COMMENTS ON THIS BLOG

Whilst I welcome sensible comments on this blog, I will delete all offensive items as I have done today.  After a series of apparently harmless comments in Chinese, I have received a large comment (also in Chinese) which I have had translated and which has proved to be an offensive and obnoxious invitation to watch porn sites and movies.  My advice to the sender is simple: DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME as all comments from you will be blocked and/or deleted in the future.

WLADYSLAW BONIFACY MINAKOWSKI

On the outbreak of war he was a soldier and evacuated to Romania where he was interned in a camp in Tulcea.  By November he had made it to France and moved on to England where he trained as a navigator.  He was posted in to the Squadron from 18 OTU RAF Bramcote on 27th April 1942 and he was known to be still in service on 13^th July 1942. 

He was a crew member of a Wellington that was jumped by 6 Ju88 fighters whilst on anti-submarine patrol near Bishop Rock on 16^th September 1942.  In a 12-15 minute battle, fought at 30 feet above sea level, this crew destroyed one enemy plane, saw large pieces break off the tail plane of another and scored hits on three more.  In return they had a two yard square section of wing torn off by cannon fire and their petrol tank was pierced.  They managed a power climb into the clouds and the action was broken off.  He stayed with 304 Squadron until the end of the war and flew 25 missions over France and the Atlantic Ocean.

He returned to Poland in June 1947 and rejoined the Polish army where he worked in intelligence and aerial photography and rose to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.  In May 1951 he was arrested and accused of spying for England.  He spent six months in a dungeon where he was subjected to torture and held in a cell measuring 2 metres by 90 centimetres (about 6 feet 7 inches by 3 feet).  After a hearing lasting twenty hours per day, he was convicted on 13^th May 1952 and sentenced to death.  He was executed, by firing squad, on 7^th August 1952 in the prison at Rackowiecka Street, Warsaw – the trial judge was powerless to commute the sentence because of the nature of the alleged crime.  He was vindicated and received a state pardon on 7^th May 1956.  He is buried in the Military Cemetery at Warsaw but the exact location is unknown.

A sad end for a hero who was awarded the Order of Virtuti Militari 5^th class, the Cross of Valour (twice) and the Silver Cross of Merit.

LESLAW ROMAN MIEDZYBRODZKI

He was born on 24^th March 1912 and known to be in service with 304 Squadron on 8^th 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, 5^th 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 on 18^th January 2001, shortly before his 89^th birthday.

TADEUSZ MIECZNIK

He was a pilot and was born on 25^th February 1915 and he is known to have served in 304 Squadron, and was with them on 16^th December 1942 but transferred to 138 Squadron, fling covert missions for the SOE; he was awarded the Order of Virtuti Militari Silver Cross, 5^th class.  On one such mission, on 18^th September 1943, Halifax BB309, flying out of Tempsford in Bedfordshire, was picked up by the German Radar station “Seehund” at Tybjerg, Denmark and shortly afterwards it was attacked by a night fighter.  The crippled aircraft made a forced landing and crashed into a house.  Three adults and two of the children were killed in the house; miraculously six other children survived.  Five of the crew were also killed and one other taken prisoner.  Flight Sergeant Miecznik suffered a broken arm and leg and was taken to hospital but later escaped to Sweden. 

The night fighter, a Ju88, was flown by Lieutenant Richard Burdyna from IV/NJG3 and he was so preoccupied with the carnage that he circled to watch then struck power lines, killing himself and his two crewmen.  They now rest in Vestre Cemetery, Copenhagen, Denmark.

The bodies of the dead Polish crew were buried by German troops in shallow graves in the churchyard and without ceremony.  On 30^th September 1943 the horrified priest had the bodies exhumed, placed in coffins and buried properly, with a Christian service and they all now lie in Slagille Cemetery.  The funeral was paid for by A.P. Moller, a local ship owner.

F/Sgt Miecznik was taken to Ringsted Hospital and when the Doctor thought he was well enough to travel he contacted the local resistance who placed a ladder at his hospital window and helped him to get out.  He was taken overland to Copenhagen and then, in a small boat, to Sweden.

The seventh member of the crew, Sergeant  Roman Puchala, suffered only minor head injuries and escaped across the fields and was sheltered on a local farm, where he was captured after a few hours. He was initially taken to Dulag Luft, a Luftwaffe transit camp  near Frankfurt am Main, Germany for interrogation and then on to Stalag Luft VI Gross Tychow, near Tychowo, Poland..  Finally, he went to Stalag 357 at Fallingbostel  in Lower Saxony, Germany. 

JULIUS (OR JULIAN) MICHALSKI

He  was born on 5^th February 1919 in Pulawy and joined the army in 1937and became a driver-technician in 24 Cavalry Pulku, who were in Krakow on the outbreak of war.  When the Russians invaded his unit crossed into Hungary and were disarmed but travelled on into Jugoslavia.  They were permitted to transit Italy and eventually reached France.

 When France’s defences were breached by the Germans, the Poles moved into Spain and attempted to take ship for Algiers.  He was held by  the Spanish authorities but escaped immediately and concealed himself amongst some crates; in this way he got on board the vessel and stowed away until the vessel docked in Algiers where he rejoined his unit.

From there they went to Casablanca but discovered that all available places on ships were reserved for airmen, who were desperately needed in Britain.  So they drove across the Sahara Desert and finally came to the banks of the River Niger.  They put their vehicles on rafts and crossed into Nigeria, finally reaching the British High Commissioner in Kano.  He arranged matters fom there.  After a spell in hospital, suffering a bout of malaria, he was sent by sea to Egypt where he joined the Polish contingent in Alexandria.  He fought at Tobruk and was later sent to Britain, via Cape Town, South Africa escorting German and Italian Prisoners of War.

On arrival at Liverpool, he volunteered for the Polish Air Force and was chosen to train as a navigator and was then sent to Glasgow from where he embarked for Canada.  He was to attend the navigator training school at Moncton, Ontario and later Prince Edward Island for advanced training at navigating over water.

He returned to Britain at the end of 1943 and was sent to the Polish Depot at RAF Blackpool where he was allocated to Coastal Command and 304 Squadron at RAF Benbecula on the Outer Hebrides, a remote island off the west coast of Scotland.  He flew many convoy protection and anti-submarine missions as far out into the Atlantic as fuel would permit.  At the end of the war he remained with the Squadron, flying transport duties to Italy, Greece and the Middle East until he was finally demobilised.

In civilian life, he returned to his studies, won a scholarship and became a lecturer, and later a professor, at Birmingham University where he worked for 25 years until his retirement.  Sadly, he died on 3rd April 2020.

JULIAN MICHALSKI

He was a navigator and was born on 12^th July 1908; he was known to have been a member of 304 Squadron on 16^th December 1942 but transferred to 138 Squadron at RAF Tempsford.  On 17^th September 1943 his Halifax bomber BB309 was shot down at Slagille, Denmark on its way back from Poland.  The mission was part of Operation Neon 3 which involved successfully dropping weapons and two agents into occupied Polish territory.  They were detected by the German Radar Station “Seehund” and a Junkers Ju88 night fighter was scrambled and shot the Halifax down.  It crashed into a house, killing three adults and two children but six other children miraculously survived.

Four of the crew (including Sgt Michalski) were killed instantly, one died later of his  injuries (severe burns) and another suffered a broken arm and leg but escaped from the hospital, with the help of the local Resistance, to neutral Sweden three weeks later.   There was an immediate burial of the dead in shallow graves in the church yard without a service much to the chagrin of the local priest.  He arranged for them to have a proper burial with a Christian service rendered in English.  The expenses, including coffins and flowers, were covered by A.P Moller, a Danish shipping magnate.  Sergeant Michalski was awarded the Order of Virtuti Militari.

The German fighter, flown by Lieutenant Richard Burdyna from IV/NJG3, also crashed.  One report claims that it was hit by return fire from the Wellington, but the general consensus is that the aircraft was circling the wreckage and flew into power cables, killing the pilot and his two crewmen.  The Polish dead are buried in Slagille Kirkegaard Cemetery, Denmark and the German crew were interred in Vestre Cemetery, Copenhagen, Denmark.

The seventh member of the crew, Sergeant  Roman Puchala, suffered only minor head injuries and escaped across the fields and was sheltered on a local farm, where he was captured after a few hours. He was initially taken to Dulag Luft, a Luftwaffe transit camp  near Frankfurt am Main, Germany for interrogation and then on to Stalag Luft VI Gross Tychow, near Tychowo, Poland..  Finally, he went to Stalag 357 at Fallingbostel  in Lower Saxony, Germany. 

NIKODEM MATYLIS

He was a pilot, born on 16^th May 1913;  he survived the War and was killed when his Handley Page Halifax crashed during a training flight at Lawshall Green, Suffolk on 23^rd August 1946.  Pilot error was the reason given for the accident.  He is buried at Newark upon Trent Cemetery.  He was awarded the silver cross of the Order of Virtuti Militari Silver Cross, 5^th class whilst serving with 305 Squadron and he won the Cross of Valour three times.