A thread dedicated to the Polish SOE (Cichociemni)
Any questions .... Artifacts ... Photo's ..... associated with the Cichociemni, please post here.
Gary J.
A thread dedicated to the Polish SOE (Cichociemni)
Any questions .... Artifacts ... Photo's ..... associated with the Cichociemni, please post here.
Gary J.
PPOR Tadeusz Krala.
French Section - Cichociemni.
(Confirmed mission - combat wreath awarded.)
With Thanks to Susan Krala, .. Tadeusz's Daughter.
Gary J.
I can recommend the recent memoir of cc. Gen. Stefan 'starba' Baluk. It is available in English
Silent and Unseen. I was a Polish WWII special ops commando
Pulished by Askon in 2009
ISBN: 9788374520362
The book title tries to be too 'hip-and-trendy' but it is a great book by a great hero Stefan Baluk was arrested and spent time in Polish communist prison after the war and could only get work as a taxi driver, despite being a lawyer by training.
These Men were true Heros.
On DoomedSoldiers.com theres alot of stories of Cichociemni who still fought on against the soviets after the German victory.
Some cichociemni went on to train other countries special forces such as in USA and Canada. cichociemni also joined CIA intelligence network in Eastern Europe after the war, the same intel network also included many former Geraman Gestapo and Abhwer (German military intelligence) agents! cichociemni also worked for CIA backed Polish section of Radio Free Europe broadcasting out of Munich into Poland.
That other great book about the cichociemni exploits The unseen and silent : adventures from the underground movement narrated by paratroops of the Polish Home Army by George Iraneck-Osmecki and published by Sheed and Ward, London 1954 had several adventures of its own.
A special edition was published for the US Army which shipped copies out to its troops fighting in the Korean war; the book was used as a morale raiser.
Another specaial edition of The Unseen and Silent was printed on light-weight bible paper for the CIA in West Germany who sent hundreds of copies to be dropped over Poland by balloon! CIA propaganda balloon drops were new to me until I got interested in this book.
cc. Adolf Pilch also said that the book was almost ready to go to print when pressure was put on the cichociemni association's publisher Sheed and Ward in London to stop publication as it contained 'true' stories of the Soviet occupation and repression of Poland which HMG thought could damage its relations with USSR at the time. So the cichociemni association turned to Sheed and Ward division in N.Y. (who could not be silenced by British gov. pressure) to publish the book, which they did. Interestingly the head of Polish affairs in the British government at this time was none other than Kim Philby!
Another cichociemni SOE book worth getting hold of is Jozef Garlinksi's "Poland, SOE and the Allies' pub: George Allen & Unwin 1965.
Ive never heard of these balloon drops!Sounds intresting.
Sadly I think the role of the Polish Cichociemny (And our Paratroopers) is largly unknown.
Indeed
The Polish commando force ``GROM`` originated for the Cichociemni
[QUOTE=4thskorpion;100234]Some cichociemni went on to train other countries special forces such as in USA and Canada. cichociemni also joined CIA intelligence network in Eastern Europe after the war, the same intel network also included many former Geraman Gestapo and Abhwer (German military intelligence) agents! cichociemni also worked for CIA backed Polish section of Radio Free Europe broadcasting out of Munich into Poland.QUOTE]
We can not know stores of most of them, there where undercover, and are/where not willing to get espouse even today for fear of there lives. I know Andzrzej did not want me to post or say about him and his work during, and after WWII. As Im going through his papers (many of them did not see day light since WWII) Im finding that what we was telling me was true (I did not believed most of his stories then, they sounded like 007 stores). I’ve jus find out that just after coming to Canada in 1947 he started to work for RCMP Security & Intelligent Branch as undercover agent. I have same written records as he made many copies of documents he had, and my aunt finally comfier it, but she is still saying that it is a secret, (fearing the “communists”). There is only one think that I can not find, he was telling me that he work for British Government during and after WWII. (I can honestly say that he was loyal to the British Government and Quinn until his death, and I think he would give his life for Queen every time giving him chains).
I will post more as I get chance to go thru his documents. And maybe I should post his stores as if get time to write it.
Mariusz
You are all welcome to copy my picture and all post for your collections, but if you went to post or publish it any were please let me know.
Mariusz your Uncle was a Cichociemni?That must of been a real honor to meet him!
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