re Exceprt of Works Underway (1 Viewer)

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diversdream

Airman
56
2
Jan 10, 2010
Centeral Coast Area
(Happy to assist other researching efforts where i can! maybe in exchange for some art but not necessary!)

1 Introduction

Favorite Poems on Lancaster and HMAS Sydney

Where are the bombers, the Lancs on the runways
Snub-nosed and roaring and black-faced and dour,
Full up with aircrew and window and ammo
And dirty great cookies to drop on the Ruhr?

Where are the pilots, the navs. and airgunners
Wops. And bomb-aimers and flight engineers,
Lads who were bank clerks and milkmen and teachers,
Carpenters, lawyers and grocers and peers?

Geordies and Cockneys and Wiltshire moonrakers,
Little dark men from the valleys of Wales,
Manxmen, Devonians, Midlanders, Scouses,
Jocks from the Highlands and Tykes from the Dales?

Where are the Aussies, the sports and the cobbers,
Talking of cricket and sheilas and grog,
Flying their Lancs over Hamburg and Stettin
And back to the Lincolnshire winter-time bog?

Where are the fliers from Canada's prairies,
From cities and forests, determined to win,
Thumbing their noses at Goering's Luftwaffe
And busily dropping their bombs on Berlin?

Where are the Poles with their gaiety and sadness,
All with the most unpronounceable names,
Quietly, ruthlessly flying in vengeance,
Rememebering their homes and their country in flames ?

Where are the Kiwis who left all the sunshine
For bleak windy airfields and fenland and dyke
Playing wild Mess games like high cockalorum
And knocking the hellout of Hitler's Third Reich ?

Where are they now, those young men of all nations
Who flew though they knew not what might lie ahead
And those who returned with their mission accomplished
And next night would beat up the "Saracen's Head"?

The Lancs are no more, they are part of the legend
But memory stays bright in the hearts of the men
Who loved them and flew them through flak and through hellfire
And managed to land them in England again.

(Author Unknown if anyone does know feel free to advise!)

Ode to the HMAS Sydney
By
A R (Lex) Fullarton (former RAN and also ex HMAS Sydney transfered off just before her final criuse)


T'was Banjo who did wrote it,and to to you I will quote it;

No foe shall gather our harvest,nor sit on our stock yard rail:

Now this is a tale of the ocean blue,of an Aussie vessel brave and true;

The HMAS Sydney,and the boys that didn't fail:


T'was race day in Carnarvon and the sun was going down;

When the boys from HMAS Sydney were sailing passed our town:

Another job was over,they'd made another run;
When they chanced upon this bastard,called raider 41

The enemy had travelled far to bring destruction here;
But they'd reckoned not on Sydney,and this would cost them dear:

They swung towards the setting sun,they made for it a chance to run;

They thought that they would sneek away,did Raider 41:

The sharp eyed crew of Sydney saw the Raiders flight;
They closed the gap,they knew they had a fight:
They'd fought before had every mothers son;
They thought that they would capture her,this Raider 41

But the Germans were so clever they had a nasty plan;
She held their destruction did the bowels of Kormoran:
The cloak of her mystery she soon would throw aside;
As she thought to hammer Sydney with shell from side to side:

They set to work with grim profession,they knew their grisely task;
The Sydney,she would sail no more and home had seen them last:

"They've torn our bloody guts out,we'll never make it home;

We'll never see our loved ones or the seas again to roam";

The layer of the turret gave out an anguished cry;
Then we'll take this Bastard with us,cried the boys from turret Y

They snatch another round,they mount to their six inch gun;
They target their tormentor,this Raider 41;

Their ears they are a bleeding,their muscles strain to lay;

Their shot must be a true one in the twilight of the day:

They aim her at his engine room,and there's a mighty crack;

And now these sons of Hitler will never journey back:

Now we'll leave them lying there,their souls have gone to rest;

There passing but a brief one and Carnarvon town was blessed;

Their lying out there somwhere,toward the setting sun;

The HMAS Sydney,her crew,and Raider 41.
 
Introduction

'I am determined to solve (1) the Danzig question; (2) the question of the Corridor; and (3) to see to it that a change is made in the relationship between Germany and Poland that shall ensure a peaceful co-existence'.

Extract from the Address by Adolf Hitler Chancellor of the Reich, before the Reichstag in Germany, 1 September 1939.

Walking the darkness, far from home, at midnight
Sometimes i see them, lighted at the wing tips,
The cockpits winking with the spark of signals,
The outbound bombers.

My thought perceives them switch away the sidelights
And cease to signal as they drive to danger,
From England, over sea, to blackened Europe
Where fire awaits them.

I Say, 'Oh come home safely, midnight darers,
And may a day dawn when the youth of nations
Will hold like purpose, striving to make perfect
The life that binds us'.

John Masefield (1878 - 1967)

A Tale of Two Airman

Stanislaw Skarzynski (1899-1942)

Stanislaw Skarzynski served with the Polish Armed Forces (ground) during the Great War and also in the Polish Soviet War (1919-1921) where he was wounded severely in one leg, 16 August 1920.
Due to Septicaemia he nearly lost his leg and as a result He suffered a permanent limp afterwards for the rest of his short lifespan.
The injury may even have been a factor relating to his death (see below)

After recovering from his wound he 'wrangled' his way into military aviation as he was now 'No more use' as a soldier.

He Completed his flight school in 1925 and was posted to 1 Aviation Regt located in Warsaw and by 1927 was a 'Kapitain Pilot'.
Between 1 February - 5 May 1931 along with his companion Lt Andrzej Markiewicz PAF they flew around Africa, flying the Polish Designed PZL-L2 (SP-AFA).
This was a total distance in excess of 25 770 Km in a single engined 2 seater aircraft.

On 7-8 May 1933 his next challenge was to fly in a small single seat polish designed 'tourist' aircraft (RWD 5bis SP-AJU) across the south Atlantic - Solo.
He became airborne from St Louis USA and flew to Maceio in Brazil.
His flight time was 20 Hours and 30 Minutes with a total of 17 Hours and 15 Minutes from that total over the ocean.
He safely crossed 3582 Km and in the process set a new world record by doing so.
The record was a 'distance' record 'flying in a FAI Tourist Plane 2 Class' (ie all up weight under 1000lbs).
This flight was done with No Radio at all and No safety equipment due to his fuel and weight limitations.

To this day the RWD 5bis still holds this record as the 'Smallest Plane to fly across the Atlantic'.

Still eager for more he flew on from Brazil to reach Rio De Janeiro (27 April-10 May) - 17 885 Km longer!

From Rio he flew on and reached Buenos Aires his final destination.

Understandably he sailed by ship to return to Europe after his epic flight's!

1934 he was promoted to major and posted to take charge of a PAF Bomber Squadron.

1938 he was made the Second in Command of 4 Aviation Regt and had reached the rank of Lt Col.

In April 1939 he was made the first president of the Polish Aero Club and in August 1939 was made the PAF Representative in the Polish Embassy of Rumania.
His new Poistion was now the Deputy Air Attaché of the PAF in Rumania.

After 1 September 1939 he was instrumental in aiding many former PAF members in escaping to France or England so that they could continue the fight.

During 1940 he escaped to France and then was evacuated to England afterwards.

He was made the PAF CO of RAF Newton (Training) Air Station which was part of 1 RAF Group and after a lot of pestering was transferred still inside the same group to RAF Lindholme where he took up the post of the Air Station's Commander.
He is reported to have been greatly liked and highly respected by Airman in the Squadron be they RAF
'Advisors' or PAF.

At this time 305 PAF Squadron had been transferred to RAF Lindholme while he was in charge of the Air station (Based there 1941-42), and he was known for 'sneaking on operations' much to the Aircrew and Ground Staff's delight in a similar way to what Hughie Edwards (1914-1982 served with RAF 1933-1963) did with the Royal Australian Air Force's 460 RAAF Squadron while he was the Air Station Commander at RAF Binbrook.

He was also part of 1 RAF Group.
 
Hughie and his Wife Cherry (Widow of another RAF Officer. Deceased 1966. Hughie remarried 1972) were well known for the support that they gave to Aircrew and Wife's both on Ops and off - when asked

'Why?'

He simply said they were -

"Aussie like me and a long way from home - who else would look after them??".

Another similarity is that due to a pre war crash in a Blenheim Hughie suffered a leg injury that would effect him for his entire life and could very easily have led not only to his death but his immediate discharge from the RAF after he recovered.

He had joined the RAAF at 21 and then transferred to the RAF - a path that others took like Don Bennett, Donald Teale et al.

His story is too long to go into here in full but in short he won the VC for a daylight attack over Bremen where he returned with a Barrage Balloon Cable wrapped around his Aircraft's wing - 22 July 1941.
He earlier won the DFC for attacking a German convoy so low he came back with some of the ships aerial's wrapped around his aircrafts wing and tail and in the process managed to sink a 4000 Ton ship - 4 July 1941.
He was awarded the DSO for his participation in the "Phillips Attack" at Eindhoven - 8 January 1943.
The MID (Mention in Dispatches) 1 January 1945 came next and his final RAF Award before he retired was a well deserved OBE -11 February 1947.

He flew Blenhiems and Mosquitos with his beloved 105 RAF Squadron (where he won the DFC and VC in the war), served in Malta and with 2 TAF before being 'officially' grounded by the RAF and made the Air station Commander of RAF Binbrook (February 1943-January 1945 - note the date of the MID).
He retried from the RAF with the rank of Air Commodore and was later the Governor General of his home state Western Australia - however due to ill health he was forced to retire from the post in 1974 after only a year in office.
He was a strong supporter of the RAAF/RAF effort made by Australia in England and was present upto his death at nearly every re-union to do with either 460 RAAF Squadron or RAF Bomber Command Aircrew and Groundstaff in Australia.

He is also Australia's Highest Awarded Airman to date.

He is even mentioned in the Guinness Book of Records for having the most letters (ie awards) after his name of anyone in the world!
He died 5 August 1982 of a massive and sudden Heart Attack while out walking in Sydney to attend a reunion and now rests in the Karrakatta Cemetery Perth (his home town) and is often visited by his ex 'Boys' of 460 RAAF Squadron to this day.
He was given a state funeral and his VC and other awards are now on display at the Australian War Memorial Canberra Australia.
There are also portraits of him on display painted during the war by War Artist's showing his wartime 'look' before and after the VC.

A memorial Bronze statue paid for by the 460 RAAF Squadron Association was unveiled in 2002 in Fremantle Western Australia along with a plaque being laid in the Memorial Garden in Canberra.
This all started due to a former 460 RAAF Squadron Rear Air Gunner refusing to take No about what he wanted to do and is a tribute to him as much as Hughie in stubbornness and determination.

One can't help but think that Hughie would more then approve...

Just for the record,Sir Hugh Idwal Edward's awards are -

VC DSO DFC MID 1939-1945 Star Air Crew Europe Star Africa Star Burma Star Defence Medal War Medal 1939-1945 with Oak Leaf RAF + KCMG CB OBE KstJ (Knight of Saint John) General Service Medal
1918-1962 Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal and Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Medal.

His biography is written by another former 460 RAAF 'boy' (Navigator) Arthur Hoyle DFC RAAF, and it is called "Hughie Edwards VC - A Fortunate Airman" (2001) - its a highly recommended read.

Hughie always seemed to fly the "hard operations" usually as a passenger and not as a pilot however he did fly on some operations himself and as a example of the effect this would have on a green Aircrew here is a quick excerpt from a statement by 2 RAAF Aircrew about AVM Hughie Edwards (as he was then) -

"For instance, his first official Operation with 460 RAAF did not take place until some time in 1944, but many a new Aircrew on their first operation during the long, hectic and lonely nights of 1943 had Edwards at the controls of their bomber.
No deed could ever inspire greater confidence in a "sprog" Aircrew then such an act as this, and together with his stirring - "you must press on regardless of opposition" to the Aircrew's at briefing, he set a truly magnificent example"

and

"His technical knowledge and his personal operational ability was altogether outstanding.
His courage, both moral and physical, is exceptional, and as a technician he is unrivalled.
He did not humour fools or accept reasons for less than utmost effort.
It was his personal belief that any decoration should be thoroughly earned".

Hughie is Credited with 11 Operations by the ORB of RAF Binbrook - he admitted to 15 post war according to 460 RAAF Squadron Aircrew he flew at least another tour and a half often without his name on the Aircrew roster or recorded in the ORB.

His exact number of 'morale supporting operations' is to this day unknown.

This example as set by Hughie Edwards is also clearly why the young Polish Aircrew of 305 PAF Squadron would 'appreciate' so highly someone like their Air Station 'Groupie' flying along with them - undertaking the same risks they did and more importantly when they thought on what was asked of them in a briefing they also knew their was a High Chance that their own 'Groupie' would appear beside some unsuspecting aircrew and say he was their second pilot.
Much to the amusement of the 'old hands' who knew what was about to occur it has to be added.

Such men are Airman like Hughie Edward's and Stanislaw Skarzynski.

On June 25/26 1942 305 PAF Squadron were part of the force of the so called 'Thousand Bomber' attacks and tonight the target was Bremen - the last attack in this series of Operations (more details under that date below).
Once more 'Groupie' flew on this 'hard operation' and his Aircraft was a Wellington Mk II SM-R Z8528.
The Aircrew was made up of F/L E Rudowski PAF ( Pilot) , G/C SJ Skarzynski PAF (2nd Pilot), F/L K Nowak PAF, P/O J Szybka PAF and Sgt W Schmidt PAF.

They were Airborne from RAF Lindholme and were forced to ditch due to engine trouble 14 Miles off Great Yarmouth (not battle related)

All survived apart from G/C Skarzynski PAF.

Those that survived were picked up by an RN Warship after spending 8 hours in their dinghy.

G/C Skarzynski PAF was finally given up by the sea when his body was washed ashore at Terschelling, Holland.

He now rests in the Westerschelling General Cemetery, Holland.

It is believed that he was lost when he was washed off the Wellington about to jump into the dinghy after making sure that all the Aircrew were safely out of the rapidly sinking Wellington.

"A freak wave (as sailors call it) caught him and dragged him away from the dinghy far too quickly for anyone
to do anything about it" (ORB 305 PAF Squadron).

A grateful nation once more paid its respects by awarding him the Order of Polonia Restituta 2 Class posthumously.

His other awards included -

The Virtuti Militari 5 Class ( for the Poland - Russia War),Cross of Independence, The Order of Polonia Restituta 4 Class,Krzyz Walecznych with 4 Bars (4 times), Golden Cross of Merit,Silver Cross of Merit, Legion d'Honneur (France), Order of the Southern Cross (Brazil) and the FAI awarded him the Louis Bleriot Medal for 1936.

He was one of the very earliest recipients of this medal from the FAI.

The PAF promoted him to a Full Colonel in rank posthumously (W/C RAF).

As an interesting aside the RAF Awarded him no medals for his period of service but he did receive a posthumous promotion to Wing Commander.
 
and

Excerpt from - "A Question of Honour" Lynne Olson and Stanley Cloud 2003

They marched, twelve abreast and in perfect step, through the heart of bomb-pocked London.

American troops, who were in a place of honour at the head of the nine-mile parade, were followed

-- in a kaleidoscope of uniforms, flags, and martial music --

by Czechs and Norwegians, Chinese and Dutch,French and Iranians, Belgians and Australians, Canadians and South Africans.

There were Sikhs in turbans, high-stepping Greek evzoni in pom-pommed shoes and white pleated skirts,
Arabs in fezzes and kaffiyehs, grenadiers from Luxembourg,gunners from Brazil.

And at the end of the parade, in a crowd-pleasing, Union Jack-waving climax,came at least 10 000 men and women from the armed forces and civilian services of His Britannic Majesty, King George VI.

Nearly a year earlier, the most terrible war in the history of the world

-- six years of fire, devastation, and unimaginable death --

had finally ended.

At the time there had been wild, spontaneous celebrations in cities all over the globe.

But on this grey and damp June day in 1946, Great Britain's invited guests, representing more than thirty victorious Allied nations,joined in formal commemoration of their collective victory and of those, living and dead, who had contributed to it.
As church bells pealed and bagpipes skirled, veterans of Tobruk, the Battle of Britain, Guadalcanal, Midway, Normandy,the Ardennes, Monte Cassino, Arnhem, and scores of less famous fights were cheered and applauded by more than 2 million onlookers,many waving flags and tooting toy trumpets.

The marchers snapped off salutes as they passed the reviewing platform on the Mall, where the king, his queen, and their two daughters stood.
Prime Minister Clement Attlee MP was alongside the royal family, but the attention of many was focused on Attlee's predecessor, Winston Churchill,who had led and inspired Britain through the final five years of the war.

As the Victory Parade's last contingents marched by, a thunderous roar was heard overhead.

The crowds stared up at the leaden sky, transfixed, as a massive armada of aircraft

-- bombers, fighters, flying boats, transports --

approached from the east at nearly rooftop level.

Leading the fly-past was a single, camouflaged fighter

-- a Hawker Hurricane, looking small and insignificant compared to the lumbering giants that flew in its wake.

The Hurricane's pride of place, however, was unchallenged.

If it had not been for this sturdy little single-seater and its more celebrated cousin, the Spitfire, the Victory Parade and the triumph it celebrated might never have occurred.
In the summer and fall Of 1940, RAF pilots had flown Hurricanes and Spitfires against Adolf Hitler's Luftwaffe and had won the Battle of Britain.
In so doing, they changed the course of the war and the very nature of history.

Standing along the parade route that day was a tall, slender, fair-haired man with the difficult name of Witold Urbanowicz.

As he watched the Hurricane flash by overhead, a flood of memories returned to him.

He had been up there in a Hurricane during the Battle of Britain.

He had gazed down on this city when it was blazing with fire.

His squadron had become a legend of the battle.

On the first day of the London Blitz

-- Hitler's attempt to bomb the British civilian population into submission --

Urbanowicz's squadron was credited with shooting down no fewer than fourteen German aircraft, a Royal Air Force record.

Setting records had already become a habit for 303 Squadron

-- or the "Kosciusko Squadron," as it was also known.

In its first seven days of combat, the squadron destroyed nearly forty enemy planes.
By the Battle of Britain's end, it was credited with downing more German aircraft than any other squadron attached to the RAF.

Nine of its pilots, including Urbanowicz, were formally designated as aces.

Writing in Collier's three years after the battle, an American fighter pilot described 303 as

"the best sky fighters I saw anywhere."

Yet, despite its accomplishments in the war, none Of 303's Pilots took part in the fly-past.

None marched in the parade.

For they were all Polish

-- and Poles who had fought under British command were deliberately and specifically barred from the celebration by the British government, for fear of offending Joseph Stalin.

A week earlier, ten members of Parliament had written a letter of protest against the exclusion.

"Ethiopians will be there," the letter declared.
"Mexicans will be there.
The Fiji Medical Corps, the Labuan Police and the Seychelles Pioneer Corps will [march]

-- and rightly, too.

But the Poles will not be there.

Have we lost not only our sense of perspective, but our sense of gratitude as well?"

On a June day six years earlier, Winston Churchill had risen in the House of Commons to declare:

'..The battle of France is over.
I expect that the battle of Britain is about to begin.."

From the first, the new prime minister, who had been in office barely a month, made clear that Britain would not follow France into ignominy - there would be no British capitulation to Germany.

"We shall fight on the beaches," Churchill famously said.

"We shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills.
We shall never surrender."

The courage and character that Churchill pledged for Britain had already been demonstrated by Poland.

It was the first country to experience the terror of the Nazi Blitzkrieg,the first to fight back, the first to say

-- and mean --

"We shall never surrender."

Poland fell in October 1939, but its government and military refused then,and refused for the rest of the war, to capitulate.
In a remarkable odyssey, scores of thousands of Polish pilots, soldiers, and sailors escaped Poland

-- some on foot; some in cars, trucks, and buses; some in airplanes;some in ships and submarines.

They made their various ways first to France, thence to Britain to continue the fight.

For the first full year of the war, Poland, whose government-in-exile operated from London, was Britain's most important declared ally.

When dozens of Polish fighter pilots, including 303 Squadron, took to the air during the Battle of Britain, the RAF already had lost hundreds of its own fliers, replaced in many cases by neophytes who barely knew how to fly, much less fight.
The contribution of the combat-hardened Poles, especially the men of 303, was vital.

Indeed, many believe it was decisive -

"If Poland had not stood with us in those days. . .the candle of freedom might have been snuffed out,"

Queen Elizabeth remarked in 1996.

In all, some 17000 Polish airmen fought alongside the RAF during the war.

But the pilots and air crews were not the only Poles to play an important part in the conflict.

The small Polish navy participated in several important operations.

Polish infantry and airborne units fought in Norway, North Africa,Italy, France, Belgium, and Germany.

By the war's end, Poland was the fourth largest contributor to the Allied effort in Europe, after the Soviet Union, the United States, and Britain and its Commonwealth.

"If it had been given to me to choose the soldiers I would like to command,"

said Field Marshal Harold Alexander, commander of the Allied forces in North Africa and Italy,

"I would have chosen the Poles."

Perhaps as significant as its role in combat was Poland's contribution to the Allies' greatest intelligence coup--deciphering the German military codes generated by the Enigma machine.

Only Churchill and a handful of other British officials knew at the time of the Victory Parade that Polish cryptographers had provided the initial breakthrough for cracking Enigma

-- with incalculable importance to the outcome of the war.

And what did the Poles want in return?

"We wanted Poland back," said Witold Urbanowicz.

Throughout the war, Winston Churchill, moved by the Poles' valour, grateful for their help, and horrified by the Nazis' unprecedented savagery in their homeland, promised they would get it.

"We shall conquer together or we shall die together," Churchill vowed to the Polish prime minister, General Sikorski, after the fall of France.

Meeting Polish troops as they arrived in England in June 1940, British war secretary Anthony Eden MP declared -

"We shall not abandon your sacred cause and shall continue this war until your beloved country be returned to her faithful sons."

Yet, as the great long line of marchers proceeded down the Mall on that June morning in 1946, and as the crowds cheered and basked in the postwar world's rebirth of freedom, proud Poland remained in the shadows.

Despite Eden's pledge, its "sacred cause" had been abandoned by its two closest allies, Britain and the United States.
One occupier, Adolf Hitler, had been replaced by another Joseph Stalin.
And on that gala day, Polish war heroes like Urbanowicz and his follow 303 pilots

-- once called "the Glamour Boys of England" --

were forced to stand on London sidewalks and watch.

One young Polish pilot looked on in silence while the parade passed.

Then he turned to walk away.

An old woman standing next to him looked at him quizzically.

"Why are you crying, young man?" she asked.

end of extract used with Permission
 
"Somewhere in England . . .

The first detachment of the Polish Air Force is already training with enthusiasm to form itself into the first of several squadrons that will soon become part and parcel of the Royal Air Force . . .
RAF officers, who have had the task of getting their Polish recruits housed in a RAF station, are full of admiration for their new charges.
One officer of great experience said: 'Those who have arrived so far are a magnificent body of men.
All have plenty of actual flying experience and are full of enthusiasm, yet show a quiet determination to get on with their jobs as quickly as possible.'"

This extract is from the Air Ministry announcement dated 13 December 1939.

The Polish Air Force(s) (Polskie Sily Powietrzne) was the name of the 'Polish Air Force(s) formed in France and the United Kingdom' during World War II.
The core of the Polish air units fighting alongside the allies were experienced veterans of the Invasion of Poland (1 September 1939) and they largely contributed to Allied victory in most World War II air operations in all commands.
In Polish - 300 Dywizjon Bombowy "Ziemi Mazowieckiej" or "Land of Masovia" Squadron was one of these that served from 1940-1947 as part of the multi cultural make up of RAF Bomber Command in particular and the RAF in general.

It should be noted that the Squadron bears the title Masovia, which is one of Poland's central Provinces and has Warsaw as it's Chief Township.
In realaity the squadron's Aircrew and Groundstaff were all supplied by people's throughout the entire Polish Nation.
This meant that Squadron Members were made up of People's from all parts of the Polish Homeland ranging from the Baltic Sea Port of Gdynia to the Textile Mill area of Lodz to the world famous shrine of Ostra Brama at Wilno to Lwow which was known for its 40 Ancient Churches.

They were disbanded on 2 January 1947, after the Allies withdrew their support for the Polish (Free) government that had supported England for so long.

This is their story and it is also the story of RAF Bomber Command and of a RAF Group inside that command at war.

1939 - Early 1940

RAF Bomber Command and the RAF AASF only.

Major Incidents only or first times in war to date.

September 1939

Friday 1 September 1939 -

At 0445 Wehrmacht forces launch a large scale attack on Poland from the north and the southwest without any kind of a formal declaration of war.
(Sunrise on 1 September 1939 0455 Sunset 1835)

In response Poland declares War on Germany and England and France make clear that they will support Poland by delivering the first of their joint Ultimatums for an immediate halt to offensive actions.
Poland is assured that under their treaty agreements with England and France they will support the Poles if these ultimatums are not acted upon within 48 hours.

Official demands of this nature were communicated to the German Ambassador in their respective Countries and also by the English Ambassador in Berlin.

So far their has been no response from Berlin.

OKL

"Fall Weiss"

Operation "Wasserkante"

At 0445 German forces launched a large scale attack on Poland from the north and the southwest -
without a declaration of war.
In the AM thick fog is covering Poland so the Luftwaffe has to cancel most of the scheduled attacks to support the ground forces.
The area of Luftflotte 1 is nearly totally covered by fog and it is not possible to find any targets.

Luftwaffe attacks 14 polish airfields -

Posen, Thorn, Graudenz, Gnesen, Gdingen, Kattowitz, Wadowice, Krosno,Moderowka, Radom, Lodz, Tomaszow, Kielce, Tschenstochau, Krakau,Skierniwice.
Large Numbers of polish Aircraft are reported as being moved to hidden airfields in the last few days so that they were not destroyed by the planed opening phase of the attack.

In the evening the fog gets thicker again and no Operations can be flown.

17 attacks on ground installations, 8 on enemy troops and 5 on naval installations are all that took place.
About 30 enemy Aircraft were destroyed on the ground and 9 are reported as shot down.
14 Aircraft are reported missing on the Luftwaffe side mostly belived to have been shot down by enemy FLAK.

Albert Kesselring reports that the enemy airforce "evaded" and could not be located during this day of limited Operations.

end of Extract
 
1) Witold Urbanowicz
2) Jan Zumbach
3) Wellington MK II Internal Layout
4) PAF Recruitment Poster
 

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