304 SQUADRON POLISH AIR FORCE IN EXILE

[archivist]

MIEDZYBRODZKI F/O Leslaw Roman P-1888

He was born on 24th March 1912 and known to be in service with 304 Squadron on 8th July 1943.

At the relatively late age of 27, he had completed his University education and was working in a Polish Air Force maintenance depot whilst waiting to be called up for his national service. On the day that war broke out, the depot was attacked and suffered extensive damage. It was decided to move the whole unit further east – probably towards Lwow (now in the Ukraine) – to make it safer from German attack. Before they reached their destination, Russia had attacked them from the east and the whole unit crossed into Romania.

Internment seemed inevitable but he made his way independently to the Polish Legation in Bucarest and volunteered to join the Polish Air Force in exile. He was provided with a passport and sent by train to Belgrade where the Polish Air Attache endorsed his passport and sent him, via Italy, to France.

Whilst waiting to join the air force, France capitulated and he made his way to St Jean de Luz in the Pays Basque near Biarritz in France, very close to the Spanish border. At this little harbour town he took passage on the Polish liner turned troop ship, Sobieski bound for Plymouth. From there he went by train to Liverpool and spent his first days in England in a tented encampment on Aintree race course.

He went on to the Polish Depot at RAF Blackpool and then RAF Kirby where he was assigned to the newly formed 302 Squadron and sent to RAF Leconfield near Beverley in East Yorkshire, where he served as ground crew. In 1941 he was sent for pilot training and flew Airspeed Oxford light bombers/trainers at No 16 Flying Training School, RAF Newton near Nottingham. He gained some experience flying as a second pilot in an OTU and was then posted to 304 Squadron.

In May 1944, flying NZ-N, he attacked 2 U-Boats which he found on the surface and engendered the only ever 2 way battle between U-Boats and Polish aircraft. One submarine was seriously damaged, as was the Wellington, but it was successful in getting back to Britain with no serious injury to its crew in spite of the rear turret being riddled with holes. As well as other serious damage, there was a direct hit on the starboard wing which left a hole big enough for a man to pass through.

He found these U-Boats using the Leigh Light which was a very useful piece of equipment but its installation reduced the forward armament to a single machine gun. In spite of suffering hits and a fire breaking out, he pressed on with the attack, taking no evasive action to avoid the flak. He was awarded the Order of Virtuti Militari Silver Cross, 5th class and the British Air Force Cross. At the end of the war he was posted to the Experimental Establishment at Boscombe Down in Wiltshire where he worked as an engineer and test pilot and finally he was posted to RAF Farnborough and retired from the Royal Air Force in 1961.

He then went to work in the defence industry for Ferranti Systems again as an engineer and test pilot. He finally retired in 1983. He died in Edinburgh, Scotland on 18th January 2001, shortly before his 89th birthday.

[archivist]

ZUREK W/Cdr Stanislaw

He was posted in, as a P/O, on 11th August 1942 from 18 OTU and was still in service on 8th July 1943 as a Flight Lieutenant ; he was Squadron Commander from 3rd January 1945 until 1st September 1945.

He was born on 3rd May 1911 in Krakow and in the summer of 1934 he undertook a military aviation course at Luck (now in the Ukraine and known as Lutsk). In the year between September 1934 and September 1935 he attended army and air force Officer Cadet schools and then returned to his job in Geodetics (earth sciences) but he continued in service as a reserve pilot – something similar to the British Territorial Army or the American National Guard.

On the outbreak of war he made his way to France and joined the Polish Air Force at Lyon-Bron and when France capitulated, he came to England where he was assigned to the Polish Depot at RAF Blackpool. He went on to an air navigation school then joined 18OTU and finally he was posted into 304 Squadron on 10th August 1942 where he stayed until 12th April 1943 when he was transferred to 6OTU as an instructor. This date is quoted in “Commanders of the Polish Air Force Squadrons in the West” by Jozef Zielinski and Tadeusz Krzystek; however in “304 Squadron” Mariusz Konarski lists him as being in service, as a Flight Lieutenant, on 8th July 1943.

On 1st December 1944 he was back with 304 Squadron as one of two Flight Commanders and from 3rd January 1945 he became the Squadron Commander until 1st September of that year when he was succeeded by Wing Commander Witold Piotrowski. He was not just a desk officer but flew operationally with his men; he unsuccessfully attacked a U–Boat on January 12th 1945.

He then moved on to the Polish Air Force HQ. In June 1946 he returned to Coastal Command and on 20th February 1947 he became the Polish Liaison Officer to Coastal Command.
He was awarded the Silver Cross of the Order of Virtuti Militari and the British Distinguished Flying Cross.

He retired from the Air Force and settled in England. He died on 11th July 1979 in Runcorn, Cheshire (now Merseyside).

[archivist]

KRANC W/Cdr Jerzy

He was born on 24th May 1909 at Brzezno, Konin District and in November 1927, he was accepted at the Officer Cadet School in Ostro-Komorowo. In August 1930 he was promoted to second lieutenant and was posted to 58 Infantry Regiment as a platoon leader. During the first half of 1933 he trained as an observer at the Air Officers Training School in Deblin. In 1935/36 he was under training in the 2nd Air Wing at Krakow and then joined an air officers corps where he served in various capacities until he was accepted at the War College at Rembertow.

He was only there for three days (probably because of the imminence of the German Invasion) before being posted to II Bomber squadron where he took up the post of tactical officer. He fought for the 17 days after the German invasion until Russia attacked from the rear. At this time, he made his escape through Romania and reached the Polish Depot at Lyon-Bron, France on 16th November 1939. He became a navigation instructor in the Polish Air Force in exile and remained as such until the French capitulation when he made his way to England.

On arrival in England he did conversion training and then served with 309 Squadron which, at that time were flying Westland Lysanders – probably on army co-operation duties. He then moved to 304 Squadron; the date is uncertain but Marius Konarski lists him as a Squadron Leader with the squadron on 8th July 1943. He became Squadron Commander on 10th April 1944 and held that post until 2nd January 1945.

He was not just nominal flight crew; he flew with his men on many occasions, sometimes as a supernumerary observer and sometimes as a navigator in the regular crew. For his efforts, he was awarded the Cross of Valour, for bravery in action, by Air Vice Marshal Ujejski on 28th June 1941 and the Order of Virtuti Militari on 21st November 1941 also by Air Vice Marshal Ujejski. He won the Cross of Valour on three other occasions.

His next move was to the Air Academy and on graduation, in September 1945, he was posted to the Polish Airforce HQ as the official Liaison Officer to the Navy. Then from 14th May 1946 he served with BAFO 2 (British Air Forces of Occupation) Group HQ.

Sadly, on demobilisation from the Air Force, he returned to Poland and died in 1960 at the relatively young age of 51.

[archivist]

POZIOMEK W/Cdr Stanislaw P-0087

He was a navigator, born on 22nd March 1900 at Potoczek. He trained and worked as a teacher. From 1928 to 1931 he attended the Infantry Officer Cadet School at Ostrow Mazowiecka after which he was posted to the 36th Infantry Regiment in Warsaw. In December 1933 he attended a two year Observer training course at the Air Officers training school in Deblin, following which he was seconded to the 5th Air Wing at Lida.

In 1938/39 he was at the Air Academy and was then transferred as permanent Air Force staff. Like so many others, on the outbreak of war he made his way to England via Romania and France; once here he underwent further training and was posted to 305 Squadron. In June 1941 he took command of A Flight and in October of that year he transferred to 304 Squadron, becoming Squadron Commander only a few weeks later on 14th November 1941. He remained there until 27th July 1942. During this time the squadron suffered very heavy losses and a shortage of replacements enforced its transfer to Coastal Command.

He was transferred to the Polish Air Force Inspectorate but he became involved in a conspiracy against Air Vice Marshall Stanislaw Ujejski and as a result was sent to the internment camp at Rothesay on the Isle of Bute, Scotland. The exact nature of this conspiracy is not clear. He was released after the death of General Sikorski in July 1943. He returned to the Polish Inspectorate, clearly back in favour, and was promoted to Wing Commander.

On a visit to 304 Squadron, he flew on HF188 on an anti-submarine mission over the Bay of Biscay on 11th April 1944. This aircraft was shot down by German fighters and the entire crew were lost. His body was washed ashore in Spain and he was buried in the British Cemetery at Bilbao.

During his career he was awarded the Silver Cross of the Order of Virtuti Militari on 21st November 1941, ironically presented to him by AVM Ujejski, and the Cross of Valour (four times). On 5th September 1942 he won the British Distinguished Flying Cross, the citation for which read:

“On all his operational missions, this officer has displayed a high standard of navigational efficiency, great keenness and bravery. He has carried out attacks on many important targets both in Germany and German occupied territory and his determination is such that he has always made several runs over the target to ensure accuracy of bombing. On one occasion Squadron Leader Poziomek skilfully flew his aircraft back to this country although it had been hit in seven places by splinters from anti-aircraft shells. Throughout, this officer has displayed fine leadership and has contributed largely to the high standard of morale in his flight.”

[archivist]

PIOTROWSKI W/Cdr Witold Jacek

He was born on 25th November 1906 at Chelmno Lubelskie. In 1925 he joined the Infantry Cadet Officers School, later moving to the Air Force Officers School at Grudziadz. In 1928 he qualified as a pilot observer and was then posted to No 4 Air Wing at Torun; by November 1937 he was the Commander of 42 Flight. On the Russian invasion of Poland he made his way to France via Romania, Jugoslavia and Italy and served at the Polish Depot in Lyon-Bron. On the capitulation of France he came to England.

By July 194o he had been assigned to 301 Squadron and, almost exactly a year later, he took command of the squadron but remained an operational pilot. On completion of his 30 mission tour of duty he moved to RAF Bramcote as an instructor.

On 15th February 1943 he changed tack and became Commander of 309 Fighter Squadron – again he remained an operational pilot. In October 1943 he was sent, as an Air Force liaison officer, to Brigadier General Maczek’s 1st Armoured Division. He then took over command of 304 Squadron from January to September 1945.

Later he graduated from the Air Academy and went to the Polish Air Force HQ until his demobilisation. In 1948 he emigrated to Canada where e worked on the land and later in industry. He died in Hamilton, Ontario on 3rd December 1973.

He was awarded the Silver Cross of the Order of Virtuti Militari, the Cross of Valour (four times), the Silver Cross of Merit with Swords and the British Distinguished Flying Cross.

[archivist]

DUDZINSKI W/Cdr Piotr

He was born on 4th June 1899 in Lvov. He joined the army and fought in the Polish-Bolshevik war. He graduated as an officer and then opted to join the Air Force. He attended the flying school in Bydgoszcz then returned to Lvov with the 6th Air Wing. Between 1927 and 1932 he commanded 64 and then 63 Flights. At the beginning of the war he escaped to France via Romania and became to the 3rd Air Group before moving on to England.

He joined 10OTU then moved to 304 Squadron. On 22nd December 1940 he took over as Squadron Commander but remained an operational flier and took part in their first operational mission to bomb the fuel tanks at Rotterdam the following summer (24th April 1941).

On 13th November 1941 he moved on to take command of No16 Flying Training School and between April 1943 and November 1945 he held the same position with 18OTU. He then became Polish Liaison Officer to the RAF and Bomber Command.

After the war he settled in England and died on 22nd February 1974 in London

He flew many operational missions and he was awarded the Cross of Valour, for bravery in action, by Air Vice Marshal Ujejski on 28th June 1941 and won it again on two further occasions. He was also awarded the Silver Cross of the Order of Virtuti Militari.

[archivist]

He was born on 22nd October 1902 in Warsaw and in 1918, he joined the 2nd Light Cavalry Regiment. He fought in the Polish-Bolshevik war. In July 1924 he was sent to the Officer Cadet School in Warsaw then moved to the 83rd Infantry Regiment until 1926 when he opted to join the Air Force and went to the flying school in Grudziadz, graduating two years later as an observer with the rank of Pilot Officer and posted to the 1st Air Wing in Warsaw and later the 6th Air Wing in Lvov. By November 1938 he was in command of No 64 Bomber Flight.
He was still there on the outbreak of war and flew mostly anti-personnel missions against the invading German army. He escaped to Romania and made his way to France and subsequently England.
At first he was posted to 300 Squadron as commander of B Flight. He moved on to 304 Squadron and remained an operational pilot. On Christmas Eve 1942, returning to RAF Dale from an anti-submarine patrol, fog made it impossible for him to land he could not make radio contact with RAF Chivenor to divert there. After 11 hours 56 minutes flying time, the aircraft ran out of fuel and the crew all baled out safely near Cannock in Staffordshire.
On 29th January 1943 he took command of the squadron and remained there until 18th November of that year when he moved on to the Polish Air Force Inspectorate. His next move was to the American 9th Air Force (December 1944 until April 1945). He then moved to the Polish Air Force Headquarters.
During his service he was awarde the Silver Cross of the Order of Virtuti Militari, the Cross of Valour (four times) and the British Distinguished Flying Cross.
On 2nd April 1947 he was demobilised and emigrated to Montreal, Canada where he died on 12th September 1968.

[archivist]

Last post was Wing Commander Mieczyslaw Pronaszko

[archivist]

GRACZYK F/Sgt Witold P-2464

He was a pilot and was born on 23rd February 1920.

GRACZYK F/Sgt Wladyslaw Stanislaw P-780233

He was injured in the crash of R1035 on 28th December 1940 (300 Squadron) whilst trying to land at RAF Swinderby following a raid on an oil refinery at Antwerp. He was then promoted to Flight Sergeant on 12th February 1942 and transferred to 304 Squadron. He baled out of X9687 which was shot down by flak on its way to bomb Essen on 13th April 1942 and was taken Prisoner of War with the rest of the crew except Flight Lieutenant Mlynarski who was killed by flak whilst still on board the aircraft.

He survived the war and returned to Poland; he died on 21st June 2004 and was buried in the Military Cemetery at Poznan.

CAUTIONARY NOTE:
There is some confusion in the records as the list of Polish airmen compiled by Tadeusz Krzystek attributes VM No 8262 to both F/Sgt Witold Graczyk (P-2464) and F/Sgt Ladyslaw Stanislaw Graczyk (P-780233) I have to accept that they might be the same man in spite of the differences in forenames, birth dates and service numbers. Alternatively, the above story should be attributed to F/Sgt Witold Graczyk.

[archivist]

Zygmunt Janicki’s Escape

The first seventeen days in September 1939 were a tragedy for Poland and formed the nucleus of an Exodus of massive proportions. Well over eighty per cent of the Polish Air Force escaped to fight again; many with the help of organised groups and others independently. This is the story of one man, Squadron Leader Zygmunt Janicki, who made one escape to France and then another to England and took his wife and child and his car with him. This was an unique adventure and typifies the courage and resilience of the Poles both as fighting units in exile and as the Home Army (Armia Krajowa). They never gave up.

An unprovoked attack by the Germans left Poland reeling; the stab in the back assault by Russia, sealed its fate and the armed forces began their escape.

Zygmunt Janicki was a renowned airman in pre-war Poland, but he too realised that the only course he could take was to get to France and begin the fight back. He went willingly, but made a tremendous effort to get his wife (Zosia) and his son (Piotr) to join him.

As a senior Air Force Officer he was able to afford a car – a real luxury in pre-war Poland. He bought a Polski Fiat Junak 508 and this was to be the vehicle he used in his escape. In a convoy of up to four vehicles and a party of possibly twenty Air Force Officers, he crossed the border into Romania and made his way to Bucarest; they travelled as civilians and when he got his passport from the Polish Embassy, he was described as an upholsterer. This was a time that was fraught with anxiety and the ever present risk of being interned by the Romanians to appease the Germans. But he was going nowhere without visas and had to sit and wait.

Clearly, he was prepared for all eventualities, having made requests for visas to England, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Jugoslavia, Bulgaria and France. On 28th October 1939, events forced him to leave Bucarest and he crossed into Hungary, arriving in Budapest two days later. He had to wait there until November 4th before he received a transit visa for Jugoslavia and four days later a one time use transit visa to cross Italy and enter France. He left immediately and crossed into Jugoslavia at Kotariba. It took four days for the group to cross Jugoslavia and they entered Italy at Ponte on 12th November.

Benito Mussolini’s Italy was an ally of Germany and must have been hostile to Poles who had so recently been fighting the Germans. The six days it took to drive through the country must have been a tense time; a time to keep their activities low profile. Finally, on 18th November, they crossed into France at Menton in the Alpes Maritime Department.

His first step would be to contact the Polish Government in exile in Paris, from where he was sent to the Base Aerienne Polonaise, otherwise known as the Polish Depot, at Lyon-Bron. The food and living conditions there were notoriously bad, but he coped and by January 1941, he was flying combat missions in Morane-Saulnier fighters of the French Armee de l’Air. He would be in French Air Force Uniform with a Pologne shoulder flash to identify his nationality.

In April 1941, with no help from the French authorities, all his efforts paid off and Zosia and Piotr joined him in France. But it was a short lived triumph as the French capitulated in June and Italy joined the war on the German side and the Polish contingent were back to square one with nowhere to go but England.

After this, the French ordered the evacuation of the air base and the family drove south for three or four days. Even the French military became hostile to the Poles and some of the French wanted to intern the Poles on behalf of the Germans. They drove to Perpignan on the Mediterranean coast, close to the Spanish border. The plan was to drive through Spain and cross to Morocco and he even got the visas, but Zygmunt located a ship leaving the nearby Porte Vendre for Oran in Algeria. Whilst he was arranging for the car to be taken on board he was attacked by a hostile French crowd and had to draw his gun to keep them at bay.

It took them two days to sail to Oran and, on arrival, they immediately took a train to Casablanca in Morocco to avoid conflict with their former allies there. The journey lasted two or three nights and they travelled in the car on a flatbed trailer as it offered more comfort than the cramped conditions in the packed train compartments. Zosia and Piotr slept in the car and Zygmunt slept outside on the flatbed.

Soon after arriving in Casablanca, they heard of an old Polish vessel which was laid up in Rabat. It was in dire need of repairs and some of the Polish sailors and engineers set about making it seaworthy for the journey to England.

The O.R.P Wilia was originally built in Germany, as a freighter, by Flensburger Schiffbau Gesellschaft at their Flensburg shipyard. She was laid down in 1905 and was 108 metres in length and 14.8 metres wide; she displaced 8400 tonnes and was powered by an 1850 horse power steam engine which could produce 10 knots forward speed. She required a crew of 52 men. She went through a variety of names and owners before being sold to the Polish Navy and renamed Wilia (or Wilja) on 8th August 1925 at Le Havre, France.

She was variously used as a troop carrier, a transporter of war materials and a training ship for naval cadets. Until the outbreak of war, she was unarmed but then had armaments mounted. These consisted of two 75 millimetre guns, two 47 millimetre guns and two heavy machine guns. No match for the Scharnhorst, but enough to defend themselves against aircraft and smaller patrol boats.

After training exercises in the Mediterranean and repeated mechanical breakdowns, she was laid up in Rabat, Morocco with a skeleton crew of three for maintenance purposes. With cadets from the other training ship, the sailing vessel Iskra, and experienced Polish sailors who were trying to escape to Britain, they put to sea and sailed to Gibraltar. Once there, they settled down to wait until they could join a convoy to England. They did not have to wait long, and sailed with the very next convoy in early July 1940.

After a day or so at sea, the Wilia fell prey to yet more mechanical problems and the vessel had to slow down for further repairs. It was barely making headway. The convoy and its destroyer escorts had no choice but to leave them behind. The German U-boat menace was too great to put the whole convoy at risk for one old tramp steamer, albeit crammed with military refugees.

The Poles had not come this far to turn around and limp into Lisbon in Portugal and meekly surrender to internment. Portugal was a neutral country and England’s oldest ally, but the Government of the day was undeniably pro-German. They unanimously decided to press on for England and maintained a speed of five knots, very little more than a brisk walking pace and only half its designed capability. The sailors and engineers on board performed miracles and perpetually patched up the stricken vessel to keep it under way.

They must have had a guardian Angel as the Atlantic weather remained calm and they never knowingly encountered a U-boat. In his account of the journey, Zygmunt’s son commented that they wouldn’t waste a torpedo on the Wilia but he was wrong because the human cargo was intrinsically of immense value to the war effort. Besides which, there were many newly commissioned U-boat Captains who were desperate for a first kill – and there is no doubt that they had no qualms about attacking defenceless vessels and passenger ships. It took them two weeks to make the relatively short journey to Liverpool.

When they entered St George’s Channel (the approach to the Irish Sea) they were spotted by a British Short Sunderland flying boat who first identified them and then advised them to stop immediately as they had entered a minefield intended for German shipping. They had a long, anxious wait for a British tug to see them safely through the minefield. They finally docked in Liverpool on 18th July 1940. They had escaped and were free but the real danger had just begun as they were about to go into active combat.

As a footnote, the Wilia was turned over to the Polish mercantile marine and served faithfully until 6th June 1944 – D Day, when it was taken out of service and two days later it was sunk, with other old vessels, off the French coast, near Arromanches. They were to form a breakwater to protect Mulberry, a huge concrete harbour that was floated across the English Channel then sunk and filled with concrete to act as a landing point for men and munitions after the Normandy landings. Years later the old vessel was refloated and cut up for scrap.

On 12th August 1942, the Polish 304 Squadron Wellington bomber HX384 (NZ-L) crashed into the sea off the coast of Wales. On 21st September 1991, divers from the Llantrisant Sub-aqua Club found it and recovered artefacts from it. A machine gun and a propeller was restored and are now in the Military Museum in Warsaw. They were handed over on board the sailing vessel Iskra – the same one that originally accompanied the Wilia – when it docked in Newcastle upon Tyne (my home town!) during the Tall Ships Race, on 15th July 1993.

A remarkable end to a remarkable story.

[loyola]

Hi, Just happened upon this. My father Antoni Polakowski was in the Polish 304 squadron. He died at the age of 90 in January 2008. He was born at Gudaliszki near Wilno - his father had a farm. He had always wanted to fly and went to flying school. His journey from Poland at the outbreak of the war is very similar to those I have read here. He ended up in Blackpool where he met my mother (Elsie Tanner!). Of the places he was stationed at ,Predannock (Cornwall) Davidstow (Cornwall) Benbecula were the ones he spoke about mainly. I read that someone in the squadron said that Wellington Bombers were the best planes - my father was always saying that as well.Amongst his medals he was awarded the Virtutii Militari and the Atlantic cross (I think that's what it is called - I will have to check. We have his flying log and some photographs of his time in 304 squadron. I think what you are doing is a wonderful thing - I know for a fact that the Poles were terribly hurt by the events at the end of the war. Many thanks.

[Nictoshek]

Really a cryin shame how the Poles sacrificed all for the Allies....then get stabbed in the back at Yalta.

[archivist]

Hello Loyola,

Your father was, indeed, a member of 304 Squadron and should be included in my tribute BY RIGHT ! This is all I have on him:

POLAKOWSKI Sgt Antoni P-782916

He was a pilot, born on 16th April 1917. He was awarded the Order of Virtuti Militari. He survived the war and was last heard of in Wallasey, Merseyside in 1999.

I would be very happy to include him if you can help with any information, photographs etc please contact me directly and I will send you a copy of his entry as soon as I have written it.

You will find my personal e-mail in the members section.

Regards

Neville

[archivist]

Hello Nictoe,

At Yalta and for about 50 years afterwards - to the eternal shame of the Allied powers.

Neville

[archivist]

Loyola,

I think only the Brits will understand Elsie Tanner - and only those of a certain age!

Neville