POLISH WOMEN VOLUNTEERS in SCOTLAND
Introduction
Polish women have
historically played their part in Poland's past struggles. In the Second World War they performed many
tasks, e.g. their role in the Home Army and the Warsaw Uprising in August 1944,
their service in the Polish Army of the East, ferrying aircraft etc.By the end
of the war there was about 6,700 women volunteers in the Polish Forces in the
West distributed as follows:-Army-4,700; Navy-112; and over 1,100 in the Air
Force plus about 750 in the Medical Nursing Corps together with sisters and
nurses of the Polish Red Cross.It is was not until 1942 with the arrival of the
Women's Auxiliary Service (PSK) personnel from the Middle East, who had endured
terrible hardships in the Soviet Union, that the PSK could properly organize.
The first C-in-C was
Zofia Leśniowska, the daughter of General Sikorski. Both perished in the Gibraltar
air crash of July 1943. In February 1943,
Colonel Maria Lesniakowa became Commander-in-Chief. By July 1944 women in the PSK were accepted by
the Polish Government as soldiers on active service. In July 1944, the Polish
Women's Auxiliary Service (Pomocnicza Służba Kobiet - PSK) comprised
three branches, each with its own commandant:-
PWSK - Pomocniczna Wojskowa Służba
Kobiet - Women's Auxiliary Army Service (Polish ATS) -nicknamed 'pestki'
PMSK - Pomocnicza Morska Służba
Kobiet, the Polish equivalent of the Wrens and nicknamed 'mewki'
PLSK - Pomocnicza Lotnicza Służba
Kobiet, the Polish equivalent of the Waafs and nicknamed 'waafki'
Whilst the bulk of Polish servicewomen served in
the Middle East, Italy,
north-west Europe and England,
Scotland
was home to numbers of women of the army and medical services as well as the
sisters and nurses of the Polish Red Cross.
Outline of their Role in Scotland
Polish Nursing Staff
The nurses of the Polish Red Cross and the Army
Medical Service together with the Polish Women's Auxiliary Service cared for the
sick at the Polish Military Hospital No 1 at Taymouth
Castle, near Aberfeldy and also at Dupplin Castle
near Perth,
where there was also another Polish military hospital. The latter was funded by
three Scots women, for the evacuated Polish and British troops from France in 1940.
(In its title the hospital bore the name 'SEFA' after the initials of the
surnames of the three ladies) The hospital later came under the control of the
Polish I Corps to be used permanently as a Polish hospital.
Polish nurses also worked at the Polish General Hospital
in Edinburgh, the 'Paderewski Hospital'
(Western General). This hospital treated many injured and ill Polish soldiers
and civilians.
A Polish unit was also established after the war
at Ballochmyle Hospital, Mauchline in Ayrshire to
provide medical and surgical treatment for Polish soldiers. The unit was
staffed by Polish doctors and nurses and functioned between 1947 and
1952.
PWSK in Scotland
The Polish Military Hospitals based in Scotland each had
a PWSK company. In addition to nursing the sick, women provided important help
at headquarters level, in welfare, acted as canteen staff, telephonists,
typists and drivers.
In July 1944 the 1st PWSK Battalion was formed
in Scotland.
Officer and NCO ranks were introduced in line
with the Polish Forces. Recruits coming from the Middle East received their
basic training at a camp at Bantaskin House in Falkirk.
An officer's training course for the PWSK existed at the Polish Army's Infantry
and Motorised Cavalry
School at North
Berwick. The camp at North Berwick
later acted as a centre for preparation for civilian life. There was also a
PWSK transport company in Scotland.
At the end of the war the PWSK Battalion HQ and
one company were located in Edinburgh, one company at North Berwick, with a
further company attached to Dupplin
Castle Military
Hospital. A fourth
company was based at Catterick Camp in Yorkshire.
With the ending of the war the Polish
Resettlement Corps (PRC) was set up in September 1946 by the British to
demobilise all the Polish Forces. Servicewomen
of the PSK disbanded through the PRC.
Associations
A Polish Women's
ex-Service Association was set up after the war to which women of the Army,
Navy, Air Force and the sisters of the Medical Service could belong and which
today still maintains the traditions of the many women who served Poland
in the last war.
Printed Material
Books (bi-lingual)
Pomocnica Służba
Kobiet w Polskich Siłach Zbrojnych na Zachodzie
1939-1945 Kolo Kobiet Żołnierzy PSZ na Zachodzie, London 1995. (includes
many photographs)
Books (Polish language)
Kobiety w szeregach
Polskich Sił Zbrojnych na Zachodzie 1940-1948.
Car, Edward. Warszawa 1995.
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last modified 15 March 2009
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PolishWomen.html
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© Copyright R M Ostrycharz 2001
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