Two of WW2’s most famous Polish generals ended up living in poverty in postwar Britain, performing manual labour just to survive. Who were they, and how did this happen?
Dr. Mark Felton FRHistS, FRSA, is a well-known British historian, the author of 22 non-fiction books, including bestsellers ‘Zero Night’ and ‘Castle of the Eagles’, both currently being developed into movies in Hollywood. In addition to writing, Mark also appears regularly in television documentaries around the world, including on The History Channel, Netflix, National Geographic, Quest, American Heroes Channel and RMC Decouverte. His books have formed the background to several TV and radio documentaries. More information about Mark can be found at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Felton
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Credits: US National Archives; Library of Congress; Maciej Szczpanczyk; Paweł Tomaszk; Exiled Englishman; Family Sosabowski; Cezary Piwowarski; Medalmaniak; Skabiczewski
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37 Comments
That is so depressing, I know there were bigger problems to deal with back then but man the Allies could have done alot more for these guys it really is a stain on the honor of our countries as much money as our goverments throw at useless things we could have scrapped up some money somewhere for a decent pension for these guys and the other people in their circumstance.
If one country deserves to have all the help it can get to become as strong as possibe and as wealthy as possible it is the poles. I see them as becoming the new European power in in the next 20 years
As a Pole I can't express my gratitude enough for making videos such as this, spreading historical knowledge to people all around the world. So many don't realize how dirty Poland was dealt not just due to WW2 itself but afterwards as well.
Real Heroes.
Politicians have no use for high ranking military commanders once a war ends 😮
The reason the British behaved so shoddily and that their troops weren't allowed to take part in the victory parade was because Atlee's post-war Labour government didn't want to annoy the Soviets, towards whom many Labour politicians felt an affinity. Montgomery was an a***hole of the first water. The treatment of these two gallant men are indeed a grievous stain on Britain, and that subsequent Conservative governments didn't rectify the situation condemns them, too. Disgraceful.
In my hometown lived man who survived capturing by Soviets in 1939 and made his way with Second Core under Anders. He fought in battle of Monte Cassino, Blogone, Ankona. He received VIrtuti Military the greatest Polish medal after the Battle of Bologne.
Polish heroes are not forgotten in Poland and never will be. Your video is one of many contributions to memory and commemoration of them and Polish history. As a Pole and a grandson of Warsaw Uprising fighter and AK fighter I just want to say thank you. And of course big thank you the lovely Dutch people who also remembered and still remember our heroes.
Never trust the British. Poland taught us this the hard way.
These two leaders clearly got a raw deal at war's end. But they would have been worse off had they moved back to Poland with Stalin still around. Possibly prison or executions for 'treason' would have been their fates.
Shocking
Shame, shame, shame 🙃
In my opinion these stains on britains honour are dwarfed by the monstrous way they treated Ireland and India and colonies in general
Fxxk them, they fought for their own country they lost, they got a 2nd chance to fight with the uk, they contributed in beating the Germans, they got revenge
So like most over paid uk generals, you think ordinary UK citizens should pay taxes to pay for more over paid generals, well Fxxk you.
Having said what I said, I am sorry to see the two men falling from grace, when they attained so much, but life is tough, west Yorkshire police seized my £165.000 savings, its now gone missing, this is to cover up corruption by West Yorkshire Police,
2:31Here, unfortunately, a mistake crept in, Poland as a state, unlike France, never capitulated to the Third Reich. Individual military units or points of resistance capitulated, for which further fighting was unjustified, due to the inability to break through the encirclement or relief. Although the last fights of the Polish Army with the aggressors formally ended on October 6, 1939 after the Battle of Kock, the Polish Army still put up active resistance in the country in the form of the Detached Unit of the Polish Army, which resisted until June 25, 1940.
What an embarrassment for the British
Betrayal and murder of polish General Sikorski and his daughter Sophia in Gibraltar are sealed in London archives for another 25 years. Those secret archives contains as well Churchill romans with Josefina, nota bene behind Poles back.
Shame on us.
My grandfather was one of those Poles who went to Britain via the middle east after a couple of years in a Soviet prison, and was attached to the very same 1st Polish Armoured Division commanded by Maczek in post-D-day Ops. Fortunately he fared better post-war than that, eventually settling in Canada with his Dutch bride (My grandmother) and working as a machinist leading a decent middle-class lifestyle.
Much is said about British betrayal of Poland, but obviously the situation was not ideal, given that the allies didn't stand a chance without the Soviets in those days. This treatment of the leading Poles is less excusable however.
Mark, please tell us about the 1947 UK Polish resettlement Act and how the UK taxpayer took in hundreds of thousands of stateless Polish ex-service personnel and their families when nobody else gave a f*ck…..
British and other allied governments didn’t have any financial obligations toward General Maczek after the war. Polish government on exile insist to be independent from allies during a war. As a results Polish air force and land forces were founded from their own money. I can’t express how stupid was policy of Poland toward Nazi Germany before outbreak of war but what was happen after collapse of Poland in 1939 was even more stupid. General Maczek’s faith and many other survivors was a result of all mistakes Polish Government on Exile made during WW2 and after. (they sent almost all gold to Communist Poland!!!) Fun fact. Since outbreak of war in Ukraine Poland lost most of their military equipment without even be at war. We lost most of air force and armed forces as a result of “support” for a Ukrainians. Mig-29’s are gone same as all T-72 and PT-91 tanks. Today I heard that we will give Ukrainians our Leopard tanks. Polish army has been reduced to a dozen of operational F16 and few hundred Leopard tanks that will end up in Ukraine sooner or later. Howitzer has been sent as well. And all of that for a piece of paper saying that by 2025 Poland will receive tanks from a USA and Korea. I am a Pole, met many people in my live but no one so careless and stupid like Poles. 😢
Yes a terrible stain on Britain and to Winston Churchills, eternal shame.. Monty appears to have been far from honest, either
Stain on the honor of Britain? Look at history, and it's all there. Nothing un-stained.
" Not exactly our finest hour "
First Monty tried to blame poles for his spectacular fiasco, then pole generals were left to starve for decades. What an ungrateful bastards.
The vain Montgomery was absolutely sure that his sublime plan (Operation Marketgarden) would succeed. He even managed to convince Eisenhower, who was initially critical of it. And so also Sosabowski, who urgently warned him against this disastrous mission. But no, Monty was convinced of his genius plan. We knew it was a monstrous tragedy, partly due to a number of fatal mistakes, including a lack of communication and limited knowledge of the actual situation around Arnhem, which resulted in a dramatic outcome. Monty did not stand up for his colleague, on the contrary, he blamed him for this defeat. And add to this the incredibly short-sighted attitude of the English government, which did not lift a leg to lend a helping hand to these great Poles. Petty bourgeoisie of the worst kind, which also underlies the tragic end of life of a brilliant scientist Alan Turin. Politicians? There are few noble people among them…..
Shameful. Thank you for raising awareness.
As a Pole, many thanks for the material. Most of us here have heard about how they were treated but you're the voice for English speaking viewers around the world.
Mark, please make a video of the Palace of the Republic which stood in East-Berlin before it was demolished in 2006
This brought tears to my eyes.
Limeys have a history of slighting non-limeys that fought for them.
Hitler killed 6 million jews. Churchill killed 10 million hindus. Who is worse?
Then there is the mystery of the death of the Commander in Chief and Prime Minister of the Polish Army in Exile, General Wladyslaw Sikorski on July 4 1943 in Gibraltar. Was it an assassination by an agent of the "Allies" ?
Stain on the honour of Britain? Why the heck did the UK to 5 years of war on behalf of an Eastern European country?
Have to say that I disagree with the sentiments of this video. A bit blinkered perhaps?
Not a ''betrayal'' or ''stain on the honour of Britain''. Certainly, more could have been done, but it was the realpolitik of the time.
Not to mention that thousands of rank and file from Czechoslovakia, Poland, and other states were neglected and forced to return to a terrible life in their home nations. Focussing just on two generals who stayed in the UK doesn't necessarily reflect the situation for everyone.
Without the experienced polish air pilots , the British Airforce would have faced a much greater task of defeating the German Luftwaffe during the battle of Britain. I remember during the buildup to the Brexit vote how someone was complaining about too many polish people taking British jobs. I put him right about where great Britain would have possibly been without the Polish contribution. Believing that someday they might be repatriated to their homeland, they were let down by the Stalins greed and as shown in this example of the treatment of such great generals. The collective western countries didn't want to upset the Polish communist government and displayed incredible bias and weakness in equal measure.
The Polish Fighters were to be reckoned with! They had a reason to take the war back to Germany from England. On another note, Montgomery should have been sacked after Market Garden. 17000 men lost, Kia or captured is inexcusable. That whole debacle was just an ego trip for Montgomery.
Many thanks for that. Much appreciated. Some of us (Poles) know the history and no doubt that this was a disgrace. Sometimes it’s used in anti-EU propaganda. Maczek was a great figure especially towards the end of his life when efforts of 39 defense and blood lost on the fronts of the West were officially recognized. Sadly, we didn’t win anything despite casualties. It was exactly the same with Napoleon. If you find a place and time it would be great to mention at least Polish air squads during the battle of England (303 in particular) and Polish forces which fought in Italy (monte Cassino is deep in our minds). Not to mention hard Eastern front and Polish contribution to Soviet victory. We desperately wanted our freedom back.