Hawker Hurricane Mk I, V6665 RF-J , 303 (Polish) Sqn, Northolt, September 1940.
The role of Polish pilots in the Battle of Britain is today well known (though I have books about the battle that entirely fail to mention them). Above all, it is the legendary 303 Squadron that bore the brunt of the action as a Polish unit. (I was planning a day-by-day account of 303 Sqn's action during the Battle of Britain, but the Wikipedia article does that admirably).
To save you clicking hither and yon, and skipping over the debates between military historians that have gone on for the past seven decades, the point is this: 303 'Kościuszko' Sqn was one of the top scoring, if not the top scoring RAF unit in the battle; the contribution of other Polish pilots either in the other Polish fighter squadron taking part in the Battle of Britain (302) or spread around other non-Polish units, was extremely significant. After Great Britain, Poland supplied more pilots to the Allied side than any other country, with New Zealand in third place.
The definitive book on the subject for non-Polish readers is For Your Freedom and Ours: The Kościuszko Squadron - Forgotten Heroes of World War II, by Lynne Olson & Stanley Cloud (William Heinemann, London). This is a book that should be on the bookshelf of every expat in Poland. Period. It is based to a degree on Dywizjon 303 by Arkady Fiedler, first published in London in 1942, published by the Polish underground the following year in Warsaw, and - even more remarkably - in communist Poland in 1965. This book is a classic. It was published in English during the war (in London and New York). I have the 1974 16th edition in Polish signed by the author ('Puszczykówko, V 1975').
The authoritative history of Poland's contribution to the Allied victory in the air is the two-volume Polskie Siły Powietrzne w wojnie (vol. 1 1939-43, vol. 2 1943-45, AJ Press) by Jerzy B. Cynk. This is the place to go if you want to know if your dad/grandfather did indeed shoot down five jerries in one afternoon.
A younger generation of Polish aviation historians is responsible for a series of well-researched monographs about individual squadrons, Mushroom Books (UK) and Bellona (Poland) publish these. A bit anoraky (serial numbers, dates, markings predominate), but plenty of names. 303 Dywizjon Myśliwski Warszawski im. Tadeusza Kościuszki, by Józef Zieliński (Bellona) is of this genre. The model Hurricane above is painted (by me using Techmod decals) according to Robert Gretzyngier's excellent colour plates from this book. This plane piloted by Sgt Michał Brzezowski shot down two Heinkel 111 bombers over Portsmouth on 11 September 1940. Two weeks later, Sgt Tadeusz Andruszkow downed another He-111 while flying the same plane; he was shot down and killed in it a day later (27 September).
One recent book I'd recommend to the general reader is Lotnictwo polskie na zachodzie 1939-1947 Polish Air Force by Robert Gretzyngier, Wojtek Matusiak and Józef Zieliński (ZP Grupa). Lots of pictures, many colour plates, text in both languages, highly informative - it tells a story rather than merely trot out numbers and dates.
The story is a heroic yet ultimately tragic one, for few of the Polish pilots who fought in the West were ever to return to a free Poland after 1989.
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=b0f_1277855289
ReplyDeleteI do hate it when you cut corners like this. I hope it just insufficient knowledge (as you're perfectly excused for not knowing details of pre-1996 Poland) and you do not omit facts intentionally ? My 1985 edition of "Dywizjon 303" published by Wydawnictwo Poznańskie is the TWENTY SECOND "communist" edition of this fine book. And, believe me, they didn't publish books in a few hundred copies like they do that today. Hence your suggestion that books of that sort were unknown or ignored for political reasons is, well, not true.
ReplyDeleteIf I'm not mistaken "Dywizjon 303" was even a mandatory read at primary school when I attended it (80s).
@ Anon:
ReplyDelete"I do hate it when you cut corners like this"...
" - even more remarkably - " I wrote, prefacing details of Dywizjon 303's publishing history in communist Poland. What's remarkable is that the story of Poles fighting on behalf of the Anglo-Saxon imperialists and their London Polish lapdogs should have been so widely told and retold during communist times. In other words - I am in total agreement with you! (And you hate that?)
My XVI edition (Wydawnictwo Poznańskie) was part of a print run of 110,000 copies.
Now, check your copy. The first six editions were published in the West. The seventh and eighth immediately after the war in Warsaw. Then - from 1947 to 1956 a break for the worst years of Stalinist repression. And after the thaw of 1956, the ninth, tenth and so on editions. These editions - including your 22nd one - are the remarkables ones. As you say, millions were printed, and indeed were set books for schoolchildren (along with more standard communist fare like Łuny w Bieszczadach.
@ Ad the lad
ReplyDeleteGood stuff! Tally ho, old boy! Give balley Jerry a taste of his own medicine, what?
I'm not saying there was no censorship and propaganda in pre-1989 Poland. There was. But their scope and style changed over times. 1950s were clearly dreadful (before 1956, that is). Gomułka's 1960s weren't all rosy and so weren't Gierek's 1970s, but independent thinking was strong and growing. In 1980s possession of many titles was still illegal, but in fact they were in high demand AND their circulation somewhat tolerated by the regime. The media were censored, but a lot was passed between the words (not in Trybuna Ludu, Żołnierz Wolności and TVP's Dziennik, of course). Just remind yourself of Bareja movies - most of them, if not all, have a strong critical edge (remember hilarious comrade Winnicki ?), listen to some stand-up comedians or even songs of the time (what is Młynarski's song "Po co babcię denerwować" abour ?). All this was in official circulation. You could easily buy foreign (western, that is) press. Translations of western books were made (the choice of titles was of course peculiar, but it did all exist). Since 1960s there was academic exchange, and its effects were spread. (Just read some of Polish post-1956 sociology). So, the accurate description of the PRL's propaganda would be that as the system slowly deteriorated it deteriorated, too, to effectively vanish even before the end of 1980s.
ReplyDeleteI remember from my schooldays (1980s) as one teacher tried to make us, the class of 13 year olds, prepare a "gazetka ścienna" to celebrate the nth anniversary of the Red October. One of my colleagues responded to this proposal with something close to "screw you". What do you think were the effects of this rather uninformed political declaration ? Parents interrogated by secret police ? Lad sent to a soviet-style "rehab center" ?
Well, parents were indeed called in to be advised that perhaps they should pay more attention to the language used by their offspring. And the teacher was made to admit (by parents and the headmaster) that perhaps the idea wasn't all that good. The gazetka was not created, instead we wrote about some school sports event.
Now, you seem (in your many, otherwise excellent, posts) to promote the view that in "communist Poland" everything and everyone was communist. Communist publishing houses published communist coloring books for communist children in communist kindergardens. Who could color them in any color they wanted, so long as it was red. All for the purpose of raising proper subjects of People's Republic of Poland, obviously. Sadly this image has more to do with James Bond movies' depiction of "communism" (once the title "meanwhile back in the communist Russia..." is displayed, every pedestrain must wear a fur hat) than with reality. Which, as always, is not black and white.
@ anon: You write "you seem to promote the view that in "communist Poland" everything and everyone was communist."
ReplyDeleteIf that were the case, then Poland would still be communist today.
Coming over to Poland regularly as I did in the 1970s (then long interval between Martial Law and elections of June 1989) I'd say one thing: the place REEKED of communism. Every (empty) shop, every report on TV or radio news, those billboards about the leading role of the Party and the "proletariat", every kiosk Ruchu...
Yes you could get away from it. Yes, some homes successfully managed to shut out communism (bookshelves, carefully-garnered western products in kitchen, antique furniture), lost in the wonder of a Baroque church - but at the end of the day, communism pervaded Poland through and through and it stank. Always great to return after my adventures behind the Iron Curtain to the home of parliamentary democracy.
Today, I prefer living in Poland to living in the UK. This is because Poland is a more vibrant society - plenty of problems to iron out for sure - but it's a country on the rise.
I'm not saying there was no communism here, just that it was something different than you seem to think.
ReplyDeleteWhat I remember of 1980s Poland, having travelled extensively as a student, is that indeed the place stank of communism but that (unlike the DDR) one hardly ever seemed to meet a communist. Instead one met indefatgable old people, free-thinking students, troops of bicycling scouts and so on.
ReplyDeletePeople in the UK would de well to be reminded of the contribution of Polish airmen, soldiers and sailors to the freedom that they so take for granted. Otherwise Nazism might have overrun Britain, Bolshevism would have defeated Nazism after a time, and then we'd all have become a part of the "socialist utopia".
I guess that not all was bad. Someone told me a while back that he endeavoured each year to represent his class at the communist youth congress. The speeches were dull but what a booze-up and orgy they had in the night when the commissars had retired.
and may I add http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2itphoyF-oU
ReplyDelete