Poles in Defence of Britain

Poles in Defence of Britain PDF

Author: Robert Gretzyngier

Publisher: Grub Street Publishers

Published: 2002-08-23

Total Pages: 349

ISBN-13: 1909166278

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The little-known WWII story of the Polish Air Force fliers who played a crucial role in the Battle of Britain and beyond. To the Polish volunteers who flew and fought so brilliantly and tenaciously throughout the Battle of Britain, the United Kingdom was known as “Last Hope Island.” Many lost their lives, such as Antoni Ostowicz. Many achieved glory and became aces—such as Glowacki, Skalski, and Witorzenc. The RAF came to depend on these men, with over one hundred Polish pilots supporting almost thirty fighter squadrons, most especially 302, 303, and 307 (night fighter). The result of years of research, Robert Gretzyngier’s book includes detailed combat descriptions, personal accounts from combat reports, memoirs, and diaries from the Polish, British, and German perspective, with in-depth biographical data of all Polish pilots, including full RAF and PAF careers and much tabular material in appendix form. Poles in Defence of Britain is a tremendous account of Polish contribution in those hectic days before the RAF began to take the offensive across the Channel, with many previously unpublished photographs from private collections.

The Poles in Britain, 1940-2000

The Poles in Britain, 1940-2000 PDF

Author: Peter D. Stachura

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2004-06-01

Total Pages: 152

ISBN-13: 1135756368

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Stachura provides an important, original analysis of the Polish community in the United Kingdom, adding up to a provocative interpretation of the Pole's position in British society. The chapters add to our understanding of the significant Polish military effort alongside the Allies in defeating Nazi Germany, while the appalling price the Poles paid at the end of the war at the Yalta Conference is accentuated. This crass and wholly unjustified betrayal of the cause of a free Poland by the Allies resulted directly in the formation of a large Polish community in Britain.

Britain and Poland 1939-1943

Britain and Poland 1939-1943 PDF

Author: Anita Prazmowska

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 1995-03-23

Total Pages: 256

ISBN-13: 9780521483858

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Poland was a problematic issue for the Big Powers throughout the Second World War. For Britain, Poland was a major stumbling block in British-Soviet relations as Polish-Soviet territorial disputes clashed with the needs of the British-Soviet-United States alliance. As the Polish government-in-exile attempted to obtain a guarantee of British support, and many thousands of Polish troops fought for the British cause, the perception grew that the Churchill government had a debt to pay. Ultimately, however, it was a debt which Britain could not discharge because of its dependence on Soviet participation in the war. In this book Anita Prazmowska looks at British policies from the point of view of wartime strategy, relating this to Polish government expectations and policies. She describes a tragic situation where Polish soldiers were trapped between the grandiose and unrealistic plans of their government and the harsh realities of a war which they fought with no prospect of a satisfactory outcome for them or their country.

The Polish Underground Army, the Western Allies, and the Failure of Strategic Unity in World War II

The Polish Underground Army, the Western Allies, and the Failure of Strategic Unity in World War II PDF

Author: Michael Alfred Peszke

Publisher: McFarland

Published: 2009-08-18

Total Pages: 255

ISBN-13: 0786445882

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This military history covers the attempts of General Wladyslaw Sikorski and his successor (General Kazimierz Sosnkowski) to integrate Polish forces into Western strategy, and to have their clandestine forces declared an allied combatant. It addresses such topics as Poland's part in the Norwegian and French campaigns, the Battle of Britain, Polish intelligence services, Polish radio communications, the Polish Parachute Brigade, the German invasion of the Soviet Union, the Bomber Offensive, the Katyn graves, Polish air crews in the RAF Transport Command, the Tehran Conference, Polish Wings in the 2nd Tactical Air Force, the Bardsea Plan, the invasion of Normandy, the Pierwsza Pancera, the Warsaw Uprising, Operation Freston, the disbanding of the Polish Home Army, and the Yalta Conference.

The Battle of Britain in the Modern Age, 1965–2020

The Battle of Britain in the Modern Age, 1965–2020 PDF

Author: Garry Campion

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2019-09-26

Total Pages: 369

ISBN-13: 3030261107

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The Battle of Britain has held an enchanted place in British popular history and memory throughout the modern era. Its transition from history to heritage since 1965 confirms that the 1940 narrative shaped by the State has been sustained by historians, the media, popular culture, and through non-governmental heritage sites, often with financing from the National Lottery Heritage Lottery Fund. Garry Campion evaluates the Battle’s revered place in British society and its influence on national identity, considering its historiography and revisionism; the postwar lives of the Few, their leaders and memorialization; its depictions on screen and in commercial products; the RAF Museum’s Battle of Britain Hall; third-sector heritage attractions; and finally, fighter airfields, including RAF Hawkinge as a case study. A follow-up to Campion’s The Battle of Britain, 1945–1965 (Palgrave, 2015), this book offers an engaging, accessible study of the Battle’s afterlives in scholarship, memorialization, and popular culture.

Anders' Army

Anders' Army PDF

Author: Evan McGilvray

Publisher: Pen and Sword

Published: 2018-02-28

Total Pages: 337

ISBN-13: 1473889758

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Along with thousands of his compatriots, Wladyslaw Anders was imprisoned by the Soviets when they attacked Poland with their German allies in 1939. They endured terrible treatment until the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941 suddenly put Stalin in the Allied camp, after which they were evacuated to Iran and formed into the Polish Second Corps under Anders command.Once equipped and trained, the corps was eventually committed to the Italian campaign, notably at Monte Cassino. The author assesses Anders performance as a military commander, finding him merely adequate, but his political role was more significant and caused friction in the Allied camp. From the start he often opposed Sikorski, the Polish Prime Minister in exile and Commander in Chief of Polish armed forces in the West. Indeed, Anders was suspected of collusion in Sikorskis death in July 1943 and of later sending Polish death squads into Poland to eliminate opponents, charges that Evan McGilvray investigates. Furthermore, Anders voiced his deep mistrust of Stalin and urged a war against the Soviets after the defeat of Hitler.

Polish Spitfire Aces

Polish Spitfire Aces PDF

Author: Wojtek Matusiak

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2015-07-20

Total Pages: 97

ISBN-13: 147280838X

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Of all Allied airmen, Polish pilots had had the most experience of fighting the Luftwaffe by the time the war came to Britain. As the Battle of Britain raged, they quickly proved themselves as highly aggressive and skilful interceptors, especially when flying the famous Spitfire. The Polish Air Force eventually became the largest non-Commonwealth Spitfire operator, using some 1,500 Mks I, II, V, IX and XVI to devastating effect. Top scoring USAAF ace of the ETO, Francis "Gabby" Gabreski and a whole host of other Allied and Commonwealth aces flew with Polish squadrons, adding even more to their fighting quality. Conversely, several Polish pilots were attached to other Allied squadrons throughout the war, demonstrating their prowess alongside airmen from a whole host of nations. From an expert on Polish fighter aviation, this is a peerless account of the fiery, talented Polish "Spit" pilots, whose country had been overrun and whose aggression and determination to shoot down Axis aircraft was unmatched.

The Eagle Unbowed

The Eagle Unbowed PDF

Author: Halik Kochanski

Publisher: Harvard University Press

Published: 2012-11-13

Total Pages: 783

ISBN-13: 0674068165

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World War II gripped Poland as it did no other country. Invaded by Germany and the USSR, it was occupied from the first day of war to the last, and then endured 44 years behind the Iron Curtain while its wartime partners celebrated their freedom. The Eagle Unbowed tells, for the first time, the story of Poland’s war in its entirety and complexity.

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