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The Free Polish Pilots
In May, 1939, agreement of mutual assistance was signed between Great Britain and Poland. That only infuriated Hitler. And so, on the first of September, very early morning, when the sun was still under horizon and frogs croaked in bull-rushes, the Second Great World War began.
Poland was defeated in three weeks. In the spring of 1940, France - an Ally of Poland and England as well as the biggest military force at that time - was defeated in four weeks. The Polish Army and Air Force, reorganized in France from September remnants and volunteers, was evacuated to Britain, together with whatever left from British Expeditionary Force. The new Polish Army and Air Force began to organize all over again. The land army, though under British Supreme Command, internally remained under Polish command, but the Air Force, became the integral part of RAF -"rock, stock and barrel". We wore the British uniforms, ranks insignia, saluted the British and each other, the British way. If one saw a man in royal blue ahead of him, he didn’t know to what nationality he belonged.
The British RAF authorities, including the "big chief", Lord Dowding, were skeptical as to the abilities of Poles , flying modern machines, in spite of the fact, that many Poles already flew the French Morans and others, which were not inferior to Hurricanes or first models of Spitfire. But when, during the training flight, the Po1es shot down three or four Messerschmits, the opinion as to their abilities, somewhat changed.
That was early summer of 1940 in France, but in England the relatively action-mild spring, turned to hot summer. And sometime in July, volens nolens, the Battle of Britain began. September l5th, the Germans reached their day of no return. Poles in number of 139 took part in that struggle and shot down 203 enemy planes, thus contributed well to Churchill’s famous: Never in the field of human conflict, was so much owed by so many, to so few." But political amity between England and Po1and, soon changed. In June 1941, the bosom friends, Hitler and Stalin, were at their throats. Thus, more per forza than per amore, England got herself more powerful Ally. The problem was, that this new friend of England, was not only deadly enemy of Poland, but also had his eyes on her property.
The whole world took a deep breath, as Hitler said, but Eng1and bean to breath easier; the whole fury of nazism as promised in " Mein Kampf", turned it’s eyes towards the East. From now on, the two words "Eastern Front", will dominate the political scene until the end of the war. In December 1941, Japan attacked USA, and Germany declared war on USA - so much better for England, one Ally more. But the main action of USA was on the Pacific Ocean, but in defense of England, it contributed The F1ying Army. From then on, until the Invasion in June 1944, RAF and US Air Force, will be the only forces on the "Western Front". As the war drugged on, it became clearly evident, that the Easter Front was going to decide the fate of Europe - Stalin knew it, Churchill knew it and Roosevelt knew it; and they all knew, that unless England and USA open the "Second Front", as Stalin constantly demanded, somebody will have to pay him for his effort of saving the capitalists fro total annihilation.
There is nothing more rewarding, than nice piece of real estate. Since Stalin’s requests for the Second Front, kept on falling on the deaf ears of his Western Allies, he knew that Churchill and Roosevelt will be less obstinate in compensating him with piece of Poland. In December 1945, the grand trio - Churchill, Roosevelt and Sta1in - met in Tehran for the first time. It was there, when Stalin put the map of Europe on table and with sharp red pencil, delineated the new borders between USSR and Poland after the war.
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From this day till the ending of the world we in it shall be remembered ,we Band Of Brothers Henry V-W.Shakespear
Eendracht maakt Macht !
GO Belgium
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5/3/2004, 11:20 am
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Sgt Eagle
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Re: The Free Polish Pilots
continuation:
-------------
In May, 1939, agreement of mutual assistance was signed between Great Britain and Poland. That only infuriated Hitler. And so, on the first of September, very early morning, when the sun was still under horizon and frogs croaked in bull-rushes, the Second Great World War began.
Poland was defeated in three weeks. In the spring of 1940, France - an Ally of Poland and England as well as the biggest military force at that time - was defeated in four weeks. The Polish Army and Air Force, reorganized in France from September remnants and volunteers, was evacuated to Britain, together with whatever left from British Expeditionary Force. The new Polish Army and Air Force began to organize all over again. The land army, though under British Supreme Command, internally remained under Polish command, but the Air Force, became the integral part of RAF -"rock, stock and barrel". We wore the British uniforms, ranks insignia, saluted the British and each other, the British way. If one saw a man in royal blue ahead of him, he didn’t know to what nationality he belonged.
The British RAF authorities, including the "big chief", Lord Dowding, were skeptical as to the abilities of Poles , flying modern machines, in spite of the fact, that many Poles already flew the French Morans and others, which were not inferior to Hurricanes or first models of Spitfire. But when, during the training flight, the Po1es shot down three or four Messerschmits, the opinion as to their abilities, somewhat changed.
That was early summer of 1940 in France, but in England the relatively action-mild spring, turned to hot summer. And sometime in July, volens nolens, the Battle of Britain began. September l5th, the Germans reached their day of no return. Poles in number of 139 took part in that struggle and shot down 203 enemy planes, thus contributed well to Churchill’s famous: Never in the field of human conflict, was so much owed by so many, to so few." But political amity between England and Po1and, soon changed. In June 1941, the bosom friends, Hitler and Stalin, were at their throats. Thus, more per forza than per amore, England got herself more powerful Ally. The problem was, that this new friend of England, was not only deadly enemy of Poland, but also had his eyes on her property.
The whole world took a deep breath, as Hitler said, but Eng1and bean to breath easier; the whole fury of nazism as promised in " Mein Kampf", turned it’s eyes towards the East. From now on, the two words "Eastern Front", will dominate the political scene until the end of the war. In December 1941, Japan attacked USA, and Germany declared war on USA - so much better for England, one Ally more. But the main action of USA was on the Pacific Ocean, but in defense of England, it contributed The F1ying Army. From then on, until the Invasion in June 1944, RAF and US Air Force, will be the only forces on the "Western Front". As the war drugged on, it became clearly evident, that the Easter Front was going to decide the fate of Europe - Stalin knew it, Churchill knew it and Roosevelt knew it; and they all knew, that unless England and USA open the "Second Front", as Stalin constantly demanded, somebody will have to pay him for his effort of saving the capitalists fro total annihilation.
There is nothing more rewarding, than nice piece of real estate. Since Stalin’s requests for the Second Front, kept on falling on the deaf ears of his Western Allies, he knew that Churchill and Roosevelt will be less obstinate in compensating him with piece of Poland. In December 1945, the grand trio - Churchill, Roosevelt and Sta1in - met in Tehran for the first time. It was there, when Stalin put the map of Europe on table and with sharp red pencil, delineated the new borders between USSR and Poland after the war. Battles at Stalingrad and at Kurks on the Eastern Front broke the backbone of the German armies. Slow, deadly, Napoleonic retreat of the German armies began. And as the Red Army mowed West, Stalin’s appetite increased. One conference after another, each time his demands were "reluctantly" approved by Churchill and seconded by Roosevelt. Half of Poland was already granted to him, but to get to Berlin he had to swallow the rest of Poland. Oh, yes! Of course! Poland was going to be "sovereign, independent and absolutely democratic", but somewhat tinted red, to Stalin’s vision of all democracies.
On January 17, 1945, the Red Army "liberated" Warsaw. Two days later, pro-communist government established by Stalin, assumed control over "free" Poland. On February 15, the last Allies Conference in Yalta took place. Stalin achieved all he wanted, and perhaps, to appease the guilty conscience" of his partners in connection with Poland, relented to let the communist government of Poland play democracy "the British sty1e" until its boys, the last Polish soldiers, airmen and sailors in West return home.
On July 5th, Great Britain and USA recognized the communist regime in Poland. Unless you are one of those who were there, you will never know what it means to be suddenly in the limbo - nobody wants you, and you have nowhere to go. Nevertheless, we were not fooled. Many of us had experience in the "Siberian democracy". Yet for various reasons, many of us chose to return.
It must be said, that Great Britain, hosting so many thousands if not millions of people of different nationalities for five years - though knowing the reasons why they were there, and tolerating their foreign peculiarities - was really glad to see them off goodbye. All the pent-up animosities and prejudices accumulated through the wartime, just waited to be vent on something or somebody. The country was short practically of everything, from food and fuel to.... ladies underwear. And here, the thousands of "gallant" soldiers; whose country was "free, independent and democratic", decided to stay here. Only a few Britons knew and understood why these "bloody foreigners" didn’t want to go home. The rest of the public, just simply wouldn’t care.
It also must be said, that the above fact caused a great dilemma for the British Government. It tried and mostly succeeded in finding work and homes for those who decided to stay in England. It also paid for the bonvoyage for those who decided to emigrate. But before the administrative machinery of such huge venture went into action, as never before, we had a chance to find and see the other side of the civilized British society. And only those who lived in the British colonies were not taken aback by hue and cry: "Polacks go home! We don’t want you here!"
Even in the best of times, during the war comradeship, we who flew in British squadrons, always felt as being on the other side of the invisible barrier; them and us. No doubt that the superior British upper lip, has it’s "good points", and can be quite attractive on occasional, social encounters, but unless it’s subdued and under control, it betrays the ugliest trait of character. After such encounter, no Briton is quite the same.
...
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From this day till the ending of the world we in it shall be remembered ,we Band Of Brothers Henry V-W.Shakespear
Eendracht maakt Macht !
GO Belgium
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5/3/2004, 11:23 am
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Sgt Eagle
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Re: The Free Polish Pilots
Continuation
------------
Until this day, the writer of this essay has hundreds of newspapers cutouts, depicting the ferocity of those very unpleasant days. And no matter how well he tries to rationalize those events, the image of the British society, was tarnished once and for all. It was then that we understood, what it meant to be some dark skin colonial.
And it was in such circumstances and atmosphere, when in May, as I recall, some of us heard and red in papers, of the forthcoming Victory Parade. Quite frankly, we accepted it with a proverbial "shrug of shoulders" - THEY will not invite US anyway. Hadn’t we fought for that victory? We wanted to go but the invitation was not forthcoming. And then, a week or so later, a slap in the face - only the pilots who took part in the Battle of Britain were to be invited. Stunned? No. Surprised? Not quite, for almost a year now, we went through "Polacks this, Polacks that ". Despite all this disappointments, incredibility, and all that, some of us felt, that there was some kind of reason for British acting in so "un-gentlemanly" way. Though by then, every Englishman was a S.O.B. in our eyes, some still looked for bright sides. Those invited refused the invitation and stated without hesitation: contingents representing each service or none at all. And so, none it was.
A bit of time lapsed, before the reasons came out to surface. Since Great Britain already recognized new Polish government in Poland, and thousands of Polish servicemen, legally Polish citizens, were still in England, it would be diplomatically correct, to invite a contingent of each service from Poland, and together, in fraternal unisons with the "local" soldiers, take part in Victory Parade in London.
At the time, we couldn’t get over the fact, that the British Government, dealing with Stalin for several years, were so naive as to think that the so called "Polish government totally subservient to USSR, would sent it’s contingents, to join their compatriots in England. We hated the communists, especially the Polish ones, and would rather vegetate abroad, than to return home and be dominated by them. Later on, we heard some rumors, that apparently, the Polish authorities were ready to sent a contingent of men, but at last moment, received a "message" from Moscow: " What’s going to happen, if your soldiers get captivate by fascists in England and never return?" That did it. As I said, it was probably just a spiteful gossip, but there is a kernel of truth.
We speculated a lot concerning the above, but in the end came conclusion, that British were not naive at all, they new exactly what they were doing; running so vast an empire, has taught them a lesson or two. What we thought might have been diplomatically correct, proved to be diplomatically expedient. To put it bluntly: if you don’t want to come here, and you who are here don’t want to go there, the hell with you all.
As I am leafing through the yellowing pages of the London News Magazine, and looking at the sepia photos of the marching columns of the Allies servicemen, it’s the illustrious ones, watching the parade and taking all the salutes that draw my attention; the Royal Couple on the saluting base and Winston Churchill, sitting below.
As I recall, they were the most frequent and important visitors of our squadrons during the war. Were they aware of the fact that the first and loyal friend was not represented among the victorious Allies? For if they were, and I am sure they were, what were they thinking? To what degree were they responsible for that fact? If the Royal Couple felt guilty, they could not do much about it. Undeniable master of this parade was Winston Churchill, who pulled all the strings. True, he was out of the office at the time, but he carried such a prestige on his shoulders that one word from him could have changed the decision of the Parade Commissioners. If the communist Poland does not want to send its contingent to London, to take its part in the Parade, let those soldiers who are still in England to march side by side, as they fought side by side, with British soldiers. But that was not to be so. Churchill knew perfectly well, that the Communist Government in Warsaw was just bunch of Kremlin’s stooges, the government he helped to create, and the real master of Poland was "uncle Joe". Perhaps it was in interest of England not to irritate, the new master of the half of the Europe, but Churchill’s whole political carrier was to take decisions against the established scheme of the things. Surely, one more irritation of Stalin would not hurt either of them.
We all know, that in political games, when one of the partners becomes just a marginal affair, it’s the personal relations with that partner that decides the further course of events. The well-known fact is, that Churchill didn’t like Poles. Some parts of his Story of the Second World War (Six volumes!), as well as his friend Sir Alexander Cadogan’s diary of 1938-1945, reek – to put it gently – with negatives about Poles. Perhaps it was caused by their relations with some of the members of the Polish Government in Exile in London? Some of its members were sincerely disliked by the Poles themselves, who saw them as a clique of nationalists, with the hunchbacks full of animosities from way back, constantly bickering among themselves and everybody else. Churchill and Cadogan could have been influenced by this fact. Perhaps the spoon of Polish tar spoiled the political honeymoon with the first of England’s Allies.
Not so far from London, there was RAF Northolt, where during the Battle of Britain Poles used to take off to defend the British skies. It was there, that long after the war, Polish airmen themselves, not the grateful Great Britain, erected the monument for those who never returned. It carries an epitaph:
We gave our souls to God, Our hearts to Poland, Our bodies to the British soil.
That about tells the whole story, why those who remained after the war, and those who are still alive, were never invited to Victory Parade. Time gradually heals all the scars, but memories stay forever.
Rudolf Falkowski.
Sgt Eagle with thanks to the author Mr Falkowski .
Visit his Website : The Polish squadrons remembered
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From this day till the ending of the world we in it shall be remembered ,we Band Of Brothers Henry V-W.Shakespear
Eendracht maakt Macht !
GO Belgium
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5/3/2004, 11:29 am
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Sgt Eagle
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Re: The Free Polish Pilots
To Oblige our friendshiply reach out to our Polish Friends we insist that all visitors visit following link :
THE POLISH SQUADRONS REMEMBERED
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From this day till the ending of the world we in it shall be remembered ,we Band Of Brothers Henry V-W.Shakespear
Eendracht maakt Macht !
GO Belgium
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5/3/2004, 11:38 am
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blacksheepone
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Squadron Leader Stanislaw Skalski
SKALSKI : BLOOD, SWEAT AND TEARS....
S/Ldr Skalski was a exceptionnal leader and fighter pilot. He was a carefull pilot. He never did anything without thought but was yet very agressive during engagements with the enemy.
"He teached me to evaluate what was going on around me in the sky. I was as if he knew exactly and at all times what was happening around us. He must have had a exceptionnal eyesight too" : That's how W.M. Matheson one of the pilots of 601 Sqn "County Of London" remembers Stanislaw Skalski......
He was born in 1915 at Kodyma and went to military school at Deblin in 1936 and became an officer in august 1938. He then got mutation for "142 Eskadra" at Torun. During the 1939 campaign he became the only one to obtain suffisant score ( 5 of which 1 in cooperation) to become an ace.
Getting away trough Romania and the Mediteranian he arrives in France at the beginning of 1940. He volunteered to go to England.
He flew with the 501 Sqn during the "Battle of Britain" then got mutated to the 306 Sqn before becoming the Commanding Officer of the 317 Sqn.
Joining the "Polish Fighting Team"(*) he would later become the C/O of the 601 Sqn of the RAF before returning to England where he was put in charge of the 133 Wing for D-Day.
He ends his operational tour in september 1944 and was at the Command and General Staff School in the United States.
After allied victory he was offered a important post in the RAF but prefered to return to Poland in spite of the fact that it was now under control of the Soviet Union.
At the beginning he served in the Soviet controled Polish Air-Force. However since the "Cold War" was growing he got arrested and accused of espionnage in profit of the "Anglo-American Imperialists"...... This was something that happened to many of the Polish Pilots that fought in the RAF or USAF during WW II.
Skalski was submitted to a horrific inquiry that had nothing to envie in cruelty to those of the Gestapo or N.K.V.D.(**). Surviving the horrible treatment he got sentenced to death on the same absurd acusations.
Finally in an act of "leaniency" the communists changed his sentence into life imprisonnement.
After Stalins death, in 1953 the situation started evolving in Poland and he was released in 1956 after 8 years spent in prison.
A post in the Polish Air-Force was quite rapidly offered to him which he accepted after some hesitation.
He afterwards saw his chance to fly with jet-engine Mig fighters.
He maintained a high-rank post in the Polish Air-Force ( he reached the rank of General-Brigady) untill 1970 when he became president of a Polish Aero-Club.
He still lives in Warsaw nowadays....
(*)The Polish Fighting Team was formed on February 5, 1943 in the Polish fighter base at Northolt, and after crossing the Mediterranean by ship and some further travel, arrived at Bu Gara airfield, 150 miles west of Tripoli, on March 13. The pilots were attached to No. 145 RAF Squadron as the 'C' flight, and equipped with six Spitfires Mk. V. The Team achieved operational readiness on March 17, but it wasn't till March 28 that Polish pilots for the first time engaged enemy planes over African soil. By then the Team had been re-equipped with the latest British fighters of the time, Spitfires Mk. IX.)
Four of the 15 pilots of the PFT: S/Ldr Waclaw Krol, W/O Wladyslaw Majchrzyk, W/O Mieczyslaw Popek and P/O Wladyslaw Drecki
(**)In 1934, the Government Political Administration (GPU) became known as the Peoples Commissariat for Internal Affairs (NKVD).
By Blacksheepone 1/06/2004
SKALSKI'S RESULTS
Confirmed victories: 18 + 3 in cooperation
Probable : 2
Damaged : 4 + 1 in cooperation
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Visit My website about Major Greg Pappy Boyington
http://www.freewebs.com/blacksheepone/
New the Forum hosted by Sgt Eagle and Myself
http://com4.runboard.com/bthefreebelgiansfightbackwwiiforum
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6/1/2004, 1:29 pm
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Sgt Eagle
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Re: The Free Polish Pilots
Great work !!!!
Sgt Eagle
Last edited by Sgt Eagle, 6/1/2004, 1:41 pm
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From this day till the ending of the world we in it shall be remembered ,we Band Of Brothers Henry V-W.Shakespear
Eendracht maakt Macht !
GO Belgium
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6/1/2004, 1:36 pm
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