For Your Freedom and Ours
Poland's Contribution in World War II

World War II began with the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia in September 1939.  Poland never capitulated, and continued to fight.  Of all the Allied Nations, Poland fought the longest, and quite possibly bore the heaviest losses.  Yet, quite often Poland's role is either minimized or overlooked.  Should you see the movies "The Battle of Britain", or " A Bridge too Far" you'd be quite amazed to hear some foreign language spoken, or some rather perplexing surnames.  In fact, those soldiers were Poles who escaped from occupied Poland to continue to fight for Poland's independence.   Not only did the Polish military suffer enormous casualties, the civilian population did as well.   Even less is said about that topic, for reasons still unknown, as for example the "ethnic cleansing" inflicted on the Polish population of the eastern provinces by the UPA or, Ukrainian Insurgent Army.  Entire villages were wiped out in the most inhumane way, and this fact is being quietly ignored, or worse yet, denied.  

This section is only but a small part of Poland's role during the Second World War, all facts can be verified by simply checking the history books in your local library or bookstore.  Our purpose in placing it here is to help in bringing about awareness of Poland's contribution to the Allied victory in 1945.

Invasion - September 1939
Enigma and Other Contributions
Myths about the September Campaign
Battle of Britain
Norway
Tobruk
Monte Cassino
Warsaw Uprising
Polish Navy
Normandy
Arnhem
Poland Betrayed
The Price Poland Paid
 
 

Invasion - September 1939

On September 1, 1939, without declaring war, Germany's army and air force invaded Poland from the north, west and south. At first, the German tactic of "Blitzkrieg", and the bombing of defenseless towns and refugees, caught the Poles off-guard. After the initial surprise at the ferocity of the German attack, the Polish forces regrouped behind the Wisla (Vistula) and Bzura rivers.

Then on September 17, the Soviet Union attacked from the east. Warsaw fought until September 27, the Modlin fortress until September 28, the town of Hel resisted until October 2. The "Polesie" army, commanded by General Kleeberg fought until October 6, 1939.

Poland fought the invasion of the German and Soviet forces alone, for 35 days. During this time, the Polish forces created ideal conditions for the allied forces to engage the axis forces from the west. Yet, the allies never took advantage of this situation. According to post war publications, the German generals could not understand why the allied forces wasted such advantageous strategic possibilities.

For all Europe, the nazi invasion marked the beginning of World War II. For Poland, the Soviet invasion also marked the beginning of a 50 year long struggle against communism.

Poland suffered horribly, more than 6 million of her citizens, half of them Jewish, were murdered. The populations of whole villages were locked in their churches and set afire. Thousands of prisoners of war were shot or burned alive. Millions more where shipped off as slave laborers to Germany by the nazi's or to the Gulags by the Soviets. Many died of hunger, disease and beatings. Graves of Polish civilians, soldiers and partisans are scattered on almost all the battlefields of World War II.

By May 1945, the Polish Armed Forces had more than 600,000 men and women under arms and was the fourth largest military power fighting against nazi Germany.

But the most important contribution of Poland to final victory over both nazism and communism was the undaunted spirit of her people. The soldiers of 1939 - and their children - continued the fight for 50 years, until in 1989 the Polish people overthrew communism and, once again, showed how much they were prepared to sacrifice For Your Freedom and Ours.

Enigma and other Contributions

In addition to the armed efforts of the Polish soldiers, Poles contributed to the allied victory with a series of discoveries, technical achievements and the brave work of the secret service.

Before the war, Polish Secret Service mathematicians and cryptographers managed to break the most secret German codes. Polish built copies of the "Enigma" machine were given to France and Britain in July 1939. The ability to "read" coded German communications contributed greatly to the allied victory.

This was the most important single factor in the defeat of nazi Germany.

A device was discovered by the Polish Navy that could take bearings of short waves. With this, the allies could locate German U-Boats after they sent a radio message, and thus convoys could avoid known U-Boat locations.

One of the better known operations of the Polish Secret Service was the identification of the main base of the V-1 and V-2 rockets on the Peenemunde Peninsula. When the experimental range of the rockets was transferred to Poland, the Polish AK (Home Army) soldiers managed to intercept one of the rockets and transport it to England. The Polish secret service also managed to obtain technical and tactical information on the rockets.

A very important invention, the mine detector, was constructed in Scotland by a Polish officer. It consisted of a plate, mounted on a wooden arm, which could detect and locate metal objects underground. When a mine was detected, the detector would send a buzzing noise to earphones worn by the operator. The inventors name was nearly forgotten, it was a Polish sapper, Lt. Jozef Kozacki.

Myths about the September Campaign

Many "myths" surround the September campaign. One is the fictional Polish cavalry charges against German tanks. This was originally reported by the Italian press, and became popular with German propagandists. The original source came from a skirmish on the Pomeranian front, where after two Polish Lancer squadrons engaged and destroyed some German infantry, armored cars appeared. Exposed, the Lancers were decimated. Italian war correspondents came upon the scene and were told by German soldiers that it resulted from the cavalry having charged the tanks.

Contrary to popular view that the Polish Air Force was destroyed on the ground, the fact is that Polish squadrons were dispersed to special runways. The pilots were well trained and fierce fighters, but their aircraft were a generation behind the Luftwaffe and greatly outnumbered. Yet Polish fighters and anti-aircraft batteries shot down a surprisingly large number of German aircraft.

The German army also under-rated Polish anti-tank capabilities. At the start of the September campaign, the German Armour went into battle with white crosses painted on their tanks. These made excellent aiming points for the Polish gunners, who used the Polish designed anti-tank gun, which was one of the best in the world at the time. The Germans painted over theses white crosses to yellow, and later adopted the cross similar to that used by the Luftwaffe.

The recently designed Polish light tank 7TP "czolg lekki", was the first in the world to be designed with a diesel engine, and proved to be superior to the German tanks of the same class, the PzKpfw I and II, and inflicted serious damage to the German forces. These tanks were later absorbed by the Germans into their Panzer divisions.

Battle of Britain

Polish airmen played a vital part in the Battle of Britain. At the peak of the fighting, every eighth pilot was a Pole. This enabled the exhausted Fighter Command to maintain its operational strength, replacing killed and wounded British pilots. The quality of the Polish pilots counted even more than their numbers. No. 303 Squadron became the highest scoring fighter squadron in the Royal Air Force. More than 12% of the total number of German planes shot down was by Polish pilots.

Norway

Germany invaded Norway in April 1940. The Allies responded by attacking the port at Narvik. The Polish Podhalanska Brigade made an outstanding contribution to this, first in the Bjervik Peninsula and then in the Ankenes Peninsula. Ankenes was captured by the Poles and they reached the Beisford region, liberating the peninsula from the Germans. The Polish destroyers, "Blyskawica", "Burza" and "Grom" took part in these operations, along with the passenger ships "Batory", "Sobieski", and "Chrobry" which transported allied troops. The "Grom" and the "Chrobry" were sunk by the Germans.

Tobruk

In August 1941, Tobruk was besieged by the Afrika Korps. The Polish Carpathian Brigade was assigned to defend the toughest eastern defence sector behind the Ras el Madauar hill. With their Australian comrades, the Poles successfully defended Tobruk. When the 8th army again went on the attack, the Carpathian Brigade took Medauar hill, and White Knoll hill. The brigade continued in pursuit of the enemy, with operations in the El Adena and then in the Gazala battle.

Monte Cassino

In 1939, Joseph Stalin schemed with Adolf Hitler to invade Poland. Millions of innocent Poles were arrested and imprisoned in labour camps in Siberia. For two years, these Poles suffered behind Soviet prison wires until June, 1941, when Hitler attacked Russia. As a result the Soviets had to suddenly treat the imprisoned Poles as Allies against the common enemy, nazi Germany, and Stalin accordingly agreed to release them and to permit the formation of a new Polish Army on Soviet territory.

However, due to lack of equipment, rations and other basic necessities, Polish commanders requested that the Polish Army be transferred to join it's Western Allies in the Middle East. In the spring of 1942, over 100,000 Polish soldiers and civilians were permitted to leave the Soviet Union via Persia (Iran) to join the British Army, and in this way, the Polish II Corps came into being. From Iran the newly created Corps moved to Iraq and then to the mountains of Lebanon where the men underwent military training.

Through 1944 the Polish II Corps fought alongside it's Western Allies in the Italian campaign and distinguished itself with their spectacularly successful attack on the citadel of Monte Cassino, which had earlier defied numerous assaults by other Allied forces. This opened the road to Rome. Many other Allies have taken credit for defeating the Germans in Italy in May 1944. But, it was the Polish 2nd Corps that took Monte Cassino, something no American or British empire troops were able to do. Total Polish casualties were 4290 officers and men; about 1,000 of these were killed. Emotionally moving is the inscription at the entrance to the Polish military cemetery at Monte Cassino, which reads;

Warsaw Uprising

The Polish Home Army had been active since 1939, having set up the most effective partisan and espionage system of any of the Allies. One of its major accomplishments was the capture of an entire V2 rocket, which was disassembled and flown to Britain. By 1944 the Home Army had more than 400,000 soldiers and agents, operating from the English Channel to eastern Siberia.

On August 1, 1944 the Home Army in Warsaw rose up against the Germans, believing they would be relieved by the Soviets, who were fewer than 20 kilometers away. They captured the whole city but had ammunition only for seven days.

These soldiers were loyal to the legal government of Poland located in London, England. Stalin ordered his armies to stop and wait until the Germans put down the uprising, believing this would kill off the Polish leadership and make it easier for the very few Polish communists to form a renegade government supported by Soviet bayonets. But the Warsaw garrison fought on for two months, with little more than their bare hands and courage.

More than 20,000 Polish soldiers were killed, as were hundreds of thousands of civilians, murdered by the Germans during the uprising or shipped off to Auschwitz after the garrison surrendered. The Germans destroyed most of the city during the fighting, and later burned whatever buildings were still standing. More than 90 per cent of Warsaw was destroyed.

No patriotic Pole ever forgave the Soviets for standing by while the brave people of Warsaw were killed off one by one.

Polish Navy

Despite its small size, the number of operations in which the Polish Navy took part is amazing. It was everywhere, from the Mediterranean to Greenland and it took part in every major landing, from North Africa to Normandy. The Polish Navy won the most decorations, per capita, of any naval force among the Allies.

The courage and determination of Polish sailors was outstanding. The Polish destroyer ORP Piorun was the first Allied ship to engage the Bismark in the battle in which the German battleship was sunk.

Normandy

The Battle of Normandy lasted for three months. By August 1944, the Canadian 1st Army had driven a wedge into the German line, heading south to join up with the American 3rd Army. The Germans, fearing they would be surrounded redoubled their defence.

The Polish 1st Armoured Division, with its Canadian comrades, was given the task of breaking the German line and closing the trap. The Poles were determined to avenge German atrocities in Poland and continued to attack even when they lost contact with their Allies. They single-handedly blocked the Germans' escape routes for a week.

The carnage in front of the Poles was perhaps the bloodiest of the battle. The last German reserves of tanks and heavy equipment were destroyed here. There was no organized German resistance anywhere in France after the Battle of the Falaise Gap.

Arnhem

The Polish Parachute Brigade was made up of soldiers who had escaped from Poland and of volunteers from Polish émigré communities around the world. Its regimental colours were made in secret by the heroic women of Warsaw and smuggled out of Poland in 1944. The Brigade took part in the largest airborne operation of the war at Arnhem and Driel in Holland. Ordered to jump without their heavy anti-tank equipment, the Brigade's soldiers suffered heavy losses attempting to reinforce their British comrades on the other side of the Rhine.

Poland Betrayed

We all know that the World War II began after the Germans invaded Poland, and both Britain and France declared war on Germany. Yet, in the end, Poland was left alone, and "given" to the Soviet Union.

Katyn was discovered in 1943. A mass grave of Polish officers, all with a single bullet wound to the back of their head. This created a rift in Polish-Soviet relations. Many more mass graves of Polish officers, soldiers and civilians are in the old Soviet Union, yet their location is known only to the perpetrators. The Allies, fearing the reaction of the Soviet Union, decided to remain quiet on the issue of these murders.

In Teheran, the British and Americans agreed to let the Russians keep the Polish land awarded to them by Hitler after Russia invaded Poland on September 1939. The "accidental" death, as it was called, of General Sikorski helped keep Polish protests to this injustice at a minimum.

When the Russian Red Army crossed into Poland, the AK (Home Army) stepped up it's fight against the Germans and contributed greatly to the liberation of the cities of Lwow, Wilno and Lublin. Their reward was to find themselves disarmed by the Soviets and deported to Soviet labour camps.

Again, during the Warsaw Uprising (see above), the Soviet forces waited patiently while the Poles valiantly tried to liberate their capital. Not only did the Soviets cease their advance, but they also refused to allow Allied planes to land on Russian airfields after they dropped supplies to the Polish freedom fighters. Once the fighting was over, Warsaw was destroyed, along with the political and military leadership. This opened the door for the Soviet occupation of Poland.

The Soviets set up the Polish Committee for National Liberation, in reality a communist government, which the Polish government-in-exile refused to accept. Then, at Yalta, the Allies placed Poland into the Soviet sphere of influence. In effect, Poland was to be occupied by the Soviet Union. Most Poles felt betrayed, so much so, that at one point the Polish Army, fighting in Italy and Germany, was prepared to withdraw from the front lines in protest, after all, they were fighting for Poland. The Allies should take note of the honour of the Polish soldier, for they continued to fight, to ensure that their allied comrades in arms were not left in peril. The Polish soldier fought on For Your Freedom and Ours.

The final betrayal came at the end of the war. As the fourth largest army fighting the Germans, including her Air Force and Navy, Poland should have had a prominent place in the Victory parade. But, that was not to be. The Polish soldiers had to watch from the side, as others marched triumphantly.

The Price Poland Paid

The people of Poland are the ones who really lost the war.

Over a half million fighting men and women, and six million civilians, more than 18% of the population, lost their lives. Approximately 90% of Polish war losses were victims of prisons, death camps, raids, executions, annihilation of ghettos, epidemics, starvation, excessive work and ill treatment. There are few families who do not have someone who was tortured of murdered in the concentration camps. Over one million war orphans and a half million invalids were also produced by the war.

Poland lost 38% of it's national assets, as compared to Britain which lost 0.8% and France which lost 1.5%. Worse yet, a part of Poland, dear to Poles hearts was also lost. The whole eastern provinces were taken over by the Soviets as part of the Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania, including the two great Polish cities of Lwow and Wilno.

Soldiers of the Polish Armies in the west could not return home, for they were branded traitors by the new communist regime. Instead, they had to find new homes. Soldiers that came to Canada had to agree to a two year work term on farms to be accepted. Others, in Poland, were arrested, imprisoned, tortured and some, executed by the Soviets because they belonged to the Polish Home Army.