According to his military
records he was born on 11th September 1919 but his family tell me that he was
born on that day but in the year 1920 at Antonowka near Kielce in Poland, the
son of Jozef Slawinski and Maria Slawinski (nee Kozlowska). After completing his education he trained as
a fitter/mechanic before joining the Polish Army for his National Service on
28th August 1936.
He trained with 1st Air
Regiment (Warsaw Regiment) and saw active service with them from the very first
day of the September Campaign following the German invasion of Poland on 1st
September 1939. He fought through that
campaign until 28th September 1939 when he was taken prisoner by the Russians
at the defence of Warsaw. Following this
he was shipped to the USSR and held prisoner in Siberia until 27th September
1941 when he was released to join the Polish forces in the Middle East, under
the flag of General Anders' Army following the negotiated release by Churchill
and Sikorski.
From wherever he was held in
Siberia, he made his way to Krasnovodsk and joined one of the heavily over
laden tramp steamers to take him across the Caspian Sea to Pahlevi in Persia
(now Iran), where he joined the British forces.
The following extracts from a
much larger story will give some idea of the suffering they went through. They are reproduced with full acknowledgement
to Ryszard Antolak and Pars Times to show the condition of the Poles on and
after reception in Persia (Iran).
A makeshift city comprising over 2000 tents (provided by the Iranian
army) was hastily erected along the shoreline of Pahlavi to accommodate the
refugees. It stretched for several miles on either side of the lagoon: a vast
complex of bathhouses, latrines, disinfection booths, laundries, sleeping
quarters, bakeries and a hospital. Every unoccupied house in the city was
requisitioned, every chair appropriated from local cinemas. Nevertheless, the
facilities were still inadequate.
At this time there were only 10 doctors and 25 nurses in the whole of
Pahlavi.
In the clean area, the arrivals were channelled into a series of tents
where their clothes were collected and burned. They were then showered,
deloused, and some of them had their heads shaved in the interests of hygiene.
As a result, women began to wear headscarves to conceal their baldness.
Finally, they were given sheets, blankets and fresh clothes by the Red Cross
and directed to living quarters.
Food provision was inappropriate. Corned beef, fatty soup and lamb,
distributed by the British soldiers, caused havoc with digestions accustomed
only to small pieces of dry bread. They could not tolerate the rich food, and a
large number died purely from the results of over-eating.
Weakened with illness and
badly undernourished, he survived all this and was fed, properly clothed and
given medical attention in a tent city on the beach - the healthiest place due
to the clean air and fresh breezes which discouraged the build up and spread of
infections. Here he came under British
command on 1st April 1942 and was selected for the Air Force and shipped to
Britain, reaching the Polish Depot at Blackpool on 10th July 1942.
He was posted to the Polish
Technical Training School, probably at RAF Weeton which was part of the
Blackpool complex, on 6th August 1942 and stayed there until 10th September
1942 when he was transferred to No 8 Air Gunnery School at RAF Evanton near
Invergordon, Ross and Cromarty, Scotland to complete his training as an air
gunner.
On 16th October 1942 he
completed the course and was sent to 18 OTU (Operational Training Unit) where
he was to learn British operational tactics and to form up with and familiarise
with a crew with which he would work closely and build up trust over the
following tour of duty. Later, on 14th
November, they were moved to 6 OTU at Thornaby on Tees to complete the
course. Finally, on 30th January 1943,
the crew, Captained by Sgt S. Franczak, were posted to 304 Squadron at RAF Dale
and, after a week's leave, took up their posting on 6th February 1943. Three months later on 11th May 1943 he was
awarded his Field Service Badge in recognition of ten active service missions.
As with all Coastal Command
aircrews, he spent many long hours flying over featureless seas and this was as
risky as it was boring. Crews had to
maintain concentration as these long flights were often at very low level. They rarely made sightings of U-Boats but
their presence kept these ships underwater and dramatically reduced the
likelihood of torpedo attacks.
In spite of this, he had his
fair share of excitement and danger: on 5th September 1943 his aircraft, Vickers Wellington NZ-M, was
attacked by four Junkers Ju88 fighters and was badly shot up but none of the
crew were seriously injured and all survived the wheels-up crash landing. The following is the Official Squadron write
up:
"The aircraft of which
F/S F. Rybarczyk was first pilot encountered four Junkers 88's, one of which,
in a combat which lasted 10 minutes, was severely damaged and was last seen
diving in flames through the clouds.
This aircraft was claimed as destroyed.
The remaining three enemy aircraft attacked repeatedly but the
Wellington maintained violent evasive measures and succeeded in reaching cloud
cover. Although extensively damaged, the
aircraft made a successful belly-landing at base. None of the crew was injured either in the
combat or in the crash-landing, except that the Navigator, F/L A. CHOMKA,
received a slight facial wound from a splinter from the astro dome."
On the night of 28th/29th
January 1944 his aircraft came across a fully surfaced U-Boat and illuminated
it with their Leigh Light before running in to the attack. In the face of machine gunfire and heavy flak
Waclaw (rear gunner) and the front gunner expended about 2,500 rounds whilst
the pilot lined up to release six 250 lb torpex depth charges, the last two of
which straddled the stern quarter of the vessel. All return fire ceased and the submarine
disappeared from the radar within about 20 seconds. The nearer
of the two was seen to explode an estimated 10 feet from the
vessel. If not a fatal blow, this would
have caused significant damage - no U-boats were reported sunk in that area on
that night and it was too dark to see any evidence of debris.
Official report to Admiralty on the attack on a U-Boat
His military career came to an
end on 4th May 1944 (not 12th May 1944 as shown in his military records) when
he was involved in a serious motorcycle accident in North Devon and was
admitted to Tiverton General Hospital and was transferred the next day to the
Princess Elizabeth Orthopaedic Hospital in Exeter. On 25th May 1944 he was transferred again to
the RAF General Hospital at Wroughton, near Swindon, Wiltshire and on 18th June
1944 he was posted back to RAF Chivenor near Barnstaple, Devon but it was a
brief respite as he was re-admitted on 21st June 1944 to RAF General Hospital
at Church Village, Pontypridd, South Wales.
Subsequently he was transferred to No 4 Polish General Hospital at
Ormskirk in Lancashire where he stayed until he was finally re-posted to
the Polish Depot at Blackpool on 1st August 1945. After this he was discharged to the Polish
Resettlement Corps where he spent two years training for civilian life.
He met Thelma Partridge in
Birmingham, just outside the Cathedral, and eventually they married and had four sons - Roy, Adrian,
Jan and Alan. After leaving the Air
Force he went to work as a storeman for Electrical Power Engineering in
Birmingham.
During the course of his
military career he was awarded the Cross of Valour, the Virtuti Militari and
the Polish Air Medal as well as British campaign medals.
In 1998 he was posthumously awarded the Military Combat Cross of the Polish Armed Forces
in the West. This Cross was established
on 17th May 1989 for award to former members of the Polish Armed Forces of the
Exiled Government in London.
Award of the Virtuti Militari by Air Vice Marshal Izycki
Post-war honour for courage
Sadly, he died in Birmingham
on 24th February 1972 and his interment took place at the Yardley Crematorium.
With many thanks to Alan Slawinski for access to family records and Krzystek's List for the portrait photo.
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