The unit was formed on 15 July 1943 as an all-female unit of the Soviet Polish Army. Its personnel were drawn from women deported from Soviet-occupied Poland and communist volunteers. There was no shortage of volunteers from among the internees, many of whom were eager to escape the poor conditions of their imprisonment. This was the first all-female Polish unit and had originally been opposed by the Soviet authorities who only relented when General Anders pointed out the widespread use of women in the Soviet Army. The battalion was named after Emilia Plater, a female Polish-Lithuanian leader who had fought against the Russians in the 1830 November Uprising. The individual soldiers were nicknamed the Platerówski. The commanders of the unit were men but its political officers were women.