AUGUST 31 - DAILY CHRONICLES OF HISTORY

AUGUST 31

1939

On the night of August 30-31, German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop read a 16-point German proposal to the British ambassador. When the ambassador requested a copy of the proposals for transmission to the Polish Government in Exile, Ribbentrop refused, on the grounds that the requested Polish representative had failed to arrive by midnight. Later on August 31, Polish Ambassador Lipski went to see Ribbentrop  to confirm that Poland was willing to enter negotiations, but that he did not have the full power to sign, Ribbentrop summarily dismissed him. Germany then broadcast that Poland had rejected Germany's "offer" for negotiations, and talks came to an abrupt end. Hitler issued orders for the invasion of Poland the next day.


Hitler issued Directive No. 1, ordering an attack on Poland to begin September 1: He declared  "Since the situation on Germany's Eastern frontier has become intolerable and all political possibilities of peaceful settlement have been exhausted, I have decided upon a solution by force.  The attack on Poland will be undertaken in accordance with the preparations made for 'Case White', with such variations as may be necessitated by the build-up of the Army which is now virtually complete.  The allocation of tanks and the purpose of the operation remain unchanged.  Date of attack 1st September 1939.   This time also applies to operations at Gdynia, in the Bay of Danzig, and at the Dirschau bridge..... "


Nazi Propaganda at Gleiwitz: Sturmbanfuehrer Alfred Naujocks of the SD led a party of German convicts dressed in Polish uniforms, staging a fake attack on the German radio station at Gleiwitz. The so-called "raiders" burst into the studios, broadcast a patriotic announcement in Polish, fired a few shots and left. Once outside the convicts were executed by the SS and their bodies left there for the local police to find.  Within hours, other German radio stations broadcast the news of the "unprovoked attack on the Reich and falsely accused the Polish Army of the attack. The incident was staged by the Nazis as a pretext for invading Poland. In his testimony at the Nuremberg Trials, Naujocks stated that he organized the incident under orders from Reinhard Heydrich and Heinrich Muller, chief of the Gestapo.

1940

Polish fought in the Battle of Britain:   The No. 303 ("Kościuszko") Polish Fighter Squadron was formed on August 1, 1940 and became operational on August 31, 1940.  The 303 was one of 16 Polish squadrons in the British Royal Air Force (RAF). The PAF in Britain consisted of about 8,000 Polish airmen. The Polish pilots were among the aces in the Battle of Britain, and gained enormous prestige in their valor and skill in aerial combat. Their experience and skill was superior to that of the British pilots, as the Poles were constantly "scanning the skies" for enemy aircraft, and relied on their own quick instincts in battle.  Not only did they hold the highest scores of the Hurricane squadrons during the Battle of Britain, but they achieved the highest ratio of enemy aircraft destroyed and damaged. The Kosciszko squadron was named after General Tadeusz Kosciuszko,  the Polish and United States hero, (who fought in the American War of Independence) and the Polish 7th Air Escadrille founded by Merian C. Cooper, that served Poland in the 1919–1921 Polish-Soviet War.  Sir Archibald Sinclair,  British Air Minister sent a letter to the Polish airmen after WWII, in which he said, "... Our shortage of trained pilots would have made it impossible to defeat the German air force and so win the Battle of Britain if the...airmen of Poland had not leapt into the breach.......[We] do not forget that you were the first to resist the aggressor....neither do...[we] forget that you came after manifold trials to our aid when we most needed your help.  Your valiant squadrons fighting alongside our own were in the forefront in the Battle of Britain and so helped to restore the fortunes of the Allies throughout the years of struggle.  In good times and bad you have stood by us and shared with the RAF their losses and their victories......"

1944

Polish Insurgents Escaped Through Sewers:  Since the beginning of the Warsaw Uprising, Polish insurgents relied heavily on Warsaw's extensive network of sewers as a vital link of communication, and transport between Polish units throughout the city center.  By the end of August, the sewers were used by Polish Home Army soldiers and Polish citizens in an emergency evacuation to flee the increasing German onslaught. The most successful evacuation was of over 5,000 Polish soldiers and citizens from the Old Town district to the City Center and Zoliborz areas. It was only by the end of August that Germans discovered the sewer network and  attempted to destroy the operation by pouring gasoline into the sewers and igniting it, or laying mines and building obstacles.  Despite the horrific dangers, the Poles continued the evacuation until the end of September.

1980

Gdansk Agreement:  The agreement was the direct result of the 21 demands of the Interfactory Strike Committee (MKS),  resulting from the Gdansk strikes.  With wide support of other striking groups, and the citizens, the communist-controlled Polish government finally gave in to their demands. This ushered in democratic changes within a communist political system.  Among their demands were the formation of independent trade unions,  the right to strike, economic decentralisation, freedom of speech and of the press, fair workers compensation and working conditions, among others.  These developments led to the creation and rise of Solidarność (Solidarity), the independent trade union that emerged from the Lenin Shipyard strike, led by Lech Walesa.  It achieved unparalleled power and success of over 10 million Poles across the country.  Solidarosc negotiated for Poland's interests, and led the way to a free, and independent Poland again. (see August 17, 1980)

1982

Solidarity National Wide Demonstrations:  Solidarnosc, organized anti-government street demonstrations to commemorate the second anniversary of the Gdańsk Agreement. The bloodiest protest occurred in southwestern Poland, in the town of Lubin in which three protesters were killed by Communists and an unspecified number of wounded. On the same day, rallies and demonstrations took place in 66 cities across the country.  Street fights were a common sight not only in major urban centers, such as Warsaw, Kraków, Szczecin, Wrocław, Łódź, and Gdańsk, but also in provincial cities (Rzeszów, Koszalin, Kielce, Przemyśl, Częstochowa, Bielsko-Biała, Gorzów Wielkopolski), and towns (Starachowice, Lubin, Konin). In Wrocław, which was one of main centers of underground Solidarity, several thousand people fought against riot police and soldiers for many hours.  One demonstrator, 27-year-old Kazimierz Michałczyk, was killed by a bullet.   Other victims of police brutality were: 32-year-old Piotr Sadowski from Gdańsk, Mieczysław Joniec from Nowa Huta, and Jacek Osmański from Toruń. Stanisław Raczek was severely beaten during a protest in Kielce, and died on September 7. He was 35.

AUGUST 30 - DAILY CHRONICLES OF HISTORY

AUGUST 30

1940

RAF 303rd Kosciuszko Squadron began air operations. The pilots had been waiting for weeks and desperate to get into the action. Most of them were veterans and experienced in the strategies of aerial battle.  They had to endure weeks of being trained on bicycles by the British commanders at RAF Northolt. Finally the Polish aces had the chance to fly in combat. They scored their first victory (though officially still non-operational) by shooting down a German Messerschmitt Bf 110 of 4./ZG 76 (initially incorrectly recorded as a Dornier Do 17). The wreck was excavated in 1982. Polish pilot F/O Ludwik Paszkiewicz scored the kill during a so-called training flight. He was already an skilled and accomplished pilot.  After Squadron Leader Kellet's personal recommendation, the squadron was declared officially operational next day by No. 11 Group RAF.

Battle of Britain:  Six of the squadron units Hurricanes took off to carry out a mock attack on 6 Blenheim bombers in the St. Albans area. Polish Officer Ludwik Paskiewicz, described the attack in his official report as follows, "After a while we noticed ahead a number of aircraft carrying out various evaluations… I reported it the Commanding Officer, S/Ldr [Squadron Leader] Kellett, by the R/T (radio-telephone), and, as he did not seem to reply, I opened up the throttle and went in the direction of the enemy…Then I noticed, at my own altitude, a bomber with twin rudders – probably a Dornier – turning in my direction…Then I aimed at the fuselage and opened fire from about 200 yards, later transferring it to the port engine, which I set on fire…The Dornier…dived and then hit the ground without pulling out of the dive and burst into flames. I have been firing at an enemy aircraft for the first time in my life." When he returned to base, Paszkiewicz was reprimanded for disobeying orders, but also congratulated for making the squadrons first kill.  (Note:  Paskiewicz'  aerial attack was immortalised in the famous classic scene, "Repeat, please" scene in the film the Battle of Britain.)

1978

Henryk Zygalski died on August 30, 1978. He was a civilian cryptologist with the Polish General Staff's Biuro Szyfrów (Cipher Bureau), housed in the Saxon Palace in Warsaw. He worked there with fellow Poznań University alumni and Cipher Bureau cryptology-course graduates Marian Rejewski and Jerzy Różycki. Together they developed methods and equipment for breaking Enigma messages.  The Polish Underground captured a German Engima machine, which Rejewski and his colleagues worked on breaking the Enigma Code. Before World War Two broke out the Polish mathematicians had already constructed working replicas of the Enigma machine and gave one each to the authorities in England and France.

AUGUST 11 - DAILY CHRONICLES OF HISTORY

AUGUST 11

1892

Wladyslaw Anders (dob) was a General in the Polish Army, and later became a politician and prominent member of the Polish Government-in-Exile in London. When Poland was invaded by Germany on September 1, 1939,  Anders was called into action and commanded the Nowogródzka Cavalry Brigade in the Battle of Mlawa. With the collapse of the Polish Northern Front, the Brigade withdrew towards Warsaw, fighting several battles against the Germans. Following the Soviet attack on September 17, 1939 Anders retreated south in the direction of Lwów in the attempt to reach the Hungarian or Romanian border but was wounded twice and captured by the Red Army. The Soviets transferred Anders to the notorious Lubyanka prison were he was confined until February 29, 1940. During his imprisonment, he was interrogated and tortured by the NKVD who attempted to force him to join the Russian Army. He refused.  But after the Nazis launched Operation Barbarossa, and the signing of the Sikorski-Maisky Agreement, Anders was released, and given the command to form a Polish army which would join the Soviets in the battle against the Nazis. Ander's army, the 2nd Polish Corp were composed of Polish civilians who had been deported to the Russian gulag,  from Soviet-occupied Poland.  The Polish 2nd Corps became a vital tactical and operational unit of the Polish Armed Forces in the West. Anders commanded the Corps throughout the Italian Campaign, capturing Monte Cassino on May 18, 1944, later fighting on the Gothic Line and in the final spring offensive. After the end of World War Two, Anders was prominent in the Polish Government in Exile in London and became inspector-general of the Polish forces-in-exile, as well as working on behalf of various charities and welfare organization. He never returned to Poland.

1939

Ribbentrop met with Ciano, the Italian Ambassador to Germany, and Attolico:  During the meeting, both Ciano and Attolico were horrified to learn from Ribbentrop that Germany planned to attack Poland that summer, and that the Danzig issue was merely a pretext for aggression. When Ciano offered to broker a Polish-German settlement,  Ribbentrop admitted that "We want war!"  Despite Ciano's efforts, the Germans did not want a diplomatic solution, but rather they wanted war only to eradicate Poland from the map.  Ribbentrop was certain that neither Britain nor France would go to war for Poland, claiming that "France and England cannot intervene because they are insufficiently prepared militarily and because they have no means of injuring Germany."

1944

Ochota Massacre:  Germans recaptured the Ochota district of Warsaw from Polish insurgents. (The Polish Underground had launched the Warsaw Uprising on the first of August 1944) By August 11, the Nazis expelled more Polish civilians from their homes and murdered them. Their bodies were placed in piles in the neighboring Hugo Kollajaj Secondary School, doused with alcohol and set on fire. On August 12 a German officer captured three boy scouts of the Gustaw Battalion of the Home Army, and shot them in the backs of their heads as they lowered corpses into an excavated pit.  On August 13, the final evacuation of civilians to the Pruszków transit camp began. This was the Ochota Massacre,  a German orchestrated mass murder of civilians, involving looting, arson, torture and rape. These atrocities continued unabated from August 4 to August 25, 1944 and were carried out by the notorious RONA brigade, commanded by Bronislav Kaminski, of the so-called Russian National "Liberation" Army.   The RONA units withdrew from Ochota in the last week of August 1944, but looting of property continued until the beginning of October. The Nazi Germans organized this campaign of pillaging, and loaded the stolen property on trains and truck convoys headed for Germany. Lastly, units of the Vernichtungskommando were brought into the district where they systematically set street after street on fire, resulting in the total destruction of the Ochota district. More than 40,000 Polish civilians were murdered.

1945

Violent eruption of Krakow Pogrom:  On August 11, 1945, in the Soviet-occupied city of Kraków, Poland,  the pogrom resulted in the shooting death of one person, Róża Berger while she was standing behind closed doors. Five others were wounded.  The prelude to the pogrom occurred on June 27, 1945, when a local Jewish woman, Milicja Obywatelska, was arrested by the police for the alleged abduction of a child. In reality, the mother placed the child in her care. But rumours started to spread like wild fire that the Jewish woman had tried to kill the child and a hysterical mob gathered outside. The militia was brought in to restore peace but the rumours of blood libel continued to spread. By August 11, 1945, the rumours claimed that the number of "victims" had increased to 80. Groups of young hooligans converged at Kleparski Square every week to throw stones at the Kupa Synagogue. On August 11, an attempt was made (by whom?) to seize a thirteen-year-old boy who was vandalizing the synagogue, but the youth managed to escape and ran to the nearby marketplace screaming "Help me, the Jews have tried to kill me!" That's when all hell broke loose. Crowds broke into the syngagogue during Saturday Sabbath service, beating the Jews, and burning the Torah scrolls. Jewish men, women and children were attacked and beaten on the streets, their homes broken into and robbed. Jews wounded during the pogrom were attacked in hospital.  The notorious Soviet NKVD prepared a report for Joseph Stalin, in which they claimed that it was Polish militiamen who sanctioned the violence. (Editors note: In both the Krakow Pogrom and the Kielce Pogrom (July 4 1946) the violence was ignited in the same manner - that of accusations of the abduction of children and blood libel.  Regardless of whether the Polish miltiamen sanctioned the violence,  it can be surmised that the Soviet NKVD were the instigators of the pogrom, and bears their MO.  The NKVD issued a report to Stalin about the event, so their presence at the scene should have raised suspicions.)

1957

Rudolf Stefan Weigl was a Polish biologist and inventor of the first effective vaccine against epidemic typhus. During the Nazi occupation of Poland, Weigl harbored Jews, thereby risking execution by the Germans. His vaccines were also smuggled into the Lwów Ghetto and the Warsaw Ghetto, saving countless additional Jewish lives. Weigl employed and protected Polish intellectuals, Jews and members of the Polish underground. In 1945 Weigl moved to Kraków, Poland. He was appointed Chair of the General Microbiology Institute of Jagiellonian University, and later Chair of Biology of the Poznań Medical Faculty. He died on August 11, 1957 in the Polish mountain resort of Zakopane. In 2003,  Rudolf Weigl was recognized as Righteous Among Nations of the World.