Seventy years after start of second wold war, memorial and book commemorates 500,000 Poles who fought under UK command.
article below by Caroline Davies at The Guardian, Tuesday 1 September 2009
Seventy years after the Nazi invasion of Poland, the first official war memorial in the UK to the 500,000 Poles who fought under British command in the second world war is to be dedicated as part of an emotional “last campaign” by veterans.
Despite being the fourth largest allied army in the fight against Germany, Poland’s role in the allies’ ultimate victory has long been overlooked, said organisers.
Polish veterans were profoundly shocked to discover young people in Britain asking whether Poland fought with Germany. To ensure the Polish contribution to Britain’s war effort is never forgotten, a new book, First to Fight, is published today, the anniversary of the invasion.
The book comes ahead of the unveiling of the £300,000 memorial at the National Memorial Arboretum on 19 September.
“So many Polish veterans are no longer with us. They are dropping very fast. All we see are obituaries,” said Dr Marek Stella-Sawicki, chair of the Polish War Memorial Committee and editor of the book detailing the roles of those who fought through personal accounts of surviving veterans.
Lady Thatcher, patron of Conservative Friends of Poland and supporter of the last campaign, said: “We must never forget Poland’s unique contribution to Britain’s freedom and the defeat of Nazi Germany.
“Poland fought alongside us from the first day of the war to the last. Her people showed extraordinary bravery, many giving their lives as the ultimate sacrifice. But the freedoms for which they fought were to be cruelly denied them in the postwar world.”
General the Lord Guthrie, a former chief of the defence staff, said: “We owe much to the Poles who came to join us in our struggle. There was a time when the only allies the British commonwealth had were Polish and large numbers died in battle many miles from their country. We are right to remember those gallant men and women, who, at a very difficult time in both our countries’ histories, were our firm friends and allies.”
A ceremony at Westerplatte fort, in the harbour of Gdansk, Poland, where the first salvos of the war were fired, takes place today. Those attending include the Polish prime minister, Donald Tusk, the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, and Britain’s foreign secretary, David Miliband.
Sawicki, professor of computer science at University College London, whose parents met “through the wire” at a prisoner of war camp in Germany, said Poland was slighted when its soldiers and sailors were denied representation in the 1946 Victory Parade.
He added that though the Arboretum, near Lichfield, Staffordshire, contained some 130 war memorials, until now none had been dedicated to the Poles killed during the second world war. Much of the £300,000 came from the public.
As well as personal accounts, First to Fight also includes for the first time a full English translation of Stalin’s signed order to execute 14,736 of the Polish Officer Corps at Katyn Forest, Russia, in 1940.
Despite being the fourth largest allied army in the fight against Germany, Poland’s role in the allies’ ultimate victory has long been overlooked, said organisers.
Polish veterans were profoundly shocked to discover young people in Britain asking whether Poland fought with Germany. To ensure the Polish contribution to Britain’s war effort is never forgotten, a new book, First to Fight, is published today, the anniversary of the invasion.
The book comes ahead of the unveiling of the £300,000 memorial at the National Memorial Arboretum on 19 September.
“So many Polish veterans are no longer with us. They are dropping very fast. All we see are obituaries,” said Dr Marek Stella-Sawicki, chair of the Polish War Memorial Committee and editor of the book detailing the roles of those who fought through personal accounts of surviving veterans.
Lady Thatcher, patron of Conservative Friends of Poland and supporter of the last campaign, said: “We must never forget Poland’s unique contribution to Britain’s freedom and the defeat of Nazi Germany.
“Poland fought alongside us from the first day of the war to the last. Her people showed extraordinary bravery, many giving their lives as the ultimate sacrifice. But the freedoms for which they fought were to be cruelly denied them in the postwar world.”
General the Lord Guthrie, a former chief of the defence staff, said: “We owe much to the Poles who came to join us in our struggle. There was a time when the only allies the British commonwealth had were Polish and large numbers died in battle many miles from their country. We are right to remember those gallant men and women, who, at a very difficult time in both our countries’ histories, were our firm friends and allies.”
A ceremony at Westerplatte fort, in the harbour of Gdansk, Poland, where the first salvos of the war were fired, takes place today. Those attending include the Polish prime minister, Donald Tusk, the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, and Britain’s foreign secretary, David Miliband.
Sawicki, professor of computer science at University College London, whose parents met “through the wire” at a prisoner of war camp in Germany, said Poland was slighted when its soldiers and sailors were denied representation in the 1946 Victory Parade.
He added that though the Arboretum, near Lichfield, Staffordshire, contained some 130 war memorials, until now none had been dedicated to the Poles killed during the second world war. Much of the £300,000 came from the public.
As well as personal accounts, First to Fight also includes for the first time a full English translation of Stalin’s signed order to execute 14,736 of the Polish Officer Corps at Katyn Forest, Russia, in 1940.