Aquila Polonica - Poland WW2

29/08/2025

Such great work being done at The Polish Air Force Memorial Committee! A great way to continue honouring the heroes of World War II, both on site and online this weekend!

29/08/2025

"Conservators in southwestern Poland have uncovered what historians say is the world’s oldest time capsule, hidden inside the tower of a Gothic cathedral for more than 370 years.

"The discovery was made during restoration works at the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul in Legnica, a city in Poland’s Lower Silesia region.

"A commission opened the container earlier this month, revealing four documents and 35 gold, silver and copper coins."

A look into history at TVP World:

The time capsule contained 35 coins and four documents.

28/08/2025

"The remains of 12 Polish officers killed in the 1940 Katyn massacre—a mass ex*****on carried out by the Soviet secret police—will be given a ceremonial burial at the main church of the Polish Armed Forces.

"Officials announced on Tuesday that the officers’ bodies, which were exhumed in 1991, will be ceremonially buried in Warsaw’s Field Cathedral.

"'The Polish Army remembers its officers, it remembers the elite of the Polish nation who were brutally murdered in the Katyn Forests,' Defense Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz said at a press conference."

Tragic victims finally given dignity at TVP World:

Nearly 22,000 Polish officers were executed in 1940 by the Soviet Union’s secret police.

27/08/2025

August 27, 1896: Warsaw Uprising commander Jan Mazurkiewicz, codename “Radoslaw,” is born in Lwow.

Mazurkiewicz was a WWI combat veteran and Polish counter-intelligence officer before the war. By the time of the Warsaw Uprising, Mazurkiewicz was in command of the Radoslaw Group: one of the largest, well-trained and best-equipped Polish forces during the battle. He commanded his troops throughout the 63 day battle, and was still fighting with the Parasol battalion when Polish forces finally surrendered. Mazurkiewicz was wounded in combat, but managed to escape captivity by disguising himself as a civilian.

After WWII, Mazurkiewicz attempted to live in a new Communist Poland. However, in 1949, he complained about the persecution against Armia Krajowa veterans in the communist regime. He was arrested, tortured and locked in prison until the 1956 amnesty. After his release, he was active in Armia Krajowa veteran associations in Communist Poland, and eventually even promoted to the rank of General.

He died in 1988, and his remains are buried at Powazki Military Cemetery.

26/08/2025

"The above photo, of men in white-eagle jerseys, shows Poland’s men’s national football team. It was taken on 28 May 1922, before the squad’s third international match, against Sweden, three-and-a-half years after Poland’s reappearance on the political map of Europe.

"Among the men pictured in the photo are three Jews from Kraków, Józef Klotz, Leon Sperling and Józef Lustgarten, who participated in a historic event not widely known to Polish fans: the first goal scored for the men’s national team.

"Klotz, Sperling and Lustgarten came from backgrounds that reflect the diversity of the Jewish community in Kraków during the interwar years. Their different wartime trajectories also mirrored the fates of many other Polish Jews during World War Two."

An interesting historical look into Poland's 2nd Republic and the tragedy of World War II at Notes From Poland:

The three Jewish football stars behind Poland’s first international goal Aug 19, 2025 | History, Society Keep our news free from ads and paywalls by making a donation to support our work! Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and is published by an independent, non-profit foundation t...

24/08/2025

"The grave of Polish poet Zbigniew Jasiński, known for his writings during the 1944 Warsaw Uprising against the Germans, has been marked with a "Grave of a Veteran" plaque at Rookwood Cemetery in Sydney, Australia.

"The plaque, approved by the Polish parliament, places the grave under the care of Poland’s Institute of National Remembrance (IPN), which runs a programme to preserve and commemorate the graves of war veterans in Poland and abroad."

It is very important to remember these heroes. Full story at Polskie Radio:

The grave of Polish poet Zbigniew Jasiński, known for his writings during the 1944 Warsaw Uprising against the Germans, has been marked with a "Grave of a Veteran" plaque at Rookwood Cemetery in Sydney, Australia.

23/08/2025

August 23, 1939: Foreign ministers Vyacheslav Molotov and Joachim von Ribbentrop sign a non-aggression pact between Hi**er’s Germany and Stalin’s Russia, known as the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact.

Along with the publicized economic exchanges and non-aggression agreement, a secret protocol was arranged between Hi**er and Stalin. The secret protocol divided up Eastern Europe between the two super powers, but was not uncovered until the end of WWII.

The nations of Poland, Finland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and Romania would be partitioned between Russia and German, after they had been conquered through military force. Only a week after the signing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, Poland was invaded by Germany. On September 17, Russia also invaded as part of the secret protocol.

Although the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact was a 10 year agreement, Germany and Russia would be at war in less than two years after its signing.

22/08/2025

"The official opening of the Museum of the 1920 Battle of Warsaw against the Red Army took place on Saturday, accompanied by a lavish ceremony attended by Polish state and local authorities, army veterans, scouts and clergy.

"The museum is part of a memorial complex in the northeastern village of Ossów just outside Warsaw. It was built on the site of the battle against the Red Army, which took place on August 13-15, 1920, on the outskirts of the capital."

An excellent new establishment, details at TVP World:

The battle was one of the most important victories of the Polish-Bolshevik War.

21/08/2025

August 21, 1943: Polish partisans attack a German border outpost, as part of Operation Belt.

In 1943, the Armia Krajowa received orders from the Polish government-in-exile to begin direct combat operations against German border outposts in occupied Poland. The battle during the night of August 20/21 was just one of many battles over the following months. Polish fighters stormed the outpost with grenades and small arms, and only suffered one casualty: second lieutenant Tadeusz Zawadzki.

By February 1944, 13 German outposts had been wiped out by Armia Krajowa partisans, with very light casualties suffered by the Poles.

20/08/2025

August 20, 1944: The Polish 1st Armored Division under General Stanislaw Maczek fights a frantic battle to keep German Army Group B encircled in the Falaise Pocket, France. The 1st Canadian Army, US 1st Army and British 2nd Army closed in on 100,000 German soldiers.

The 1st Armored Division occupied Hill 262, which dominated the only remaining escape path for German forces in Normandy, but also cut them off from other Allied units. The Polish forces held out for 48 hours against constant German attacks by the 2nd, 9th, 10th and 12th Waffen SS Panzer Divisions, desperate to break out of the Allied encirclement.

Commander of the German 7th Army Paul Hausser ordered the Polish defenders on Hill 262 ‘eliminated,’ but the Poles repeatedly beat off determined attacks by German forces. When the Canadian Grenadier Guards reached Hill 262 on August 21, they found the Polish troops almost completely out of ammunition.

The Battle of Falaise Pocket was the final battle of the Normandy Campaign, and a crushing defeat for N**i Germany. Afterwards, France was liberated, and German forces withdrew across the Seine River. Over 50,000 German soldiers were killed or captured over the course of the battle.

Picture: A Polish Sherman tank across from a German Panther tank and half track, all knocked out within feet of each other on Hill 262.

19/08/2025

August 19, 1893: Stefan Starzynski, mayor of Warsaw during World War II, was born.

When Germany overran Poland in September 1939, many of the politicians in Warsaw evacuated from the city with much of the military garrison.

However, Warsaw mayor Starzynski refused to abandon the city. He ordered all public servants remaining back to their posts, created a Civil Guard to replace evacuated police forces, and broadcast daily radio talks to strengthen the city’s resolve. Under his leadership, the city held out against the German siege until September 27. He was given many opportunities to escape out of the country, but refused them all.

He never abandoned Warsaw, and governed it until he was arrested by the Gestapo on October 27, 1939. He was later executed, though the details are still not known. A memorial honors him at the Powazki cemetery in Warsaw.

“I am addressing you now, all those who are outside of the capital, and cannot make up your mind whether to return or not. Come back, I tell you. Come back. We need you. We are working, we are fighting, we are doing our best to push back the enemy who so ignominiously has invaded our land. And we shall win! But we need your help. We need everybody’s help. Every able-bodied man and woman is welcome in Warsaw. Come back!” – Stefan Starzynski on the radio, an excerpt from our book “The Mermaid and the Messerschmitt” by Rulka Langer. Available here:
https://www.amazon.com/Mermaid-Messerschmitt-Through-Womans-1939-1940/dp/1607720019

18/08/2025

"Officials and historians have marked the 120th anniversary of the birth of Marian Rejewski, one of a team of Polish mathematicians and codebreakers whose work in cracking the German Enigma machine played a decisive role in the Allied victory in World War II.

"By 1932, long before the Bletchley Park engagement which is today seen as the epicenter of work on breaking the Enigma code, Rajewski and fellow mathematicians Jerzy Różycki and Henryk Zygalski at the Cipher Bureau in Warsaw, succeeded in reconstructing the workings of the Enigma message coding machine - without ever having seen the inside of one, and basing their work on mathematical analysis of intercepted N**i military radio traffic."

An undersung hero of World War II, full story at Polskie Radio:

Officials and historians have marked the 120th anniversary of the birth of Marian Rejewski, one of a team of Polish mathematicians and codebreakers whose work in cracking the German Enigma machine played a decisive role in the Allied victory in World War II.