Polish troops in Falaise

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Juha Hujanen
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Polish troops in Falaise

#1

Post by Juha Hujanen » 06 Apr 2004, 00:43

I've just been reading Ambrose-Citizen Soldiers and in page 105 is following:

"Over the next couple of days,Waters wrote"the Germans attacked with all the fury they they could bring to bear,fueled by their desperation to escape.""Others were trying to surrender,many of them succesfully.Too many,in fact.Neither the Poles nor the Americans had facilities to deal with them.Waters estabilished a POW pen in Chambois,but it was badly overcrowded.Still,one morning a Polish captain brought in some 200 additional POW,s to turn over to the Americans.

Polish captain:"Here are your prisoners"

Waters:"I donn't want them."

Polish captain:"But i must leave them with you.Those are my orders".

Waters:"I still don't want them.Get them out of here".(Waters orders were to accept them.but he had been told to expect 1500;in fact there were only couple of hundred.)

Polish captain: "But i must still leave them with you."

Warers:"well,you were supposed to have 1500 prisoners.Where are they?"

Polish captain:"They are dead.We shoot them.These are all that are left".

Waters: "Then why don't you shoot these too?" A paus,then Waters corrected himself:"No,you can't do that."

Polish captain:"Oh,yes we can.They shot my countryman.".He took Waters by the arm and escorted him away from the others.Then he said ,"Captain ,we can't shoot them.We are out of ammunition."

(original source:John Colby-War From the Ground...)



Has anyone heard of this?,or has addiotional info?

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Benoit Douville
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#2

Post by Benoit Douville » 06 Apr 2004, 03:39

Juha,

I have never heard of this before and like you, I am really interested if it is really true what the Poles did.

Regards


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trds

#3

Post by gewehrdork » 06 Apr 2004, 10:18

I would not doubt at all the veracity of this. I believe similar incidents were documented in band of bbrother's were free poles executed german troops after they surrenedered.Let's not forget those poles that were captured in north africa or italy were given the same treatment by the germans. Most unfortunate 'case' of no love lost between the two.

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#4

Post by fknorr » 06 Apr 2004, 15:28

I have read of this type of stuff on a few other occasions re: the Poles vs. the Germans. I believe that some of this stuff started even before the war over land lost post WWI and all the between war propaganda. Of course the rape of the Polish homeland didn't ease any ill will either...

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Musashi
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Re: trds

#5

Post by Musashi » 06 Apr 2004, 17:30

gewehrdork wrote:I would not doubt at all the veracity of this. I believe similar incidents were documented in band of bbrother's were free poles executed german troops after they surrenedered.Let's not forget those poles that were captured in north africa or italy were given the same treatment by the germans. Most unfortunate 'case' of no love lost between the two.
What part of the Band of Brothers? I don't remember this accident and I would like to see it once more. Tell me, I would be very grateful :)

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;kjhgf

#6

Post by gewehrdork » 06 Apr 2004, 19:33

If memory serves me right there was an instance of member's of the 506th PIR passing in convoy some polish troops as they calmly shot a handfull of german POW's.
I mentioned in another thread where in a book titled "The captive dreamer" where the author witnessed poles in red army service drag out wounded panzer troops as they had their black panzer uniforms on and were confused with SS. It cost those unfortunates their life...the black uniforms that is.

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Musashi
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Re: ;kjhgf

#7

Post by Musashi » 07 Apr 2004, 00:20

gewehrdork wrote:If memory serves me right there was an instance of member's of the 506th PIR passing in convoy some polish troops as they calmly shot a handfull of german POW's.
Can I watch the scene in the film?
I don't know anything about it, but it could happen :| I suppose the author of the book had no reason to lie. I read the Polish soldiers had turned over a few tens of POWs to the Americans during the battle anyway.
Last edited by Musashi on 07 Apr 2004, 00:29, edited 1 time in total.

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8i7uyrt

#8

Post by gewehrdork » 07 Apr 2004, 00:28

M ; I think it is a scene in the HBO series Band of Brothers as well. I'll have to dig out the CD set and look it over when time allows.

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Musashi
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#9

Post by Musashi » 07 Apr 2004, 14:41

I found a very nice site and I don't see there any information, that 506th P.I.R. was fighting near Falaise. I browsed all the parts of "Band of Brothers" on this site and I found nothing about that.
Carentan
July 20th 1944
After regrouping in the town of Angoville-au-Plain, Easy Company tries to capture the town of Carentan. Finally after just over three weeks, Easy Company is relieved and sent back to Aldbourne, England for two months.
Debut date: SUNDAY, SEPT. 16, 9pm/8c. Two days after D-Day, [my notice: what is going on - 2 days after D-Day and in September 8O ] Easy Company is sent to take the town of Carentan, engaging in a successful battle that results in several casualties. Some soldiers, including Pvt. Blithe (Marc Warren), have a difficult time adjusting to combat. After 36 days in Normandy and several fierce battles, Easy returns to England, but their celebrations are short-lived, as news comes that they're moving out again.
Replacements
On September 17th, 1944, Easy Company drops into German-occupied Holland for Operation MARKET-GARDEN. Due to heavy casualties, a group of fresh paratrooper replacements joins Easy Company in time for a massive drop into German-occupied Holland for Operation Market-Garden. While met with no resistance in Eindhoven, Easy and a cluster of British tanks are repelled from a nearby town by a superior German force, sustaining many casualties as they retreat. The Allied plan to enter Germany through Holland and end the war before Christmas fails.
Crossroads [In this part the soldiers have already fought in Holland].
Easy Company leads a mission on a Dutch dike near Arnhem, Holland. Winters (Damian Lewis) leads a risky mission on a Dutch dike, resulting in a resounding victory, for which he is promoted to Battalion Executive Officer. Dissatisfied with his new, largely administrative job, Winters is concerned about the leadership of the three companies he now commands. After a weekend pass to Paris, news arrives of a massive Axis effort in the Ardennes Forest, threatening to break the Allied lines. Easy Company races in to hold the line, ill-equipped for the bitterly cold weather and the entrenched battle ahead.
So tell me in what part of the film can I see the moment.
Cheers,
Chris

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Kloster
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#10

Post by Kloster » 07 Apr 2004, 21:43

Musashi wrote:So tell me in what part of the film can I see the moment.
Cheers,
Chris
Greetings!

The sceen is either in number 9 or 10, my dvdplayer is broke atm, so i cant check on it, but i belive it's in the "Why we fight" version.

It may have been polish soldiers, or it could have been french, you seen the allied troopers ("Poles" red.) dragging out 3-5 german soldiers, make them sit on thier knees and a officer (I presume) shots them all (axis red.) in the back of the head.

Easy company is driving past them, o'keefe is watching it, with a sad face, a ol timer Easycompany man (It may be Liebgott...) is giving him the "well, it's just germans" look.

Kloster

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redcoat
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#11

Post by redcoat » 07 Apr 2004, 23:16

In the tv show Band of Brothers the soldiers shown killing the unarmed prisoners are in French uniforms.

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#12

Post by Gwynn Compton » 07 Apr 2004, 23:52

I suspect you'll find all sort of small incidents of prisoners being shot on all sides of the war. I know for one that the New Zealanders did it during the war in Italy (I've heard a first hand account from a now deceased veteran who had felt guilty about it for his entire life).

However one needs to make a distinction between random acts of violence on the allied side, and the encouraged acts of violence by Germans against Soviet prisoners.

Gwynn

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#13

Post by Panzermahn » 08 Apr 2004, 15:46

It may have been polish soldiers, or it could have been french, you seen the allied troopers ("Poles" red.) dragging out 3-5 german soldiers, make them sit on thier knees and a officer (I presume) shots them all (axis red.) in the back of the head.

Hi, i believe the scene was the French soldiers dragging 3 German soldiers and shot them...They were French because they wore the French poilus helmet and if you hear properly, there are some french being spoken...

it was not polish

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Benoit Douville
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#14

Post by Benoit Douville » 08 Apr 2004, 22:36

Gwynn Compton,

Don't forget the encouraged acts of violence by the Soviets (Ylia Ehrenburg) against German POW and civilians.

Regards

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Oleg Grigoryev
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#15

Post by Oleg Grigoryev » 08 Apr 2004, 22:44

Benoit Douville wrote:Gwynn Compton,

Don't forget the encouraged acts of violence by the Soviets (Ylia Ehrenburg) against German POW and civilians.

Regards
such as?

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