Stanisław Katański

[Al-muell]

A very small and intriguing post-war group. Actually, there's only one award and two docs.

It is to a sapper private, who served from 15th of may 1945 to 20th of September 1947. And even tough he served after the war, he was awarded with the Cross of the Brave - an award rarely given for non-wartime deeds. Since his service booklet gives no info on his activity during the war, he probably got the award for post-war military activities.

As the order date is given in the award booklet, we can guess it was given for one of the two categories that were called "Strengthening of the People's Rule". This categories are anti-partisan actions of the immediate post-war era and mine-sweeping actions. Since he is called "sap.[per private]", we may assume he got it for the second category. Because of that, we can also assume that the orderof the Commander in Chief of the Polish army nr 593 from the 26th of June 1946 covered awards for some mine clearing action.

His 1951-dated award booklet was crudely repaired with a tape. Since the tape was already falling off and it influenced the paper and since the doc is not falling apart without it, I have decided to remove it. It is probably the only military-related award he ever got.

His 1973-dated military service booklet doesn't give much information, while those documents ussually give a lot of useful data. I am afraid the clerk who filled it in was very lazy.

[Al-muell]

His service record is not very helpful - it just gives the dates and says "military service". Usually this space gives much more detailed data.

He was promoted to corporal (kapral) in 1953 - he was already in the reserve then and it seems he was not called for any additional service after 1947.

Only additional data here gives info on his registration in 1958 - he was registered in the unit 3774 - probably 7th pontoneer Regiment stationed in Płock. It also gives his speciality number: 222, but it is not explained in the proper blank - those lazy clerks...

[Al-muell]

A bit of a twist: I have found this in the IPN database:
Biuletyn Informacji Publicznej Instytutu Pamięci Narodowej

So, it means, that he worked with the UB from 1948 to 1954 as a guard and a courier. It also explains why no info is given on who issued the order giving him the rank of corporal - he got it from the UB, not any army-related authorities. I wander if this also explains other gaps in his service booklet.

His award, however, pre-dates his UB service, so it seems to be indeed for the mine-sweeping operations.