WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.799 I want you to picture a scene for a moment. It's 00:00:02.799 --> 00:00:06.599 July 1943. Okay. We are deep in the Soviet Union, 00:00:06.740 --> 00:00:10.000 specifically in the Ryazan region, which is southeast 00:00:10.000 --> 00:00:12.259 of Moscow. Right, right in the thick of it. Exactly. 00:00:12.439 --> 00:00:14.660 The eastern front is basically a meat grinder 00:00:14.660 --> 00:00:17.719 at this point. And the Soviet military machine 00:00:17.719 --> 00:00:20.280 is churning out new units as fast as they can 00:00:20.280 --> 00:00:23.500 possibly muster them. So you walk past a formation 00:00:23.500 --> 00:00:26.359 of nearly 700 soldiers. And you can tell they 00:00:26.359 --> 00:00:28.920 are geared up for heavy combat. Heavy combat, 00:00:29.140 --> 00:00:30.879 yeah. We really aren't talking about light infantry 00:00:30.879 --> 00:00:33.880 or, you know, support staff here. No, not at 00:00:33.880 --> 00:00:36.640 all. We are talking about a unit that is outfitted 00:00:36.640 --> 00:00:41.020 with heavy machine guns. They have 82 -millimeter 00:00:41.020 --> 00:00:43.780 mortars, anti -tank rifles, submachine guns. 00:00:43.859 --> 00:00:46.820 Serious firepower. Very serious. They are drilled 00:00:46.820 --> 00:00:49.240 in storming trenches and breaking armored lines, 00:00:49.399 --> 00:00:51.939 but... And this is the hook. If you look closer, 00:00:52.039 --> 00:00:55.159 under the helmets, every single soldier, from 00:00:55.159 --> 00:00:57.060 the privates all the way up to the non -commissioned 00:00:57.060 --> 00:00:59.799 officers, is a woman. It honestly sounds like 00:00:59.799 --> 00:01:02.539 a what -if scenario, doesn't it? Or maybe a movie 00:01:02.539 --> 00:01:05.000 script. It really does. But this was very real. 00:01:05.079 --> 00:01:07.400 This was the Amelia Platter Independent Women's 00:01:07.400 --> 00:01:10.340 Battalion. The Platterokey, as they were affectionately 00:01:10.340 --> 00:01:13.120 known. Yeah. Welcome back to the Deep Dive. Today, 00:01:13.219 --> 00:01:15.760 we're unpacking the story of this specific unit. 00:01:15.859 --> 00:01:17.959 And I have to say, going through the source material, 00:01:19.659 --> 00:01:22.980 the regimental records, the memoirs, even court 00:01:22.980 --> 00:01:26.379 documents from the 1990s. This isn't just a straightforward 00:01:26.379 --> 00:01:29.420 story about women with guns. No, it is so much 00:01:29.420 --> 00:01:31.219 more complex than that. I mean, our mission for 00:01:31.219 --> 00:01:33.459 this deep dive is to look at the structural reality 00:01:33.459 --> 00:01:36.700 of this battalion. We need to explore the really 00:01:36.700 --> 00:01:39.260 desperate politics that allowed it to exist in 00:01:39.260 --> 00:01:41.900 the first place. Right. And the strange command 00:01:41.900 --> 00:01:44.060 decisions that kept them back from the front 00:01:44.060 --> 00:01:47.060 lines and ultimately the legal battle they had 00:01:47.060 --> 00:01:49.780 to wage 50 years later just to protect their 00:01:49.780 --> 00:01:52.579 own history. And honestly, the so what factor 00:01:52.579 --> 00:01:56.000 hits you. Almost immediately. Because when you 00:01:56.000 --> 00:01:58.620 dig into who these women actually were, you realize 00:01:58.620 --> 00:02:01.219 this wasn't just about patriotism. No, not just 00:02:01.219 --> 00:02:03.439 that. For the women in the Platoralki, joining 00:02:03.439 --> 00:02:05.459 up was often a choice between life and death 00:02:05.459 --> 00:02:08.080 before they even saw a battlefield. That is the 00:02:08.080 --> 00:02:10.379 crucial context you have to understand. You can't 00:02:10.379 --> 00:02:12.379 understand the Platoralki without understanding 00:02:12.379 --> 00:02:15.180 where they came from. These weren't women just 00:02:15.180 --> 00:02:17.939 walking into a recruitment office in a free society. 00:02:18.219 --> 00:02:21.120 The vast majority of the personnel were Sibiratsky. 00:02:21.259 --> 00:02:24.280 Which roughly translates to women. Deported to 00:02:24.280 --> 00:02:27.039 Siberia. Correct. These were Polish women who 00:02:27.039 --> 00:02:29.360 had been forcibly removed from their homes by 00:02:29.360 --> 00:02:31.620 the Soviet Union after the invasion of Poland 00:02:31.620 --> 00:02:34.939 in 1939. They had been sent deep into the USSR. 00:02:35.139 --> 00:02:38.199 We're talking labor camps in Siberia, the steppes 00:02:38.199 --> 00:02:40.759 of Kazakhstan. And they were living in absolute 00:02:40.759 --> 00:02:43.680 starvation conditions. Battling disease, working 00:02:43.680 --> 00:02:46.819 in collective farms, lumber camps. Just brutal 00:02:46.819 --> 00:02:49.060 conditions. Exactly. So when the Soviet first 00:02:49.060 --> 00:02:52.039 Polish army starts forming in 1943, enlistment 00:02:52.039 --> 00:02:54.219 isn't just a career move. It's a golden ticket. 00:02:54.379 --> 00:02:56.659 It's a way out. It was an escape from the gulag 00:02:56.659 --> 00:02:59.539 system. It was a way to get food, get clothing, 00:02:59.580 --> 00:03:01.400 and eventually a chance to return to Poland. 00:03:01.580 --> 00:03:04.139 So the motivation to join is incredibly high, 00:03:04.259 --> 00:03:07.180 but it's born entirely out of trauma and survival 00:03:07.180 --> 00:03:09.860 instinct. Which completely changes the psychological 00:03:09.860 --> 00:03:12.819 profile of the unit. You aren't dealing with 00:03:12.819 --> 00:03:15.039 naive volunteers who are looking for adventure. 00:03:15.419 --> 00:03:18.460 You are dealing with hardened survivors. Absolutely. 00:03:18.719 --> 00:03:21.789 So let's look at the actual formation. It's the 00:03:21.789 --> 00:03:24.569 summer of 1943. The unit is officially forming. 00:03:24.949 --> 00:03:27.830 But the sources show that the Soviets weren't 00:03:27.830 --> 00:03:30.009 exactly rolling out the red carpet for an all 00:03:30.009 --> 00:03:32.990 -female combat unit, were they? Not at all. And 00:03:32.990 --> 00:03:34.669 this is where the political friction gets really 00:03:34.669 --> 00:03:37.050 interesting. The Soviet authorities were initially 00:03:37.050 --> 00:03:39.949 very opposed to the idea of a dedicated Polish 00:03:39.949 --> 00:03:42.330 female infantry battalion. They pushed back. 00:03:42.569 --> 00:03:45.030 They did. They were perfectly fine with women 00:03:45.030 --> 00:03:48.169 serving as nurses, telegraph operators, or administrative 00:03:48.169 --> 00:03:51.740 staff. But a combat battalion, that was just 00:03:51.740 --> 00:03:54.080 a bridge too far for the Soviet brass at that 00:03:54.080 --> 00:03:56.539 specific moment. Which seems incredibly ironic 00:03:56.539 --> 00:03:58.539 to me. I mean, we are talking about the Red Army 00:03:58.539 --> 00:04:00.460 here. Right. The Soviets were famous for the 00:04:00.460 --> 00:04:02.840 night witches, the female bomber pilots. They 00:04:02.840 --> 00:04:04.939 had Lyudmila Pavlichenko, the most successful 00:04:04.939 --> 00:04:08.580 female sniper in history. The Soviets were arguably 00:04:08.580 --> 00:04:11.060 the pioneers of integrating women into combat 00:04:11.060 --> 00:04:13.639 roles out of sheer necessity during the war. 00:04:13.819 --> 00:04:16.740 And that is precisely the lever that the Polish 00:04:16.740 --> 00:04:20.050 leadership used against them. General Woody Sahwa 00:04:20.050 --> 00:04:23.250 Anders and later General Zygmunt Berling essentially 00:04:23.250 --> 00:04:26.410 used the Soviets' own precedent against them. 00:04:26.509 --> 00:04:29.110 It's so smart. The argument was incredibly savvy. 00:04:29.269 --> 00:04:31.050 They effectively went to the Soviet leadership 00:04:31.050 --> 00:04:33.610 and said, look, you have female tankers. You 00:04:33.610 --> 00:04:36.470 have female snipers. You claim to be the progressive 00:04:36.470 --> 00:04:39.230 force for gender equality in the socialist world. 00:04:39.410 --> 00:04:42.389 How can you deny us the exact same right to mobilize 00:04:42.389 --> 00:04:45.589 our women against the fascists? That is a brilliant 00:04:45.589 --> 00:04:48.560 bit of negotiation. using their own ideology 00:04:48.560 --> 00:04:51.759 to force their hand, basically saying, you're 00:04:51.759 --> 00:04:54.420 doing it, so why can't we? Exactly. It completely 00:04:54.420 --> 00:04:56.540 cornered the Soviet leadership. They couldn't 00:04:56.540 --> 00:04:58.699 really say no without looking hypocritical or 00:04:58.699 --> 00:05:00.779 without admitting that their own female units 00:05:00.779 --> 00:05:03.639 were just desperate measures. So the unit is 00:05:03.639 --> 00:05:05.720 greenlit. Yeah. And then they choose a name that 00:05:05.720 --> 00:05:08.879 is, well, it's loaded with history, Amelia Plater. 00:05:08.920 --> 00:05:10.740 Let's unpack that name for a second because it 00:05:10.740 --> 00:05:13.180 feels like a very specific signal. Who was she? 00:05:13.259 --> 00:05:15.579 Amelia Plater was a countess from the Polish 00:05:15.579 --> 00:05:18.079 -Lithuanian Commonwealth who actually led an 00:05:18.079 --> 00:05:21.720 uprising in 1830. She's often referred to as 00:05:21.720 --> 00:05:24.420 the Polish Joan of Arc. Right. She cut her hair, 00:05:24.540 --> 00:05:27.399 put on a uniform and led men into battle. But 00:05:27.399 --> 00:05:30.370 here is the kicker for anyone listening. Who 00:05:30.370 --> 00:05:33.089 was she fighting against in 1830? The Russians. 00:05:33.269 --> 00:05:35.209 You have to appreciate the audacity of that. 00:05:35.310 --> 00:05:38.269 Here you have a Polish unit formed under Soviet 00:05:38.269 --> 00:05:40.629 -Russian command, supplied with Russian weapons, 00:05:40.889 --> 00:05:43.870 eating Russian rations, yet they are named after 00:05:43.870 --> 00:05:47.170 a woman whose historical claim to fame was killing 00:05:47.170 --> 00:05:50.040 Russians. It really speaks to the Polish spirit 00:05:50.040 --> 00:05:53.279 of the unit. It was a subtle but incredibly powerful 00:05:53.279 --> 00:05:56.139 way of maintaining their national identity. Definitely. 00:05:56.300 --> 00:05:58.379 It told the soldiers, we are fighting with the 00:05:58.379 --> 00:06:00.459 Red Army against the Germans because we have 00:06:00.459 --> 00:06:02.759 to right now, but we are still Poles. We have 00:06:02.759 --> 00:06:05.019 our own heroes. Okay, so we have the name, we 00:06:05.019 --> 00:06:07.459 have the personnel, these hardened survivors 00:06:07.459 --> 00:06:09.839 of deportation, and now they are being outfitted. 00:06:09.980 --> 00:06:12.379 I want to dig into the structure of the battalion. 00:06:12.620 --> 00:06:14.500 Because I think there's this modern misconception 00:06:14.500 --> 00:06:17.639 that a women's battalion meant a lightweight 00:06:17.639 --> 00:06:20.120 force or just an auxiliary corps. The sources 00:06:20.120 --> 00:06:23.100 are very clear on this. On paper, the Independent 00:06:23.100 --> 00:06:25.220 Women's Battalion was a heavy -hitting formation. 00:06:25.680 --> 00:06:29.040 When they formed up in 1943 with roughly 690 00:06:29.040 --> 00:06:32.500 women, they were organized exactly like a standard 00:06:32.500 --> 00:06:34.660 shock unit. I'm looking at the table of organization 00:06:34.660 --> 00:06:37.220 here from the regimental records. They had a 00:06:37.220 --> 00:06:39.279 1st and 2nd Infantry Company. That's standard 00:06:39.279 --> 00:06:41.259 enough. But then you look at the support elements. 00:06:41.459 --> 00:06:44.879 They had a Fusilier Company, a machine gun company. 00:06:45.100 --> 00:06:47.600 And then the anti -tank company. That requires 00:06:47.600 --> 00:06:50.980 a high degree of technical proficiency. Operating 00:06:50.980 --> 00:06:54.240 a 45 -millimeter anti -tank gun is not simple. 00:06:54.459 --> 00:06:56.600 You're dealing with ballistics, team coordination, 00:06:57.120 --> 00:07:00.000 rapid redeployment while under fire. And they 00:07:00.000 --> 00:07:02.160 had a mortar platoon, reconnaissance scouts, 00:07:02.300 --> 00:07:05.620 signals, engineers. Later in 1943, they even 00:07:05.620 --> 00:07:08.540 added a transport platoon. This was a totally 00:07:08.540 --> 00:07:10.699 self -sufficient fighting force. Exactly. They 00:07:10.699 --> 00:07:12.779 weren't designed to sit in the rear and knit 00:07:12.779 --> 00:07:15.699 socks. If you hand a unit anti -tank rifles and 00:07:15.699 --> 00:07:18.879 heavy mortars, certainly the expectation of the 00:07:18.879 --> 00:07:20.540 women who volunteered is that they are going 00:07:20.540 --> 00:07:22.600 to be facing tanks. Right. They were ready to 00:07:22.600 --> 00:07:24.980 storm the front lines. They trained heavily for 00:07:24.980 --> 00:07:28.220 assault tactics. But they didn't. And this is 00:07:28.220 --> 00:07:30.339 the part of the story where the reality crashes 00:07:30.339 --> 00:07:33.180 into the expectation. What happened when they 00:07:33.180 --> 00:07:35.519 actually got closer to the front? They hit a 00:07:35.519 --> 00:07:38.540 totally different kind of wall, the glass ceiling 00:07:38.540 --> 00:07:41.360 of the Eastern Front, if you will. Right. Despite 00:07:41.360 --> 00:07:43.920 the intense training, despite having all this 00:07:43.920 --> 00:07:47.920 heavy weaponry, the Platoroki were largely held 00:07:47.920 --> 00:07:51.759 back from direct offensive combat. Why? I mean, 00:07:51.779 --> 00:07:53.779 was it a performance issue? Did they fail their 00:07:53.779 --> 00:07:55.829 readiness checks or something? According to the 00:07:55.829 --> 00:07:57.750 sources, there were some reports of training 00:07:57.750 --> 00:07:59.990 difficulties, specifically regarding physical 00:07:59.990 --> 00:08:02.569 stamina with the absolute heaviest equipment, 00:08:02.829 --> 00:08:05.029 which, to be fair, is a standard challenge in 00:08:05.029 --> 00:08:07.709 literally any unit formed in a hurry. Sure. But 00:08:07.709 --> 00:08:10.490 the primary driver seems to have been a command 00:08:10.490 --> 00:08:13.370 level reluctance. The male general simply did 00:08:13.370 --> 00:08:15.709 not want to be responsible for, and I quote, 00:08:15.850 --> 00:08:20.170 large scale female combat losses. It's that paternalistic 00:08:20.170 --> 00:08:22.519 protection instinct again. It is, and we really 00:08:22.519 --> 00:08:25.279 have to look at it critically. Was it benevolent? 00:08:25.279 --> 00:08:28.160 Maybe, in their own minds. But it also completely 00:08:28.160 --> 00:08:31.379 undermined the very purpose of the unit. Imagine 00:08:31.379 --> 00:08:35.039 being those women. You survived the gulag. You 00:08:35.039 --> 00:08:37.279 mastered the 82 -millimeter mortar. You marched 00:08:37.279 --> 00:08:39.659 hundreds of miles. You were totally ready to 00:08:39.659 --> 00:08:41.899 fight for your homeland. And then you're told, 00:08:42.000 --> 00:08:43.740 actually, just stand guard over these trucks. 00:08:44.039 --> 00:08:46.799 It must have been so infuriating. It just invalidates 00:08:46.799 --> 00:08:49.419 all that training. So instead of storming the 00:08:49.419 --> 00:08:51.659 beaches or the trenches like they were built 00:08:51.659 --> 00:08:54.159 to do, what were they actually doing day to day? 00:08:54.539 --> 00:08:57.840 They were pivoted to sentry duty, high level 00:08:57.840 --> 00:09:01.059 military police work and guarding strategic points 00:09:01.059 --> 00:09:04.000 like bridges or command centers. OK. They also 00:09:04.000 --> 00:09:06.039 took over a lot of the training for other units. 00:09:06.100 --> 00:09:08.639 So you had these highly expert female soldiers 00:09:08.639 --> 00:09:11.500 teaching raw recruits how to fight, but rarely 00:09:11.500 --> 00:09:13.399 getting the green light to do it themselves in 00:09:13.399 --> 00:09:15.720 a mass formation. However, I want to add some 00:09:15.720 --> 00:09:17.860 nuance here because the sources point out that 00:09:17.860 --> 00:09:20.340 being held back doesn't mean they were safe and 00:09:20.340 --> 00:09:22.759 doesn't mean they saw zero action. Correct. The 00:09:22.759 --> 00:09:25.759 battalion as a singular maneuvering entity wasn't 00:09:25.759 --> 00:09:28.360 thrown into human wave attacks, but individual 00:09:28.360 --> 00:09:30.940 elements were highly active. We know from the 00:09:30.940 --> 00:09:33.019 records that many of the female officers who 00:09:33.019 --> 00:09:35.179 were trained in the Platorauki were actually 00:09:35.179 --> 00:09:37.700 transferred out to command all male platoons 00:09:37.700 --> 00:09:40.200 in other Polish divisions. That's a detail that 00:09:40.200 --> 00:09:42.059 really jumped out at me from the reading. Yeah. 00:09:42.100 --> 00:09:44.019 So you have a male infantry platoon right on 00:09:44.019 --> 00:09:46.179 the front line and their commanding lieutenant 00:09:46.179 --> 00:09:49.080 is a woman from the Platorauki. Yes. And I think 00:09:49.080 --> 00:09:50.980 that proves that competency wasn't the issue 00:09:50.980 --> 00:09:54.460 at all. If you trust a woman to lead 30 men into 00:09:54.460 --> 00:09:57.620 machine gun fire, you clearly respect her tactical 00:09:57.620 --> 00:09:59.840 abilities. Absolutely. It was the image of a 00:09:59.840 --> 00:10:03.059 whole battalion of women dying en masse that 00:10:03.059 --> 00:10:05.399 the high command couldn't stomach. It was about 00:10:05.399 --> 00:10:08.480 optics much more than capability. And yet looking 00:10:08.480 --> 00:10:10.820 at the casualty numbers we have, the idea that 00:10:10.820 --> 00:10:13.179 they were somehow protected feels a bit like 00:10:13.179 --> 00:10:15.799 an illusion. Let's look at the cost of war section 00:10:15.799 --> 00:10:18.580 of our notes here. It is a really stark reality 00:10:18.580 --> 00:10:23.539 check. The war ended in May 1945. By that time, 00:10:23.620 --> 00:10:26.460 the unit had about 500 members left out of the 00:10:26.460 --> 00:10:29.860 original roughly 690. The official records indicate 00:10:29.860 --> 00:10:32.299 that around 70 women from the unit were killed 00:10:32.299 --> 00:10:35.240 in service. That's over a 10 % casualty rate 00:10:35.240 --> 00:10:37.759 from their initial strength. Exactly. In any 00:10:37.759 --> 00:10:40.659 modern military context, a 10 % casualty rate 00:10:40.659 --> 00:10:43.259 is highly significant. So when we say they were 00:10:43.259 --> 00:10:45.899 relegated to the rear echelon, we have to remember 00:10:45.899 --> 00:10:48.259 that on the eastern front, the rear was very 00:10:48.259 --> 00:10:51.580 fluid. fluid and dangerous concept. Right. Artillery 00:10:51.580 --> 00:10:53.720 doesn't care if you're an MP or a stormtrooper. 00:10:53.779 --> 00:10:56.720 Exactly. Air raids don't discriminate. Saboteurs 00:10:56.720 --> 00:10:58.899 were everywhere. There really was no safe zone. 00:10:59.059 --> 00:11:01.799 And honestly, nothing illustrates that danger 00:11:01.799 --> 00:11:04.980 or the sheer heroism of these women better than 00:11:04.980 --> 00:11:08.200 the story of Aniela Cruziwo. Aniela Cruziwo. 00:11:08.580 --> 00:11:10.779 If there is one name you take away from this 00:11:10.779 --> 00:11:13.940 deep dive... It is hers. She is the most decorated 00:11:13.940 --> 00:11:17.120 member of the entire unit. She holds a very specific, 00:11:17.220 --> 00:11:19.080 incredible distinction in the history books. 00:11:19.320 --> 00:11:21.779 She's the only woman in history who was not a 00:11:21.779 --> 00:11:24.399 Soviet citizen to be awarded the gold star of 00:11:24.399 --> 00:11:26.919 the hero of the Soviet Union. For context for 00:11:26.919 --> 00:11:28.799 you listening, that is the Soviet equivalent 00:11:28.799 --> 00:11:30.860 of the Medal of Honor or the Victoria Cross. 00:11:31.100 --> 00:11:33.539 It is the highest possible military distinction. 00:11:33.919 --> 00:11:36.440 And she was a Polish private. Walk us through 00:11:36.440 --> 00:11:38.970 what actually happened. It happened in October 00:11:38.970 --> 00:11:42.450 1943 during the Battle of Lenino. This was really 00:11:42.450 --> 00:11:45.649 the unit's baptism by fire. The Luftwaffe was 00:11:45.649 --> 00:11:48.409 absolutely hammering the Polish positions. It 00:11:48.409 --> 00:11:51.409 was total chaos. Stuka's diving, bombs everywhere, 00:11:51.710 --> 00:11:54.730 the ground is shaking. Complete carnage. Anila 00:11:54.730 --> 00:11:56.669 was assigned to a truck that was transporting 00:11:56.669 --> 00:11:59.470 critical military documents, maps, operational 00:11:59.470 --> 00:12:02.370 orders, encryption keys. The truck was hit by 00:12:02.370 --> 00:12:05.230 a bomb and immediately burst into flames. Now, 00:12:05.250 --> 00:12:07.429 the instinct for any human being when a truck 00:12:07.429 --> 00:12:10.049 full of gasoline explodes is to run the exact 00:12:10.049 --> 00:12:12.970 opposite direction. Precisely. Basic survival 00:12:12.970 --> 00:12:16.029 instinct kicks in. But Anila ran into the fire. 00:12:16.210 --> 00:12:18.429 Wow. She understood that if those documents were 00:12:18.429 --> 00:12:21.289 lost or burned, it could blind the entire division. 00:12:23.690 --> 00:12:25.730 victory, and defeat for thousands of soldiers. 00:12:26.210 --> 00:12:28.250 She wasn't fighting with a gun in that moment. 00:12:28.309 --> 00:12:30.409 She was fighting the fire itself just to save 00:12:30.409 --> 00:12:33.190 intelligence. And she didn't make it. No. She 00:12:33.190 --> 00:12:36.289 died from the burns. But she managed to save 00:12:36.289 --> 00:12:39.110 the documents. It's such a powerful redefinition 00:12:39.110 --> 00:12:42.190 of what a combat hero is. We usually glorify 00:12:42.190 --> 00:12:44.570 the sniper or the ace pilot, the people who take 00:12:44.570 --> 00:12:47.509 lives. But running into a burning vehicle to 00:12:47.509 --> 00:12:50.220 save a map... That takes a level of discipline 00:12:50.220 --> 00:12:52.940 and selflessness that is hard to even comprehend. 00:12:53.259 --> 00:12:56.360 It connects right back to that intense idea of 00:12:56.360 --> 00:12:58.720 duty these women had. They weren't just there 00:12:58.720 --> 00:13:01.120 to pose for propaganda photos or prove a point. 00:13:01.220 --> 00:13:03.379 They were fully committed to the war effort, 00:13:03.559 --> 00:13:06.059 even if it meant making the ultimate sacrifice 00:13:06.059 --> 00:13:08.759 in a burning truck. So we move forward to 1945. 00:13:09.500 --> 00:13:13.000 Berlin falls. The war ends. Usually this is where 00:13:13.000 --> 00:13:14.840 the movie fades to black, right? The soldiers 00:13:14.840 --> 00:13:16.940 go home. They get married. They fade back into 00:13:16.940 --> 00:13:19.110 civilian life. But the Platoraki did something 00:13:19.110 --> 00:13:21.309 very different. They did. And this is honestly 00:13:21.309 --> 00:13:23.450 one of my favorite parts of the deep dive because 00:13:23.450 --> 00:13:26.909 it is so unusual in military history. Following 00:13:26.909 --> 00:13:29.529 the war, Poland's borders were shifting drastically 00:13:29.529 --> 00:13:32.029 to the west, taking over land that was formerly 00:13:32.029 --> 00:13:34.769 German. Right. It was an incredibly chaotic time 00:13:34.769 --> 00:13:37.169 of resettlement. The wild west of Eastern Europe, 00:13:37.230 --> 00:13:39.850 essentially. Just people moving everywhere. Exactly. 00:13:39.929 --> 00:13:43.210 And a group of about 130 of the Platoraki veterans, 00:13:43.389 --> 00:13:45.570 women who had served together, bled together, 00:13:45.870 --> 00:13:48.690 marched together. They decided they just weren't 00:13:48.690 --> 00:13:51.570 ready to split up. They moved as a cohesive group 00:13:51.570 --> 00:13:54.350 to a village in Lower Silesia, which was formerly 00:13:54.350 --> 00:13:56.809 known as Nieder Lind. And they planted a flag. 00:13:57.320 --> 00:13:59.960 They did. They officially renamed the municipality 00:13:59.960 --> 00:14:03.139 Plata Roca. I love that. A whole town named after 00:14:03.139 --> 00:14:05.860 their unit run by the veterans themselves. And 00:14:05.860 --> 00:14:08.539 it wasn't just a symbolic name. They became the 00:14:08.539 --> 00:14:11.159 civic leaders of the town. They took up roles 00:14:11.159 --> 00:14:13.980 in administration. They rebuilt the farms. They 00:14:13.980 --> 00:14:16.500 established the schools. Wow. They transitioned 00:14:16.500 --> 00:14:20.519 seamlessly from a military sisterhood to a Simic 00:14:20.519 --> 00:14:23.139 sisterhood. It really challenges the traditional 00:14:23.139 --> 00:14:26.600 narrative that veterans always struggle to reintegrate. 00:14:26.639 --> 00:14:29.379 These women built their own integration. It sounds 00:14:29.379 --> 00:14:31.659 like a happy ending, a sort of Wonder Woman Island 00:14:31.659 --> 00:14:34.779 in post -war Poland built purely on camaraderie. 00:14:34.980 --> 00:14:38.000 But we have to fast forward again because history 00:14:38.000 --> 00:14:40.840 isn't always kind and memory can be weaponized. 00:14:41.279 --> 00:14:43.480 Yeah, we have to jump to the 1990s. The Iron 00:14:43.480 --> 00:14:45.860 Curtain has fallen. Poland is free, which is 00:14:45.860 --> 00:14:49.159 obviously good. But with that freedom came a 00:14:49.159 --> 00:14:52.120 wave of historical revisionism. Right. Some of 00:14:52.120 --> 00:14:54.799 it was necessary to correct old Soviet propaganda, 00:14:55.039 --> 00:14:57.779 but some of it was just sensationalist and frankly 00:14:57.779 --> 00:14:59.840 ugly. We're talking about the allegations made 00:14:59.840 --> 00:15:02.519 by Henrik Piekacz. Right. Piekacz was a journalist 00:15:02.519 --> 00:15:05.039 who published a series of books on secret history. 00:15:05.259 --> 00:15:08.299 And in one of them, he made a shocking and disgusting 00:15:08.299 --> 00:15:11.759 claim about the Plata Rauki. He didn't just question 00:15:11.759 --> 00:15:14.360 their combat record. No. He alleged that the 00:15:14.360 --> 00:15:17.259 Amelia Plater Independent Women's Battalion was 00:15:17.259 --> 00:15:20.259 not a combat unit at all. He stated they were 00:15:20.259 --> 00:15:22.940 organized solely to provide sexual services to 00:15:22.940 --> 00:15:25.299 male officers of the Polish and Soviet armies. 00:15:25.600 --> 00:15:28.279 He essentially claimed they were a mobile brothel. 00:15:28.360 --> 00:15:30.340 It makes my blood boil just reading about it 00:15:30.340 --> 00:15:32.179 in the sources. You have women who survived the 00:15:32.179 --> 00:15:35.279 gulags, women who trained on heavy anti -tank 00:15:35.279 --> 00:15:37.960 guns, women like Aniela who burned to death saving 00:15:37.960 --> 00:15:41.049 maps. And 50 years later. This guy reduces them 00:15:41.049 --> 00:15:44.490 to objects. It's a classic trope. It's used over 00:15:44.490 --> 00:15:47.610 and over to delegitimize women in power or in 00:15:47.610 --> 00:15:50.450 male -dominated spaces. If a woman is in the 00:15:50.450 --> 00:15:54.029 army, the lazy, cynical assumption is her value 00:15:54.029 --> 00:15:57.090 must be sexual. It completely strips them of 00:15:57.090 --> 00:15:59.950 their agency and their proven heroism. But he 00:15:59.950 --> 00:16:01.610 forgot who he was dealing with. These were the 00:16:01.610 --> 00:16:04.500 Plateralki. Exactly. These were women who had 00:16:04.500 --> 00:16:07.600 faced down the NKVD, the Nazis, and the harsh 00:16:07.600 --> 00:16:10.659 realities of post -war resettlement. They certainly 00:16:10.659 --> 00:16:12.200 weren't going to be scared of a journalist looking 00:16:12.200 --> 00:16:14.399 for a book deal. So they didn't just write an 00:16:14.399 --> 00:16:17.059 angry letter to the editor? No. They sued him. 00:16:17.200 --> 00:16:19.320 Good for them. They sued him for slander. And 00:16:19.320 --> 00:16:21.460 keep in mind, these women were in their 70s and 00:16:21.460 --> 00:16:24.370 80s by this point. But... They put on their medals, 00:16:24.610 --> 00:16:27.090 they went to court, and they fought one last 00:16:27.090 --> 00:16:29.029 battle for their honor. And the outcome? They 00:16:29.029 --> 00:16:31.909 won. The court ruled in their favor and forced 00:16:31.909 --> 00:16:34.830 a formal retraction. It was a decisive legal 00:16:34.830 --> 00:16:37.409 victory that cemented the historical truth once 00:16:37.409 --> 00:16:40.750 and for all. They were soldiers, period. It's 00:16:40.750 --> 00:16:43.210 such a satisfying conclusion, but also a stark 00:16:43.210 --> 00:16:46.309 reminder that the fight doesn't always end when 00:16:46.309 --> 00:16:48.879 the peace treaty is signed. Absolutely. Their 00:16:48.879 --> 00:16:52.120 legacy is defined by that exact resilience. They 00:16:52.120 --> 00:16:54.740 fought to survive the deportation camps. They 00:16:54.740 --> 00:16:56.919 fought the Soviet brass for the right to hold 00:16:56.919 --> 00:16:59.080 weapons. They fought the protective instincts 00:16:59.080 --> 00:17:01.860 of their own commanders just to be useful. And 00:17:01.860 --> 00:17:04.119 finally, they fought the slanderers to protect 00:17:04.119 --> 00:17:06.539 their history. It really makes you look at the 00:17:06.539 --> 00:17:08.779 official history books with a bit more skepticism. 00:17:09.079 --> 00:17:12.400 How many other units like this existed? Or rather, 00:17:12.440 --> 00:17:15.009 how many almost existed? That's the lingering 00:17:15.009 --> 00:17:17.250 question. We know about the Plata Rocky because 00:17:17.250 --> 00:17:18.890 they stayed together and they fought back. But 00:17:18.890 --> 00:17:20.730 it makes you wonder about the broader impact 00:17:20.730 --> 00:17:23.410 of gender bias on the Eastern Front. What do 00:17:23.410 --> 00:17:25.289 you mean by that? Well, think about the tactical 00:17:25.289 --> 00:17:28.430 what if. We know there were severe manpower shortages 00:17:28.430 --> 00:17:31.410 for the Allies at various points, yet here was 00:17:31.410 --> 00:17:34.430 a battalion nearly 700 troops fully trained with 00:17:34.430 --> 00:17:37.529 mortars and anti -tank guns, often just sitting 00:17:37.529 --> 00:17:40.309 in reserve or checking IDs because commanders 00:17:40.309 --> 00:17:42.910 were afraid of the optics of female casualties. 00:17:43.349 --> 00:17:46.690 It's a massive tactical inefficiency born entirely 00:17:46.690 --> 00:17:49.069 out of bias. You have a weapon you just refuse 00:17:49.069 --> 00:17:52.420 to use. Exactly. If those units had been deployed 00:17:52.420 --> 00:17:55.519 as intended, as true shock troops, would they 00:17:55.519 --> 00:17:57.460 have taken a critical hill? Would they have stopped 00:17:57.460 --> 00:17:59.400 a German breakthrough? We'll never know. Yeah. 00:17:59.539 --> 00:18:03.119 But it forces us to ask, how many other support 00:18:03.119 --> 00:18:05.920 units in World War II were actually combat -ready 00:18:05.920 --> 00:18:08.759 forces waiting for a green light that never came 00:18:08.759 --> 00:18:11.420 simply because of who they were rather than what 00:18:11.420 --> 00:18:13.900 they could do? That is a heavy thought to leave 00:18:13.900 --> 00:18:17.279 you on. A fully armed battalion waiting in the 00:18:17.279 --> 00:18:20.400 wings while the war raged on. A story of warriors, 00:18:20.660 --> 00:18:23.359 builders, and survivors who simply refused to 00:18:23.359 --> 00:18:25.759 be forgotten. That's all the time we have for 00:18:25.759 --> 00:18:27.839 this deep dive into the Plata Rauki. Thanks for 00:18:27.839 --> 00:18:29.359 listening, and we'll catch you on the next one. 00:18:29.400 --> 00:18:29.880 Stay curious.