Remembering Tentsmuir During World War Two by Lech Muszynski
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Remembering Tentsmuir during World War Two by Lech Muszynski Defending Scotland They were also playing cat and mouse games with the Germans. They were under orders not to shoot the German spotter planes as they were coming in from Norway to see what was going on. They were under orders to shoot at them but to miss them so they would go back to Norway and tell them that the beaches were well defended. Right enough, if you go up there now you can still see the fences, the big posts and everything, the wire stretched around the sand and everything. Part of it is still there. After the war, there was a German report from Norway. They said that they abandoned the idea of invading Scotland. They wanted to invade Scotland, cut Scotland in half, but they abandoned it after the had reports that Scotland was so well defended. And itʼs not true because most of the big guns that they did see was telephone poles. They were painted and things like that and even, even some of, some of the big guns at Russaks Hotel at St Andrews. They were all telegraph poles painted to look like guns. And it worked, it really worked. I was there with my sons about 15 years ago, aye about 15 years ago. And thereʼs still places where there were barracks and tents and whatever. Thereʼs still bits of old kitchens and things like that. And everythingʼs been cleared away but I found a bit of a Polish flag in the ground. I pulled and there it was, come up, a Polish flag and my sons said ʻOh my goodnessʼ. And I found a part of a REME (Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers) badge and my son found a Polish eagle, thatʼs the logo we wore on our forage caps and later on, on the berets. So itʼs full of, itʼs full of Polish memorabilia. 1 Remembering Tentsmuir during WW2 by Lech Muszynski Manoeuvres In places there were one or two anti-aircraft guns and there was a 75mm French gun at Morton Farm, thatʼs Morton Lochs where the nature reserve is just now. And itʼs all part of Tentsmuir Forest. And the put few other units in there. The Podhalan were the first unit to go in there, but there were other units, there were other units. But they also used that, the Polish Independent Parachute Brigade, they used that as their training ground. The Poles would be defending Tentsmuir Forest and the British would land their paratroopers and try and take it. And in 1943 - Iʼm telling you this but itʼs an unknown fact - the landing was very unsuccessful due to the sudden gusting of the wind. American pilots brought the British in pretty low and they dropped them too far over the sea and they went further out in to the sea. Some of them landed on top of the trees and were badly wounded. But seven of them landed in the sea and got drowned. The Polish Army Camp at Tentsmuir Forest My knowledge of Tentsmuir Forest stems from, I would say, 1950, or early 50s. It was my father who introduced me to it as he was one of the medical people. They used to go in to Tentsmuir Forest after the manoeuvres in there. He used to take all the people with broken bones and heads and put them into hospitals. So he knew Tentsmuir inside out and in the ʻ50s when I left Glasgow I come in to stay in Lundin Links with my father. He used to say ʻCome out. Iʼll show you a very nice young plantation. A nice forestʼ you know. So he took me to Tentsmuir but on the Tayport side of it, you know. And I went through there and he was telling me where all the positions were, the heavy machine gun positions, and everything you know. I said ʻWhat was this all about?ʼ and he said... In August of 1940, the first company of the Polish troops were taken to Leuchars Station from the Polish transit camps. They were taken to the station and marched to Tentsmuir Forest. They were met by the REME (Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers) guys, the British REME, and said ʻThere you are boys. Thereʼs saws, all the equipment. Build yourself a camp here. This is your home from nowʼ. 2 Remembering Tentsmuir during WW2 by Lech Muszynski And of course, when the eastern seaboard of Scotland was given, entrusted to the defence, to the Poles, the Tentsmuir Forest became a very, very strategic point in their plans because of the sandy beaches and shallow waters, ideal place for expected German invasion from Norway. So they put one of their very good units that was partly armed but it had experience of meeting with Germans on three previous occasions. The ʼ39 Polish campaign, then they were in the expeditionary force at Narvik and then back to France and the French campaign and then of course Dunkirk and they were in Britain. And that was the unit. They were called the Podhalan Brigade. They were only part, they were only the strength of one battalion but when Churchill heard of them he said ʻI want these guys in there quicklyʼ, you know, and the General said but ʻWe donʼt have the, we are not fully armedʼ. He says ʻYou leave that to meʼ. They were the first Polish people that were in there were the Podhalan, the first Polish Podhalan battalion. They wore, instead of a heavy coat, they wore a cape. As I said, it was my father who took me to Tentsmuir and he showed me some of the positions and things like that. These places are all overrun by sand now. You know there are very few places, the only visible places are around Tayport, on the Tayport side, at front of the Tentsmuir Forest actually thereʼs nothing defensive because it was my unit, the Polish Sappers, that blew up the big defensive bunkers and everything that was built. They blew them up to smithereens in 1946. Polacy w Tentsmir Pierwsi Polacy w Tentsmir znaleźli się w sierpniu 1940 roku. Przyjechali z obozów przejściowych w Elliott i Douglas na stacje w Leuchars, gdzie kompania wymaszerowała i weszła piechotą do lasów w Tentsmir. Tam spotkał ich oddział REME (Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers), który powiedział im: ʻPanowie, tutaj wybudujecie sobie obóz i tu będziecie mieszkali i żyli itd.ʼ. Więc to był pierwszy polski oddział, który znalazł się w lesie w Tentsmir. Zaraz później, gdy Churchill oddał Polakom obronę wschodniego wybrzeża Szkocji, Tentsmir stało się bardzo poważnym punktem obrony przeciwko spodziewanej inwazji niemieckiej z Norwegii. Gdyż Niemcy wtedy chcieli przeciąć Szkocję na połowę. 3 Remembering Tentsmuir during WW2 by Lech Muszynski Zaraz po tej kompanii, pierwszy Batalion Podhalan był wysłany do Tentsmir i oni zaczęli właśnie budować wszystkie instalacje, miejsca dla CKM-ów, dział itd. Wiec to były pierwsze dwa oddziały. Po roku 1942 oddziały te przeszły z defensywnych na ofensywne. Większość z nich poszła albo do Brygady Spadochronowej albo do Pierwszej Dywizji Pancernej. Transcripts of audio files originally sourced from Forest Heritage Scotland. 4 .