Our Fallen Heroes
 Monte Cassino, Italy.During and after WW2, Polish military graves could be found everywhere the theatre of war against Hitler and Nazi Germany took the Allied forces. There were thousands of Partisan and Home Army graves and fallen civilians in Poland. It is our thanks to Polish military and civilian chaplains, for their invaluable records without which this information would have been lost forever. We know now that some of these records have nearly always been created and some of them even miraculously survived, so we can remember our heroes, irrespective of the place where they died. It is our responsibility and duty to protect this memory and remember them on these pages, symbolically in the National Memorial Arboretum and privately in our hearts forever.
Data from the Polish grave locations listed below will be made available on this website for historical research shortly. The data will include "Our fallen Heroes" names, date of birth, date of death and other information, where recorded, and will provide a unique and invaluable resource for famliy and acedemic historical research.
To be able to download the PDF files listing the "Polish Fallen Heroes" graves data you must register/login first:
Africa: Displaced people from Poland and victims of Soviet Russia and Stalin. Years: 1943-1950. We know of graves in Kenya (Makindu, Mombasa), North Rhodesia, Lusaka, South Africa (Fort Napier, Pietermaritzburg, Koja, Marandellas, Sollum, and Abercorn) and Tanganyika (Dar-es-Salaam). Our list includes just 68 names. Data records incomplete.
 Polish War Graves: Africa
France: Polish soldiers who died defending France mainly in 1940 some in 1944. We know of graves in Urville-Langannerie, Dieuze, Buhl, La Doua, Bois Garnier, and many other places. Our list includes 1,096 names. Data records incomplete.
Polish War Graves: France
Holland: End of WWII mainly during 1944. The Polish Independent Parachute Brigade, formed to liberate Warsaw but never actually deployed for this purpose. We know of graves in: Oosterbeeck, Driel, Arnhem, Nijmegen, and many other places. Our records are incomplete at this moment in time, with our list including just 8 names.
Polish War Graves: Holland
Iran/Iraq: Mainly 1942/43 starting with and during the General Anders’s epic journey from Soviet labour camps to Persia and the West. We know of Polish graves in Khanaqin, Pahlavi, Teheran and some in Iraq little later on. We have record of only 883 names. Complete number of graves is much higher.
Polish War Graves: Iran
Ireland/Northern Ireland: Mainly 1942/43. Mainly Polish Air Force. We know of graves in Milltown, Movilla Cem, Belfast Newtonards, Ballyeran County Down. Our record includes 16 names.
Polish War Graves: Northern Ireland/Ireland
Germany: Period of 1939-45. Various prison camps, POW camps, concentration camps, labour camps. Missing records of hundred of thousands of our people- Polish soldiers and Polish prisoners. A great many locations. Our list is very short, just 126 names including those heroes of the 1939 Campaign who perished in Germany.
Polish War Graves: Germany
Norway: Just 1940. Graves in: Narvik, Haakwik, Ankenes. Record very accurate considering circumstances. We have here 80 names.
Polish War Graves: Norway
Poland: The 1939 Campaign. Again incomplete records but 6,734 names listed largely Polish soldiers and some civilians. Too many grave sites to list, as they can be found everywhere in Poland. These records exclude Polish officers murdered by Soviet Russia in Katyn and in other sites in the East.
Polish War Graves: Poland
Russia: Mainly Polish citizens from eastern part of pre-1939 Poland. Many locations, various labour camps in Kirgystan, Kazakhstan, Ural, Svierdlovskaya Oblast, Siberia and Central Russia. Our records are sketchy and incomplete. Just 2,810 names identified. Katyn massacre list to be added later. The killers (Soviet NKVD) have also camouflaged these mass graves and accused the Germans for this crime, trying to force the recognition of these murders as a Nazi crime at the Nuremberg Trial after the War. The first English full translation from Russian of this NKVD document ordering the mass killing of Polish officers signed by almost the entire Soviet Politburo is included in our book First to Fight available from this web site.
Polish War Graves: Russia
Romania: 1939/42. Many locations, following escape from occupied Poland in 1939. We know of Polish graves in Babadag, Comisani, Semlin, Craiowej. Some 34 names listed. Record is incomplete.
Polish War Graves: Romania
Scotland: 1941/49. Graves in Perth, Wellshill (50% of the Polish war graves in Scotland), Edinburgh (Corstorphine Hill has approx 23% of the Polish war graves in Scotland), St. Andrews, Falkirk, Glasgow, Stirling and other places. By county in Scotland, there are 774 Polish War graves officially registered in: Aberdeenshire, Angus, Ayrshire, Berwickshire, Buteshire, Caithness, Dumfriesshire, City of Edinburgh, Fife, City of Glasgow, Inverness-shire, Lanarkshire, Morayshire, Peeblesshire, Perthshire, Renfrewshire, Ross and Cromarty, Roxburghshire, Stirlingshire and Wigtownshire. We have some 663 names listed.
Polish War Graves: Scotland
Hungary: 1939/43. Graves in Debreczyn, Mohacs, Jalsva, Varpalota, Komarom, Magyarorar, Bereqsas and other locations.
Polish War Graves: Hungary
Italy: Heroic and victorious campaigns in 1944/45. 2nd Corps, 3DSK, 5DSK. Graves identified in Monte Cassino, Bari, Loreto, Porto San Giorgio, Taranto, Ancona, Fermo, Pieta, Napoli, Galatea, Ossino and many more locations. Records probably quite accurate of 4,076 names listed but almost certainly incomplete.
Polish War Graves: Italy
England/Wales: Our sister website at The Polish Heritage Society is working with the programme: “A Polish Flame on a Polish grave” starting its records in 2010/11. There are about 45,000 recorded Polish graves in the UK, the full number including unrecorded graves is much higher. The cemetery in Newark upon Trent, Nottinghamshire is the beautiful cemetery about a mile south of the railway station of Northgate, near the town centre of Newark. Polish airman from PAF were buried in Newark Cemetery from October 1940 until the end of 1947. The cemetery re-opened in 1962 to allow burial of the five Polish air crew of the Halifax bomber missing since 11th November 1944.
Transcribed Polish grave records England/Wales to date:
Polish Army Majors (Majorzy) - 409 records
Polish Army Lieutenant-Colonels (Podpułkownicy) - 189 records
Polish Cavalry Captains of Horse (Rotmistrze) - 22 records
Polish Professors (Profesorowie) - 356 records
|
