The youngest participant of WWII !

[Mariusz]

Welcome Alex I hope you are going to enjoy forum, im kind new to the forum too, and I rely like it. It is like meeting daily, weekly, with collectors, experts on war relic. I can get good advice. Now I want to make my own small WW II display. I already have started on it.
Mariusz

[gardengalore]

So Sad, Touching and So BRAVE!! I Love this site!! Thanks for sharing!!

[Mariusz]

young fighters
Mariusz

[Mariusz]

On the picture little girl (Mała "sanitariuszka") Różyczka Goździewska, was helping in hospital on ul. Moniuszki 11. She has past away on 29 October 1989 in Franc in Frejus she was 53.
Mariusz

[StefanM]

In the truly gritty and dramatic book 'Silent is the Vistula'; an eyewitness account of the Warsaw Uprising written in 1946 by young AK medic Irena Bytniewska (whose nom de plume was Irene Orska and died in 1986) she writes of an 8-year-old girl during the 'Rising being recipient of the 'Virtuti Militari' Poland's highest awarded of valour for her bravery as an AK liaison runner. This must be the youngest recipient of the V.M. during the 'Rising and maybe even youngest ever recipient of this award? Is there anyway of checking?

'Silent is the Vistula' was the first book in English to be published about he Warsaw 'Rising in English and is a definite recommended read if you want a contemporaneous account of the ferocious block by block battle for Warsaw. Much better than later more recent accounts which have often been slightly distorted by the hindsight of historical perpespective and collective or shared 'memories' that are inevitable due to the passage of time.

[A.J. Zawadzki]

4th, many thanks for the recommendation. I am unaware of this book and will need to hunt down a copy. I eat up such books as accounts issued shortly after the events took place are my favorite reading for the reasons you mention.

It may be a worthwhile idea to start a sticky thread here that lists recommended English language accounts. There are comparatively few books available for non-Polish speaking history buffs that provide accounts of the events of those turbulent years. Unfortunately many excellent books have not been translated, but on the up side there are some absolutely must read books for anyone with even a passing interest in the Polish experience, and it would be good to get the word out about them – such as you have with “Silent is the Vistula”.

Cheers,
Tony

[Zeller]

thanks guys for this excellent thread! Very interesting and educative stuff shared.I salute you
Zeller

[StefanM]

Young Boy Scout Warsaw Rising 1944—grandson of Gen. Konarzewski.

[ahnenerbe]

What a wonderful and interesting thread!
It would be great if someone of them should post their experience here on the forum....
I think that any of our polish forum members should try to search for them, it would be great.
Thank you for sharing with us .

[StefanM]

Just finished reading an old copy of "Seventy Days" a 1957 diary of the Warsaw Rising by Captain Wacław Zagorski "Lech" battalion commander of 2nd Battalion, Chrobry II in which he writes about an 11 year "soldier" in his battalion being awarded the Krzyż Walecznych. I wonder how many other kids were were awarded the Krzyż Walecznych?

Zagorski also writes in his book about an AK directive which stated that anyone knocking out a German tank was to be automatically awarded the V.M. Again I wonder how many V.M.s were thus awarded?

If anyone hasn't read "Seventy Days" I would highly recommend this visceral account of the battle for the city centre sector.