Polish Concripts/volunteers in Normandy?

[sfsppe]

My first post and the question is, "were there any ethnic or Volksdeutche Polish soldiers serving in the wehrmacht in the normandy area?" And yes, I'm wanting to know specifically about June 1944. If so, could you please tell me what unit(s) would they likely been part of? Thanks guys!

[Massimiliano Afiero]

Yes, there is many poles volunteers in the Ostbataillon in Normandy, as verified by the allies between prisoniers captured after invasion. Remember that the Polish state don'exist from 1939 and many polish volunteers are defined as russian, galizian, etc.

Waffen211

[Randyman]

Hi,
2/1716 and 5/1716 heavy artillery abt were manned by Poles. They supported the 716 Infantry Div in the Normandy area.

Rand

[TPMM]

According to one of Polish WWII forums:
Cornelius Ryan in his "The Longest Day" mentioned a story of a Pole conscripted to 716 ID, pvt. Alojzy Damski, who was in a bunker not far fromt the "Gold" beach.

[Eldorado]

Any chance they got captured or surrendered and got sent to England as pow?

[Opa]

Hundreds of Thousands of ethnic Poles served in the Wehrmacht, since Poles who were German citizens, such as the Ruhrpolen (who immigrated to the Ruhr coal mines in the 1870s-1880s), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruhrpolen or the local population of part of Upper Silesia, or the Masuren (Lutheran Poles), were drafted just as any other.

In areas annexed to post-World War I Poland, and reacquired by Germany in 1939, the situation was more complex. But in West Prussia, the local Gauleiter Albert Forster apparently declared anyone who wanted to be German, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_F%C3%B6rster which of course entailed being drafted, too.

Kaschubs were drafted, too, such as the grandfather of Polish President Tusk
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Tusk

[Pirx]

Hi Opa.
Donald Tusk is polish prime minister.
President of Poland is Lech Kaczynski.