http://www.thenews.pl/international/art ... e]Veterans salute crack troops of Polish Resistance
15.02.2011 11:45
Seventy years ago today, a crack force of Polish troops was parachuted into the Nazi-occupied country.
The so-called Cichociemni (The Dark and Silent) were trained in England under the auspices of SOE (Special Operations Executive) and Poland's Army in exile.
The purpose of the elite force was to swell the ranks of Poland's underground Home Army (AK), conducting specialist operations in the field.
“Go to the country as an advance guard,” General Sikorski, leader of the Poles in exile told the troops. “You are to prove that contact with Poland is possible under these conditions.”
The first soldiers of the unit were dropped into the Upper Silesia region, near Debowiec. Initial detachments were flown from London, but from 1944 supplementary troops were sent from Brindisi, Italy, which had by then fallen into Allied hands.
The members of Cichociemni were active on all fronts of struggle against the occupiers, taking part in armed combat, sabotage, intelligence gathering and diversion.
Several members took key roles in the doomed Warsaw Rising that began in August 1944. (nh)[/quote]
Cichociemni (The Dark and Silent) Honoured
Re: Cichociemni (The Dark and Silent) Honoured
From the above post:
http://www.thenews.pl/1/10/Artykul/1355 ... -in-LondonAn unknown number of Poles were also dropped over France by the SOE to start an underground movement among the half-a-million strong Polish minority (among them the best known was Krystyna Skarbek).
Polish WWII spy and femme fatale commemorated in London
13.05.2013 16:47
Poland's ambassador in the UK attended a ceremony in London on Friday marking the restoration of the grave of WWII spy Countess Krystyna Skarbek.
Ambassador Witold Sobkow (L) and Chairman of the Polish Heritage Society in the UK Dr Marek Stella-Sawicki (R). Photo courtesy of Polish Embassy in London.
“It was wonderful to have the opportunity to pause and remember Krystyna,” Skarbek's English biographer Clare Mulley told Polish Radio on Monday.
“Some of her friends from post-war London, including Iza Muszkowska, were there,” she noted, adding that “the weather was blowy and cold, and that reminded me that when Krystyna was buried, it was also blowy and cold, so it all seemed quite appropriate in that regard.
“It was very moving.”
Skarbek was in Africa when war broke out in September 1939, and she persuaded British Intelligence to take her on.
Juggling various pseudonyms, including Christine Granville and Pauline Armand, she went on to become one of the most colourful and committed agents of Britain's Special Operations Executive (SOE), and was ultimately decorated by both France and the United Kingdom.
The installation of a communist government in Poland prevented her from returning home after the war.
Dismissed by SOE with a month's salary, she struggled to make end's meet in the UK.
Taking work on a cruise ship, she entered into a destructive relationship with fellow steward George Muldowney.
He ultimately stabbed her to death in the basement of a London hotel on 15 June 1952.
The restoration of Skarbek's grave at London's Catholic cemetery of St. Mary, Kensal Green, was a joint venture of the Polish embassy and the Polish Heritage Society in the UK. (nh)
A full interview about the WWII legend with both Clare Mulley and Skarbek's relative, art gallery owner Marta Tarabula, can be heard here (http://www.thenews.pl/1/6/Artykul/10600 ... -WW2-agent).
Re: Cichociemni (The Dark and Silent) Honoured
http://www.thenews.pl/1/9/Artykul/15868 ... e]Poland’s unsung war-time hero turns 100
PR dla Zagranicy Peter Gentle 15.01.2014 10:31
General Stefan Bałuk, one of the last living members of the elite special-operations paratroopers of Poland's WWII Home Army celebrates his 100th birthday today.
General Stefan Bałuk in 2008: photo - CC
The general was best-known by his wartime non de guerre of 'Starba' but also as ‘Cichociemni’ (Silent and Unseen). The Warsaw Rising Museum has launched a special “Thank you General for freedom” campaign, where people can send birthday wishes to General Bałuk on the Museum’s facebook page.
Stefan Bałuk was a law student at Warsaw University when World War Two broke out. Having fought in the September 1939 Campaign, he then joined the Polish armed forces in the West, serving with the 10th Motorized Cavalry Brigade. After training in Glasgow, Scotland, to be a parachute commando, he was dropped into Poland in April 1944 and worked for the Home Army’s department engaged in the production of false documents for Polish intelligence officers, made photo documentation of German military installations in Warsaw and took part in the Warsaw Uprising.
After the war he was imprisoned by the communists, and subsequently worked as a taxi driver for several years, before focusing on photography. The general has published several photo albums and in 2008 he released a book of memoirs entitled ‘Byłem Cichociemnym’ (also available in an English translation under the title ‘Silent and Unseen: I was a WWII special ops commando’). General Bałuk lives in Warsaw and his honours include the Virtuti Military for valour at war. (mk/pg) - See more at: http://www.thenews.pl/1/9/Artykul/15868 ... 6SBGx.dpuf[/quote]
PR dla Zagranicy Peter Gentle 15.01.2014 10:31
General Stefan Bałuk, one of the last living members of the elite special-operations paratroopers of Poland's WWII Home Army celebrates his 100th birthday today.
General Stefan Bałuk in 2008: photo - CC
The general was best-known by his wartime non de guerre of 'Starba' but also as ‘Cichociemni’ (Silent and Unseen). The Warsaw Rising Museum has launched a special “Thank you General for freedom” campaign, where people can send birthday wishes to General Bałuk on the Museum’s facebook page.
Stefan Bałuk was a law student at Warsaw University when World War Two broke out. Having fought in the September 1939 Campaign, he then joined the Polish armed forces in the West, serving with the 10th Motorized Cavalry Brigade. After training in Glasgow, Scotland, to be a parachute commando, he was dropped into Poland in April 1944 and worked for the Home Army’s department engaged in the production of false documents for Polish intelligence officers, made photo documentation of German military installations in Warsaw and took part in the Warsaw Uprising.
After the war he was imprisoned by the communists, and subsequently worked as a taxi driver for several years, before focusing on photography. The general has published several photo albums and in 2008 he released a book of memoirs entitled ‘Byłem Cichociemnym’ (also available in an English translation under the title ‘Silent and Unseen: I was a WWII special ops commando’). General Bałuk lives in Warsaw and his honours include the Virtuti Military for valour at war. (mk/pg) - See more at: http://www.thenews.pl/1/9/Artykul/15868 ... 6SBGx.dpuf[/quote]
Re: Cichociemni (The Dark and Silent) Honoured
I advice to watch polish " Czas Honoru'', one of the greatest in his kind
Re: Cichociemni (The Dark and Silent) Honoured
http://www.thenews.pl/1/9/Artykul/24057 ... ote]Poland commemorates elite WW2 unit
Polish Radio (External Service)13.02.2016 10:05
Commmorative events are under way across Poland in tribute to an elite special-operations paratroopers unit of the Polish Army in exile.
Monument to the Silent Unseen in Dębowiec. Photo: Wikimedia Commons
It was 75 years ago, on the night of 15 February 1941, that the first group of three paratroopers, known as Cichociemni, or Silent Unseen, trained in Great Britain, were parachuted into Poland.
Representatives of the state authorities, with Defence Minister Antoni Macierewicz, and Polish Army officials are in Dębowiec, southern Poland, taking part in a wreath-laying ceremony at the Cichociemni Memorial Stone at the site of the parachute landing, which was the first operation of its kind in German-occupied Europe.
On Monday and Tuesday the white-and-red sign “Hołd Cichociemnych” (A Tribute to the Cichociemni) will be displayed after dusk at the National Stadium in Warsaw. A special concert is to be held at the Warsaw Philharmonic.
The Polish Parliament has declared 2016 the year of tribute to the Cichociemni. Of the over 2,600 Polish Army soldiers who volunteered for training in the UK, only 606 completed it and 316 were secretly parachuted into occupied Poland to join underground resistance units. Out of those, 103 were killed in combat with the Nazis and in air crashes, and a futher nine were murdered by the communist secret services after the war. (mk/rg)[/quote]
Polish Radio (External Service)13.02.2016 10:05
Commmorative events are under way across Poland in tribute to an elite special-operations paratroopers unit of the Polish Army in exile.
Monument to the Silent Unseen in Dębowiec. Photo: Wikimedia Commons
It was 75 years ago, on the night of 15 February 1941, that the first group of three paratroopers, known as Cichociemni, or Silent Unseen, trained in Great Britain, were parachuted into Poland.
Representatives of the state authorities, with Defence Minister Antoni Macierewicz, and Polish Army officials are in Dębowiec, southern Poland, taking part in a wreath-laying ceremony at the Cichociemni Memorial Stone at the site of the parachute landing, which was the first operation of its kind in German-occupied Europe.
On Monday and Tuesday the white-and-red sign “Hołd Cichociemnych” (A Tribute to the Cichociemni) will be displayed after dusk at the National Stadium in Warsaw. A special concert is to be held at the Warsaw Philharmonic.
The Polish Parliament has declared 2016 the year of tribute to the Cichociemni. Of the over 2,600 Polish Army soldiers who volunteered for training in the UK, only 606 completed it and 316 were secretly parachuted into occupied Poland to join underground resistance units. Out of those, 103 were killed in combat with the Nazis and in air crashes, and a futher nine were murdered by the communist secret services after the war. (mk/rg)[/quote]
Cichociemni Museum Planned
http://www.thenews.pl/1/11/Artykul/2426 ... ote]Polish museum to commemorate anti-communist partisans
Polish Radio External service 29.02.2016 15:21
Poland is to create a major museum in tribute to the so-called 'Cursed Soldiers' who fought against the imposition of communist rule.
Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro (L) and chairman of the Law and Justice party Jarosław Kaczyński (R), 29 February. Photo: PAP/Jakub Kamiński
The announcement was made on Monday on the eve of the National Remembrance Day of the Cursed Soldiers.
Jarosław Kaczyński, head of the governing Law and Justice party, stated today that under the communist regime, “those who fought for freedom were portrayed as enemies, criminals, bandits, and those who fought against freedom, who destroyed and enslaved the Polish nation, were portrayed as defenders of good, sometimes even as heroes.”
The anti-communist guerrillas were largely stamped out by 1948, although one fighter, Józef Franczak, was gunned down as late as 1963.
Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro signed documents on Monday paving the way for the foundation of a museum in Warsaw dedicated to the 'Cursed Soldiers.'
It is understood that initially the museum will be modest in size, but it will be expanded to take in Mokotów Prison, which was where many leading anti-communist conspirators were tortured and executed.
The National Remembrance Day of Cursed Soldiers has been marked since 2011.
Although the partisans – who served across several organisations - have been largely rehabilitated in recent years, controversies remain about some individual leaders. One such example is Romuald Rajs (codename 'Bury'), who according to a probe by the Institute of National Remembrance (IPN), was responsible for the pacification of several ethnically Belarusian villages on Polish territory in 1946. (nh)[/quote]
Polish Radio External service 29.02.2016 15:21
Poland is to create a major museum in tribute to the so-called 'Cursed Soldiers' who fought against the imposition of communist rule.
Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro (L) and chairman of the Law and Justice party Jarosław Kaczyński (R), 29 February. Photo: PAP/Jakub Kamiński
The announcement was made on Monday on the eve of the National Remembrance Day of the Cursed Soldiers.
Jarosław Kaczyński, head of the governing Law and Justice party, stated today that under the communist regime, “those who fought for freedom were portrayed as enemies, criminals, bandits, and those who fought against freedom, who destroyed and enslaved the Polish nation, were portrayed as defenders of good, sometimes even as heroes.”
The anti-communist guerrillas were largely stamped out by 1948, although one fighter, Józef Franczak, was gunned down as late as 1963.
Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro signed documents on Monday paving the way for the foundation of a museum in Warsaw dedicated to the 'Cursed Soldiers.'
It is understood that initially the museum will be modest in size, but it will be expanded to take in Mokotów Prison, which was where many leading anti-communist conspirators were tortured and executed.
The National Remembrance Day of Cursed Soldiers has been marked since 2011.
Although the partisans – who served across several organisations - have been largely rehabilitated in recent years, controversies remain about some individual leaders. One such example is Romuald Rajs (codename 'Bury'), who according to a probe by the Institute of National Remembrance (IPN), was responsible for the pacification of several ethnically Belarusian villages on Polish territory in 1946. (nh)[/quote]
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4thskorpion
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Re: Cichociemni (The Dark and Silent) Honoured
[/quote]henryk wrote:http://www.thenews.pl/1/9/Artykul/24057 ... ote]Poland commemorates elite WW2 unit
Polish Radio (External Service)13.02.2016 10:05
Commmorative events are under way across Poland in tribute to an elite special-operations paratroopers unit of the Polish Army in exile.
Monument to the Silent Unseen in Dębowiec. Photo: Wikimedia Commons
It was 75 years ago, on the night of 15 February 1941, that the first group of three paratroopers, known as Cichociemni, or Silent Unseen, trained in Great Britain, were parachuted into Poland.
Representatives of the state authorities, with Defence Minister Antoni Macierewicz, and Polish Army officials are in Dębowiec, southern Poland, taking part in a wreath-laying ceremony at the Cichociemni Memorial Stone at the site of the parachute landing, which was the first operation of its kind in German-occupied Europe.
On Monday and Tuesday the white-and-red sign “Hołd Cichociemnych” (A Tribute to the Cichociemni) will be displayed after dusk at the National Stadium in Warsaw. A special concert is to be held at the Warsaw Philharmonic.
The Polish Parliament has declared 2016 the year of tribute to the Cichociemni. Of the over 2,600 Polish Army soldiers who volunteered for training in the UK, only 606 completed it and 316 were secretly parachuted into occupied Poland to join underground resistance units. Out of those, 103 were killed in combat with the Nazis and in air crashes, and a futher nine were murdered by the communist secret services after the war. (mk/rg)
I had the great pleasure of knowing the late c.c. General Stefan "Starba" Bałuk in Warsaw. I believe some of the Cichociemni later helped support the training of the Green Berets. Gen. Bałuk also told me that the book "The Unseen and Silent" published in the Uk and the US by the Cichociemni veterans association had a special printing for distribution to the US forces fighting in Korea and that another edition of "The Unseen and Silent" was specially printed on lightweight "bible paper" so that thousands of copies could be dropped by balloon over Poland during the Cold War. I tried unsuccessfully to find copies of this ballon drop edition and made several enquiries with the CIA archives looking for OSS documents detailing this particular propaganda balloon drop.
The publishing of "The Unseen and Silent: Adventures from the Underground Movement Narrated By Paratroops of the Polish Home Army" by Sheed and Ward in 1954 was itself an interesting story of various nefarious attempts by the British "establishment" to suppress the book's publishing in the UK so as not to upset Britain's relations with the USSR at the time. Some of the memoir accounts by former the Cichociemni in the manuscript were deemed anti-Soviet. So c.c. Major "Dolina" Adolf Pilch, the then chairman of Cichociemni Association in the UK, managed to secure a publishing deal with Sheed and Ward, a Catholic publisher in the US to publish the book in order to circumvent the attempts in Britain to prevent its publication.
Re: Cichociemni (The Dark and Silent) Honoured
http://www.thenews.pl/1/11/Artykul/2773 ... ote]Polish town honours WWII special-ops heroes
Radio Poland External Service 27.10.2016 11:53
A memorial to six members of an elite WWII special-operations unit has been unveiled in the town of Gliwice, southern Poland.
The last living soldier from the 'Cichociemni' unit, Aleksander Tarnawski, 95, during the unveiling of the memorial. Photo: PAP/Andrzej Grygiel
The Cichociemni (“Silent Unseen”) were a handpicked paratrooper unit of the Polish Army in exile.
Among the six men whose names are inscribed on the granite memorial, all of whom lived and worked in Gliwice for many years, is the only living soldier from the unit, 95 year-old Aleksander Jan Michał Tarnawski, a resident of Gliwice for 69 years. Speaking during the unveiling ceremony, town mayor Zygmunt Frankiewicz admitted that for many years he was not aware of the fact that a group of former Silent Unseen heroes lived in Gliwice. “It is our duty to honour those to whom we owe the free Poland of today,” he said.
Earlier this year, the Polish parliament declared 2016 a year of tribute to members of the Cichociemni. The unit was created in Britain to operate in Nazi German-occupied Poland during World War II. Of the over 2,600 Polish Army soldiers who volunteered for training, only 606 completed it and eventually 306 of them were secretly parachuted into Poland. Of those, 103 were killed during World War II and nine were executed by Poland’s communist regime after the war. (mk/pk)
[/quote]
Radio Poland External Service 27.10.2016 11:53
A memorial to six members of an elite WWII special-operations unit has been unveiled in the town of Gliwice, southern Poland.
The last living soldier from the 'Cichociemni' unit, Aleksander Tarnawski, 95, during the unveiling of the memorial. Photo: PAP/Andrzej Grygiel
The Cichociemni (“Silent Unseen”) were a handpicked paratrooper unit of the Polish Army in exile.
Among the six men whose names are inscribed on the granite memorial, all of whom lived and worked in Gliwice for many years, is the only living soldier from the unit, 95 year-old Aleksander Jan Michał Tarnawski, a resident of Gliwice for 69 years. Speaking during the unveiling ceremony, town mayor Zygmunt Frankiewicz admitted that for many years he was not aware of the fact that a group of former Silent Unseen heroes lived in Gliwice. “It is our duty to honour those to whom we owe the free Poland of today,” he said.
Earlier this year, the Polish parliament declared 2016 a year of tribute to members of the Cichociemni. The unit was created in Britain to operate in Nazi German-occupied Poland during World War II. Of the over 2,600 Polish Army soldiers who volunteered for training, only 606 completed it and eventually 306 of them were secretly parachuted into Poland. Of those, 103 were killed during World War II and nine were executed by Poland’s communist regime after the war. (mk/pk)
[/quote]
Re: Cichociemni (The Dark and Silent) Honoured
https://www.polskieradio.pl/395/7789/Ar ... ratroopers
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El%C5%BCbieta_Zawacka80 years since first mission of Polish special-ops paratroopers
Polskie Radio 16.02.2021 13:24
Tuesday marks 80 years since the first mission of a group of Polish Army parachutists who were dropped behind enemy lines into German-occupied Poland during World War II.
Aleksander Tarnawski, the last surviving member of the Silent Unseen elite special-ops unit, pictured in 2018. Photo: PAP/Dominik Gajda
Known as the Cichociemni, or Silent Unseen, they were an elite special-operations paratrooper unit created in Britain. To mark the anniversary of the first landing, English Heritage – a charity that manages historic monuments – has appealed to relatives of the Silent Unseen to share their stories. The Guardian daily quoted Andrew Hann of English Heritage as saying that the exploits of the Silent Unseen “played a key part in helping the Allies defeat the Nazis, including gaining key intelligence ahead of the D-Day landings and sourcing information on the launch bases of V1 and V2 rockets.”
Some 2,500 volunteered for special-ops training in Britain, with around 700 finally completing the course. In total, 316 were parachuted into Poland between 1941 and 1943 to join underground resistance units. There was one woman among them – Elżbieta Zawacka. Of this number, 112 were killed – nine during flights or jumps, and 84 in combat or murdered by the Gestapo. Ten took poison after being arrested and nine were executed after Stalinist court verdicts after the war. Only one of them is still alive. He is Aleksander Tarnawski, who turned 100 on January 8.
The idea for the name Cichociemni (Silent Unseen) arose after an exercise in Scotland, Polish Army General Stefan Bałuk told public broadcaster Polish Radio in 2010. “Most of the exercises were secret, quiet - and so the first part of the name. The best time for these acts was late at night and that's how the [second part of the name] came into it.”
(mk/pk)
Elżbieta Zawacka (Polish pronunciation: [ɛlˈʐbjɛta zaˈvat͡ska]; 19 March 1909 – 10 January 2009), known also by her war-time nom de guerre Zo, was a Polish university professor, scouting instructor, SOE agent and a freedom fighter during World War II. She was also a Brigadier General of the Polish Army (the second and last woman in the history of the Polish Army to hold this rank), promoted by President Lech Kaczyński on 3 May 2006. Sometimes called "the only woman among the Cichociemni", she served as a courier for the Home Army, carrying letters and other documents from Nazi-occupied Poland to the Polish government in exile and back. Her regular route ran from Warsaw through Berlin and Sweden to London. She was also responsible for organizing routes for other couriers of the Home Army.
Biography
Zawacka was born in Toruń (Thorn), part of the Prussian Partition of Poland, and graduated from University of Poznań with a major in mathematics. In the late 1930s she worked as a teacher at several high schools, simultaneously working as an instructor for the Przysposobienie Wojskowe Kobiet (Female Military Training). During the Polish September Campaign, she was the commandant of the Silesian District of Przysposobienie Wojskowe Kobiet, participating in the defence of Lwów.
In October 1939 she joined the Silesian branch of Związek Walki Zbrojnej under the nom de guerre "Zelma", which later was changed to "Zo". In late 1940 she was moved to Warsaw and began her courier trips. She was also a deputy of Zagroda — the Department of Foreign Communication of the Home Army. In February 1943 she traveled across Germany, France and Spain to Gibraltar, where she was transported by air to London. In Great Britain she went through parachute training, and on 10 September 1943, dropped into Poland, which led to her being described as "the only woman in the history of the Cichociemni", this title however has been disputed, as she had not completed the full training required.[1]
In 1944 Zawacka fought in the Warsaw Uprising and after its collapse moved to Kraków, where she continued her underground activities. In 1945 she joined the anti-Communist organization Freedom and Independence (WiN), but quit soon afterwards and took up a teaching job. In 1951 she was arrested and tortured by Urząd Bezpieczeństwa (Security Service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs). She was sentenced to 10 years in prison for treason and espionage, but her sentence was shortened and she was released in 1955. After her release from prison, she earned a doctorate degree from Gdańsk University. She was a tenured professor at the Institute of Pedagogy at Mikołaj Kopernik University in Toruń where she established the department of Andragogy. She retired from teaching in 1978 after Służba Bezpieczeństwa closed the department. She was an active member of the World Union of Home Army Soldiers and cooperated with Solidarność in the 1980s.
Decorations awarded to Elżbieta Zawacka include:Order of the White Eagle (1995)
Order of Virtuti Militari, Silver Cross, twice
Cross of Valour 5 times
Commander's Cross with Star of the Order of Polonia Restituta, also awarded the Officer's Cross
Gold Cross of Merit with Swords
Home Army Cross
Army Medal
Medal Pro Memoria