The White Eagle Museum () is a Polish military museum located in the town of

Skarżysko-Kamienna Skarżysko-Kamienna () is a city in northern Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship in south-central Poland by Kamienna (river), Kamienna river, to the north of Świętokrzyskie Mountains; one of the voivodship's major cities. Prior to 1928, it bore the name ...

in the central

Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship ( ), also known as Holy Cross Voivodeship, is a voivodeship (province) in southeastern Poland, in the historical region of Lesser Poland. The province's capital and largest city is Kielce. The voivodeship takes its ...

, opened in 1969.

Museum

The museum has a large collection of Russian, Polish and German World War II and post-war military equipment. The military equipment is displayed in a permanent outdoor exhibition covering , and includes tanks, artillery pieces, armoured vehicles, rockets and aircraft. The museum also collects documents and historical materials relating to the history of the city and the region, and objects related to military history from World War II onwards. The museum is housed in the former residence of the superintendent of the

Rejów Rejów is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Nowe Miasteczko, within Nowa Sól County, Lubusz Voivodeship, in western Poland. It lies approximately north of Nowe Miasteczko, south of Nowa Sól, and south-east of Zielona Góra ...

foundry, which was built in 1836–1838. It houses exhibitions pertaining to local industry, including ''Państwowa Fabryka Amunicji'' (The National Ammunition Factory). During World War II, the munitions factory was taken over by the German company,

HASAG HASAG (also known as Hugo Schneider AG, or by its original name in ) was a German metal goods manufacturer founded in 1863. Based in Leipzig, it grew from a small business making lamps and other small metal products by hand into a large factory ...

, and used forced labour. Members of a local resistance group ''Orzel Bialy'' (White Eagle) were captured, shot and buried in two mass graves in nearby forests. The museum commemorates them, and the thousands of unprotected forced labourers poisoned by

picric acid Picric acid is an organic compound with the formula (O2N)3C6H2OH. Its IUPAC name is 2,4,6-trinitrophenol (TNP). The name "picric" comes from (''pikros''), meaning "bitter", due to its bitter taste. It is one of the most acidic phenols. Like ot ...

fumes used in ammunition production. There are other exhibits on the Leśni partisans, the

People's Army of Poland The Polish People's Army (, ; LWP) was the second formation of the Polish Armed Forces in the East during the latter stages of the World War II, Second World War (1943–1945), and subsequently the armed forces of the History of Poland (1945 ...

and the

Polish Army in the West The Polish Armed Forces in the West () refers to the Polish military formations formed to fight alongside the Western Allies against Nazi Germany and its allies during World War II. Polish forces were also raised within Soviet territories; the ...

Exhibits

The exhibits include: *

T-34-85 The T-34 is a Soviet medium tank from World War II. When introduced, its 76.2 mm (3 in) tank gun was more powerful than many of its contemporaries, and its 60-degree sloped armour provided good protection against Anti-tank warfare, ...

tank *

BTR-60 The BTR-60 is the first vehicle in a series of Soviet Union, Soviet eight-wheeled armoured personnel carriers (APCs). It was developed in the late 1950s as a replacement for the BTR-152 and was seen in public for the first time in 1961. BTR (vehi ...

armoured personnel carrier An armoured personnel carrier (APC) is a broad type of armoured military vehicle designed to transport personnel and equipment in combat zones. Since World War I, APCs have become a very common piece of military equipment around the world. Acc ...

* CW-34

armoured recovery vehicle An armoured recovery vehicle (ARV) is typically a powerful tank or armoured personnel carrier (APC) chassis modified for use during combat for military vehicle recovery (towing) or repair of battle-damaged, stuck, and/or inoperable armoured f ...

Katyusha rocket launcher The Katyusha ( rus, Катю́ша, p=kɐˈtʲuʂə, a=Ru-Катюша.ogg) is a type of rocket artillery first built and fielded by the Soviet Union in World War II. Multiple rocket launchers such as these deliver explosives to a target area m ...

* StuG IV

tank destroyer A tank destroyer, tank hunter or tank killer is a type of armoured fighting vehicle, predominantly intended for anti-tank duties. They are typically armed with a direct fire anti-tank gun, artillery gun, also known as a self-propelled anti-ta ...

Lim-6 The Lim-6 (NATO reporting name Fresco) was a Polish attack aircraft used between 1961 and 1992 by the Polish Air Force. It was a variant of the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17, which was produced in Poland as the Lim-5. Development In 1955 in aviation ...

ground-attack aircraft An attack aircraft, strike aircraft, or attack bomber is a tactical military aircraft that has a primary role of carrying out airstrikes with greater precision than bombers, and is prepared to encounter strong low-level air defenses while pres ...

MiG-21 The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 (; NATO reporting name: Fishbed) is a supersonic jet aircraft, jet fighter aircraft, fighter and interceptor aircraft, designed by the Mikoyan, Mikoyan-Gurevich OKB, Design Bureau in the Soviet Union. Its nicknames in ...

jet fighter Fighter aircraft (early on also ''pursuit aircraft'') are military aircraft designed primarily for air-to-air combat. In military conflict, the role of fighter aircraft is to establish air superiority of the battlespace. Domination of the air ...

* Su-7 jet fighter *

Yak-23 The Yakovlev Yak-23 (; USAF/DoD reporting name Type 28, NATO reporting name Flora) is an early Soviet jet fighter with a straight wing. It was developed from the Yak-17 in the late 1940s and used a reverse-engineered copy of a British engine. It ...

jet fighter * Il-14

transport aircraft Transport aircraft is a broad category of aircraft that includes: * Airliners, aircraft, usually large and most often operated by airlines, intended for carrying multiple passengers or cargo in commercial service * Cargo aircraft or freighters, fix ...

* ORP ''Odwazny'', a Project 664 class

torpedo boat A torpedo boat is a relatively small and fast naval ship designed to carry torpedoes into battle. The first designs were steam-powered craft dedicated to ramming enemy ships with explosive spar torpedoes. Later evolutions launched variants of ...

Gallery

References

External links

* * {{Authority control Military and war museums in Poland Museums in Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship Museums established in 1969 1969 establishments in Poland