Special edition / 2019

"POLAND HAS NOT YET PERISHED"

Anniversary of WWII Warsaw, September 1, 2019 Outbreak 09/01 1939

09/17 INVASION 1939 OF POLAND

WWII started when Germany and Russia invaded Poland. understood that it was unrealistic to win Poland over to follow the anti-Soviet plans. Stalin desired territories in Eastern and Central Europe; He was furious, and Stalin felt that he could Hitler hoped to avoid a two-front war and to isolate Poland. enter into a deal with him. He began to organize his supporters for this. In March, In fact, however, the ambitions of both of them were much at the party congress, he gave a speech, greater. For this reason, the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact which soon became known as “the chestnut speech.” He argued that the USSR could of August 23, 1939 was a temporary solution. cooperate with anyone for its own good, and that the West was trying to drag its country he pact could have shocked many. of the 1920s, when the two world-isolated larly make it clear that it could go back to [the into an unwanted war. “War-mongers who After all, just three years earlier, states concluded an open economic and establishments of the Treaty of ] Rapallo, but are accustomed to have others pull chestnuts T the Germans had concluded an secret military treaty in Rapallo, Italy. the Germans were not interested. Hitler for out of the fire for them,” he thundered. Anti-Comintern Pact with Japan, to which “Those relations began to deteriorate at quite a time wanted to drag Poland to his side Then the day of August 23 arrived; the Italy also joined shortly afterwards. The the end of the Weimar Republic due to the and ultimately make it his vassal,” explains visit of von Ribbentrop to Moscow and the states in question pledged to work together growing strength of the German commu- Prof. Kornat. Now, it was Poland to be the signing of the Treaty of Non-Aggression against the communist international nists. The Berlin-seated authorities saw first to fall prey to both dictators. between Germany and the Union of Soviet community. Hitler perorated many times them as a threat to state stability and democ- Socialist Republics. However, the most that it had been the “Reds” who stabbed racy,” explains Prof. Marek Kornat, histori- Fourth Partition important was not the document itself, but the Germans in the back in 1918, and an and Sovietologist of the Polish Academy Three partitions of Poland by its neigh- the top secret protocol that constituted contributed to their defeat in the Great of Sciences [PAN] and Cardinal Stefan bors – Prussia, Russia, and Austria – were an annex to it and concerned the future of War. The Führer and Stalin were on both Wyszyński University in Warsaw. “When held in the second half of the 18th century. Central and Eastern Europe. Stalin and sides of the barricade in the second half of Hitler came to power, he almost completely As a result, the Polish state disappeared from Hitler decided that Poland would be divided the 1930s, when a war broke out in Spain. froze his contacts with Moscow. He allowed the map of Europe for over a hundred years, along the lines of the Vistula, Narew and The Soviets sent equipment and soldiers to only partial economic cooperation because to return back to it in 1919 – for twenty years. San Rivers. The Soviet zone of influence the Republicans; the Germans did the same the Germans could not do without Soviet The first signs of the rapprochement would include Finland, Estonia, and Latvia, to the nationalists led by General Franco. natural resources,” he adds. Stalin was not so of the Germans and Soviets began to be which in time would be incorporated into There was no trace of the good relations radical. “In the 1930s, Moscow would regu- evident at the beginning of 1939. Hitler then the USSR. Germany, in turn, would seize Continuation on the next page Special edition / 2019 September 1 – The 80th Anniversary of WWII Outbreak 2

In one of the most famous photographs of that time, the Minister of Foreign Affairs to the Council of People’s Commissars, Vyacheslav Molotov, sits behind a desk. He holds a fountain pen in his hand. In front of him, there is a printed sheet of paper. A man leans down from the side, giving him further sheets of paper to sign. The German equivalent of Molotov, Joachim von Ribbentrop, stands in the back, slightly lowering his eyesight. The other officers also have serious faces. Joseph Stalin is the only smiling person. Thanks to the agreement that would First WWII become known as the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, Hitler was given all he wanted. Yet, it was Stalin who gained the most from the Treaty of August 23, 1939. Victims Less than two weeks before the invasion of Poland, on August 22, 1939, at the briefing of the higher Wehrmacht commanders in Obersalzberg, Adolf Hitler uttered significant words that affected the nature of the upcoming war’s activities.

Our strength consists in our Kesselring stressed in his speech to the speed and in our brutality. graduates of the military aviation schools: Genghis Khan led millions of “As you circulate over the enemy’s cities women and children to slaughter – with and fields, you should suppress all your Lithuania, and probably also Bessarabia. imperialist war. According to that theory, premeditation and a happy heart. History feelings. You must tell yourself that the “The protocol states that the Germans the capitalist states of Western Europe sees in him solely the founder of a state. beings you see are not human. The only and Russians would decide on the would sooner or later take action against “It’s a matter of indifference to me what people are the fighting Germans. For possible creation of some rump Polish each other; and after the devastating war, a weak western European civilization the German Luftwaffe, there are no so- state in the future. In 1939, Hitler allowed the Soviet Union would enter the arena, will say about me. I have issued the called non-military objects or emotional such a possibility, but since Stalin was not subjugate them, and install communism,” command – and I’ll have anybody who considerations. Enemy states should be completely interested in it, he abandoned explains Prof. Kornat. During the meeting utters but one word of criticism executed wiped off the surface of the earth.” this idea,” emphasizes Prof. Kornat. of the Politburo of the Soviet party, Stalin by a firing squad – that our war aim does Wieluń, a town of 15,000 inhabitants News about the project of the next par- argued: “it is in the interest of the USSR – not consist in reaching certain lines, but located twenty kilometers from the tition of Poland quickly reached the West. the workers’ homeland – that a war breaks in the physical destruction of the enemy. Polish-German border of that time, The first to learn about it were the Ameri- out between the Reich and the capitalist Accordingly, I have placed my death- could not boast of industrial or military cans, who then shared the information with Anglo-French bloc (...). For this reason, head formation [SS-Totenkopfverbände] facilities, apart from a small sugar factory. Great Britain, which passed it on to France. it is imperative that we agree to conclude in readiness – for the present only in the It was also not a transport hub; there were The only government that remained una- the pact proposed by Germany, and then East – with orders to them to send to death no units of General Juliusz Rómmel’s ware until the end was the Warsaw cabinet. work in such a way that this war, once it is mercilessly and without compassion, men, “Łódź” Army operating in this area, declared, will last as long as possible.” women, and children of Polish derivation and no military fortifications were built Pact of Illusions Stalin finally wanted to subjugate not and language. Only thus shall we gain around the town. Theoretically, many The pact with Stalin allowed Hitler to only the Allied States, but also Germa- the living space (Lebensraum) which we people could feel relatively safe, and gain much greater access to Soviet natural ny. Hitler never abandoned the dreams need. Who, after all, speaks today of the count on the fact that the main border resources, led to the isolation of Poland, of expanding the living space, Lebensraum, annihilation of the Armenians?” [cit. by fights would avoid their hometown. demonstrated to Western leaders that that Germans should look for in the East. Lochner, Louis Paul (1942). What About However, thanks to General Wolfram defending Poland is not really worth the “That is why both sides were aware that the Germany?. Dodd, Mead & Company. pp. von Richthofen, the former Commander effort, and, in the perspective of conflicts with Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact was a temporary 11–12]. of the Condor Legion and the German them, pushed away the threat of fighting on solution,” emphasizes Prof. Kornat. A leading role in Blitzkrieg, as the Assault Air Force Commander, two fronts. “However, Stalin gained more,” When on September 1 German troops German tactics was with time called, was it was different in 1939. It was Richthofen says Prof. Kornat. He was able to occupy attacked Poland, and seventeen days later given to the air force. The Luftwaffe was – the cousin of the famous “Red Baron,” large territories without starting a war with the Red Army divisions entered Polish ter- the eye in the Führer’s apple, the em- the German Ace of the Great War, the West. More importantly, though, while ritory from the east, it became quite clear bodiment – besides the armored troops Manfred von Richthofen – who led standing aside, he would throw a match that the war would be long. – of his vision of the war of the future. the air raid on the Spanish Guernica on the powder keg, which at that time was Łukasz Zalesiński, The aviators were to be the avant-garde during the Spanish Civil War. Now, Europe. “Stalin stood by Lenin’s theory of a journalist, writes for Polska Zbrojna of that brutal attack, as General Albert his subordinates were to be reminded

POLAND AGAINST AGGRESSION OF GERMANY AND RUSSIA IN SEPTEMBER 1939

400 GERMANY 1,000 2,000 POLAND

950,000 RUSSIA 618,000 1,850,000 2,800 610 4,740 3 September 1 – The 80th Anniversary of WWII Outbreak Special edition / 2019

The Polish border town of Wieluń bombed by the Germans on September 1, 1939 Polish victim looking with the blind eyes after the war before the Nuremberg Tri- in camera’s lens in the foreground. It is bunal, which tried only selected officials difficult to think calmly about officers and only for crimes ‘against humanity’. who consider such photographs as an in- The Russians, like their former German teresting souvenir.” accomplices, never had such scruples, as Every year on July 20, in memory of well as the Western allies made the Ger- the unsuccessful assassination attempt mans and the Japanese taste their own on Hitler, for which Stauffenberg paid medicine. For all of them, what counted with his life, the Bundeswehr recruits the most was to end their planned cam- take an oath in Berlin. The assassins had paigns through the incineration of entire a military goal – to end the war in the West cities and towns, starting from Wieluń after the Führer’s death, and to move all full of the Mischlings to Nagasaki, the their forces to the East. They also clearly capital of Japanese Christians. In 1943, set their political goals – maintain power Leonia Jabłonkówna, a Polish writer of and restore the eastern border of the Jewish origin, published her most Chris- Reich to what it was in 1914. Independent tian poem, The Prayer, in the under- Poland was not included in their plans. ground press: Józef Galwina, a Polish military bish- op, unable to find understanding in the For the grave that shines like a temptation Roman curia at the beginning of the war, For those who get weaker in the martyr’s days asked the Pope: Lord, save women and children “Is it possible to distinguish between From the burning fires of Hamburg. a soldier and a woman, between shepherds Stauffenberg in Wieluń and the army, at the altitude of 500 meters?” For the cross blasphemed in the chapels he view of the bombed Wieluń impressions from his visit to Stuttgart, “Yes, it is.” For the wrongs done to the cemetery ashes led to the following confession near which Stauffenberg was born: “Therefore, German pilots who bomb Preserve towering Gothic churches T of Claus von Stauffenberg, “Anyone who takes the trouble to visit women and shepherds should be pun- In the enemy’s capitals. the future national hero of the new (?) the Stauffenberg Memorial Chamber in ished individually for their crimes. Our Germany: “The [Wieluń] population Stuttgart can see an album with photo- moral theology (...) passes on (...) the re- [transl. Barbara Wierczyńska] is an incredible mob, so many Jews graphs from the 1939 campaign by Klaus sponsibility, and thus the consequences and crossbreeds. It is a people who feel Werner Reerink, a friend of Stauffen- to the commanders. Meanwhile, there are However, it was a voice that was both good only under a whip. Thousands berg’s from the same unit. The Polish too many individual crimes going on, the exaggerated (“cut your coat according to of prisoners of war will serve us well in viewer must be disturbed by the picture punishing of which is only just and right.” your cloth”) and – isolated. agricultural works” (from a letter to his taken in the apartment in the destroyed by We know that those – the most com- wife). A Polish journalist described his bombs Wieluń, with the corpse of a dead mon – war crimes did not find their finale żur that tactics (some had been with him in me from the infectious diseases building, Spain) or be baptized in combat in the with her hand partially torn off. I ran to battle of Wieluń. They wanted to test the obstetrician’s building, which was the latest model of the diving bomber, also collapsed. Returning to the main the Junkers. The intelligence data building, I came across the corpse of two “Westerplatte indicating that a cavalry brigade was to be dead people. The operating and dressing deployed in Wieluń, and that the enemy’s rooms were in ruins. I ordered the sis- headquarters were located in the eastern ters to tear their underwear and dress the part of the town, were the pretext to wounded. We put mothers and newborns attack Wieluń. on the wagons, and sent them to Sieradz. Captain Walther Siegel’s squadron, The midwife took two births in the hos- still fights on” which was a part of the German 4th Air pital park.” Fleet, was assigned to conduct the first The second air raid – on the eastern air raid under Operation Ostmarkflug, part of the town – took place half an The Poles lost that first battle of World War II. i.e. the air attack on Poland. The sec- hour later. During the third raid, the However, even before the guns’ clattering faded, ond attack on Wieluń was carried out hospital was attacked again. All in all, the the history of their resistance became legendary. by Captain Friedrich-Karl von Dalwigk Germans, methodically, not disturbed zu Lichtenfels’ squadron; the third one by anyone, dropped 112 50-kg demoli- he Defense of Westerplatte of duty smoldering in their heads that was carried out by Major Oskar Dinort, tion bombs and 29 heaviest incendiary shows the Polish soldiers’ great makes them pull themselves together, a well-known pre-war sports pilot. Worth bombs, weighing half a ton each. At the T determination in combat and and once again stand up and fight. Poland mentioning is the fact that one of other same time, they performed diving flight their sense of duty despite their fading was drowning in a wartime inferno. The pilots in this air raid was Horst Scholle, for the first time in combat conditions. hope. However, this operation is also an Polish radio broadcast another message, a German graduate of the junior high Apart from the hospital, they pulverized example of good organization, which “Westerplatte still fights on!” school in Wieluń. the parish church, the synagogue and the allowed them to resist the attack of In an old photograph, a soldier, Twenty-nine Junkers led by Captain historic buildings of the Old Town. a much stronger enemy for a long time. stretched out like a string, looks straight Siegel appeared over Wieluń on Septem- It was estimated that 75 percent of the Captain Franciszek Dąbrowski, Dep- into the camera lens. Behind his back, ber 1, 1939, at 4.35 a.m., and from the al- town buildings was demolished, and the uty Commander of the Military Tran- you can see a boarded-up gate, next to titude of two thousand meters, dive flew loss of human life was estimated at about sit Depot on Westerplatte, wrote down: a white eagle with a crown and an in- on to the defenseless town. The raid had 1,200 people. None of the perpetrators “A new blaze of fire and iron falls on us scription: “Military Transit Depot on occurred ten minutes before the German was held responsible for the death of at daybreak. The artillery fire is harass- Westerplatte”. It is the winter of 1926, Schleswig-Holstein battleship started fir- civilians and the destruction of the town ing; it keeps longer on the barracks. The and the soldier belongs to the first Pol- ing at the Polish guard on Westerplatte that was completely devoid of military cannonade begins at 7.00 in the morning. ish guard unit on the peninsula. With his located in the Free City of Danzig. Today, significance. Lieutenant Colonel Walter The attack now is cautious, and of a re- colleagues, he guards a 60-hectare piece some historians believe that Second World Siegel died in 1944; Major von Dalwigk connaissance nature. The Germans test of land about which the reborn Republic War began in the sky of Wieluń, and not zu Lichtenfels died in 1940. Major Oskar our possibilities of defense. Next, there of Poland has great hopes. on a fragment of the Polish Baltic coast- Dinort, who, after the attack on Wieluń, was a relative lull.” Six years earlier, our country had line. boasted in the German press that he The attack goes on and off for the fol- gained access to the sea. However, the The first bombs fell on the All Saints had dropped the last bomb directly on lowing, almost seven, days. The blaze 140-kilometer stretch of coastline lacked Hospital, clearly marked – as witness- the market square, was decorated with of cannons, the bang of explosions, the a real port. The Poles were dependent on es recall – with the symbols of the Red the Knight’s Cross as an air ace. After clouds of dust covering everything and the marina in the German-dominated Cross. Thirty-two people died in that at- the war, he settled in Cologne and died everyone, the creeping tongues of fire Free City of Danzig [Gdańsk]. After tack. The head of the hospital, Zygmunt in 1965. here and there, the cries of the wound- numerous operations in 1924, the Patryn, recalled, “I ran into the building, Piotr Korczyński, ed. And then – silence that foreshadows League of Nations decided to grant the southeastern part of which was in ru- historian, publicist, journalist for yet another calamity. Hope and doubt, the Republic of Poland an area at the ins. There, a nurse sister came running to Polska Zbrojna. Historia quarterly extreme exhaustion, but also a sense mouth of the Dead Vistula River to Continuation on the next page Special edition / 2019 September 1 – The 80th Anniversary of WWII Outbreak 4

They attacked again before noon. First, Schleswig-Holstein started shooting again, then the infantry moved on. The defenders lost the 76.2-mm gun, which made it easier for the Germans to fire at the depot from the buildings in Nowy Port. Moreover, Lieutenant Leon Pająk, who successfully commanded the “Prom” outpost, was seriously injured; but the Poles again repulsed the attack. The second German strike came to a halt at 12.30 p.m. On the Polish side, the first-day fight losses balance account was four dead and ten wounded. The Germans lost forty soldiers, and tens were incapable of fur- ther fighting. At the same time, they were strongly surprised by such strong Polish A Polish guard at the gate of the Military resistance. The defenders of the depot Transit Depot on Westerplatte in the showed that they were well prepared, and Free City of Danzig (1926) extremely determined to fight. the Gulf of Gdansk. A depot that would Air Raid Didn’t facilitate the reloading of weapons and Break Them ammunition was to be built there. The The real hell was about to begin, though. League agreed that the facility should be The Germans assumed that they would guarded by a unit of maximum 88 soldiers; take Westerplatte in stride. That is why however, they could not wield heavy the first day of Polish resistance surprised weapons. Along with the expansion of the them so much. They had to cool down new Polish port of Gdynia, the military after it, and reach for completely different importance of the depot diminished. The Westerplatte sign shot through by the Germans. On the photo: the 2nd Battalion of the 18th means. They called on the Luftwaffe Polish army's presence on Westerplatte, Infantry Regiment Museum Group of Historical Recontruction, active from 1998 for support. The first of the 58 Junkers however, retained its prestigious character. in Sochaczew with Jakub Wojewoda as a leader started to arrive over the Polish depot “It emphasized the Polish rights to at 6 p.m. The next few dozen minutes Gdańsk and Polish presence in this part cannot be described in any cool way. Suffice of the Baltic coast,” recalled the Polish it to say that in that time on a piece of land historian Jan Szkudliński in an interview of the width from 200 to 500 meters the for the polska-zbrojna.pl portal. aircraft dropped 26.5 tons of bombs! One of them, weighing half a ton, completely Don’t Be Taken smashed guardhouse number 5, killing by Surprise! seven and seriously wounding two more Soldiers from Westerplatte were aware Polish soldiers. Other bombs damaged that they were a Polish bridgehead in an the barracks, destroyed the mortars, and increasingly hostile territory. In the first broken telephone communications. The half of the 1930s, the Ministry of Military air raid was to finally break the morale Affairs prepared a plan for them in the of the defenders. The Germans were so event of a German coup in the Free City convinced of their victory that they did of Danzig. If the Germans had captured not plan another attack. the city and hit the depot, the post would The events that took place on Wes- have to defend itself – up to twelve hours at terplatte after that air attack are still the most. Then the military relief should concealed in a veil of mystery. It is said come by land or sea. However, in the sum- that a white flag flew over the barracks mer of 1939, it was already clear that the Capt Franciszek Dąbrowski at the briefing of the officer and non-commissioned personnel of for a moment, but it was quickly torn Germans did not intend to limit them- the Westerplatte Military Transit Depot (1939) off. It is said that the commander of the selves to Gdańsk. They wanted a great war. depot, Major Sucharski, suffered such Westerplatte had to get ready for it. Was this the case in fact? It is difficult and concrete? Can it show the bustle a strong shock that his deputy, Captain The crew of the depot was secretly rein- to tell as we do not know the exact course of soldiers, express the snoring sound of Dąbrowski, had to take over the com- forced to the state of just over 200 soldiers. of that conversation. There is, howev- hasty commands? Can it tell us what was mand of the facility. It is said that there It also received more weapons, including er, one thing that is certain: the Polish going on right next door, on a piece of was a fierce conflict between the officers, a 76.2-mm gun, two 37-mm anti-tank watchtower on Westerplatte was vigilant enemy-surrounded land that had fallen which reached its peak after the air raid. guns, and nearly 20 heavy machine guns. and ready to fight back. It didn’t let the under the hurricane artillery fire? In this tangle of facts and speculations Under the cover of night, the Polish crew Germans catch it by surprise! The Germans attacked at 4.48 in the one fact iss certain: the Poles still defend- built additional entanglements and fortifi- morning. First, there was the ring of elev- ed Westerplatte. cations, and cut down trees that could hin- Poles Resist First en guns of the Schleswig-Holstein that at der fire. Before the war, the fortifications Attacks the end of August came to Gdańsk under Order Has Been of Westerplatte consisted of modern bar- The Schleswig-Holstein battleship the pretense of a courtesy visit. In total, Carried Out racks surrounded by a system of five con- stands in the harbor canal. It faces Wes- on that day, the battleship’s guns “spoke” For the following days, the German crete guardhouses with the so-called out- terplatte with its side, and clouds of black three times – for seven, thirty seven, and infantry conducted reconnaissance by posts in the foreground. There was also an smoke hover over its powerful cannons. twenty six minutes. Only during the first fighting. Its short excursions were to anti-tank barrage, rows of entanglements It has just started firing. This is one strike, a few hundred missiles of various check the defenders’ vigilance, make and so-called stumbling blocks against of the most famous photographs from caliber were fired at Westerplatte. them tired, and stifle them. The Poles infantry; fortifications made of wood and September 1939. It documents the mo- When the firing from the battleship were being shot at from mortars and field soil. On August 31, Major Henryk Such- ment of transition between silence and ceased, special troops of German marines guns, from deck cannons of the battleship arski, who commanded the depot, was to noise, peace and war, the old and the new and SS Heimwehr Danzig set off to at- and machine guns set up on the buildings hear from Lieutenant Colonel Wincenty world. A moment that changed almost tack from the land – in total, about 200 behind the port canal. On September 4, Sobociński, Head of the Military Depart- everything in the history of Europe. soldiers. The assault was directed at the the bullets that came from the Gulf of ment of the Polish General Commissariat At the same time, this yellowed picture “Prom” outpost. Yet, the Poles managed Gdańsk fell on the peninsula. They were in the Free City of Danzig, that the next does not actually convey anything. In fact, to stop it. The operators of the largest fired from a 100-millimeter cannon of the day Germans were to attack, and he must can a paper picture tell the story of the Polish gun on Westerplatte destroyed T-196 torpedo boat and from the Von not be caught off guard. It is said that the 330-kg bullet whizz slashing the silence several nests of German heavy machine der Groeben minesweeper. On Septem- Major also learned that he should expect of the morning air and of the powerful guns. The Germans withdrew after an ber 6, the Germans made two attempts no relief. explosion tearing up tons of earth, steel hour and a half. to set fire to the forest that covered 5 September 1 – The 80th Anniversary of WWII Outbreak Special edition / 2019

Westerplatte. Cisterns filled to the brim with oil were rolled into the peninsula. However, the defenders running on the rest of their strength triumphed once again. They were helped by an accurate shot from a 37-mm cannon and a massive fire of their machine guns. On September 7, at 4.30 a.m., Schleswig-Holstein again opened fire; the MMGs clattered silently; the German infantry approached the depot walls; their flamethrowers sprouted fire. A hail of bullets fell on them from the Polish fortifications. The Germans were forced to withdraw by a few hundred meters. After a while, however, they stroke again. Hitler himself had allowed for a general assault attack to wipe Polish defenders to dust. Meanwhile, the Polish “Pomerania” Army already retreated to the south, towards Warsaw; whereas Gdynia, Kępa Oksywska and Hel Peninsula kept fighting on fiercely – besieged from all sides; the commonly expected aid from France and Great Britain never came. The Polish soldiers on Westerplatte were already very exhausted; the wounded were in a terrible condition. The enemy still had a crushing advantage. But the order had been carried out – not twelve hours, but six days of Polish resistance passed at dawn that day... On September 7, at 10.15 a.m., Major Sucharski gathered a group of officers. He had decided – “We surrender.” Along with two soldiers, he took the white flag and set off to the German side.

Westerplatte Fights Aftermath While defending Westerplatte, about 20 Polish soldiers died, nearly 40 were wounded. The Germans lost a few tens of soldiers. Most probably, 100–150 German soldiers suffered injuries, although, according to some estimates, A twelve-year old Kazimiera Kostewicz (Mika) leaning over the body of her older sister Andzia, killed by German aviator. The area of the this number could reach a few hundred. Powązki Cemetery at Tatarska street in Warsaw's Wola district, September 14, 1939. Photo by Julien Bryan, American reporter After the battle, the Polish soldiers were sent to POW camps. Major Sucharski, who died in Italy in 1947, was allowed by the Germans to carry a saber in captivity. They began to call Westerplatte kleines Verdun (“little Verdun”). The Defense of Westerplatte remained a symbol of soldierly courage, generosity WARSAW CRIES and a sense of duty. It is also an illustra- tion of good defense organization, which allowed for effective resistance against an In one of the most moving photographs of September 1939, attack of a much stronger enemy. the photographer captured a desperate girl leaning over the Łukasz Zalesiński massacred body of her elder sister lying on the grass. The woman was a victim of one of Hitler’s sky-high knights who never missed an opportunity to sow death with their modern machines.

rom the first days of the war, War- of the best formations of Polish aviation number of victims could be much higher, saw became one of the main targets – Colonel Stefan Pawlikowski’s Pursuit can be the air raid on the Jewish quarter Fof the Luftwaffe. The capital of Po- Brigade. However, on September 7, it was on September 22–23, during the Yom land was a fortress for the German com- moved to the region of Lubelszczyzna, Kippur, the holiest days of the year in Ju- mand, as the army was stationed there. For and a day later the enemy armored units daism. For the citizens of Warsaw, how- this reason, as General Johannes Blaskow- approached the capital of Poland. ever, the worst was only to come. itz put it, a blind bombardment of the From that moment, the Germans in- On September 25, 1939, at 7.10 a.m., an center of the city with over one million in- tensified their air raids. Again, the Ger- observer from the anti-aircraft defense habitants was not a war crime. The Com- man pilots proved that their favorite tar- post on the roof of the State Social Insur- mander-in-Chief of Luftwaffe, Marshal gets were hospitals and churches clearly ance Institution at Kopernika street no- Herman Goering, planned a similar to marked with the Red Cross sign. On the ticed an approaching wave of bombers. He the air raid on Wieluń attack on War- bloody Sunday of September 17, at Hit- counted that there were about 150 of them; saw, but those intentions were fortunate- ler’s personal request, the air force aircraft they were flying at a high altitude. A mo- ly thwarted by the fog prevailing at many and the artillery destroyed the symbols of ment later, hell broke loose over Warsaw. German airports. In the first week of the Warsaw – bombs fell on, in particular, the For twelve hours, 1,200 German bomb- Surrender. Gen Friedrich Georg Eberhardt aggression, German pilots could not boast Royal Castle, St. John’s Cathedral in the ers, wave after wave, dropped nearly 630 pays tribute to the Polish commander on of too many victories over the city. War- Old Town, and the National Theatre. The tons of demolition and incendiary bombs Westerplatte, Maj Henryk Sucharski saw had an effective anti-aircraft defense, proof that religious holidays were impor- on the capital. More than two hundred (September 7, 1939) and the sky above it was defended by one tant for the Luftwaffe, because then the fires broke out in the city. The Germans Continuation on the next page Special edition / 2019 September 1 – The 80th Anniversary of WWII Outbreak 6 did not spare medical facilities; bombs noted, “the air force dropped bombs on dropped on the Holy Spirit Hospital and barricades and fired at barricades in the injured 700 patients, most of whom died. streets with their machine guns. For the The main streets of Śródmieście district first time in the history of wars – aircraft – Nowy Świat, Marszałkowska, Królews- fought against barricades.” On that occa- ka, Chmielna streets – were set ablaze... sion, the Luftwaffe also bombed its own Crushing the SS “Germania” Regiment The city was shrouded in thick clouds of infantry positions in the northwestern smoke and dust, into which subsequent city suburbs, which caused such a fierce bombers dropped their deadly charge argument between the army and Luft- The Germans were sure of their technical blindly. “It was dark,” recalled Doctor waffe commanders that the Führer him- advantage, which was confirmed already Ludwik Hirszfeld, “from the smoke of self had to intervene. On that Black, or fires and soot; the houses were shaking Wet Monday, as the inhabitants of War- in the first days of the war, but they were and collapsing. People were running from saw called it ironically, 10,000 people died afraid of bayonet attack of Polish soldiers. house to house, from shelter to shelter, it and 35,000 were wounded. In total, the Once Poles managed to break through was pure madness. Lying on the streets – siege of Warsaw brought death to 40,000 the killed and the wounded; horses next to civilians, the destruction of one tenth, the firewall of machine guns and artillery, people. This is how the end of the world and the damage to two fifths of the houses nothing could stop them. may look like.” This was not enough, of the Polish capital. however; as an Italian war correspondent Piotr Korczyński hese kind of attacks were even of Upper Silesia, where over 150 people more dangerous when enemy were murdered. For those and similar T was taken by surprise, as experi- combat deeds, part of the regiment paid AMERICAN REPORTER enced by the SS-men from the SS-Stan- a high price, and indeed paid quite soon, darte “Germania” Regiment, as- already in the night of September IN BESIEGED WARSAW signed to the Wehrmacht 15/16, 1939, in Mużyłowice in units, which were block- Małopolska. It was this Bryan and Kazimiera shortly ing General Kazimi- town that became the after the photo was taken erz Sosnkowski’s arena for Nemesis “Małopolska” on that fatal for the Army divisions the Germans night. way to besieged by the Germans Fix Lviv, the capital Bayonets! of the Little Po- At his briefing land [Małopolska] on September 15 region. in Sądowa Wisznia, In the actions of currently located in Hitler’s elite mech- COL BRONISŁAW Ukraine, General anized guard regi- PRUGAR-KETLING Sosnkowski decided ment, the “Germania” Col Bronisław Prugar-Ketling to break through with soldiers had more ex- (1891–1948), the Commander of the his army to Lviv. For ecutions than combat 11th Carpathian Infantry Division, the commanders of his achievements to their whose soldiers smashed the German SS subordinate divisions, credit. During the first “Germania” Regiment near Mużyłow- this meant giving orders three days of the war, ice in Eastern Little Poland region; to attack the German the regiment stationed then the Commander of the Polish units blocking their in Gliwice, in the Ger- 2nd Infantry Rifle Division which way. In the evening of man Upper Silesia; on he led in the French campaign in 1940; that day, the regiments September 4, it moved unwilling to capitulate before the Ger- of the 11th Carpathian to Sosnowiec in the mans, he crossed the Swiss border; Infantry Division led Dąbrowa Basin, aban- in 1945, he returned to Poland. by Colonel Bronisław doned by the Polish Photo: early 1930s Prugar-Ketling and Army, where it imme- the 38th Reserve diately became involved in the arrests and Infantry Division led by Colonel Alojzy ulien Bryan was a well-known “When I was photographing the bod- executions carried out by the German Wir-Konas set off for battle. The American reporter who documented ies, a ten-year-old girl came running, Operational Group (Einsatzgruppe I). German mountain riflemen and mo- Jeveryday lives of people around and stood – as if paralyzed – over one of The SS-men from “Germania” partic- torized SS-men were struck by waves the world. In the summer of 1939, he the dead. The dead woman was her old- ipated in mass executions in the Pane- of Polish infantry. The greatest bat- stayed in Romania. When he found er sister. The child had never seen death wicki Forest near Katowice, the capital tle credit in that clash fell to the 49th out about the outbreak of war, he before, and could not understand why immediately boarded a train and set off her sister did not speak to her. from Bucharest to Warsaw. He reached ‘What happened!,’ she screamed. She the capital of Poland at the last moment, leaned over, touched the dead girl’s on September 7. He stayed there for face, and stepped back in horror. ‘Oh, two weeks, and the result of his work my beautiful sister!,’ she sobbed, ‘What They Bore Witness to was more than six hours of film tape, have they done to you! You are so ugly!’ and 700 photos. In 1940, he edited the Then, after a few seconds, ‘Please, talk famous documentary, Siege, on the basis to me! Please, please! What will happen of the collected material. From Warsaw, to me without you!’ The child looked the Russian Crime on the waves of the Polish Radio, he at us stunned. I held her shoulder and asked U.S. President Franklin Delano hugged her tightly, trying to comfort The participants of delegations organized by the Germans Roosevelt for aid to Warsaw inhabitants her. She cried. I cried, the two officers in 1943, which were to certify the responsibility of the dying under German bombs. Some of who were with me cried too. What could Russians for the murder of Polish officers in Katyn, became his photographs were published on the we, or anyone else, tell this child?” inconvenient witnesses to the authorities of the Soviet Union. covers of world newspapers at that time, The girl who, as it turned out, sur- becoming a permanent fixture in the vived the war, was Kazimiera Kostewicz. fter the war, they were accused of After discovering the graves of Polish officers in history of Polish wartime photography. They found each other after the war, as collaborating with the Germans, Katyn in the spring of 1943, German authori- On September 14, during his trip to the she answered Bryan’s advertisement Ahunted by way of wanted persons ties organized delegations that visited the crime northern suburbs of the capital, near which he placed in 1958 in Warsaw’s lists, and imprisoned in their native coun- scene. What was their purpose? the Powązki Cemetery, he started to “Express Wieczorny,” looking for he- tries that fell under Russian occupation; The Germans wanted to exploit the mur- photograph the bodies of people killed roes of his photographs taken during some of them died in unexplained circum- der of Polish officers by the Soviets to pro- in the air raid. As he mentioned later, the siege of Warsaw. żur stances,” says Tadeusz Wolsza, a historian voke a conflict between the Western Allies specializing in modern history. and the allied Soviet Union. In order to 7 September 1 – The 80th Anniversary of WWII Outbreak Special edition / 2019 Crushing the SS “Germania” Regiment Hutsul Rifle Regiment they had faced for the first Prugar-Ketling noted that Hitler had under the command of and last time in their gotten furious when he had heard about Lieutenant Colonel lives. The corpses the massacre of his regiment, and had Karol Hodała. When of SS-men, which ordered to remove it from the army General Prugar was Polish officers saw status list. In reality, however, most of informed by one after the battle, the regiment’s forces got concentrated of the local in- looked horribly. already on September 17; then, they were habitants that “The terror, in deployed to cover the wings of the 17th there was a staff of the midst of which Army Corps, and they remained in that an SS-unit in they died, never capacity until the end of the campaign in Mużyłowice, situ- faded from their fac- Poland. After the end of the fighting in ated near Wisznia es,” wrote Prugar in 1939, all the “Germania” troops reunited, Sądowa, he ordered GEN KAZIMIERZ his report after the and the regiment was moved to the Lieutenant Colonel SOSNKOWSKI battle. territory of the Protectorate of Bohemia Hodała to capture the Gen Kazimierz Sosnkowski (1885– and Moravia, which was annexed to the village during a night 1969), the Commander of the Southern One-of-a-Kind German Reich. In the following years of attack. At the same time, Front in September 1939. After the Victory the war, “Germania” was a part of the 5th he ordered the soldiers unsuccessful rescue of Lviv, which Colonel Prugar- SS Panzer Division “Wiking.” to unload their weapons. capitulated to the besieging the city with Ketling reached This was to assure a mo- the Germans Russian troops, he crossed the battlefield inAftermath ment of surprise for the the green border to Hungary, and then Mużyłowice only at The victory over “Germania” and other attack, which could have to France. From 1940, dawn. “In the ever- units of the German 1st Mountain Division been lost by an acciden- he stayed in England with the Polish brighter smudges of lifted the morale of General Sosnkowski’s tal or premature shot. government, and in 1943–1944, he the morning dawn, soldiers. However, they did not have much Lieutenant Colonel was the Commander-in-Chief of the we could distinguish time to rejoice in the victory. The next Hodała’s soldiers were Polish Army; then, he emigrated to houses, trees, fences, heavy battles awaited them on the way to like ghosts when they Canada where he died in 1969. and then... cannons, “the most faithful city,” – as Sosnkowski pounced on the SS- caissons, tractors, cars – called Lviv during the briefing in Sądowa men after midnight on September 16. single ones at first – then groups, then whole Wisznia. On the night of September 20– They would prick them with bayonets in parks. We did double take to make sure it 21, 1939, Colonel Prugar dissolved his 11th total darkness and in silence occasionally wasn’t an illusion. A large, rich village, Carpathian Infantry Division, ordering the interrupted by a German machine gun, with wide courtyards and gardens, was soldiers to scatter and push in small groups hushed right away by acting under com- flooded with equipment and war material towards the southern border, to Hungary. bat frenzy Polish soldiers. The Germans to the brim.” In Mużyłowice, “Germania” Some of the soldiers, including the Colo- were so terrified, they did not even try to lost almost all heavy equipment, including nel himself, managed to get to France; but Paradoxically, the defeat of Hitler’s ask for mercy. They died in an attack they eight 105-mm howitzers, an anti-aircraft most of them were taken prisoner by the SS-minions was exploited by their Wehr- had not expected, and the kind of which gun battery, most mortars and machine Soviets and Germans. Lieutenant Colonel macht competitors. Its superior com- guns, and all cars. Hodała, awarded with a Virtuti Militari manders, hostile to the SS, emphasized in Unfortunately, the heavy equipment order, thus the highest Polish military or- their reports the inadequate training and could not be used due to the lack of der, was one of the officers of that division lack of experience of the SS-men. The properly trained drivers and soldiers. murdered by the Russian NKVD in 1940. defeat of “Germania” was a strong asset Thus, the bomb squad destroyed it on The soldiers and the few officers who sur- in spoiling the blood of Reichsführer-SS the spot. For the SS-men, though, the vived Russian captivity found themselves in Heinrich Himmler, who had to admit that loss of people was much more painful. the ranks of the Polish Army in the USSR, his subordinates still lacked much to join High-ranked officers died from the blows which was formed in the Soviet Russia the military elite of the German army, of Polish bayonets, and the regiment’s by General Władysław Anders. This was and the fanaticism and experience gained panicked staff escaped from the village; made possible by the aggression of Ger- during the genocide of Polish civilians was its German soldiers scattered around the many against Russia in June 1941, thanks not enough to fight against the good and Remains of the German SS Regiment whole area took a few days to gather. to which Poland transited unexpectedly, determined soldiers – the subordinates of “Germania” in Mużyłowice in Eastern In his memoirs written during the for a short time, from an enemy to an ally of General Kazimierz Sosnkowski. Little Poland region (September 1939) internment in Switzerland, General the Russians. Piotr Korczyński

do so, however, they had to convince the the Netherlands, Finland, the Protector- world that the Soviets were responsible for ate of Bohemia and Moravia, Romania, the crime, especially since the authorities of Slovakia, Hungary, Italy, and also neutral KATYN MASSACRE the Soviet Union immediately accused the Switzerland. However, doctors invited s a consequence of the Russian 26,000 persons from among Polish Third Reich of committing it. They need- from Spain, Portugal, Sweden and Tur- aggression against Poland prisoners of war and political prisoners ed an independent and credible institution key did not reach Katyn. From April 28 to A in September 1939, tens of who were deemed potential enemies and that would examine the bodies, establish April 30, the members of the commission thousands of officers and soldiers of the who constituted the elite of the Polish the date of the crime, and identify the per- carried out their work in Katyn, setting Polish Army were taken prisoner, and nation. The mass murder took place petrators. They turned to the International the date of the crime, i.a. on the basis of another tens of thousands of civilians, in April and May 1940. The bodies of Committee of the Red Cross, which, how- examining the sediment formed on the reservists and professional soldiers were about 4,400 victims, Polish officers ever, refused to send a delegation to Katyn. corpses of the murdered. The dates on let- imprisoned after the annexation of from the Kozielsk POW camp located in ters, photographs, newspapers, notes and eastern Polish territories by the Soviet Western Russia, were discovered in 1943 Why? diaries found with the bodies did not go Union. Upon the decision of the Political by the Germans who occupied the area All interested parties would have to beyond March 1940, indicating that the Bureau of the Central Committee of the after their aggression against Russia one agree to such a survey, and one of them was executions had taken place in the spring Communist [Bolshevik] Party of the and a half years earlier. The corpses of the Soviet Union, which, of course, did of 1940, which proved that the crimes Soviet Union (the Politburo) of March the restrained victims, piled up in layers, not agree. The Germans then formed an were committed by the Soviets. Having 1940, signed, inter alia, by Joseph killed by shots to the back of the head International Medical Committee (called concluded their work, the commission Stalin, Vyacheslav Molotov, the Soviet and blows of bayonets, were resting in the Katyn Commission), which included prepared a report, pointing to the Soviets Foreign Minister, and Mikhail Kalinin, several mass graves in the vicinity of over a dozen prominent forensic specialists as the perpetrators. Slightly earlier, dele- the nominal leader of the Soviet Union, Katyn near Smolensk. from the countries occupied by the Third gations of journalists had arrived in Katyn; it was decided to murder at once about żur Reich – Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, the first one came from neutral countries – Continuation on the next page Special edition / 2019 September 1 – The 80th Anniversary of WWII Outbreak 8

Spain, Switzerland, and Sweden. In total, and François Naville was similar, although in the spring of 1943, the graves in Katyn not so dramatic. Their research careers in were visited by a few hundred civilians and Italy and Switzerland were for some time over 30 thousand Wehrmacht soldiers. hindered by communist intervention. The sight of the bodies of Poles murdered by the NKVD was supposed to encourage Were other members also repressed for having them to fight more courageously against been on the Katyn Commission? the Red Army. Yes, almost all of them, to some extent. After the war, some of them, including Was the report of the International Katyn a Czech, František Hájek, and a Bulgar- Commission signed by all the doctors? ian, Marko Markov, ended up in coun- Yes, all of them, and it wasn’t forced by tries occupied by Russia. Both of them, the Third Reich. The Germans gave this accused of collaboration and threatened document the widest possible publicity by with the death penalty, withdrew their bringing it out in the form of a book in signatures from the minutes of the Inter- Germany and occupied France. Further- national Katyn Commission and declared more, each member of the commission that the murder had been committed by talked about the crime in their own coun- the Germans. František Šubik of Slova- tries – giving interviews, writing articles, or kia refused to change his decision despite participating in scientific conferences. being imprisoned for two years and, after his release in 1952, fled abroad. Professor The scholars also took from Katyn things such as Ferenc Orsós, President of the Hun- fragments of ropes with which the hands of the garian Medical Chamber, also fled his officers were tied, their shoulder pads and but- country. He then abandoned his medical tons, and Dr. Helge Tramsen, a Danish surgeon, profession and became a painter, using took away the skull of one of the murdered... motifs connected with the case of Katyn Dr Tramsen of the Copenhagen Depart- as a basis for his paintings. ment of Forensic Medicine obtained per- mission from the Danish resistance move- What happened to Mackiewicz and Goetel? ment to travel to Katyn, and on his way They both fled to Italy. The Peer Tri- back to Denmark, he smuggled the shot- The corps of Polish officer exhumated by the Germans in Katyn in 1943.On the left, an arm of bunal of the Association of Polish Jour- through skull of one of the victims, Major a person supporting the corps for picture taking nalists cleared Mackiewicz of the accusa- Ludwik Szymański. The skull remained at tion of collaborating with the Germans. the Department, and only after sixty years he reiterated that the Soviet Union was return, also produced a report. It is worth In 1948, the writer participated in the did they manage to find the son of this of- responsible for the Katyn massacre. The noting that the reports prepared from the edition of the publication Katyn Crime ficer, Jerzy Szymański, who resided in Aus- document in question was classified by Soviet crime scene were sent to the Polish in the Light of Documents, and a year tralia. Upon his request, the remains of his the American authorities. government in London quite promptly later he published his own book on the father were buried in the Katyn Chapel of by the authorities of the Polish Under- crime in German. The attempt to publish the Field Cathedral of the Polish Army. The Germans also organized visits to Katyn for ground State. the work in the USA was unsuccessful. journalists and writers from occupied Europe, Both positions played an important role If the blame of the USSR had been confirmed who were later to spread information about the The graves of the Polish officers were also seen in spreading the truth about the Soviet by specialists, what was the purpose of sending crime in their countries. Józef Mackiewicz, by Robert Brasillach, a French poet and prose Union’s responsibility for that murder. a delegation of allied prisoners of war to Katyn a Polish writer and publicist, who had been writer. Goetel wrote many articles on the subject in May 1943? previously sentenced to death by the Polish un- During the German occupation, Bra- and carried out an invaluable interview Most of the doctors and journalists came derground court, was among them. sillach wrote for the collaborative Parisian with Ivan Krivoziercev, a Russian peasant from European countries occupied by He was accused of collaborating with daily “Je suispartout.” The Germans asked living near Katyn, who in the spring of Germany, so they could be unreliable for the Germans. Mackiewicz allegedly him to visit Katyn, hoping for his involve- 1940 witnessed the NKVD bringing Pol- the United States or the United Kingdom. wrote a few anti-communist articles in ment in proclaiming the guilt of the Rus- ish officers to the Katyn forest in trucks; To confirm that Polish officers were killed 1941 for the German-controlled Pol- sians. In fact, many of his texts on the sub- he also heard from the local people about by the Soviets, the Germans forced a group ish-language gutter newspaper published ject were later published in the French press. digging holes in the forest, and he fled of English-speaking prisoners to attend the in Vilnius, called Goniec Codzienny (the Not only his texts, for that matter. In gen- with his family to the West in 1944. He exhumation of the mass graves of Polish of- Vilnius Region, which today belongs to eral, we can say that Katyn was a “smash” of was murdered in 1947 in Great Britain. ficers. The eight-person group comprised Lithuania, was a part of Poland before the Parisian 1943 spring season. Brasillach Both writers also testified before a special officers from Great Britain and its subordi- the war; in 1939-1940 it was occupied by was arrested after the liberation of Paris and investigative committee of the Ameri- nate dominions, and two American officers: Lithuanians, in 1940-1941 by Russians, sentenced to death by shooting in January can Congress established in 1951 in the Lieutenant Colonel John Van Vliet Jr. and and from June 1941 by the Germans). 1945 for collaborating with the Third Re- USA to investigate the Katyn Massacre Captain Donald B. Stewart. Before going However, Sergiusz Piasecki, the head of ich. He was executed on February 6. There [precise name: The Select Committee to to Katyn, both of them were certain that the the underground cell executing sentenc- is an opinion that he was killed in an act of Conduct an Investigation and Study of Germans were behind the murder. es, refused to follow the order, because revenge of the communists for proclaim- the Facts, Evidence, and Circumstances he had doubts as to Mackiewicz’s guilt. ing the truth about Katyn, which is not of the Katyn Forest Massacre]. In total, What convinced them that the Germans were Then, Lieutenant Colonel Aleksander entirely accurate. I believe that his entire the committee, chaired by Congressman not lying? Krzyżanowski, Commander of the Vil- attitude presented during the war may be Ray Madden, interviewed several hundred The documents found in the graves, nius District of the Home Army [Polish considered reprehensible. He supported witnesses, including both officers from the as well as the barely worn out shoes and underground army], reviewed the case fascism and was fascinated with Hitler. USA and a number of doctors: Tramsen, uniforms. Of course, the findings of the file and decided to revoke the sentence. Moreover, he believed that only the Na- Orsós, Naville, Palmieri. In 1952, it pub- doctors and the talks with delegates of the In the spring of 1943, with the consent tional Socialist Germany could save Eu- lished a final report on its work, in which Polish Red Cross, who at that time were of the Polish underground authorities, rope from Bolshevism. it indicated that the Soviet Union was also staying in Katyn (the Red Cross or- Mackiewicz traveled to Katyn. At that responsible for the Katyn murder. ganization, as one of the very few legally time, the Technical Commission of the After the war, the participants of visits to Katyn Interview by Anna Dąbrowska existing Polish institutions, was permit- Polish Red Cross under the direction of became inconvenient witnesses for the Russians. ted to operate in the areas of Central Dr. Marian Wodziński also worked at the In Denmark, Dr. Helge Tramsen was Prof. Tadeusz Wolsza, Poland occupied by the Germans), also crime scene, exhuming and identifying harassed and accused of collaborating with historian and political contributed to that. Shortly afterwards, the murdered. After Mackiewicz’s return Germany. Nevertheless, he did not revoke scientist; specializes the American officers were sent to Oflag to Vilnius, Goniec Codzienny published his statements. He wrote articles on Katyn in Stalinist crimes (POW camp for officers) No. 64 in an interview with him under the title and was a guest of the Polish Section of in post-war Poland, Szubin near Bydgoszcz, on the Polish “I Saw It with My Own Eyes,” declaring Radio Free Europe. He also testified about and Katyn Massa- lands incorporated into the Reich, from the guilt of the Russians. Another dele- Katyn to a U.S. Congress committee. But cre history; his book where they would send encrypted mes- gation, supported by the Government he always feared Soviet revenge. In 1970, Encounter with sages concerning the Katyn massacre to Delegation for Poland, that is the under- his daughter Elizabeth arrived at the Cho- Katyn was awarded the US military intelligence service, con- ground government, acting in agreement pin Festival in Warsaw, where she died in in the Janusz Kurtyka firming the Soviet crime. After the liber- with the Polish Government-in-Exile, a car accident. Tramsen claimed that she Foundation competition, and in 2019 was ation of the camp in May 1945, Van Vliet was also attended by Ferdinand Goetel, had been murdered by Soviet agents, which published in USA thanks to the efforts filed a report with the Pentagon, in which a well-known Polish writer, who, after his seems likely. The fate of Vincenzo Palmieri of Carolina Academic Press 9 September 1 – The 80th Anniversary of WWII Outbreak Special edition / 2019

There Were Millions of Them – Victims of German Extermination Industry 1928-1943 1912-1943 CZESŁAWA KWOKA JAN MELLER WAR’S HELL SEEN BOXER WHO PUT HIS FOOT IN HER EYES DOWN TO THE NAZIS xpelled from her own house. First, n a pre-war Gdańsk, Jan Meller was an Edozens of hours spent in a cattle Ionboard mechanic on SS Polonia ship, wagon, standing. No food and drink, but which would regularly sail to New York. still with her mama. Then, the camp’s His passion, though, were daring fights gate. Guards yelling out, separated in a boxing ring. As a middleweight boxer, families crying. She wanted to be brave, he would score one victory after another. although now without her mama. Pushed When in 1939 the German troops entered 1894-1941 1917-1944 around, with her head shaved, wearing Gdańsk, Meller was placed on the Gestapo dirty, oversized striped uniform. She wanted list. He had to hide. He was caught, FATHER MAXIMILIAN ZUZANNA GINCZANKA stood in terror, looking in the angry face because he wanted to surprise his wife MARIA (RAJMUND) KOLBE (GINCBURG) of a shouting German female guard. She and children – right before Christmas of couldn't understand her screams, she was 1942, he visited home with his present, LIFE FOR LIFE POETESS. SUPERSTAR Polish. To punish her, the German guard a Christmas tree. When in prison, the My Dearest Mother, at the end of hen the war broke, one of her whipped the child’s face with her all might. Nazis gave him choice: German citizenship „May, I was transported to the camp W friends told her to always carry Wilhelm Brasse, who in Auschwitz would or death. His honor did not allow him to in Oświęcim. Don’t worry,” writes in 1941 poison with her. Zuzanna Ginczanka photograph prisoners for documentation, yield. He died, tormented in the Stutthof Father Maximilian Kolbe, a Franciscan al- (Sara Polina Gincburg), a young recalled that before Czesia sat down to concentration camp, walking on the so- ready at that time legendary in Poland. He poetess, was in a literary world of have her picture taken, she wiped her called “death path” organized by the camp becomes No. 16670. In July 1941, he was a prewar Poland like a fresh breeze. tears and blood off her face. Three guards. He had to keep on walking, and the standing on the camp’s roll-call square with Beautiful and talented. She was 22, when months later, Czesia Kwoka was killed German guards were beating him until he others. The SS-men were walking between the first German bombs fell on Poland. with a lethal phenol injection into her died of exhaustion. About how he died, his the rows of prisoners and selecting ten ran- She was hiding for months for the fear heart. She was almost 14, and had a wife and children found out by accident. dom people to be killed by starvation. One of of being recognized as Jewish. Gestapo tattooed number of 26947. She came to Several years after the war, a stove setter them was Franciszek Gajowniczek. He cried traced her in Kraków. After brutal Auschwitz in December 1942, in one of came to their house. He told them his camp in despair. Father Kolbe bravely approached interrogation, she admitted to being of the first transports from the region of memories. “I had a wonderful friend there, the surprised German soldiers, and said, Jewish origin. It was like signing her Zamość, which the occupants planned to Janek, who was a boxer, and who put his “I am a Catholic priest, and I want to die for death sentence. In May 1944, she was transform into the holiday region for the foot down to the Germans. Before he died, this man.” He was dying for two weeks. On sent to the camp in Płaszów. Probably Germans. During this operation, about he asked me to tell his family how he died August 14, he was finished off with a lethal right after she crossed the gate, she was 110,000 Poles were deported, including – but I don’t know where to find them,” he phenol injection into the heart. He is a Ro- shot to death. 30,000 children. said. The woman who was listening to him man Catholic Saint. fainted. She was the wife of Jan Meller. German Concentration Camps on Polish Territory The Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in Western Europe, American General Dwight D. Eisenhower, future President of the United States (1953–1961), after a visit to Buchenwald near Weimar, had the truth about German concentration camps Auschwitz-Birkenau German concentration documented on film. He then publicly promised that those guilty and extermination camp on the territory of Oświęcim. Sonderkommando (special unit of the crime would suffer well-deserved punishment. of prisoners) is burning the corps

s part of the re-education of the of human corpses have survived to this day. Military Tribunal. The Court recognized in the years 1939–1945, the total fatal German civilians who lived near “I felt as though I had peered into hell,” the crimes committed in German concen- losses of Polish citizens under German Athe places of execution, Eisen- said one of the cinematographers. Frag- tration camps as crimes against humanity occupation amounted to about 5,500,000 hower ordered a forced tour of the camps. ments of this film were used in the trial that are not time-barred. people, including about 2,800,000 citi- German Concentration Camps. Factu- of the Nazi leaders of the Third Reich zens of Jewish descent. The majority of al Survey was supposed to be the name in 1946 in the German city of Nurem- Camps in Poland Polish Jews died in concentration camps of a full-length documentary about the berg. The material evidence in the form After the outbreak of World War II on and death camps. Poland therefore suf- camps liberated in 1945. It was not fully of chronicles and witnesses’ testimonies September 1, 1939, the Germans built the fered the greatest loss of population in executed. The reconstruction of Europe about the German camps essentially con- largest network of concentration camps in the Second World War among the war- from war damage after the war was a pri- tributed to the indictment by Robert H. occupied Europe, serving the extermina- ring parties in terms of the total popula- ority. The film was to be completed later. Jackson, an American prosecutor, against tion of Poles and Jews. Soviet POWs were tion of the state. However, fragments of shocking images the German war criminals who managed held there, too; from 1943, Italian POWs The first transport of 135 Poles from from film chronicles with piles of skeletons to be brought before the International were also held there. It is estimated that the Free City of Danzig reached the Continuation on the next page Special edition / 2019 September 1 – The 80th Anniversary of WWII Outbreak 10 camp in Stutthof (Polish: Sztutowo) al- by the Third Reich and from European ready on September 2, 1939. In 1942, it countries allied with it. The extermina- was transformed into a concentration tion was carried out as part of the plan for camp – a place of murder of Jews, Poles the Final Solution of the Jewish Ques- and civilian prisoners of war. KL Stut- tion (Endlösung der Judenfrage). A year thof was the last such camp liberated by later, pseudo-medical experiments were the Red Army; the liberation took place carried out on prisoners, including on So- the day after the end of the war, on May viet prisoners of war, in that camp. 9, 1945. In the General Government, i.e. in the central areas of Poland which were Leben für Leben not incorporated directly into the Reich, Life for Life is the title of the famous the leaders of National Socialist Germa- feature film about Maximilian Kolbe, ny established three concentration camps: a Polish Conventual Franciscan friar, in Lublin in the district of Majdanek, who decided to give his life for Franciszek KL Warschau in Warsaw, commonly Gajowniczek in July 1941. Kolbe sacrificed known as “Gęsiówka”, and KL Plaszow his life for an unknown fellow prisoner, in Płaszów near Kraków. On the west- father of two sons, sentenced by the ern lands of Poland incorporated into the Germans together with other prisoners Reich, at the turn of May and June 1940, to starvation in retaliation for the escape the Konzentrationslager Auschwitz (lat- of one of the prisoners from the camp. er Auschwitz-Birkenau, Polish name: He died on August 14, 1941, finished off Oświęcim-Brzezinka) was established, with an injection of poison into his heart which later became the largest German in a bunker in Auschwitz. His body was Entry gate to the Auschwitz-Birkenau German concentration and extermination camp KZ-lager in occupied Europe. The first burned in the camp crematorium. for transports with prisoners. On railway track, scattered personal belongings of the victims prisoners of Auschwitz were of Polish ori- Gajowniczek recalled this moment as gin, while political prisoners were arrested follows: “Ten prisoners from my block children I am orphaning,” I went to the translator, ‘Was Was wunscht dieses for their conspiratorial activity – a trans- of flats were selected to die. The camp the end of the block. I was to go to the polnische Schwein?’ (‘What does this port of 728 people arrived there from the commander, Fritzsch, accompanied starvation death row. Father Maximilian Polish pig want [from me]?’). Father German prison in Tarnów on June 14, by Rapportführer Palitzsch, made Kolbe, a Franciscan from Niepokalanów, Maximilian Kolbe, pointing his hand 1940. From 1941, Auschwitz-Birkenau a “selection” (choice). The unfortunate heard those words. He came out of the at me, expressed his wish to go and die also served as an extermination center fate also befell me. With words, “Ah, ranks, approached Lagerführer Fritzsch instead of me. Lagerführer Fritzsch for Jews from the territories occupied I feel so sorry for my wife and the and tried to kiss his hand. Fritzsch asked moved his hand and said, ‘Heraus’ (‘Get

Mathematicians Who Saved Millions Marian Rejewski together with a group of cryptanalysts cracked the Enigma, a German rotor cipher machine.

In the mid-1920s, the German military the Polish Cipher Bureau shared their began coding their messages using knowledge about Enigma with the British the Enigma. The device consisted of and the French. After the war broke out, a 26-key keyboard and a set of rotors. the cryptanalysts were evacuated to Ro- Whenever a letter key on the keyboard mania, then to France, and finally to Brit- was pressed, a rotor turned, an electric ain where they kept working on cracking circuit was closed, and the letter was German codes. Breaking the Enigma replaced with a different one. Of course, code enabled the Allies to track move- it did not happen on a “one-to-one” ment of German forces. Today histo- basis. The rotors kept moving, and rians agree that due to their efforts, each letter could be substituted with the war lasted two or three years less a different letter each time it was used than anticipated. As a consequence, (e.g. an “a” could be replaced with a “z” millions of human lives were saved. and later with an “m”). The key to Rejewski ended his military career in deciphering the code was determining the Polish Armed Forces in the West as the initial setting of the rotors, and the a lieutenant. In 1946 he returned to Po- Germans changed the setting every day. land and worked as a clerk in a factory Counterintelligence specialists from in Bydgoszcz. He could not talk to his MARIAN REJEWSKI the Polish General Staff knew linguists friends about what he had done during would not be able to break the code. They the war as it was highly classified. He fi- Polish mathematician and cryptanalyst, needed mathematicians, and Capt Ciężki nally revealed the truth in 1967. At that Marian Rejewski (1905-1980), who in 1932 from the Polish Cipher Bureau decided to time, the Polish role in the breaking of the broke the code of German Enigma look for the most talented mathematicians Enigma code was marginalized and often at the Poznań University. Three young not even mentioned. Historians attribut- heir discovery enabled the Allies people were recruited: Marian Rejewski, ed success to British cryptanalysts from to track the movement of German Jerzy Różycki, and Henryk Zygalski. Bletchley Park. This false image was also T forces, end the war sooner, and In 1932 they broke the Enigma code, and reinforced by film makers and their work, save millions of lives. shortly after they even built a replica of e.g. the Hollywood production “Enigma” A young man is looking at us from the machine. The Germans were unaware with Dougray Scott and Kate Winslet. a black and white photo. A jacket, a tie, of the Poles’ success, but nevertheless kept Fortunately, this tendency is slowly a serious expression on his face, short improving their security measures. Polish changing. The merits of Marian Rejew- hair, and round glasses. First impression? mathematicians did not fall behind the ski were appreciated by the Americans He must be a clerk, maybe a scientist, German technology and built “Rejewski’s who posthumously awarded him with the and certainly a bookworm. No one would Bombe,” a special deciphering machine. It Knowlton Award, recognizing individu- Enigma encryption device used by the German guess that this inconspicuous guy had was a prototype later used and developed als who have contributed significantly to army from 1926 a huge impact on the course of World by a genius British mathematician, Alan the promotion of Military Intelligence. War II. Turing. In July 1939, mathematicians from Łukasz Zalesiński 11 September 1 – The 80th Anniversary of WWII Outbreak Special edition / 2019

October 25, 1944, and then was trans- platz, from where they were transported ported to the concentration camp in in a cattle wagon to Treblinka. In other Sachsenhausen near Berlin. In May death camps in central Poland, in Bełżec 1945, he and other prisoners were re- and Sobibór, the Germans murdered leased by the Americans. He lived to see nearly 2,000,000 people. Kolbe declared a saint of the Catholic Church by the Polish Pope John Paul II In Free Poland in 1982. Gajowniczek died in Poland in The memory of the victims of Ger- 1995 at the age of 94. man concentration and extermination camps is alive. There are museums and Jews memorial sites, the largest of which are Between 1941 and 1944, a total of in Oświęcim [Auschwitz] and Majdanek about 900,000 Jews were killed at in Lublin. The museum was established Auschwitz-Birkenau, half of whom were in November 1944, i.e. during the war, Hungarian Jews who were exterminated as the first museum commemorating in 1944 after Germany had seized the the victims of the Second World War in territory of their country. At the same Europe. To this day, Poland celebrates time, 202,000 people of other nationali- the anniversaries of the camp liberations. ties, especially Poles, Russians, and Rom- There are commemorative publications ani, died in Auschwitz. The total number and occasional exhibitions. All this to of victims of the two camps is 1,100,000. keep on reminding not to ever again re- The second largest and most signifi- peat the nightmare of the 20th-century Children prisoners, victims of the Auschwitz-Birkenau German Nazi concentration cant death camp in Poland was Treblin- concentration camps where – as Zofia and extermination camp ka in Podlasie. Between 1942 and 1943, Nałkowska, a prominent Polish writer, the Germans murdered 974,000 people wrote about war and occupation time – out’); he ordered me to step out of the impression that had overwhelmed me; there, including 300,000 Jews who lived in “people doomed people to this fate.” line of convicts, and my place was taken I, a convict, am to live on, and someone the Warsaw Ghetto. On August 6, 1942, Bogusław Kopka, by Father Maximilian Kolbe. A moment willingly and voluntarily sacrifices his Janusz Korczak, a famous Polish educa- historian and academic teacher, later, they were escorted to the death life for me. Am I dreaming or is it really tor and writer of Jewish descent, together author of Struggle and Suffering. Poland row, and we were ordered to leave to the happening...?” with 192 children from the Orphanage, of 1939–1945 (2019, with Paweł Kosiński); blocks. At that moment, it was difficult Gajowniczek, saved in that way, re- which he was the director, were taken by writes about WWII and post-war for me to realize the enormity of the mained in Auschwitz-Birkenau until the Germans to the Warsaw Umschlag- history of Poland

targeted by the Home Army intelligence service in February 1943. After the Allies destroyed the facility, the Germans relocated the production to the inland Reich, to the Harz Mountains. The rocket, They Saved with a range of nearly 400 km, which was fired from the occupied Netherlands, was used by the Germans to attack English cities. In 1944, they also bombed in this way Paris, Brussels, and Antwerp liberated by the Allies. During the war, 5,500 of these London missiles were fired, and caused the death of more than 7,000 people. The Home Army Intelligence deter- It was one of the most daring operations mined that the tests of new weapons were of the Home Army. Polish intelligence carried out by Germany on a training captured an unexploded ordnance of the ground in the region of Sarnaki in the Polish region of Podlasie. On May 20, famous V2 rocket, one of the greatest 1944, Polish partisans managed to seize military secrets of the Third Reich. a V2 unexploded ordnance. After disman- German V2 rocket tling the rocket, Janusz Groszkowski, bit after midnight, July 25 to chine took five passengers, including To- a Polish radio technician and engineer, minutes. When everything was ready, the 26, 1944. The whirr of a heavy masz Arciszewski, a politician of the Polish deciphered its control system, and Mar- pilot started the engines, but the aircraft Aairborne machine pierces the Socialist Party, who would become Prime cel Struszyński, a professor of chemistry wouldn’t start. Two take-off attempts silence of the night. A transport Dakota Minister of the Polish Government-in- at the Warsaw University of Technology, were unsuccessful. In despair, the soldiers C47 belonging to the British 267th RAF Exile in November that year. analysed the rocket’s propulsion. The V2 thought of burning down the machine. squadron appears over the meadows Most importantly, however, onboard plans, microfilms, results of analyses by Ultimately, it turned out that wet terrain of Tarnów. George Culliford, a New that aircraft – in the care of the Home Polish scientists and key parts of the mis- caused the machine to burrow into muddy Zealander, steers the beast. After a while, Army intelligence officer, Captain Jerzy sile were transported to London as part of ground. After unloading the aircraft, the machine lands on a secret airfield code- “Rafał” Chmielewski – a mysterious Operation Wildhorn III. trenches were dug under its wheels, planks named “Butterfly.” The door opens, and cargo was to be transported. British orders were placed, and after the third attempt the second pilot, Lieutenant Kazimierz gave the officer priority even over the Take-Off the Dakota set off. “In a few minutes, we Szrajer of the No. 1586 (Polish Special future prime minister. Hidden in special “First, the flight was prevented by heavy were in the air, taking the direction of Duties) Flight at RAF, appears at the containers and bags, the Captain carried rains, which drenched the airstrip. Then, the Tatra Mountains and Brindisi. The door. Operation Wildhorn III begins. data about Hitler’s secret weapon – the two German reconnaissance aircraft landed whole operation took almost an hour and “The aim of the flights to Poland from the V2 bomb, as well as parts of that missile, on ‘our’ meadows; they tested take-offs and a half instead of six minutes,” recalls the airport near Brindisi in the Italian region of intercepted by Polish intelligence. landings there. Fortunately, they flew away second pilot. Puglia was to transport couriers, soldiers, on July 24,” reported Lieutenant Colonel Stealing away the secret of Wunder- weapons, mail, and secret documents Secret Weapon Kabat, the commander of the grouping cov- waffe, a wonderful weapon, and giving it to between Great Britain and the occupied V2, Vergeltungswaffe-2 [Retaliation ering the landing field. At the last moment, the British was one of the most important country,” explains Marek Jankowski, Weapon No. 2] was the first in history just before the operation, in a nearby village, operations of Polish intelligence during a Polish historian. In 1944, two Operations ballistic missile. It was tested by the there appeared a squad of about a hundred the war. Its participants were believed to Wildhorn were organized: on the night of Germans in 1942, and its mass production German aviators with anti-aircraft cannons. have saved London. Such an inscription April 15–16, and on the night of May 29–30. was launched a year later. A secret military “We decided not to change the plan; we only can be found on the monument commem- That time, four people arrived in Poland, plant in Peenemünde (Polish: Pianoujście) got ready to respond to a possible attack,” orating them, erected in the area of the including the Polish Government-in-Ex- on the island of Uznam (German: recalled the deputy commander. muddy airfield near Tarnów. ile (which seated in London) emissary, Jan Usedom) on the southern coast of the Baltic The unloading and loading of Dakota Anna Dąbrowska, Nowak-Jeziorański. From Poland, the ma- Sea, where V2 was being developed, was itself took the Home Army a good few journalist for Polska Zbrojna Special edition / 2019 September 1 – The 80th Anniversary of WWII Outbreak 12 No. 303 Squadron During the Second World War, Polish pilots from No. 303 Squadron RAF destroyed at least 200 German aircraft. They were the most effective unit in the Battle of Britain. The Poles, praised by the British media, became legendary in their home country thanks to the famous book by Arkady Fiedler, Squadron 303, which has been Lt Mirosław Ferić, Capt John Kent (Canadian pilot, Squadron A commander), Lt Bohdan Grzeszczak, 2ndLt Lieutenant Jerzy Radomski, published more than thirty 2ndLt Jan Zumbach, 2ndLt Witold Łokuciewski, Lt Zdzisław Henneberg, Sgt Jan Rogowski, Sgt Eugeniusz Szaposznikow (1940) times in Poland.

Never in the field of human “In the decisive moments of the Battle of published more than thirty times in Polish Zdzisław Krasnodębski, who had earned conflict was so much owed by Britain, a huge number of aircraft operat- (the first four editions were published in the rank of colonel, lived in Great Britain, so many to so few,” said British ed in the sky. In such conditions, it is often Poland under German occupation, as un- the Republic of South Africa, and Canada. Prime Minister Winston Churchill refer- difficult to decide which aircraft hit the derground editions), as well as in English, For some time, he worked as a driver, then ring to the pilots taking part in the 1940 enemy. The situation is dynamic; there is French, Portuguese, Dutch and German. as an inspector in an aviation company. An- Battle of Britain. The pilots of 303 Squad- also stress,” explains Śliżewski. “During “In total, all of them sold in over a million other commander, Witold Urbanowicz, ron were particularly proud of that recog- such aerial battles, it often happens that copies, and the book had been on the list of who at the end of his life was promoted to “nition. Their contribution to saving the a couple of pilots report shooting down the school required readings for years. Now, it the rank of Brigadier General, was arrested United Kingdom was invaluable. In a clash same aircraft. So I wouldn’t argue much is a supplementary reading,” reminds the during a visit to Poland after the war by of- with the power of the Luftwaffe, the Ger- about that,” he adds.British newspapers writer’s son. The pilots of the squadron ficers of the Security Office, a communist man Air Force, they proved to be the most reported the achievements of Poles with confirmed their mastery during the fight- political police, but once released, he man- effective unit of the Royal Air Force. appreciation; they were widely acclaimed by ing offensive over France, Operation Over- aged to return to the West. He lived in the The history of 303 Squadron began on the public radio. However, Arkady Fiedler, lord, i.e. the Normandy landings, the in- United States and worked in the aerospace August 2, 1940. It was then that a squad- a Polish writer and traveller, contributed the vasion of Germany. They also took part in industry. On the other hand, Jan Zum- ron, which inherited the tradition of the 1st most to building their legend. “My father Operation Big Ben, which consisted in de- bach, who earned the rank of lieutenant Air Force Regiment stationed in Warsaw was in England at the time, and thought it stroying the V1 rocket launcher. Over time, colonel, chased the life of an adventurer and before the war, was formed on the terri- was a fantastic story. While Poland was un- the Hurricane Hawkers were replaced by troublemaker. As a mercenary, he arranged tory of London’s Northolt. “Most of its der occupation, our boys beat up Germans Spitfire fighters, and at the end of the war, the aviation of the Congolese Katanga and pilots came from Warsaw and took part in and everyone talked about them there,” the unit was equipped with Mustangs. The Nigerian Biafra, and fought against the September 1939 Warsaw defense battles. recalls Arkady Jr., the writer’s son. “He set 303 Squadron pilots completed their last government forces of the Congo, Nigeria, After the September defeat, they served out to write a book about them. He headed task at the end of April 1945. In total, dur- and even the UN air force. He died in Paris in France. Then, they were to face the off to see General Sikorski, although he was ing the Second World War, they shot down in unexplained circumstances. Germans again,” emphasizes Grzegorz convinced that there was already a consid- over 200 German planes. “There were 238 Today, the traditions of the squadron Śliżewski, who has authored historical erable contingent of war correspondents in pilots passing through the squadron,” notes are inherited by the 23rd Tactical Air books about the squadron’s pilots. line. It turned out that he was the first one. Śliżewski. More than 40 of them died, and Force Base near Minsk Mazowiecki, The 303 Squadron pilots were to reach He was allowed to go to Northolt, where he ten were taken prisoner. Poles lost 90 ma- a town located east of Warsaw. The fight- their combat readiness on August 31. was warmly welcomed by the pilots,” says chines. No. 303 Squadron was disbanded on ers have been painted with images of the They had their first score, however, ... Fiedler. That is how the book Squadron December 11, 1946. Most of its pilots de- most renowned WWII pilots. a day before. During the training flight, 303 was conceived; a book that has been cided to emigrate. The First Commander, Łukasz Zalesiński Lieutenant Witold Paszkiewicz noticed the enemy’s planes. He disconnected his Hawker Hurricane from the three-ma- THE “ZWIASTUN” PROGRAM chine formation, and shot down the Ger- man Messerschmitt. Less than a month For over two years now, the Polish National Foundation (PNF) has been implementing the “Zwiastun" (“Herald”) later, he died in a dogfight. He was buried educational program for NATO soldiers stationing in Poland. “The program is to present Poland as a modern, safe in Northwood, and posthumously pro- country which is developing all the time, but which also remembers its history,” assures Cezary Andrzej Jurkiewicz, moted to the rank of captain. member of the Board of the PNF. Within the program, the Foundation organised numerous lectures and educational Meanwhile, the squadron was included trips. A few thousand soldiers participated in them, and they all emphasise that it helped them to know Poland from various in the units involved in the Battle of Brit- perspectives. “This is a valuable opinion, because after they return to their homes, they will be natural ambassadors of ain, and it quickly began to be recognized Poland,” he adds. prominent. Finally, by the autumn of 1940, Polish pilots, according to the calculations The PFN continues to develop the program. In the following months, the Foundation plans to organize the Moniuszko of the time, shot down 126 German aircraft. concert, give lectures devoted to General Ryszard Kukliński and the indomitable soldiers. There are also plans to engage After the war, some researchers declared soldiers from other garrisons, not only in Orzysz. that the number in question was inflated.

Patrons

Wojskowy Instytut Wydawniczy Project supervised by: Anna Putkiewicz [Military Publishing Institute] English translations by: Barbara Wierczyńska (LONDONER Translation Services Warsaw), Aleje Jerozolimskie 97, 00-909 Warszawa Anita Kwaterowska (WIW), Tomasz Ociński Director: Maciej Podczaski English translations revised, edited and proofread by: Anita Kwaterowska (WIW), Dorota Aszoff Supervising editor (Polish version): Jacek Żurek Polska Zbrojna (military monthly) Editing and proofreading (Polish version): January Szustakowski Editor-in-Chief: Izabela Borańska-Chmielewska Cooperation: Piotr Korczyński polska-zbrojna.pl (military news website) Graphic design: Marcin Izdebski, Paweł Kępka Polska Zbrojna. Historia (historical quarterly) Partner Selected texts and photos were previously published in Polska Zbrojna. Historia quarterly, Editor-in-Chief: Anna Putkiewicz Polska Zbrojna monthly, and on polska-zbrojna.pl military news website Photohraphs: Julien Bryan/Polish Institute of National Remembrence [IPN], Polska Zbrojna is a military magazine published under the National Digital Archives [NAC], Jakub Wojewoda's collection supervision of Polish Ministry of National Defense since 1921 Print: Wojskowe Zakłady Kartograficzne sp. z o.o., ul. Fort Wola 22, 01-258 Warszawa SKLEP.POLSKA-ZBROJNA.PL