Post by kaima on Jan 10, 2022 13:39:44 GMT -7
That is a harsh title, but deserved. It is much like today's quandary the Americans face with lack of support for the Afghans who supported the US army during our 20 year adventure in Afghanistan "Charlie Wilson's War", a fun adventure so beloved they made a movie about it!
All of that preface is out of place, as it distracts from the main topic.
Institute of National Remembrance
Ah, the British...
Between 1939 and 1945, 48% of information from occupied Europe in 80,000 reports, Enigma codes, actual V2 systems, the Holocaust details, data to mount military operations and torpedo several German plans were brought to Britain by Polish Intelligence, and what did the SIS do, except take the yield of Polish agents?
They sometimes took Polish agents.
Jerzy Iwanow-Szajnowicz, or Γεώργιος Ιβάνωφ-Σαϊνόβιτς in Greek, was a 1911 fruit of love of a Polish beauty and Russian count. He spent his first years in Warsaw and Russia, and when his parents divorced and the mother married a wealthy Greek businessman, the new family settled down in Thessaloniki. There, young Jerzy perfected languages and swimming, and next studied agriculture in Belgium. Save for the farming degree, a suitable background for a future spy.
Still, he felt Polish, and in 1935 succeeded in obtaining the citizenship of his mother’s land. The beginning of WWII found him in Greece, where he immediately got busy helping Polish military personnel reach France or British Palestine, while trying to enlist himself. He failed to get into the uniform, but in 1940 got recruited in Athens by General Staff's Section II, was trained by Polish Intelligence station in Jerusalem, and smuggled back to Greece to gather information.
And then the man got stolen.
The SIS had been eyeing the Pole for some time, and really wanted that daredevil of superb physique, sharp mind and command of six languages. They were ill-prepared for the war, and tried to catch up either relying on more efficient intelligence organizations (like the Polish General Staff's Section II), or franctically recruiting new assets. As for Szajnowicz, he was no turncoat; the man craved taking a swing on the Germans, and decided that what the King’s men lacked in skills, they made up in resources.
And so from November 1941, when HMS "Thunderbolt” shipped Agent 033B to Greece, the stolen operative engaged in a flurry of anti-German activity. He obtained and radioed intelligence on the Kriegsmarine and Regia Marina (Italian navy) movements, pinpointed fuel and supply depots, sabotaged industrial plants and machinery, and organized local resistance. In ten months, he did the Krauts plenty of irreparable damage, but finally ran out of luck.
And got no Get-Out-of-Jail-Free card.
Feeling the net closing, he made several attempts to leave the country, but failed; meanwhile, he tried to get the British to evacuate him, and even contacted the Polish Intelligence with the same request. The Poles began the preparations to get him out, but the SIS did not rush to help. The Germans finally caught up with Iwanow-Szajnowicz in September 1942, but his London bosses still could have exchanged the compromised agent for a high-ranking German POW. It never happened. Instead, on 4 January 1943, the Pole was executed by a firing squad in Athens.
Ah, the British…snatching an agent from an ally, if ungentlemanly, was a nice job – we’ll give them that. Failing to protect him when his usefulness expired, though, was not nice.
Not even close, dear chaps.
www.facebook.com/ipngovplEng
Institute of National Remembrance
All of that preface is out of place, as it distracts from the main topic.
Institute of National Remembrance
Ah, the British...
Between 1939 and 1945, 48% of information from occupied Europe in 80,000 reports, Enigma codes, actual V2 systems, the Holocaust details, data to mount military operations and torpedo several German plans were brought to Britain by Polish Intelligence, and what did the SIS do, except take the yield of Polish agents?
They sometimes took Polish agents.
Jerzy Iwanow-Szajnowicz, or Γεώργιος Ιβάνωφ-Σαϊνόβιτς in Greek, was a 1911 fruit of love of a Polish beauty and Russian count. He spent his first years in Warsaw and Russia, and when his parents divorced and the mother married a wealthy Greek businessman, the new family settled down in Thessaloniki. There, young Jerzy perfected languages and swimming, and next studied agriculture in Belgium. Save for the farming degree, a suitable background for a future spy.
Still, he felt Polish, and in 1935 succeeded in obtaining the citizenship of his mother’s land. The beginning of WWII found him in Greece, where he immediately got busy helping Polish military personnel reach France or British Palestine, while trying to enlist himself. He failed to get into the uniform, but in 1940 got recruited in Athens by General Staff's Section II, was trained by Polish Intelligence station in Jerusalem, and smuggled back to Greece to gather information.
And then the man got stolen.
The SIS had been eyeing the Pole for some time, and really wanted that daredevil of superb physique, sharp mind and command of six languages. They were ill-prepared for the war, and tried to catch up either relying on more efficient intelligence organizations (like the Polish General Staff's Section II), or franctically recruiting new assets. As for Szajnowicz, he was no turncoat; the man craved taking a swing on the Germans, and decided that what the King’s men lacked in skills, they made up in resources.
And so from November 1941, when HMS "Thunderbolt” shipped Agent 033B to Greece, the stolen operative engaged in a flurry of anti-German activity. He obtained and radioed intelligence on the Kriegsmarine and Regia Marina (Italian navy) movements, pinpointed fuel and supply depots, sabotaged industrial plants and machinery, and organized local resistance. In ten months, he did the Krauts plenty of irreparable damage, but finally ran out of luck.
And got no Get-Out-of-Jail-Free card.
Feeling the net closing, he made several attempts to leave the country, but failed; meanwhile, he tried to get the British to evacuate him, and even contacted the Polish Intelligence with the same request. The Poles began the preparations to get him out, but the SIS did not rush to help. The Germans finally caught up with Iwanow-Szajnowicz in September 1942, but his London bosses still could have exchanged the compromised agent for a high-ranking German POW. It never happened. Instead, on 4 January 1943, the Pole was executed by a firing squad in Athens.
Ah, the British…snatching an agent from an ally, if ungentlemanly, was a nice job – we’ll give them that. Failing to protect him when his usefulness expired, though, was not nice.
Not even close, dear chaps.
www.facebook.com/ipngovplEng
Institute of National Remembrance