I've always been aware of "foreign" squadrons in the RAF, Poles, Czechs, French, etc, units. It was never much of a stretch to figure out that relatively few men could get through a German blockade to continue the fight. How in the world though did enough Poles and Czechs make it to Britain to man entire armour divisions or paratroop brigades?

Hi Rodger,
From what I gather alot of them went through Neutral Sweden, like you say it was quite easy for individuals to get across. I too would love to know more about this subject

After Poland had fallen in 1939, heads of the Polish government escaped to France where they set up temporary government. They then gave an order for all active soldiers to either go underground or travel to France in order to join a new Polish army.
How they got there? They either went via the Scandinavia or the southern Europe. The southern route would have taken them through Slovakia, Austria, and Switzerland (neutral) and into France.
When France Fell in 1940, all the Poles who were able to fight evacuated to England via Dunkirk.

Polish soldiers and their families released from Soviet camps were transported through Iran.

David

Interesting. You've really got to admire those guys who traveled so far, and probably at some risk, to get back into the fight.

Hi,

Here's two re Iran. My uncle was one of these and ended up in the 2nd carpathian's before being seriously wounded at Cassino

ttp://www.iranchamber.com/podium/history/041207_polish_exodus1942_iran.php
http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~sarmatia/106/261mcgin.html

It's an unbelivable tale really and does beggar belife.

Cheers

Craig

Craig I took the liberty of making these links "hot." For some reason the first isn't working for me, but here it is anyway.

ftp://www.iranchamber.com/podium/history/041207_polish_exodus1942_iran.php

Here is the 2nd one.

http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~sarmatia/106/261mcgin.html

An interesting read.

A great number of the Polish infantry - including many who fought with the Polish 2nd Corps during the battles around Cassino - had been captured by the Soviets and sent to the Gulags in Siberia. A deal was later struck with Britain which allowed these men to form the 2nd Corps.

http://www.battleofmontecassino.com/pole2.htm

Many of the Czech aircrew contrived to escape during the confusion of the German invasion and occupation. Many ended who fought for Britain ended up in Soviet prison camps post war.

This is a bit but there is a very interesting memorial to the Poles at Monte Cassino. http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://battlefieldsww2.50megs.com/polishmem02.JPG&imgrefurl=http://battlefieldsww2.50megs.com/polish_tank.htm&h=460&w=614&sz=214&hl=en&start=3&tbnid=M1mrShlSpjQkdM:&tbnh=102&tbnw=136&prev=/images%3Fq%3DPolish%2BSherman%2BTank%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D This is just crying out for a good dio.

There's a photo of the monument as originally built in the Osprey Vanguard (old series) on Polish Armour - IIRC it had Scorpions on it originally.

One of my mother's friends was married to a veteran of the Polish 2nd Corps who fought in Italy.

David

Thanks for the info guys, thos are some really interesting stories

Halfyank,

No problem mate, I don't know how to make them hot anyway

My Uncle told me what the Russians got up to in the camps, not pleasant to say the least. No wonder they'd sooner walk to Iran and then fight the Nazis rather than stay there.

Cheers

Craig

Did Stalin release the Poles immediately after Hitler invaded or wait until the middle of November?

All that I know is that when Poland fell my uncle was interned for while in Rumania and somehow made his way to France. After France fell he wound up in Scotland where he met my aunt.

Actually, fleeing Poles were mostly going through Hungary (which was an Axis country). There's a centuries-old connection between the two peoples, which made this quite implausible route possible.

As David Maynard mentioned earlier some Poles were also able to escape the Germans and Russians via Persia (roughly modern Iran); http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/stories/86/a3027386.shtml

The only reason Stalin allowed the Polish people to leave was because he wanted to keep the oil supplies from Britain and the USA flowing in through Persia. In the meantime the Poles had been incarcerated in appalling conditions in slave-labour gulags

Spongya, I believe at the time most of the oil America used was domestic production.

Persia was occupied by Britain and the Soviet Union to keep control of its oil supplies

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglo-Soviet_invasion_of_Iran

David