4th Infantry Division ( Poland ) The Polish 4th Infantry Division ( " Polish : 4 . Dywizja Piechoty " ) was created following Polish independence after the end of World War I . The division participated in the Polish - Ukrainian War in 1919 . During World War II , the division existed as three wholly separate organizations , the original incarnation of the division as part of the prewar Polish Army , the second incarnation armed and equipped by the western Allies , and the final incarnation armed and equipped by the Soviet Union . The second and third incarnations of this division existed simultaneously from 1944 until 1947 . Service to 1939 . Prior to the start of World War II , the 4th Infantry Division was initially commanded by Colonel Tadeusz Lubicz - Niezabitowski , and its peacetime headquarters was located in Toruń , with additional units stationed in Włocławek and Brodnica . After September 4 , 1939 it was commanded by Colonel Mieczysław Rawicz - Mysłowski , and then after September 12 it was commanded by Colonel Józef Werobej . The 4th Division was originally part of the Pomorze Army and stationed northeast of Toruń , near the border of East Prussia . From September 9 , the division fought against the Wehrmacht in the Battle of the Bzura , a Polish counterattack west of Warsaw in the area of the Bzura River . 4th Division organized by the western Allies . Following the Polish defeat in 1939 , the 4th Infantry Division was reconstituted in France , under the command of Stanisław Franciszek Sosabowski . The 4th was assigned to a training camp in Parthenay , in western France . The French high command was reluctant to give the 4th Infantry Division weapons sorely need at the front , so the 4th was forced to train with pre - World War I weapons . By the time of the German invasion of France , only around 3 , 500 men , out of 11 , 000 , of the 4th Division had been armed . When the impending French defeat became apparent , Sosabowski ordered his forces to retreat to the Atlantic coast . 6 , 000 Polish soldiers were evacuated from La Pallice , a harbor near La Rochelle , France . In June they were evacuated for England , and the 4th Infantry Division was again reconstituted in Scotland , under the Polish I Corps , along with the Polish 1st Armored Division , the 1st Independent Parachute Brigade , and the 16th Independent Armored Brigade . The 4th Division was charged with coastal defense of eastern Scotland , against the threat of a German invasion from Norway . This western incarnation of the 4th Division saw no combat after the defeat of France in 1940 , and was inactivated in 1947 . 4th Division organized by the Soviet Union . In 1944 , the Soviet Union also stood up a Polish 4th Infantry Division within the Polish First Army , part of the 1st Belorussian Front . The division consisted primarily of Poles deported to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics after the Soviet invasion of Poland in 1939 , although many of the officers and commissars were from the USSR . As part of the First Army , this eastern incarnation of the 4th Division fought in Poland near Warsaw , at Kolberg , and north of Berlin in Germany during 1944 - 45 . Following the end of the war , the Soviet - organized 4th Division was incorporated into the army of the People ' s Republic of Poland . By a Resolution of the Provisional Government of May 26 , 1945 the division ' s personnel and equipment ( with the exception of artillery and the sanitary battalion ) served as a nucleus to form the staff and some branches of the Internal Security Corps ( KBW ) . The division commander became the first commander of the Internal Security Corps . Following reformation from two reserve infantry regiments , the division was stationed in the town of Krosno Odrzańskie as part of the Silesian Military District . During the Cold War , the division became mechanized on the organizational lines of Soviet motor rifle divisions . The 4th Division also participated in the suppression of protests in Poznań in 1956 . The 4th Mechanized Division was inactivated in 1998 . See also . List of Polish divisions in World War II