The emotional appeal of the Polish Army to its Fallen 80 years after the German defeat

Today, May 8, marks the defeat of nazi Germany in 1945, after nearly six years of bloody war in Europe.

Apel Pamięci: the ceremony of the Polish Army to honor its fallen for the Homeland
Armia Krajowa: the history of the greatest resistance movement of the World War II

Poland was the first nation to fight against Nazi Germany, facing an invasion that began on September 1, 1939 and was reinforced on the 17th of that same month by a Soviet invasion previously agreed upon by Hitler and Stalin.

The Polish Army was the fourth largest Allied force, including not only the regular forces that fought on the Western and Eastern Fronts, but also the broad resistance movement that formed within the country. Polish soldiers fought not only in their homeland, but also in France, Norway, North Africa, Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy, and Germany, performing acts of courage as admirable as the Battle of Wizna, where 700 Poles resisted the attack of 42,200 German soldiers for three days (a feat worthy of Leonidas' Spartans), and Battle of Monte Cassino in Italy, where red poppies drank blood instead of dew. Polish, as one of the most beautiful Polish songs recalls.

This Thursday, the Polish Army commemorated the 1945 German defeat at a ceremony held in Warsaw, at the base of the 1st Armored Brigade, an event attended by Prime Minister Donald Tusk, Minister of National Defense Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, Chief of the General Staff of the Polish Army, General Wiesław Kukuła, and the commanders of the armed forces. At the event there were artillery salutes and the Polish Army anthem was sung, "My, Pierwsza Brygada", whose origin dates back to the Polish Legions of the First World War.

Members of the three branches of the Polish Army (the Land Forces, the Navy, the Air Force, the Special Forces and the Territorial Defence Forces) formed part in this event, the most special moment of which was a call to their Fallen in an emotional ceremony, the "Apel Pamięci" (appeal to memory) that I told you about here.

During this ceremony, Major Patryk Koroś of the Warsaw Garrison (here we see him with an M1A1 FEP Abrams tank and an M-142 HIMARS missile launcher on his back), has invoked the Polish combatants who fell on all fronts of that war, as you can see in this video from point 46:38. I have embedded it so that it starts playing at that point (the video is in Polish, you can activate the automatic subtitles in English in the bottom bar of the player):

During the ceremony we can see that every time Major Patryk Koroś summons a group of Fallen, he ends by shouting: "Stańcie do Apelu!" (Come forward to the call!), to which the soldiers respond: "Chwała bohaterom!" (Glory to the heroes!). In his final call, the officer shouts "Chwała bohaterom!", receiving this response from the soldiers: Cześć ich pamięci! (Honor to their memory!).

This is one of the most impressive ceremonies of the Polish Army. This call to the Fallen follows a military custom already used in Spain with the Legion: reviewing the troops by calling each soldier after combat. It is a military way of remembering those who died in combat and of showing that others have taken their place in the defense of the Nation. Let these lines serve as a tribute to all the Poles who fought in the Second World War to regain the freedom and independence of their homeland.

Cześć ich pamięci!

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Images: Kancelaria Premiera / Ministerstwo Obrony Narodowej.