Feliks Stola

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Another one saved from split - altough this time it wasn't so hard as the seller didn't put everything for sale at a time but only put two docs and I have contacted him afterwards if he had something more.

So here it is:
*Political officer school diploma from 1945
*Salary book for military serviceman from 40's (when he was in the border troops)
*Bad quality xerox copy of the artickle from newspaper containing awardees short memoires from early post-war period (will have to look for the artickle itself as the pics in this copy are awful)
*Certification that he has the veteran's rights because of his wartime and postwar activity
*The best one: A proposition to award him the Grunwald Cross (seems it never left the veterans' association) containing detailed information on his awards and his wartime activity (like a full research!)
*To bad quality photos (one showing the crew of the Border Troops unit he served in, the second - showing him in the carrige - the best quality picture of him I have!).
*Awards (the Polonia Restituta Cavalier's Cross is not his, just added it for this display)
*Award minis (not sure if realy his - no info of him ever receiving "for participation i the fights in defense of the people's rule" medal altough he qualified for it.
*Polonia Restituta Cavalier's Cross booklet (unfortunately the only of his award booklets I have).

There's a cool story after this group.
The man (named Feliks Stola) served first in the Peasant Battallions, then in the People's Army (I even managed to find some info on the units, the battles he took part in, even photos of his commanders). In 1944 when the region his squad was in (Lublin area) was liberated, he joined the Polish Army. He took part in the battle of Puławy where he destroyed an enemy heavy machine gun which earned him the Cross of the Brave (I don't know the details, but from that simple description I would rather expect a "Meritous on the Field of Glory" medal). He later took part in the battle for Berlin.
After the war he was sent to the political officers course and later became a deputy commander of the 22nd Border Troops Command where he served untill 1948. When he was demobilized (probably because of a contusion, as he lived from the pension later). Surprisingly, with all his achievements properly recognised, he was probably never promoted after the service and held only a rank of porucznik (sr. lt. equivalent), bestowed upon him around 1946.
Here's an article I wrote for wikipedia on him (as an answer to appeal to expand the public database of the Cross of the Brave awardees): Feliks Stola – Wikipedia, wolna encyklopedia
One day I will translate it to English.

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additional pics

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An award group to a WW2 veteran.

Feliks Stola, born in 1920 in Mazanów near Puławy (Lublin Voivodeship) had quite a high education for polish pre-war standards - he graduatedfrom a profile high school and apparently had 3 classes of an agricultural college. Before the war, he was a member of "Wici" youth association - an association of countryside youth, connected to the PSL (Polskie Stronnictwo Ludowe, Polish People's Faction - a party (or parties) representing interests of the peasantry).
In 1941 he joined the ranks of the Bataliony Chłopskie (peasant batalions, a second largest partisan organisation in Poland, started by the PSL), and first took the auxillary tasks, like spreading the underground press and smuggling and hiding guns. In 1943 was sent to the partisan squad of Józef Pacyna "Chrzestny" (no info on that character found). and took part in various fights. In 1944 he found himself in the squad of Lieutenant "Lipa" (info in the last post) with which he had joined the AL (People's Army, the third largest partisan organisation, started by the PPR) and later (most likely after "Lipa's" death in june 1944) in the squad of lt. "Przepiórka" (info in the last post) and took part in the fights in Janów and Parczew Forests (considered the largest partisan battle in Poland in the WW2). After Soviet Army's and Polish 1st Army's advance to the region, he joined the 3rd Infantry Division and took part in the battle of Puławy (where he earned his Cross of the Brave for destroing a german Heavy MG) ond Warsaw. After the war he was was sent tothe political officer school and was appointed a deputy commander of a Border Guard post. He participated in "securing" the parliament elections and the referendum concerning the future of Poland (both were falsified and led to the victory of the communists). In 1948 his military service finished, probably due to health problems (the only info on his post-military ocupation was that he was on thepension). He later was a member of the PZPR (he was probably authomaticaly made a PPR member on joining the AL) and activist of ZBOWiD veteran association.
The last rank he held was Lieutenant (Sr. lieutenmant)

The group as whole (irritatingly, the only award doc of him I have is for the award that I don't have - Polonia Restituta Cavalier's Cross, but the awards are listed in the next doc)

An interesting document sheding light on the group - a ZBOWiD awarding recomendation for Grunwald Cross (most likely never awarded, the recommendation was poorly prepeared and probably never left the local ZBOWiD organisation). It gives the list of his awards with reasons for awarding, and a detailed story of his wartime activities as well as basic data on him.

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An article with his memoirs from the time of service in the WOP (border troops) with a few photographs (the copy is of low quality, but the pics didn'tlook much better in the newspaper - I have managed to to locate the actual article in the library) The photos show him in varios situations - at local school opening (his unit helped in prepearing the building) - he is the guy with moustache; leading a mounted patrol - he is the guy with the binoculars; convoying hte "bandit" arrested on a patrol etc.

A Polonia Restituta Cavalier's Cross booklet

A Political officer's school diploma

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A photograph of our hero in a carriege (he sits in the back between the women)

A photograph of the WOP post personnel, unfortunately not very sharpand clear.

Not of the group:
Lt. Julian Kaczmarczyk "Lipa", commander of a BCh unit that joined the AL. He was killed on 11th of June 1944 during the nazi anti-partisan action "Sturmwind"

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And finally - Lt.Edward Gronczewski "Przepiórka", commander of the 5th company of the 1st AL brigade. After the war he was a writer and historian. In 1950 he was accused of the war crimes against the Jewish people and imprisoned. In 1956 he was released and cleared of the charges, which were considered political, however, some evidence of his criminal war-timeactivity exists.

The group also feathures his 4 awards, Grunwald Badge, miniatures, salary booklet from his service in the WOP and a certificate from ZBOWiD stating that he is a veteran and aquired his rights through being apartisan, being a soldier of the 1st Army, participating in the strengthening of the People's Rule.

The 1960-published book "Sources and meterials for the history of the resistance movement in Lubelskie Voivodeship 1939-1944, vol. I People's Guards and People's Army 1942-1944" gives an undated and incompleate list of officers and NCOs of the People's Army (AL) in the district 5, region II. With it's commander being Józef Pacyna "Chrzestny" it lists unter position 38 "Stola" - with AL rank of plutonowy (platoon corporal) and Polish Army equivalent rank of kapral (corporal) - a fair chance that it is Feliks Stola - in both BCh and GL/AL the custom of using pseudonyms was not as common as in the AK (although some of the partisans had regular pseudonyms) - more often people were known by their names' diminitives, surnames and sometimes nicknames. Itwasn't untill 1944 that all these started to be officially used as pseudonyms. In this case, Feliks Stola would have used his surname in the BCh/AL.

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Last week I have managed to locate Feliks Stola's grave in Krotoszyn. Poorly maintained. Even though I have also managed to locate the house he lived in, it seems no relatives of him live in the town.

The grave gives alternative date of birth (13th July 1920) as well as the date of death (13.02.1994)