Riverine Flotilla of the Polish Navy










The interior of a gun turret during a pre-war exercise.


The Riverine Flotilla of the Polish Navy (Polish: Flotylla Rzeczna Marynarki Wojennej), better known as the Pinsk Flotilla, was the inland branch of the Polish Navy operating on the Vistula river and in the area of the Pinsk Marshes (Dnieper–Bug Canal) between the Polish–Bolshevik War and World War II. Under Commodore Witold Zajączkowski, it was active in the invasion of Poland and fought against both German and Soviet forces.




Contents






  • 1 History


  • 2 See also


  • 3 References


  • 4 External links





History


During the Polish-Bolshevik War the Pinsk Marshes proved to be almost impassable to troops of both sides. Lack of roads and railways posed a serious danger to infantry and cavalry that could easily be cut off both by the enemy and the weather. Because of that, a number of river monitors were either constructed or acquired from private owners and armed. They were used on the Pripyat River, as well as its extensive river basin. After the war, some of the ships were returned to their owners, the rest remained on active service and were pressed into the so-called Pinsk Flotilla.


In peace-time the Riverine Flotilla of the Polish Navy, as it was officially called, operated on the Pina River (Dnieper–Bug Canal), as well as on the Pripyat and the Strumień rivers. It served as a mobile reserve of the Border Defense Corps and was to support the front in case of a war with the Soviet Union. Prior to the invasion of Poland, a number of ships of the Riverine Flotilla were moved to the Vistula as a detachment and became Oddział Wydzielony Rzeki Wisły, better known as the Vistula Flotilla.


In the Polish operational plans, the Pinsk flotilla was to form a mobile strategic reserve of the Polish Army in the area and was to constitute the core of the forces defending the area of the Pinsk Marshes. The Polish commander-in-chief and Marshal of Poland, Edward Rydz-Śmigły, forecast that the area would be used for a last stand by the Polish Army, where it would await the relief on the western front from Poland's allies. However the Invasion of Poland on September 17, 1939 made the plans obsolete.


During actions against the Soviets and the Germans, most of the ships were scuttled by their crews to avoid capture. In 1939-40 most of them were refloated, repaired, rearmed and included in the Soviet Pinsk Naval Flotilla (1940). They took an active part in battles of World War II but were mostly destroyed in 1941.



See also



  • Polish Navy

  • Order of Battle of the Riverine Flotilla of the Polish Navy

  • Vessels of Polish Riverine Flotilla



References



  • Cristino Castroviejo Vicente (2001). "The Baltic in Flames: the 1939 naval campaign". SERGA (March–April 2001): 28&ndash, 37..mw-parser-output cite.citation{font-style:inherit}.mw-parser-output q{quotes:"""""""'""'"}.mw-parser-output code.cs1-code{color:inherit;background:inherit;border:inherit;padding:inherit}.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-free a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/65/Lock-green.svg/9px-Lock-green.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-registration a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d6/Lock-gray-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-gray-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-subscription a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/aa/Lock-red-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-red-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration{color:#555}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription span,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration span{border-bottom:1px dotted;cursor:help}.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-error{display:none;font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-error{font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration,.mw-parser-output .cs1-format{font-size:95%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-left{padding-left:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-right{padding-right:0.2em}


External links



  • Interesting and detailed polish page about the Pinsk River Fleet

  • Map of the Pinsk River Fleet area during the 20's




-

Popular posts from this blog

Y

Image
This article is about the letter of the alphabet. For other uses, see Y (disambiguation). See also: Wye (disambiguation) Y Y y (See below) Usage Writing system Latin script Type Alphabetic and Logographic Language of origin Latin language Phonetic usage [ y ] [ ɨ ] [ j ] [ iː ] [ ɪ ] [ ɘ ] [ ə ] [ ɯ ] [ ɛː ] [ j ] [ ɥ ] [ ɣ̟ ] / w aɪ / / aɪ / Unicode value U+0059, U+0079 Alphabetical position 25 History Development Υ υ 𐌖 Y y Time period 54 to present Descendants  • U  • V  • W  • Ỿ  • ¥  • Ꮙ  • Ꮍ  • Ꭹ Sisters F Ѵ У Ў Ұ Ү ו و ܘ וּ וֹ ࠅ 𐎆 𐡅 ወ વ ૂ ુ उ Variations (See below) Other Other letters commonly used with y(x), ly, ny This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. ISO basic Latin alphabet Aa Bb Cc D...
Read more

Mount Tamalpais

Image
Mount Tamalpais Mount Tamalpais, viewed from the south Highest point Elevation 2,571 ft (784 m)   NAVD 88 [1] Prominence 2,456 ft (749 m)  [1] Listing California county high points 55th Coordinates 37°55′45″N 122°34′40″W  /  37.929088°N 122.577829°W  / 37.929088; -122.577829 Coordinates: 37°55′45″N 122°34′40″W  /  37.929088°N 122.577829°W  / 37.929088; -122.577829   [1] Geography Mount Tamalpais Marin County, California, U.S. Show map of California Mount Tamalpais Mount Tamalpais (the US) Show map of the US Parent range California Coast Ranges Topo map USGS San Rafael Geology Mountain type Sedimentary Climbing First ascent 1830s by Jacob P. Leese (first recorded ascent) [2] Easiest route Railroad Grade fire trail Mount Tamalpais ( / t æ m əl ˈ p aɪ . ɪ s / ; TAM -əl- PY -iss ; Coast Miwok: /t̪ɑmɑlˈpɑis̺/ , known locally as Mount Tam ) is a peak in Marin County, California, United State...
Read more

Indian Forest Service

Image
Indian Forest Service Service Overview Preceding service Imperial Forest Service (1864 to 1935) Year of Constitution 1966 Country India Staff College Indira Gandhi National Forest Academy (IGNFA), Dehradun, Uttarakhand Cadre Controlling Authority Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change Legal personality Governmental: Government service General nature Administration of Forest and Wildlife resources Cadre strength 3131 (2182 Direct Recruits and 949 Promotion Posts) Website ifs.nic.in Service Chief Director General of Forests Siddhanth Das, IFS (1982 Batch, Odisha Cadre) [1] Head of the All India Civil Services Cabinet Secretary Pradeep Kumar Sinha, IAS Indian Forest Service (भारतीय वन सेवा) [2] is one of the three All India Services of the Government of India. The other two All India Services being the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) and the Indian Police Service (IPS). [3] [4] [5] It was constituted in...
Read more