Auction items .. Good, Bad or Indifferent ?

[dorava]

out of curiosity
where does this information come from if its not in the Lorys book?
thanks

[dorava]

The Rogowski 303 Sqd group is broken, it was sold in 2000 with all the medals and badges direct from the estate and the bloke broke it up. I contacted the auction house and they said they were atleast 2 ID cards, a 306 Sqd badge, a Spinks Virtuti Militari and this clot has broken the group...

as pointed out by Mr Zawadzki, the seller might have done a bit more than just breaking up the group, the Air Force Medal it totally wrong...and the KW is bizarre as well....

[Krakow1]

out of curiosity
where does this information come from if its not in the Lorys book?
thanks

Capt. Lorys on page XLV in materialy shows assignment of numbers on Par. badges, MON has four blocks of numbers reserved, one of them from 4620 to 4710, the badge in question # is 4667.
Piotr Witkowski in a book "Polskie Jednostki Powietrzno-Desantowe na Zachodzie shows pictures of patek from 1SBS, none have a dark red border.
He shows a picture of one belonging to RS Sunday who also writes on this forum and it has dark red border and it says that it is one belonging to Sam. Komp. Grenadierow. Also the paper backing on these does not glow, and the badge has a die mark, the picture does not do it justice.
All the rest of info that I quoted is in the same book.
Another source is Jedrzej Tucholski "Spadochroniarze" where he has a paragraph about Poles jumping in France , also SPP has some material but some missions are still secret. They supposedly did one in Germany after 05/06/1945 against the soviets.
There were two groups in the Company: one to jump in France, one to be used in Germany, hence the Foreign Legion deserters(french speakers) and the Wehrmacht. They were to operate in teams of five. Also they carried some cool weapons, wore US uniforms and a patch that is most sought after today: wings with SF in the middle. (Special Force). They trained in Fort William, Scotland SOE facility.

[A.J. Zawadzki]

Hello Itakdalej,

Welcome to the forum. It’s good to have you aboard. Thanks for providing your detailed and informative reply.

Regards,
Tony

[StefanM]

Another source is Jedrzej Tucholski "Spadochroniarze" where he has a paragraph about Poles jumping in France , also SPP has some material but some missions are still secret. They supposedly did one in Germany after 05/06/1945 against the soviets.

Did you mean some of the "Sam. Komp. Grenadierow" mission files at SPP are still secret, including the one you mention in Germany June 1945?

[Krakow1]

First of all thanks for the welcome Tony. I am not sure if You recall but five or six years ago we have exchanged some emails, I once posted on the old forum two large lots of prewar badges and documents of Polish Officers murdered in Katyn.
What I meant about the files at SPP being secret is that there are some mentions of the mission that was after May 9th 1945 (I have in prev post put 05/06 my mistake) it should have been 05/09/1945 in Germany but no details, mission was done on behalf of the Americans and it is believed against Soviets. Around September 1944 Mjr Szymanowski plus 17 instructors from plus 60 poles (former Wehrmacht) all from SKG went to US to be part of SAARF (Special Allied AIrborne Reconnaissance).

[dorava]

thank you
most interesting information!!

[Gary J]

One of a very few personal photo's I have of the Grenadiers ..

Gary J.

[Gary J]

And a group shot, again from my personal collection.

Note the "SF" wings" as mentioned, and the high leg black Canadian type Para boots.

Gary J.

[rsunday]

Hi
I would like to update some information - Maj. Szymanowski was requested by OSS to organise a "School of Specialists" - unit similar to Independent Grenadier Company. Some grenadiers took a part in a few different secret operations under OSS command. A very few facts are known about action called by Lorys "Soviet Union Action" (description coming from Combat Para Badges issues). Finally 24 (or 26?) Agents were dropped in groups of 2 behind German-Soviet line. The task was to gather inteligence information about movement of enemie's forces. Most of them was awarded with Polish decorations (mainly Cross of Merit with Swords).

Only 18 grenadiers were a part of SAARF - both Gary's photos show exactly this group!
They comes from SAARF disbandement's ceremony.
Greetings
Mr Sunday :-)