IN THE YEAR OF NATIONAL REMEMBRANCE 1996-1997

 

The list of Polish casualties at Perth Wellshill Cemetery is intended to provide a document in English commemorating those who served their country. 

 

The crowned Polish Eagle was cut into the headstones which were mostly made of Portland stone.

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Introduction

List of Contents

Viewing the Register

Layout of the Register

Introduction to Wellshill Cemetery

Location of Wellshill Cemetery

Monument at Wellshill Cemetery

Numbers of Casualties

Commonwealth War Graves Commission

 

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Polish Ranks: A Comparison with British Ranks

Army

Navy

Air Force

 

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Explanation of Military Terms (to be completed)

 

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Sources (to be completed)

 

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Viewing the Register

To view properly the details contained in this Register you will need to re-set your browser to a Central European format and have Polish fonts installed.

 

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Layout of the Register

The first three rows of this register entry reflect the information inscribed on the memorial by the CWGC.

 

Row 1 Rank, initial(s), last name.

Row 2 Unit served in at date of death. If not indicated on the headstone this is noted.

Row 3 Date of death (in d.m.y. format) and age at death when given. (If age is not given on the headstone this is shown in parenthesis).

Row 4 Supplementary information drawn from a number of Polish sources.

Row 4 provides further information in the following order, if applicable,

1. The rank if different to the memorial;

2. First name(s) in full;

3. The surname if different to the memorial;

4. When born (abbreviated to b.) and stated in d.m.y. format;

5. Place of birth, (Dist.-District, Prov.-Province) then -

6. Differences in the inscription on the CWGC memorial of the unit last served in.

7. Any other information is included at the end.

 

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Introduction to Wellshill Cemetery

According to the Register of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission for the County of Perthshire it was in September 1940 when the Polish authorities expressed a wish for a special consecrated plot in a cemetery for the burial of members of their forces. As there was a substantial number of Polish troops in the area, Wellshill Cemetery was selected as one of the burial grounds. The local authorities set aside a special section in the Jeanfield Road entrance for war graves and at the southern end of this section is the large Polish plot.

 

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Location of Wellshill Cemetery

Perth is situated on the River Tay and can be reached from Glasgow via the A9 or from Edinburgh via the M90.

Direction signs in Polish indicating the site of the Polish war graves have been erected.

The entrance is off Jeanfield Road.

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Monument

An imposing stone monument commemorating the fallen overlooks the Polish plot. The monument is inscribed -

 

ETERNAL GLORY TO THE POLISH SOLDIERS WHO DIED IN 1939-1945 FOR OUR FREEDOM AND YOURS   CHWA¸A ûO¸NIERZOM POLSKIM POLEG¸YM W LATACH 1939-1945 ZA NASZÑ WOLNOÂå I WASZÑ RODACY

 

 

 

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Numbers of casualties An analysis by the Commission of this cemetery states that there are 354 Polish war graves made up of 339 Army, 4 Navy, 9 Air Force and 2 miscellaneous - 1 Polish nurse and 1 civilian. Excluded from the Polish casualties are 26 members of the Polish Resettlement Corps (PRC) who are included in the British statistics and Lt-Col G K Langer also of the PRC who died on 30th March 1948. (The CWGC regard deaths after 31st December 1947 as non-War casualties). Thus Wellshill cemetery contains 381 Polish graves - 50% of the war burials in Scotland. The earliest war casualty in the cemetery is that of pchor (Officer Cadet) Ulrych-Ulenski who died on 18th November 1940 and the last known is Lieutenant-Colonel Langer.

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Proceed to Register of casualties at Wellshill Cemetery Perth

 

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