Lublin Army () was an improvised

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 ...

created on September 4, 1939 from the

Warsaw Armoured Motorized Brigade The Warsaw Armoured Motorized Brigade (, WBP-M, WBPanc-Mot) was a motorized unit of the Polish Army during the interbellum period. The brigade was one of two such units in Poland (the other being the 10th Motorized Cavalry Brigade (Poland); seve ...

and various smaller units concentrated around the cities of

Lublin Lublin is List of cities and towns in Poland, the ninth-largest city in Poland and the second-largest city of historical Lesser Poland. It is the capital and the centre of Lublin Voivodeship with a population of 336,339 (December 2021). Lublin i ...

Sandomierz Sandomierz (pronounced: ; , ) is a historic town in south-eastern Poland with 23,863 inhabitants (), situated on the Vistula River near its confluence with the San, in the Sandomierz Basin. It has been part of Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship (Holy ...

and upper

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 ...

river. It was commanded by Maj. Gen.

Tadeusz Piskor Tadeusz Ludwik Piskor (1889–1951) was a Polish Army general. Life and career Piskor was born on 1 February 1889 in Bór Kunowski. Before World War I, he was a member of Polish pro-independence organizations. During World War I he served in th ...

. Lublin Army was not part of prewar Polish operational plans. It was improvised when it became obvious that quickly advancing

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 ...

armored and motorized units would reach the Vistula river line.

Tasks

Lublin Army was tasked with defending the crossings of the

river from Modlin (north of

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 ...

) to

in the south. Polish planners wanted to reinforce it with elements of the Prusy Army, which after the Battle of Radom had retreated from German encirclement, and managed to cross the Vistula. These elements, however, were of little military value, and were ordered to concentrate near Chelm. Instead, Lublin Army received 39th Reserve Infantry Division and improvised ''Sandomierz'' Group.

Operational history

Lublin Army came into contact with the enemy on September 8, near Gora Kalwaria and

Dęblin Dęblin is a town at the Confluence (geography), confluence of Vistula and Wieprz rivers, in Lublin Voivodeship, Poland. Dęblin is the part of the agglomeration with adjacent towns of Ryki and Puławy, which together have over 100,000 inhabitan ...

. After the first clash, the Germans concentrated their efforts on eliminating the remnants of Prusy Army. On September 12, the Wehrmacht advanced in the area of Annopol and

Solec nad Wisla Solec may refer to numerous places in Poland: *Solec, Warsaw, a neighbourhood in Śródmieście, Warsaw *Solec, Łódź Voivodeship (central Poland) *Solec, Gostynin County in Masovian Voivodeship (east-central Poland) *Solec, Piaseczno County in M ...

. Under its pressure, Polish forces retreated towards Krasnik, where they merged with Krakow Army, and together fought in the Battle of Tomaszow Lubelski (September 17–20).

Organization

The Army was commanded by general

; his chief of staff was colonel Jan Zawisza. Units: *

('' Warszawska Brygada Pancerno-Motorowa'') * Polish 39th Infantry Division * Smaller units (Combined Cavalry Brigade; Sandomierz Operational Group; part of 2nd Regiment of Heavy Artillery)

References

Armie i samodzielne grupy operacyjne Wojska Polskiego 1939
WIEM Encyklopedia Military units and formations of Poland in World War II Polish armies Military units and formations established in 1939 Lublin in World War II {{Poland-mil-stub