WALENTY (MIECZYSLAW) SZKLARSKI

He was born on 11^th March 1913 in the County of Lubaczow, to Roman Szklarski and Katarzyna (nee Hamuda).  He began his education at the Piramowicz School in Przemysl on 1^st September 1919 and stayed there for the first three years, completing his education there in 1922.  After that, his father, who worked for PKP (Polskie Koleje Panstwowe), the Polish state railways, was moved to Domazyr near Lwow.  Following that, he passed the entry examination for the Koscuiszko Gymnasium School in Lwow, where he stayed until 1928 after being accepted for higher education.  He was forced to leave school because his father could no longer support the cost, because of events leading to the Wall Street Crash in 1929.

He stayed with his parents until October 1931 and, in May 1931, he applied to Panstwowej Komendy Uzupelnien in Grodek Jagiellonski for help to enrol him in the army.  He was accepted as fit for army service and remained there from October 1931 until September 1933 in 61^st Line Squadron of 6^th Air Regiment, based in Lwow.  From January to April of 1932, he trained as a mechanic and then did practical training as an assistant aircraft mechanic (apprentice?) until September of that year.

After this, he was placed on the reserve list and returned to civilian life.  He applied to a private school to finish his studies in the humanities, but had to give it up because these were the Depression  years and his family could not support his studies.  He applied to Government Agencies such as the state railways, the Police, the Post Office and the Ministry of Trade, but without success.

In September 1937, he was recalled for four weeks refresher training in the 6^th Air Regiment and then returned to his civilian life.

In April 1938 he applied to Malopolski Zwiazek Mleczarski (roughly equivalent to the British Milk Marketing Board) and was accepted for three months unpaid training in the accounts department of one of the 1,475 co-operatives then extant.  He worked there from 1^st May 1938 until 30^th July 1938 and obtained good references but was not retained as paid staff.

Three months later, he was accepted as an assistant in the Trade Department (Commercial Office?) of the railway station at Hmirdyczow-Kochawina where he was paid 1 zloty 50 groszy per day but it only lasted until the end of 1938, when the budget for that post ran out.  At the time of writing (June 2013) that would just about buy one cigarette, half a bar of chocolate, a small bread roll or pay half the postage on a single letter within Britain!  I realise that there has been vast inflation over the intervening years but, even then, that must have been very low pay.

Two weeks later, on 15^th January 1939, he took up a post at the paper works at Kochawina, near Stryj, where he worked until 14^th September 1939 as a clerk.  During this time, with war imminent, he did a further four weeks training (19^th June to 15^th July) as a reservist with 6^th Air Regiment.

He was lucky, in that he was not conscripted by the Russians, and left the area, escaping to Hungary via Ujhely and Miskolc to a little place named Merohoveod, where he remained until April of 1940.  During this time, he made contact with an illegal underground group in Eger who helped him to get to Budapest (where he arrived on 12^th April 1940).

Later that night, he joined a group of Poles and they moved to the border with Jugoslavia.  Two days later, they made a night crossing of the River Drava and made their way to Zagreb, where they arrived on the 18^th April.  Six days later, they arrived at Split, where they waited for a boat to evacuate them.  On 27^th April 1940, they boarded the SS Patris and sailed for Marseilles, where they arrived on 1st May 1940. And made his way to join the rest of the Polish forces.

There appears to be some dispute about where the Poles gathered, but Sgt Szklarski’s own report states that they initially dispersed to Carpiagne the home of the 4^th Regiment of Dragoon Guards.  He was moved to the barracks at Lyon-Bron on 4^th May and left there on 17^th May  1940  ‘as a member of 108 Batallion (Park) in Montpellier.  He remained there as a working assistant mechanic until the fall of France.

At that time, he was under the control of a Captain of Artillery, Loboda – and another named Tregano – and he left Montpellier en route for St Juan de Luz, where he boarded the SS Arandora Star.  He arrived in Liverpool on 27^th June 1940 and, five days later, was sent to RAF Weeton  in Lancashire and later to RAF Blackpool.  He was there until 17^th August 1940, when he was attached to the newly forming 304 on Squadron at RAF Bramcote.  He started work as a clerk there on 28^th August 1940.

On 1^st October of that year he was accepted as medically fit and trained as an airman and was sent for training as a wireless operator/air gunner on 12^th October 1941 – a course that he completed on 22^nd November 1941, after which he was sent to the Blackpool Depot.  On 9^th December of that year, he was transferred to 18 OTU at RAF Bramcote, remaining there until 26^th April 1942, when he was returned to 304 Squadron.  Two days later, he reported there and began his service with them.  During this service, he was awarded the Cross of Valour on three occasions and the Virtuti Militari on 7^th May 1943.

He is known to have survived the war and settled in England, changing his name to Scot.  He died on 15^th October 1986 in Blackpool and is buried in Carleton Cemetery.
 

With many thanks to Grzegorz Korcz for the additional information he supplied 

ALEKSANDER ROMUALD ONOSZKO-JACYNA

He was a pilot, born on 7^th February 1910 in Chelm, Eastern Poland.  He trained as a pilot in the School of Aviation at Deblin.  In 1934, he became a test pilot at the Experimental Aviation Workshops in Warsaw and later a pilot with LOT Polish Airlines, where he flew the Lockheed Electra and Fokker airliners, amongst others.

He does not appear to have fought in the September Campaign, but escaped from Poland and, like many others, he took a tortuous route to the west.  He travelled via Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Jugoslavia, Italy and France before arriving in England where he joined the squadron. 

Reports differ as he may have been with the Squadron and then been seconded to 18 OTU for training on British aircraft, or he may have completed a tour of duty and then been posted there as an instructor.  In any event, he rejoined the Squadron from RAF Bramcote on 28^th July 1942 and he flew a total of 43 missions with them.

In 1943, he is reported to have flown at least 11 Transatlantic flights for B.O.A.C. (British Overseas Airways Corporation).  These were mostly used as return flights for crews delivering aircraft from the USA to Great Britain and were made in unarmed and converted B-24 Consolidated Liberator bombers.

He had an amazing and distinguished career in civil and military aviation and wrote his memoirs in 1993 (in Polish) under the title of “Mimo wszystko latać (Still Flying)” which was published by Altair’s Polish Division and under the pen name of Aleksander Onoszko.  During the course of his wartime flying, he was awarded the Silver Cross of the Order of Military Virtue, the Cross of Valour and three bars and the Gold Cross of Merit with Swords.

He survived the war and decided to remain in England but, in 1953, he and his family emigrated to Toronto, Ontario, Canada where he died on 8^th July 1994.  He was cremated and his ashes were returned to Poland, where they were buried in the Powazki Military Cemetery in Warsaw.

 

Photograph courtesy of Tom Bakalarz Branch 20 Polish Combatants’ Association Museum Curator. Toronto, Ontario.

 

STANISLAW JAN PIASECKI - UPDATE

For anyone interested in progress on the story of Stanislaw Jan Piasecki; new pictures have been added to the entry in his name dated 4th October 2010 , which can be accessed by the simple expedient of typing his name in the search box at the top left of the blog page.

MARIAN MICHAL SZCZODROWSKI

He was born on 30^th September 1916 at Krotoszyn, a Prussian  province of Posen, and was educated there.  He graduated in May 1937 and then joined the army, being enrolled in the Officer Cadet Artillery Reserve School at Wlodzimierz Wolynski. 

On 3^rd January 1938 he was assigned to the Officer Cadet Aviation School in Deblin, where he trained as a pilot on the PZL23 Karas bomber.  He graduated from this course in 81^st position on the XIII Promotion.  He was promoted to 2^nd Lieutenant on the first day of the war and was evacuated to Eastern Poland on the same day.

When the Russians invaded on 17^th September 1939, his group crossed into Romania where he was interned in the camp at Slatinie.  He escaped a few days later and made his way, via Bucarest, to Balcik, a port on the Black Sea where he boarded a ship (the St Nicolaus) for Beirut, Lebanon.  From there he, and a group of Polish Air Force officers, boarded another ship (Ville de Strasbourg)  and sailed for Marseilles.  He made it to Marseilles on 29^th October 1939 and reported to the barracks at Salon.

Deblin 1938  -  PWS-26 Advanced Trainer

 

He volunteered to come to Britain and then, in January 1940, took a boat from Cherbourg to Southampton and was posted to RAF Eastchurch in Kent.  His first tasks were to learn English and to familiarise himself with the Kings Regulations.  At the end of the spring of 1940, he finally moved, with the whole Polish contingent to RAF Blackpool.  This was because RAF Eastchurch was a front line fighter base for the Battle of Britain and not a safe place to train these desperately needed volunteers.

From there, he was assigned to 15 Elementary Flying Training School at Carlisle in Cumberland for a refresher course and to make himself familiar with the controls of British aircraft, which were radically different from those of Polish and French aircraft.  He was also sent to 1 Air Armament School at RAF Manby, Lincolnshire for practical flying experience on British aircraft.  Later, on 15^th July 1941, he was sent to 18 OTU, at RAF Bramcote in Warwickshire for operational training prior to combat flying.

In September of that year he transferred to 304 Squadron at RAF Lindholme, Lincolnshire  from where he saw his first combat.  On the night of 7^th October 1941 he flew on his first mission to bomb the docks at Boulogne, France, beginning a campaign of bombing the French coastal ports.  He followed this up with an attack on Cherbourg on 25^th October and another on Calais on 7^th December.

On 16^th December 1941 he was second pilot to Squadron Leader Jan Blazejewski and they took off in R1064, at 16.57 hours on a mission to Ostend, Belgium.  His aircraft was shot down by a German night fighter and was seen to crash into the sea about 30 kilometres from the Kent Coast.  At 19.05hrs, a distress signal was received at RAF Manston in Kent, but nothing could be done.  The whole crew perished and only four bodies were found; his was not one of them and he has no known grave.  He was posthumously awarded the Field Pilot’s Badge.  The other crew members were PO Jan Komlacz, Sgt Boguslaw Golabek, Sgt Kazimierz Suwalski and Sgt Hubert Rutkowski.

My thanks to Ryszard Kolodziejski for much information and photographs from his collection

304 SQUADRON INTEREST

When I started this blog, my stated intent was to educate the British public about the extent of the Polish involvement, commitment and heroism in the defence of this little island group of ours.  My basic intentions were motivated by my own ignorance on the subject, before I became interested in the activities of 304 Squadron.

 

More than five years later, I find that just over 65% of the people who have shown an interest are NOT British, or at least, not domiciled in Great Britain.  Even I realise that many of the British domiciled readers must be of, at least, partial Polish ethnic origin - I had no idea that my blog would generate interest in over 109 countries and territories in every continent except Antarctica - and there are very few people there anyway!

 

So, basically, I would like to thank all the people who have helped me over the last five years, or so.  You may not realise it, but you have also helped quite a few people to find out about their family members who served in the Squadron.  So - what else can I say, but Thanks! 

MORE PHOTOS FROM SLAGILLE

 

 

Pages of entries in the Church Records at Slagille, Denmark

added later by the parish priest

 

 

    Memorial Garden to those killed at Slagille on BB309

 

 

       Memorial stone to those killed on Halifax BB309

 

 

     The present Polish graves at Slagille

 

These are more pictures provided from his own collection and website, through the courtesy of Soren Flensted, to whom I am extremely grateful.

OPERATION NEON 3

Without wishing to detract from the incredible courage and resourcefulness shown by the men of many nationalities who flew in 138 Squadron, a considerable number of them were also former 304 Squadron aircrew.   For that reason, I feel justified in including this story as six of the seven man crew had previously served in the squadron and their individual stories have already been featured on this site.

Halifax Mk II BB309 (NF-T) left RAF Tempsford at approximately 18.29 hours on 17^th September 1943, its mission - Operation Neon 3 -  was to drop off two agents at Drop Zone Obraz 108 in Poland.

The agents were 2^nd Lieutenant Miroslaw Kryszczukajtis (Szarzy) and Bernard Augustyn Wiechula (Maruda); they were successfully delivered and BB309 was approximately  half way home when it was attacked by a German Ju88c night fighter.  This fighter was crewed  by Pilot Leutnant Richard Burdyna, Obergefreiter Leo Klotz and Obergefreiter Fritz Merten of 11/NJG 3; it was directed to them by the Radar Station Seehund  at Tybjerg, Denmark.

The Halifax was damaged by fire from the Ju88 and the pilot, F/Sgt Tadeusz Miecznik, attempted a forced landing in fields near Slagille.  He touched town at about 04.45am, but struck a house, and the impact, and the fierce fire that ensued, killed five of the crew and five civilians, including two children, on the ground.  For the crew of the Ju88, this was their first “kill” of the war; they were all aged between 20-22  and, fascinated by the results of their work, they circled at low level then crashed into trees and burst into flames.  There are different versions of how the Ju88 crashed: return fire from the Halifax; striking power cables; striking trees and the fact that it was a very dark night with no moon.  The latter was probably German propaganda and is obviously implausible because of the light given off by the fire alone.  The story, as told, was researched by Soren Flensted and the late Anders Bjornvad, both of whom are of impeccable credentials and spent many years researching the story “on the ground.” 

 

The Wreckage of Halifax BB309 (NF-T) and the farmhouse at Slagille, Denmark

 

In the space of just a few minutes, thirteen people were dead or mortally injured, one member of the Polish aircrew (Sgt Roman Puchala) escaped unhurt, one member of the crew (F/Sgt Tadeusz Miecznik) was badly injured and six people in the house escaped virtually unharmed.  The injured were all taken to the nearby Ringsted Hospital where all but F/Sgt Miecznik died later the same day; he later escaped, evaded and, apparently, “evaporated” as he seems to have disappeared from the record.  Any help with a photograph of him and/or news of what happened to him would be most welcome.

AFTERMATH

The German forces behaved in a way that was neither brutal nor inhuman but was thoughtless, to say the least, towards the non-German victims.  The Luftwaffe crew were taken to Copenhagen and buried with full military honours.  The dead Polish airmen were buried, with indecent haste, in shallow graves in the local churchyard at Slagille, as were the innocent civilians (albeit in normal graves).  One of the surviving crew members became a POW and the other escaped and was taken to neutral Sweden by the local resistance organisation, from where he is believed to have been returned to Scotland.

 

The Innocents: the civilians

In the early hours of that fateful morning, the crippled bomber hit the ground and skidded for several hundred metres before slamming into the farmhouse, on the Stockholtevejen road near Slagille, occupied by the family of a farm labourer, L. Christensen, who was killed, along with his wife, mother and two of their children.  This happened in the fire that followed the crash, when the remaining aviation fuel ignited.  Miraculously, the other five children and one grandchild escaped unscathed.  The civilian dead were respectfully buried in the churchyard at Slagille.

The Allied airmen

Flight Sergeant Eugeniusz Pawel Kasprzak was badly burned in the incident and was taken to the Hospital at Ringsted, where he died later that day.  Flight Lieutenant Wincenty Wasilewski, Flight Sergeant Julian Michalski, Sergeant Wladyslaw Patlewicz and Sergeant Wladyslaw Barzdo (the only member of this crew not to have served in 304 Squadron) were all killed at the scene.  These men were unceremoniously buried, in a shallow grave, at three o’clock in the morning on the day after the crash.



Sergeant Roman Puchala survived the crash and jumped from the aircraft before it hit the farm house; he immediately ran away across the fields, where he bumped into the wife of Niels Rasmussen, who was coming to investigate the crash.  She was born in Poland and was able to talk to him in his own language, before arranging for him to be fed and have a few hours sleep.  The Germans made a thorough search of the area and found him on the farm.  He was initially taken to Dulag Luft, a transit camp for airmen, near Frankfurt where he was initially interrogated before being sent on to Stalag Luft VI at Gross Tychy, near Tychowo in Poland.  His final move was to Stalag 357 at Fallingbostel, Lower Saxony; his POW number was 539.

His son informed me that he survived the war and died in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire in 1997, aged 80.

Flight Sergeant Tadeusz Miecznik was the pilot, and the only other survivor from the aircrew.  He was taken to hospital for treatment of his broken left leg and right arm.  With the help of the Danish Resistance, he was able to escape from the hospital at Ringsted, he was later taken to Sweden and ultimately evaded the Germans and made it back to Great Britain and is believed to have survived the war, but little else is known about him.

The Axis airmen:

The Luftwaffe night fighter, a Junkers Ju88C6 serial no 360167 from IV/NJG3 was piloted by Leutnant Richard Burdyna, born 19^th June 1923 at Muhlhausen and died at the scene of the crash.  His crew members were Obergefreiter Fritz Merten, radar operator, born 26^th July 1921 at Berlin-Lichtenberg and Obergefreiter Leo Klotz, born 15^th November 1921 at Lahbehn- Lauenburg.  They both survived the initial impact but died later the same day at Ringsted Hospital.

This was reportedly their first kill and they were circling the area, fascinated by the carnage below, when their aircraft struck trees or a high voltage power cable (reports vary) and crashed in flames in the nearby Bjernede Forest.  The official version was that it was a very dark night; this is clearly propaganda as the flames from the initial impact would have lit up the night sky.  They were taken to Copenhagen and buried in Vestre Cemetery.

The local heroes:

The parish priest, Svend Jacobsen from Slagille, was horrified when he heard from the grave digger that soldiers of the Wermacht had buried the dead airmen in a very shallow grave in the churchyard, without a Christian prayer or ceremony; this was done at 3 am on the morning after the crash.  He wrote to the Bishop asking that the Germans give him the names of the dead airmen so that the parish records could be kept in order.  He also arranged for the airmen to be given a decent burial in coffins and in a grave of the proper depth.  He conducted the ceremony which included a Latin prayer and a prayer in English.  The funerals were paid for by the Danish shipping magnate A.P. Moller, founder of the Maersk Line and the grave was strewn with fresh flowers and the funeral well attended by the local people. 

 

 

The first proper grave, paid for by AP Moller

 

 

On 2nd October 1943, Svend Jacobsen was allowed to visit the wounded pilot in Ringsted Hospital. It is known that they discussed the incident but Tadeusz Miecznic was careful with the truth and told him that they had been bombing German targets in Poland; he did not mention that they had dropped weapons, supplies and agents there.

When the Germans felt that Miecznic was ready to be moved to a Prisoner of War Camp, Dr  Lenler-Eriksen  contacted Marius Petersen, a local ironmonger, asking whether he would be able to  help Miecznik to escape, before he was to be transferred to German custody. Marius Petersen thought it might be possible. He contacted Jorgen Wiboltt ,who was then head of the Zonen Ringsted Fire Station, with a view to making the arrangements.  It was obvious that the airman had to get away from the town immediately after the escape and so Wiboltt went to Copenhagen to make arrangements to get him  to Sweden but without a result.  It seemed that no one was able to help. 

However, a little later Wiboltt was contacted by Kisling at Zonen Osterbro Fire Station, who promised to arrange transport to Sweden, if the airman was brought to Copenhagen. The  escape was planned for 7th November 1943 providing Miecznic was physically able to do it.  Just before 10 p.m. Wiboltt and  Petersen placed a ladder against the airman´s window and helped him out of the window and down the ladder into the grounds.  The airman was given a civilian coat, and he managed to walk unaided  to the Zonen Fire Station – a distance of something like 600 metres.  Wiboltt drove him to Copenhagen and passed him into Kisling’s care.

Shortly afterwards the Polish airman was delivered into the care of Police inspector Thormod Larsen, then a young police officer in Elsinore.  The prepared story was that Miecznic was to be transferred to the hospital at Hillerod for more treatment after which he was to be handed to the Police for transfer into German custody.

The resistance had about 14 suitable places from which they were able to move escapees and, on this occasion, they chose Espergarde code named FA  At that time the courier connection to Helsingborg was totally safe and fast.  When the boat came, the helmsman was Erling Kiaer and Miecznic was carried on to it by Thormod Larsen and accountant Ove Bruhn, who then worked at the Police Station in Elsinore.  The airman then made the short journey to Sweden and was soon repatriated to Britain – although the route is uncertain.

My thanks to Soren Flensted for a great  deal of information and permission to use photographs from his collection and his website www.flensted.eu.com.