AUGUST 20
1794
Greater Poland Uprising began: (Powstanie Wielkopolskie) It was a military insurrection by Polish troops against the Kingdom of Prussia, which had seized the territory of Greater Poland after the 1793 Second Partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The Kościuszko Uprising in central Poland broke out in March 1794 and provided the catalyst for the formation of Polish military units. Initially Tadeusz Kościuszko hoped to avoid a two front war, as he had already initiated the fight against Russians in central Poland. But in June 1794, the situation changed when the Prussians (originally allied with Poland) switched alliances to support Tsarist Russia in suppressing Kosciuszko. The Supreme National Council issued a proclamation to the Citizens of Greater Poland calling them to arms. (Note: The Supreme National Council was the central civil government of Poland loyal to the Kościuszko Insurrection.)
1939
In Katowice, funeral of Wojciech Korfanty took place. Korfanty was a Polish activist, journalist and politician, who served as a member of the German parliaments, the Reichstag and the Prussian Landtag. But later, he became a member in the Polish Sejm. He organized the Polish Silesian Uprisings, and hoped to join Silesia to Poland after Poland regained its independence. He fought to protect Poles from discrimination and from the policies of Germanisation in Upper Silesia before the war. (during the interbellum period). In 1930 he was arrested and imprisoned for his opposition to the May Coup of Jozef Pilsudski, and in 1935 forced to leave Poland. While in Czechoslovakia, he joined Ignacy Paderewski and Wladylsaw Sikorski in forming the center-right movement of Morges Front. He returned to Poland in April 1939 and was arrested upon arrival and imprisoned. He died in prison on August 17, 1939, though the circumstances of his death could not be determined. Rumours of conspiracy allude to the possibility that he was poisoned by arsenic vapors soaked in the walls of his cell. Wojciech Korfanty was a member of the Polish Senate (1930-35), Member of the Sejm (1922-1930), and Deputy Prime Minister from October 1923 to December 1923).
1940
"The Few": Winston Churchill spoke in the House of Common in which he praised the pilots of the RAF, of which Polish pilots were an integral part. In his speech, Church included these words, "......Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few. All hearts go out to the fighter pilots, whose brilliant actions we see with our own eyes day after day; but we must never forget that all the time, night after night, month after month, our bomber squadrons travel far into Germany, find their targets in the darkness by the highest navigational skill, aim their attacks, often under the heaviest fire, often with serious loss, with deliberate careful discrimination, and inflict shattering blows upon the whole of the technical and war-making structure of the Nazi power. On no part of the Royal Air Force does the weight of the war fall more heavily than on the daylight bombers, who will play an invaluable part in the case of invasion and whose unflinching zeal it has been necessary in the meanwhile on numerous occasions to restrain......"
1943
Operation Belt was a large-scale anti-Nazi operation conducted by the Polish Underground to attack German border guarding stations between the General Gouvernment and territories annexed by the Third Reich. In two nights the Polish underground destroyed 7 of these stations. Though the Polish side had few losses, they lost a beloved member of their unit, Tadeusz Zawadzki, who was killed during the Operation. Zawadzki was second lieutenant of the Polish Home Army (Armia Krajowa, or AK), and a scouting resistance fighter. He was only 22. Soon after his death, the Home Army created a battalion in his memory, after his code-name, Battalion Zoska.
1944
Polish fighters captured 115 German prisoners: Polish troops under the command of Cavalry Captain Henryk Roycewicz "Leliwa" launched an attack on Warsaw's tallest structure, a nine-story building of the Polish Telephone Company, named PAST (Polska Akcyuna Spolka Telefoniczna) located at 37-39 Zielna Street. Among the troops of Captain "Leliwa" were a shock platoon of "Koszta" Company, two engineer patrols, a women's sapper patrol, two flamethrower patrols, and a special fire brigade. Previous attempts to take the PAST building had failed resulting in very heavy losses to Polish troops. Despite the superior firepower of the Germans and their fortified positions, the Polish insurgents fought on for over 12 hours. The Poles succeeded in capturing the PAST building killing 38 enemy soldiers and taking over 115 German prisoners. The Poles also succeeded in capturing a considerable cache of weapons and ammunition.
URGENT AND MOST SECRET MESSAGE FROM PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT AND Mr CHURCHILL TO MARSHAL STALIN (no.322) "We are thinking of world opinion if anti-Nazis in Warsaw are in effect abandoned. We believe that all three of us should do the utmost to save as many of the patriots there as possible. We hope that you will drop immediate supplies and munitions to the patriot Poles of Warsaw, or will you agree to help our planes in doing it very quickly? We hope you will approve. The time element is of extreme importance." ROOSEVELT CHURCHILL (August 20th, 1944 )
