Anders, Wladyslaw (1892–1970)

Polish general and leader of Polish forces in exile during World War II.

On the outbreak of war 1939, he commanded a cavalry brigade during the German invasion but was captured and imprisoned by the Soviets. Released after the German invasion of the USSR June 1941, he began collecting Polish troops imprisoned in the USSR and was eventually permitted to take these men, with their families, to Palestine where he formed them into an army. The families were sent to East Africa, while the troops joined the British forces and fought at Tobruk and in the desert campaigns of 1942. They then went to Italy, where they captured Monte Cassino May 1944 and liberated Bologna April 1945.

After the death of General Sikorski July 1943, Anders became leader of the exiled Poles but tended to ignore political problems, concentrating instead on military tasks. As a result he was politically outmanoeuvred by the Soviets in deciding the shape of post-war Poland which became a communist state, and remained in England after the war as leader of the expatriate Polish community.