Well Wojtix, you could have just posted a link to something so full of propaganda and revisionism!.

I did find one statement I completely agree with however; ”The writer of this article is not historian”. An amen to that, but no arguments for any claim of a BS artist.

Frankly there is too much to correct, but, just a few examples, based on fact – sorry to cloud the issue.

The Polish War Memorial outside RAF Northolt (from which Canadians also flew ), was not paid for by all the poor hard done-by Polish airmen. They launched the project but looked to the British people to put their hands in their pockets – which they did. Not only in 1946 when the few Poles in Britain may have had a hard job finding the money, but again in 1994. Now, Lech Walesa, (respect), was sworn in as the first non Communist Polish President of a democratic Poland in 1990. So, if you had a mind to and weren’t so tight, you could easily have had a whip-round at home to fund the project?

The inscription on the memorial reads: ‘ I have kept the faith, I have fought the good fight, I have finished my course’. The correct version on the one you have made a disgraceful attempt to rob is:

PRZECHODNIU, POWIEDZ POLSCE, ZESMY POLEGLI WIERNI W JEJ SLUZBIE, ZA WOLNOSC NASZA I WASZA, MY ZOLNIERZE POLSCY ODDALISMY-BOGU DUCHA, ZIEMI WLOSKIEJ CIALO, A SERCA, POLSCE

Passer-by, tell Poland that we fell faithfully in her service, for our freedom and yours, we Polish soldiers gave our souls to God, our bodies to the soil of Italy, and our hearts to Poland

It’s got nothing to do with pilots at Northolt, it’s from the Polish Cross at Monte Cassino, (respect).

I find the ‘bleeding heart’ and ‘woe is me tone’ of the article exceedingly disingenuous. No one disputes Poland experienced very harsh treatment, nor that those who became part of the Allied war effort did not make a valid contribution – as did so many others. However, history says Poland is not exactly a warm, cuddly country who never did anything to upset anyone!

It originated about the 10th century, so by European standards it ain’t that old. In the 16th century, Poland and buddy Lithuania expanded eastward to annex much of the Ukraine and some Russian territory. But, while it adopted and was spreading anti-establishment doctrine, its neighbours Prussia, Russia, and Austria waded in and all annexed parts of Poland in 1772. In 1793 Poland was further partitioned among the three powers. 120 Years later, in W.W.I men were conscripted by the opposing powers of that war, with some getting to France to form Haller's Army of the Allies. After the war, Poland got to be Poland again with a corridor to Danzig on the coast so they could export their steel to the west – and split Prussia from Germany.

They got more German land than just the corridor, irrespective of the ethnic origin of the citizens. 178,220 sq. km. were ceded to the Soviet Union and the Poles were compensated with 101,200 sq. km. of German territory lying between the old frontier and the new boundary along the Oder and Niesse Rivers. Five million Germans living in what the Communist termed "recovered territories" were quickly expelled to make room for Poles leaving the now Soviet eastern territories.

The new Soviets engaged Poland in war in 1918 and were forced into an armistice in 1921. The Treaty of Riga ended the Russo-Polish War, and the agreement left Poland in possession of large tracts of previously Russian territory where Poles were only a small percentage of the population and ended Lithuanian aspirations of establishing Wilno (Vilnius) as the capital of their newly independent state. Victory in the border conflicts created a Poland in which a third of the citizenry was composed of non-Polish Germans, Lithuanians, Byelorussians, Ukrainians or Yiddish speaking Jews.

In 1926, Marshal Pilsudski took control in a pre-emptive power seizure, forcing the President and Premier to resign and established the Sanacja regime intended to clean-up ("sanitise") political life. By 1930 this had become a virtual dictatorship. It meant the end of free political discourse. (hmm….that would be after Mussolini but before Hitler). When the socialist and peasant's parties federated to form the CENTROLEW, in June 1930 prime minister Slawek had their leaders arrested. Organisations of the national minorities were dissolved. In Eastern Galicia, guerrilla activity was answered by Polish terror. On March 23rd 1933, the Sejm passed an ACT OF ENABLING, which gave the government dictatorial powers. In 1934, CONCENTRATION CAMPS were established to "treat" radical political opposition. In September 1934, Poland annulled the constitutional statute guaranteeing protection of the minorities' rights, which lead to a worsening of German-Polish relations. (Frankly, can anyone be surprised?) Jozef Pilsudski died in 1935. In the years of APPEASEMENT, Poland forced Lithuania [it’s old ‘friend’] to accept a redesignated common border.

Something that’s always mildly puzzled me is why, when Hitler wanted a piece of Czechoslovakia, Poland didn’t speak up for their neighbour and ‘friend’ and drift some men over the border, through mutual consent, to show solidarity? What I’ve discovered doesn’t sit very well.

In October 1938, Poland compelled Czechoslovakia to cede its OLSA TERRITORY. Polish politicians were convinced that Germany and the USSR could not overcome their friction, and as long as that friction existed, Poland was safe. On September 27, seeing that Czechoslovakia was in dire straits with nazi troops readying to invade, Poland issued an ultimatum, demanding that Czechoslovakia hand over its Tesin (Teschen) district. Two days later, on September 29, France, Britain, Germany, and Italy signed the Munich Agreement. It allowed Hitler to have the Sudetenland in exchange for him agreeing to "guarantee" Czechoslovakia's borders -- but only after Poland and Hungary had taken their shares!

So, Britain and France not only sold out Czechoslovakia to Hitler -- but to Poland and Hungary too!


Post Sudeten and pre Poland invasion

The sell-out appears in Article 1 of the Munich Agreement.

"As Article 1 of the agreement put it, 'when the question of the Polish and Hungarian minorities in Czechoslovakia has been settled, Germany and Italy will each give a similar guarantee to Czechoslovakia'. Poland had been first to share in the spoils. After an ultimatum from Warsaw on September 27, 1938, Czechoslovakia had ceded to Poland the district of Tesin (Teschen) -- an area of some 625 square miles with a population of 230,000 people."


Something no one should be in two minds about is that Poles, and many other Europeans, who fought in the British forces were primarily fighting for their homeland and against its enemies. Those aliens who fought in the British forces are known, acknowledged and respected for their contributions. So too those who came to Europe though there was no direct threat to their homeland.

Equally you should not delude yourself that Britain, and France, went to war to ‘save’ any particular country, but to defeat the nazi ambition which threatened them.

Tell me, if Hitler’s sole ambition was to leave Germany’s eastern borders and concentrate only on seizing France, Belgium, Holland and Britain, would Poland have rushed to our aid? – you wouldn’t event help your neighbour Czechoslovakia, quite the opposite in fact!

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