Familar with these books about Poland?

[gardenmoma]

POLAND IN WORLD WAR II: AN ILLUSTRATED MILITARY HISTORY
Andrew Hempel
"A notable amount of information is offered in small package." -- Polish-American Journal

Poland’s participation in World War II is generally little known in the West. This illustrated history presents the Polish military war effort, intermingled with factual human interest stories.
About the author
Andrew Hempel was born in Warsaw, Poland. In 1944 he was arrested in German-occupied Warsaw by the Gestapo and was sent to a German labor camp. After the war, he graduated from the University of London. He lives in Reading, Pennsylvania.
paperback 120 pages 5 x 7 W
50 b/w photos/illustrations/maps
Publication Date: 11/1/2003
ISBN: 0-7818-1004-3

POLAND: AN ILLUSTRATED HISTORY by Iwo Cyprian Pogonowski

"An impressive account of the social and economic progress in the old and new Poland...In a nutshell: most recommended to be read and to be propagated among friends and acquaintances." - Polonian Echo

Thanks,

GM

[pieter]

Gardenmoma,

Thank you for posting this, I found this on the internet, it is amazing
to realise that in that time you could go to a concentrationcamp
just for attending an (underground) highschool.
In what differant time we live now, another generation who does not
know the fear, anxiety and courage that generation had.

Andrew Hempel was born in Warsaw, Poland. In 1944 he was arrested in German-occupied Warsaw by the Gestapo for attending an underground high school and was sent to a German labor camp. After the war, he graduated from the University of London and worked in England, Canada, and the United States. He currently resides in Rading, Pennsylvania.

I hope to read his "POLAND IN WORLD WAR II" one day, now I am stil bussy reading the very interesting history of Poland during the war and the Warsaw uprising from Norman Davies "The Battle for Warsaw" RISING '44, and therefore I am interested in other writings of that period too. It is so important to know more from that period. My mother wants me to help translate my grandmothers and grandfathers seperate memoires, which are about the second world war. She translates it from Polish to Dutch, and I will have to write it down in propper Dutch. It is an important task for me, for the heritage of the family and for history in general I think.
It will be confronting (especially the awful period of the Uprising, and Mauthausen), but necassery to help my mother and add to the history of Warsaw.
The book of Norman Davies and my trip to Warsaw were good preparations for that.

Pieter


www.polonia.com/polishbooks/author.asp?author_id=1194
books.stonebooks.com/cgi-bin/foxweb.exe/feedback/feedback?1000431

[hollister]

Thanks GM!
Mr Holly is VERY interested in both of these titles.

[bujno]

If I may suggest another ' a must' on IIWW times:

www.questionofhonor.com/

[hollister]

bujno,

Welcome to the board! Yes "A Question of Honor" or "For your Freedom and Ours" is a fantastic read and well worth picking up.
The book has been discussed on the board but it is always good to be reminded of it. I have some questions for you - if you would care to answer - perhaps we can get a discussion going and have a chance to learn a little more about you. If Leslie is out there he may want to add his thoughts as well.

How did you come across the book? What about the book interested you? What did you think about it? Did you think the author over-romanticized the story? Did you know about the Kosciusko squadron before reading the book?

I look forward to hearing from you.

PS I had not seen the book's we site before - Impressive!

[leslie]

Bujno and Chris
As Chris writes, this has been a strong topic in previous postings, and as an Englander I too recommend this book 100+% in spite of the damage it does to some English 'Heroes' (no to forget Roosevelt!). But the story is gripping and appears to be completely factual and as far as I am concerned it is the generic book about the B of B and the part the Kosciuszko Squadron played in it.
For anyone interested in those times, and not just about the B of B etc, this book is a MUST.
In England it was published as a paperback (497 pages) in 2004 by Arrow Press under the title 'For Your Freedom and Ours. The Kosciuszko Squadron - Forgotten Heroes Of WWII'.

Welcome aboard Bujno!

Leslie

[leslie]

GM
Thank you for the reference to 'Poland in WWII' - I must read this and not only because of your statement 'Poland’s participation in World War II is generally little known in the West. Apart from the belief that one or two Poles fought with the RAF, I think generally British people haven't the slightest idea that the Poles fought in the Army (with some really notable successes) and also the Navy. This, in some ways, is understandable as if British people were asked then about Poland, they would say something like 'Oh, that's the country in Russia (or On the Other Side of the Moon) that we went to war for; isn't it?!!!
I have reported previously about a straw poll I did some time ago in my 'local' asking if they knew where Warsaw was. The countries mentioned were Belgium, Holland, Sweden, and above all Russia - with only a tiny minority saying 'Oh it's in Poland - isn't it?'!!
I am pleased to say this ignorance is reducing with the almost half a million Poles now in this country working - the 'Polish Plumber' is an oft-quoted description (usually complimentary!).
Leslie

[hollister]

A little gem I have had tucked away ... but this seems like a good time to share ...

On V-E Day say 'dziekuje' to the Poles
by Gilbert J. Mros

Sixty years ago, the world celebrated Victory in Europe, and on May 8 (V-E Day) we remember
those who fought to preserve the freedom that we now enjoy.

The United States, Great Britain and the Soviet Union provided most of the Allied forces during
World War II, but few people realize that the fourth-largest contributor was Poland.

After being overrun by Nazi Germany in 1939, Poland relocated its government to London, but it never surrendered. Instead, hundreds of thousands of Polish army, air force and naval personnel continued to fight until the war ended in 1945, giving Poland the distinction of being the only nation to combat Germany throughout the entire war in Europe.

Poland was also the only nation to fight Nazi aggression on every front including engagements in Poland, Norway, France, England, and the Netherlands, Belgium, North Africa, Italy and Germany's western and eastern fronts.

During the battle of Britain, Polish pilots accounted for nearly one-sixth of all German planes shot down. The all-Polish Kosciuszko Squadron downed 126 German planes -- more than any other Royal Air Force squadron. Nine of the squadron pilots became aces, and five were awarded the RAF Distinguished Flying Cross. Ultimately, Polish pilots destroyed at least 900 German planes, 190 V-1 flying bombs and 1000 German tanks. The Polish Navy served in the North Sea, North Atlantic and Mediterranean, and at Dunkirk and Normandy.

Prior to the final battle and sinking of the German Battleship Bismarck, the Polish destroyer Piorun was the first warship to sight it. After signaling Bismarck's position, Piorun attacked the huge battleship. In Normandy, the 1st Polish Armored Division blocked the last escape route for the German 7th army from the "Falaise Pocket." Their heroic two-day stand played a decisive role in destroying German resistance in Normandy and in hastening the liberation of France.

Across the Continent in Italy, the battle of Monte Cassino caused over a quarter of a million casualties. After three unsuccessful Allied assaults, the summit was finally taken by the Polish 2nd Corps, which then continued north, concluding its Italian campaign with the liberation of Bologna.

During the campaign on Germany's eastern front, 10 divisions of the 1st and 2nd Polish armies, fighting alongside Soviet troops, pushed the Nazi forces back to the center of Berlin. The 1st Polish infantry division celebrated this victory by raising Polish flags over the Victory Column and the Brandenburg Gate.

In one of the best-kept secrets of the war and post-war era, Polish mathematicians working in Warsaw before the start of the war solved Germany's secret military code and duplicated the enigma machine that generated it. The solution and working enigma machine were then delivered to England where they were used for decoding Nazi messages throughout the war, making possible the Normandy landings and saving tens of thousands of American lives. As the Iron Curtain fell across Europe after the end of the war, Poland was swept behind it and under the heel of Joseph Stalin -- a dictator as cruel as Adolf Hitler was. The freedom the Poles had helped gain for their neighbors was not to be theirs until Solidarity and free elections in 1989.

Because of lingering Nazi propaganda, Allied military secrets and Cold War animosities, Poland's contributions toward victory in World War II went largely unrecognized. Sixty years have now passed since the war ended in Europe, but it is still not too late to acknowledge the efforts of everyone who helped win it.

So, when we celebrate or remember V-E Day, let's give three cheers for the Poles.

-- With permission from Gilbert J. Mros --

Gilbert J. Mros, Columbia Heights, is a retired electrical engineer and a member of the Lomianki,
Poland-Columbia Heights, Minn., U.S.A. Sister Cities International Committee.


For Your Freedom and Ours
by Arthur Chrenkoff

There is an old Polish motto that says “For your freedom and ours.” Many who live in advanced Western societies take their security and prosperity for granted. Poles, who’ve experienced so little of either over the past two centuries, are much more aware of how precious and precarious freedom is. They also understand that freedom is indivisible; that increasing it even in the remotest corner of the world enriches the whole of humanity. And so, for the past 250 years, Polish émigrés and exiles have been involved in many a struggle for independence and liberty around the world – fighting for “your freedom” if they weren’t always able to fight for theirs.

You might be familiar with Pulaski Day, named after a Polish general who had died in the American War of Independence. History buffs might even be aware that the Texan artillery at Alamo was in the hands of Polish gunners, exiles from the failed Polish uprising of 1831.

Australia’s highest peak, Mt Kosciusko, is named after a general and a freedom fighter both in his native Poland and in the United States. And the American, British and Australian veterans of World War Two will remember fighting alongside Poles at Narvik, Tobruk, Monte Cassino, Arnhem, on the North Atlantic and in the Battle of Britain.
-- With permission from Arthur Chrenkoff --

Arthur Chrenkoff, Brisbane, Queensland, was born in communist Poland in 1972. He's a non-practicing lawyer currently working in politics.

[bujno]

I knew the general facts of the "Question of honour'– from a novel by Arkady Fiedler, entitled ‘Squadron 303’, well know in Poland and directly talking to the mind of a young boy I was while reading it, years ago. The „Question of honour” is not the book for the young boys, it is much more serious. No wonder, since Fiedler’s book was planned for cheering Poles up, ‘Question’ is not planned for anything but prsenting the truth. It is too bitter, although so true. Well, it’s life. The story of private lives of the pilots is probably as romanticized as possible, you must be right, to make the book readable for non-fans of history. But I liked even that. The ‘Question’ was widely advertised in Poland, it was really hard to overlook it.
I think that Leslie shuldn't worry about some of the British (and American...) heroes being taken off postuments, they will still live their /eternal/ life somehow. And Poles are used to living with heros taken off from their postuments

[bujno]

hollister said:

A little gem I have had tucked away ... but this seems like a good time to share ...

On V-E Day say 'dziekuje' to the Poles
by Gilbert J. Mros


For Your Freedom and Ours
by Arthur Chrenkoff

Well, I think I have learned how to properly quote here,did I?

Thank you for posting that, a real gems.

[bujno]

leslie said:

'Oh it's in Poland - isn't it?'!!

;D

Dear Leslie, next time have a go with 'Where is Warszawa?'

(Thank you, that was great