| An ISU-122 of the Ludowe Wojsko Polskie, or LWP (Polish People‘s Army), one of twenty-one ISU-122s of the 25th Self-Propelled Artillery Regiment, First Polish Armored Corps, Polish Second Army, crosses a bridge on the Niesse (Nysa) River in April 1945. Part of the First Ukrainian Front, Second Army after crossed Poland from the Vistula to the Oder Rivers in late 1944. After regrouping in March 1945, Second Army crossed the Niesse after an artillery barrage and headed for Dresden. Eventually Second Army was part of the Soviet forces that liberated Prague. Because of steady attrition in prison camps and combat by both the Germans and the Soviets since September 1939, the Polish officer corps was decimated and Second Army was commanded mostly by Red Army officers. Red Army General Stanislav Gilyarovich Poplavsky (April 22, 1902-August 10, 1973) commanded Second Army until December 1944. The ISU-122 mounted the M1931/37 (A-19) 122 mm (4.8 inch) multipurpose gun, and was mostly used as a long range a tank destroyer; it was also used as an assault gun and a self-propelled howitzer. 1,735 were manufactured during the war at Chelyabinskiy Kirovskiy Zavod (Chelyabinsk Kirov Plant) in Chelyabinsk, Russia. | |
| Image Filename | wwii0066.jpg |
| Image Size | 2.97 MB |
| Image Dimensions | 3000 x 1698 |
| Photographer | Unknown |
| Photographer Title | |
| Caption Author | Jason McDonald |
| Date Photographed | April 14, 1945 |
| Location | |
| City | Niesse River |
| State or Province | Oder-Niesse Line |
| Country | Czechoslovakia |
| Archive | |
| Record Number | |
| Status | Caption ©2007, ©2024 MFA Productions LLC Image in the Public Domain |
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