British admit the role of Polish intelligence during WWII

Discussions on all aspects of Poland during the Second Polish Republic and the Second World War. Hosted by Piotr Kapuscinski.
1ngram
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#31

Post by 1ngram » 12 Jul 2007, 16:37

I've been trying to find a section here on espionage activities during WW2. Most references are scattered throughout the forum but this thread on the importance of Polish Intelligence in both Poland and Western Europe seems the most detailed (apart from the Rote Kapelle thread). So my questions are:

Given the importance of Polish intelligence isnt there a book out yet on their acttivities? In English?

More generally have there been any recent publications on intelligence networks in Europe which operated against Germany in any country?

Gen. Bradley
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#32

Post by Gen. Bradley » 17 Jul 2007, 04:51

I knew about their role in capturing Enigma but was unaware of the extent of this "Polish resistance". Thanks for the information. I think I will work this into the war game I am developing :-)

This is somewhat of a derail, but I remember some of the jokes in elementary school about the Polish military. "What happened to the Polish Air Force? They ran out of paper!" "What happened to the Polish Army? They melted! (like toy soldiers)" , etc. I think alot of that probably extended from their quick defeat in '39. Which is a shame - because the Poles fought bravely against overwhelming odds and they were sadly abandoned by West, and suffered greatly through years of occupation, and did not deserve to be the butt of jokes. I do not remember ever being corrected by any adults over this, even though we do have a substantial Polish American heritage here (though I grew up in Virginia and not Milwaukee). The Poles here should have started anti-defamation league like the Jews :-) And for some reason, you didn't here any jokes about the Greeks, the Yugoslavs or the French (until now at least, hehe)

In the US, I believe it's typical in the high schools(14-18 yeas) to study WWII through the lens of the American experience. A high school student typically has two years of history - "World History" and "American History". The problem is that the "World History" class pretty much stops in 1776. I remember studying alot about the ancient Greeks and Romans, the Middle Ages, some about the Far East and China, Africa, and relatively little about say Napoleon. So much of what the typical American learns about WWII (at least formally) is going to be taught in "American history". I can't remember the details(its been a whole 10 years), and maybe I am mixing up my formal education with popular media, but I just remember hearing alot about Pearl Harbor, D-Day and very little about Stalingrad, Kursk, or even the Battle of Britain and El Alamein. Although I will admit that "military history" isn't really studied in detail (more like politics), I do think the American role in the victory is probably overstated by most high school level teachers here, and relatively little about the contributions of other countries.


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tom_deba
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Re: British admit the role of Polish intelligence during WWII

#33

Post by tom_deba » 05 Oct 2009, 16:42

Given the importance of Polish intelligence isnt there a book out yet on their acttivities? In English?
The problem no 1 is there are no books in foreign langauages providing insight into detailed history of Polish armed resistance and intelligence network. Problem no 2 is that some archival documents are still unknown or scattered and that makes it more difficult for analysis of whole subject. Finally a lot of material about Polish resistance is not accessible as they are located in foreign archives.
You can find good comments about British attitude to Polish intelligence network in book of Wojewodzki titled "Akcja V1,V2". Comments written by author show clearly that Brits minimalized Polish effforts and successes.
Generally the fact about the role of Polish intelligence during WWII lacks good promotion by: media, movies, books, articles in foreign languages. There is still a language barrier for those who are willing to study this subject.
Tom

Carl Schwamberger
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Re: British admit the role of Polish intelligence during WWII

#34

Post by Carl Schwamberger » 07 Jan 2010, 17:18

I discussed this subject with a local university professor of history fifteen years ago. He specialized in mid 20th Century European history. His response was the Communist government of Poland had been extremely uncooperative or uninterested in in documenting or recording anything outside the activites of the Polish Communists. The Communist government of the 1980s denied to this historian that there were any Polish intelligence activites of significance outside the soviet sponsored organization. He was retired in the 1990s when the Communist government ceased in Poland, so he was unable to comment on any changes then.

Equally important he told me the British and US governments denied acess to any known records of the Polish intelligence networks they sponsored or cooperated with. Those contacts were often used after the Cold War started and therefore remained locked away. He did interview several Polish leaders who referred to these intelligence activites, but they had only their own narrow experience to draw from and any Brit/US records that may have existed were inacessable.

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The_Enigma
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Re: British admit the role of Polish intelligence during WWII

#35

Post by The_Enigma » 07 Jan 2010, 17:41

Such records, should, now be available; they may have still been protected by the various secret rules during the early 80s. I seem to recall Carlo D'Este stating somethine similar about particular British records being kept secret and unavailable when he was researching his Normandy book back in the late 70s/early 80s (if am not mistaken) - which are now available if am not mistaken.

PzInż
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Re: British admit the role of Polish intelligence during WWII

#36

Post by PzInż » 10 Jan 2010, 04:40

Took the Brits 65 years but whatever.

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