CAPTURED POLISH WEAPONS

Does anybody have any information on the number of weapons and aircraft of all types that the Germans and Soviets captured from Poland? Any information on how many were taken into service, were given to German allies etc. would be great

 

Stay tuned, I remember having a table in a book at home...

Will post in a couple days.

Cheers

 

Interesting thought....Love to know the answer too..

Dont want to spoil the thread but I recenlty did same with the Polsih forces that were part of French army at fall of France...not so much the weaponary but the manpower..wanted to know what happened to this corps. One divison of which marched into neutral Switserland and internment.

 

Hello Neil & a warm welcome here !

This probably isn't quite the sort of thing you had in mind, but the only Polish weapon for which I have any information is the 'Radom' pistol, known by the Poles as the VIS wz.35 and designated by the Germans the Pistole 35(p) 9mm.

An unknown number were simply seized but first deliveries of German-controlled production commenced in 1941. By the end of 1942, 74,000 had been delivered to the army with a further 10,500 to the Kriegsmarine. By 1945, production had totalled 289,000 guns of varying quality.

Finally, as the Russians threatened the factory in January 1945, many tons of components were shipped to Steyr-Daimler-Puch in Austria where a final 22,000 very-poor-quality hybrid weapons were assembled.

This information is from 'Guns Of The Reich' by 'George Markham' ( John Walter ) A&AP 1989.

 

German booty:

208,273 rifles
7,601 machine guns
166 AT-guns
506 mortars
1,596 other Arty
818 motorized vehicles

At the start of the war, the Polish Army had 750 armoured vehicles, 900 aircraft (of which 330 were destroyed), 50 ships.

This is it. Hope this helps,

Cheers,

 

Cheers Andy, does your scource also say if any of the captured ordinance was retained, or was the majority scrapped?

 

My source is just a table with the numbers.

The Germans were known to not to scrap anything if it can be used (just remember the "car-zoo" of 136 types of cars, the french Souma-attack-gun or the German Luftwaffe soldiers with French rifles and non-fitting polish ammunition ).

I'd be surprised if they wouldn't tried to use anything...after all that was what the attack on Poland was all abouit, getting booty.

Cheers,

 

Andy,

Thanks for the info.I know the Germans gave the Romanians 669 Bofors 37mm ATGs so the figure of 166 seems low. Does your source have any information about how much Polish material the Soviets, and other countries too; captured/interned?

Cheers,

Neil