Eagle of the 1st Infantry Division of General Tadeusz Kościuszka

Janina Broniewska (1904–1981), designer of military eagle model no. 43 was a writer and publicist, who based the badge design on the representation found on the sarcophagus of Władysław Herman and Bolesław Krzywousty from the Płock cathedral. It was mainly used to mark military hats used until 1944 by the Polish People's Army. The first unit in which it was introduced was the 1st Polish Infantry Division named after Tadeusz Kościuszko, a tactical unit of infantry fighting alongside the Red Army. Broniewska as Instructor of the Military Department of the Union of Polish Patriots was associated with the formation of the people's army and the 1st Infantry Division in particular, due to her work as a war correspondent in the area of their battles. The metal eagle, deprived of the attributes appearing on pre-war badges of this kind, i.e. the crown and shield of the horsewomen, was not as popular among ordinary soldiers, who commonly called it a "hen", "chicken" or "wren". When given the opportunity, they would exchange it for pre-war designs of military badges. The presented copy comes from the hat of Stanisław Stefanski (1901–1965), a soldier of the 1st Infantry Division of Tadeusz Kościuszko. In the collections of the The Dialogue Centre Upheavals there are other keepsakes handed over by Jacek Stefanski, Stanisław’s son: a leather belt and leather wallet – all these items Stanisław Stefanski had with him when he fought against the troops of the Wermacht in the battle of Lenin (12-13 October 1943), which was the baptism of fire for the Polish units under the army of the Soviet Union. Agnieszka Kuchcińska-Kurcz