2003-11-09
... ? Guardian Unlimited Books | Review | Norman Davies on our war debt to PolandLest we forget - Britain's failure to recognise Poland's wartime sacrifices is shameful, argues Norman Davies In Britain, we continue to honour Remembrance Day every eleventh of November and we think that we remember all those who gave their lives in two world wars for our peace and freedom. It is a sentimental occasion when we eagerly remember our own and rarely stop to think who 'all those' actually were. For we did not win alone. We were fortunate to have many allies, some of whom were called on to make sacrifices considerably greater than our own. November 11 also marks the day in 1918 when Poland regained its independence after 127 years of foreign rule, that independence which, in 1939, Britain formally agreed to uphold and which provided the occasion for our declaration of war on Nazi Gemany. For six years, Poland was Britain's 'first ally'. Polish squadrons tipped the balance in the Battle of Britain. Polish cryptographers were first to break the Enigma code. Polish divisions fought alongside us at Narvik, Tobruk, Monte Cassino, Arnhem and in Normandy. Poland's underground resistance movement, the Home Army (AK), was the first and largest client of our Special Operations Executive.
