[anonymoussierra]

http://www.weeklystandard.com/content/public/articles/000/000/002/653hsdpu.asp

[TexasCowboy]

Yak se mas, Polish friends.

Thank you.

[Experiment 6-2-6]

Wow. A Polish Special Forces unit...

Hmm.

I'm not sure I should say anything about this..... (ahem) publicly, that is...

[nothingnew]

Welcome to Freerepublic.

FMCDH(BITS)

[Consort]

[Malesherbes]

Polish fighting men have always been been tough. The spirit of Jozef Pilsudski lives on.

[Watery Tart]

One thing the Americans could do is move their bases out of Germany and into Poland...

Many FReepers have said the same thing. The sooner the better.

[Criminal Number 18F]

Cannoneer, thanks for the ping. Anonymous, mas' pravdu.

Anyone who makes jokes about Poles fighting does not know about the Second World War in depth. Polish airmen shot down Me-109s while flying PZL-11s (1940 machine downed by 1930 machine). You have all heard about the valiant cavalry charges (no, they didn't charge tanks -- that's from a German propaganda film... they charged infantry and raised hell with them. There was an incident when cavalry fought armored cars, but it was a cav unit caught in a German counterattack).

Then many Poles escaped to Britain, where they formed numerous ground units, and aerial units, including a highly decorated Wellington (bomber) squadron and the legendary 303 "Kosciuszko" squadron (of which I have a satisfyingly thick new history to read).

Then Poles in the Home Army fought against the Nazi occupation. The Soviets collaborated to help the Nazis defeat the Home Army. Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto rose up against the Nazis in 1943 and the Soviet advance stopped dead, to let the Nazis take care of these rebellious souls.

Pro-Soviet sources online, like the very lefty MSN Encarta encyclopedia, claim that the Poles were "liberated" by the Red Army. Hah. They passed directly from the nightmare of Nazi slavery to the even worse nightmare of Communist slavery. (Maybe for the Jews this was an improvement -- the Communists were cruel but not bent on their extermination).

Poles had already rejected Communism and spanked Lenin badly when he thought he would extend his revolution west in 1922. Captured by the Russians, the Poles were unruly subjects; they revolted repeatedly against Communist rule. 1956, 1968, 1970, 1977, 1981, 1988. Some of these revolts were armed rebellions; some were "mere" demonstrations. All were crushed ruthlessly. The Catholic Church may have a lot to answer for elsewhere, but it helped keep the spirit of free Poland alive in these dark years.

Many Americans of Polish extraction helped also, from the famous (Paderewski) to the ordinary.

Poles may not have been the most motivated troops in the slave Warsaw Pact, but free Poles are people you definitely want on your side.

For those who are visually oriented, I recommend the movies "Battle of Britain" and "A Bridge too Far" (despite Gene Hackman's horrible attempt at a Polish accent) as screen depictions of some Polish bravery. For the airmen, the film "Dark Blue World" is about Czechs, not Poles, but the experiences were very similar.

By the way, even if not a single Pole picked up a rifle or strapped on an airplane, the Poles still won the War for the allies. A bunch of mathematicians in the Polish Army broke the German Enigma code machine and smuggled their research out to the West. This was the Rosetta Stone on which all future decipherments depended. One of the mathematicians, Marian Rejewski, wrote a great book about it (it's covered, albeit in less depth, in David Kahn's "The Codebreakers" as well).

d.o.l.

Criminal Nunber 18F

[AdmSmith]

Lucky for us, Col Roman Polko took initiative, probably not endorsed by Warsaw, in Umm Qasr. As he was successful they honored him back home later.

[sourcery]

Thunderous applause!

[AdmSmith]

Inofficial site for GROM: http://acn.waw.pl/grom1/english.htm

[Taxman]

Our late FRiend, CommiesOut would appreciate this article very much.

Oddly enough, just last FRiday, I met a Polish refugee who escaped Poland with his parents in 1982. His father worked with Lech Walenza in the Solidarity Movement, was imprisoned by the KGB for a year and then released and "allowed" to immigrate to America.

He tells a fascinating story, much akin to CommiesOut. I have not yet established whether the two families know each other.

Guarantee you one thing, this young Polish American man knows the value of FReedom! He has some strongly held, very pungent opinions re: the LIEberal/Socialist/Marxist Bastards who would destroy America!

I am recruiting him to become a FReeper, and to write a book about his family's experience.

[blanknoone]

The Poles, from a historical perspective, are probably the most freedom loving people in Europe. It was no coincidence that they led the march to freedom from the communist world. And, no, I'm not of Polish extraction.

Another point is that Americans are keenly aware of the roles some foreigners played in helping us win our freedom. Everyone knows the frenchman Lafayette, and the Prussian von Stuben, who famously drilled the Continental Army at Valley Forge. There is one often overlooked, but just as important player...Thaddeus Kosciusko, the Polish Engineer. He was the only professionally trained military engineer the Continentals had. He designed the fortress at West Point that prevented the Brits from severing New England from the rest of the colonies, which very directly led to the victory at Saratoga. It was he who designed the seigeworks that led to victory at Yorktown. He personally played a huge role in the two most decisive battles in our freedom.