Lot No. 6991
1941/47 In this album the 2nd Polish Corps and its history is impressively documented on 72 pages. The 2nd Polish Corps under the leadership of Lieutenant General Wladyslaw Anders was founded in 1941 on the basis of an agreement between Stalin and General Sikorski. Many Poles, which fought in this corps, were deported to the Gulags of the Soviet Union in 1939/40. Stalin granted them an amnesty to mobilize these Polish citizens to fight against a common enemy and to use them for his own aims. Lieutenant General Anders refused to fight under Stalin and reached an agreement with Sir Winston Churchill for stationing in Iran under the command of General Wilson. Polish fighters were stationed in Iran and in Iraq too. The Polish Corps had its own cancels in Polish language. No uncensored documents were ever sent. The first documents came from Iran (including an Indian postal stationery envelope and a registered letter from Tehran) and Iraq (Mossul, Khanaqin, Kirkuk). Later, Poles also fought in Palestine and Tobruk. The collection includes letters from Imala (a British registered postal envelope), Yibna, Barbera, Kfar Bilu and Sarafand (all Palestine) and Egypt (El Qassasin and Cairo). This is followed by the documentation of the Polish field post in Italy (unused block and memorial folder with three blocks in honour of the 2nd Corps) with various covers, including the stamps with the imprint Monte Cassino Fortress. Various locations of the Polish units are documented (Bari, Naples and Forli). In many cases British postal stationeries were used for correspondence, including air letters of British field post. In this collection, there are many impressive items, but the heart is a cut out of a parcel sent to USA to Mr. Charles Cwiakala (well-known stamp dealer) with an amazing mixed franking of stamps of the issue in honor to the 2nd Polish Corps and Britisch stamps. In this collection there are also many scarce and rare destination (Tanganyika, USA etc.). The collection has an invaluable museum value. It is unlikely to be available a second time in this form. RRR! (A)
