the formation of the corps was announced by foreign secretary ernest bevin on 22 may 1946 and it began recruiting in september 1946. about 160,000 people were eligible to join, the majority of them (110,000) veterans of the middle east campaigns, many of whom were members of the polish ii corps. of these, 22,000 were former prisoners of war. these figures also included 4,000 members of the polish navy, 12,000 members of the polish air force, and 1,000 polish members of the women's auxiliary air force (waaf). the corps had a separate air wing for the air force personnel, run by the royal air force. eventually 115,000 polish personnel would join the prc programmes. the corps had its headquarters in witley and was commanded by brigadier william bain thomas and the polish major-general stanislaw kopanski.