in central Poland with 60,529 inhabitants (2021). It is the fourth most populous city in the Łódź Voivodeship and the second with free public transport. It is the seat of Tomaszów County, Ł ...

. During the night of September 7–8, most of the soldiers of the 13th Infantry Division

panic Panic is a sudden sensation of fear, which is so strong as to dominate or prevent reason and logical thinking, replacing it with overwhelming feelings of anxiety, uncertainty and frantic agitation consistent with a fight-or-flight reaction. ...

ked and deserted, those who remained, managed to cross the

Vistula The Vistula (; ) is the longest river in Poland and the ninth-longest in Europe, at in length. Its drainage basin, extending into three other countries apart from Poland, covers , of which is in Poland. The Vistula rises at Barania Góra i ...

on September 11. On the eastern shore of the river, the Division's remnants were recreated by Colonel Waclaw Szalewicz and renamed as the 13th Infantry Brigade. This unit fought German 7th Infantry Division near

Przemyśl Przemyśl () is a city in southeastern Poland with 56,466 inhabitants, as of December 2023. Data for territorial unit 1862000. In 1999, it became part of the Podkarpackie Voivodeship, Subcarpathian Voivodeship. It was previously the capital of Prz ...

and

Jarosław Jarosław (; , ; ; ) is a town in southeastern Poland, situated on the San (river), San River. The town had 35,475 inhabitants in 2023. It is the capital of Jarosław County in the Subcarpathian Voivodeship. History Jarosław is located in the ...

. The 2000 soldiers of the recreated division that remained in central Poland tried to fight their way towards besieged Warsaw, but were stopped by the

Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the German Army (1935–1945), ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmac ...

during a night battle in

Falenica Falenica is a part of Wawer, one of districts of Warsaw, located on the right bank of the Vistula, in the far southeastern corner of the city. Until 1951 it was a separate village, then it became part of Warsaw. Before the Second World War Falen ...

, a suburb of Warsaw, on September 19, 1939. Only 150 soldiers of the division were able to reach the capital of Poland, before it capitulated.

References

{{Reflist

13th In music or music theory, a thirteenth is the Musical note, note thirteen scale degrees from the root (chord), root of a chord (music), chord and also the interval (music), interval between the root and the thirteenth. The thirteenth is m ...

Military units and formations established in 1918 1918 establishments in Poland Wołyń Voivodeship (1921–1939)

Invasion of Poland

See also

References