The Polish perspective

A substantial contribution to the Allied war effort

George Lisinski highlights the important part played by Polish servicemen during WWII

Germany attacked Poland on 1 September 1939, thus starting the Second World War. Following an earlier non-aggression treaty between the Soviet Union and Germany, the Soviets also invaded Poland on 17 September. Meanwhile, Britain and France declared war on Nazi Germany after the start of the Polish invasion. The Poles, heavily outnumbered on all flanks, surrendered on 6 October.

The defeated Polish army was imprisoned in new POW camps in Poland, Germany and the USSR. Many Polish servicemen managed to escape the conflict, making their way through Hungary to France and Great Britain. A Polish government in exile was formed in London to manage the defeated remnants of the Polish forces, liaise with the British and French Allies and continue the struggle against the Nazis.

Those imprisoned in the USSR included General Wladyslaw Anders, who was wounded during the initial invasion and incarcerated in Moscow’s Lubyanka Prison.

Several other Polish officers were captured by the Soviets and transported to Russia. Their fate was hidden from the Allies until 1941 after the Germans had launched their invasion of Russia. The Nazis announced they had discovered a mass grave in Smolensk of some 22,000 Polish officers. The Soviets refused to accept responsibility for this massacre until 1991.

For those Polish airmen who managed to escape the invading Germans and Soviets a significant number joined the RAF and figured in the Battle of Britain in 1940. About 5% of Allied pilots who took part in this aerial conflict were Polish.

Poland remained occupied during the rest of the war. However there were two unsuccessful rebellions in Warsaw during this period: Jewish ghetto (1943) and the Warsaw uprising (1944).

After the German launch of Operation Barbarossa in June 1941, Allied attention was focused on the remaining Polish servicemen imprisoned in the USSR and the possibility of mobilising them into a new Allied division. Stalin agreed to this plan and Anders was released from Lubyanka to manage this mobilisation. The “Anders Army” was thus created with Polish servicemen released from POW camps and instructed to make their way south to Kazakhstan and ultimately to Tehran. They played a significant role in the successful battle of Monte Casino in 1944.

Other WWII Polish military involvement included decryption of the Enigma machine, the Battle of Arnhem and the Siege of Tobruk.