Posted on 02/02/2013 4:54:36 PM PST by the scotsman
'A Polish war hero with an incredible story of survival during World War Two has died aged 91.
Flight Lieutenant Czeslaw 'Tony' Rogers braved a 830-mile trek on foot across the Soviet Union's frozen wastes to India after being freed from a prison camp before eventually making it to Britain.
He then became a decorated Spitfire and Lancaster bomber pilot who flew daring RAF missions against targets in Germany.'
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Fascinating. RIP to a good man.
About fifty years ago I read the story of a Russian who was thrown in the gulag for criticizing Stalin in WWII.
He escaped and walked to India. He claimed to have seen two Yeti in the Himalayas during his trek.
I later read that his story was not taken as truth because of the Yeti claim.
'Can you imagine firing at Russian tanks from inside a grave? One of his friends was killed but Tony escaped and managed to make it back to his village.'
Krakow was taken by the Germans early in the war and the Russians didn't get there until 1945. He must have been shooting at German tanks or else fighting the Russians at another location.
Takes one’s breath away.
Poles were laughed at and impugned. But the real story was that they DID engage their enemy with courage and honor.
Hand Salute to Flight Lieutenant Czeslaw ‘Tony’ Rogers.
To!
The story was called The Long Walk by a polish officer. It has been republished and has been on our family’s homeschooling list for years.
Goodstory well told.
There was so much back and forth in those days, it’s hard to establish time lines and TRUTH.
A relative of mine claims that the Ruskies were indeed running rampant through Krakaow in the early ‘40s.
Don’t know, wasn’t there, were they drunk? Was it real?
WWII has SO MANY SECRETS that will NEVER be known.
I believe my UNCLE, he’s my blood. Could he be wrong? Yes.
One will NEVER know.
But when I read what your read, then I thought: “Krakow was taken by the Germans early in the war and the Russians didn’t get there until 1945. He must have been shooting at German tanks or else fighting the Russians at another location.”
We will never know. Young people fought a hard war. I’ll leave it at that.
Here’s the Wiki article on “The Long Walk”, which turned out to be fiction.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%C5%82awomir_Rawicz
Wow, like I needed more proof there were better men than me. RIP Lt. Rogers
I was always fascinated by this guy’s story: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lauri_T%C3%B6rni
Notfiction. Some aspects are questioned. And of course it is Wiki
Fiction. Wiki is Wiki, but there are other reliable sources which say it is fiction, even if it’s in some family’s homeschooling list. Sorry.
No, unfortunately, you are wrong.
There were SO many jokes about Polish pilots, tankers, infantry.
Poland sent LANCERS on HORSE BACK to meet german tanks. They knew they would be killed, they knew it was futile.
They attacked Panzers with horse and lance.
We all know how that turned out.
The Poles were brave. They paid a really bad price.
They refused to go down without a fight.
BS. But then, Soviet propaganda works and does wonders.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/apr/06/myth-of-polish-cavalry-charge
The Long Walk by Slawomir Rawicz (New York: Harper, 1956) was reprinted several times and even digitized. However, as I read it, I began to question the narrative. The writer told of surviving more than a week in the Gobi Desert in the summer without so much as taking a drink of water, and of meeting "abominable snowmen" in the Himalayas. By the time I finished, I was convinced that this was a work of fiction.
LOL,
So, I have relatives who claim to have been there.
You have Stalinist claims that “It Never Happened.”
You may be correct, I may be wrong. I’ll take my families back over yours any day of the week.
So there we are, and there you have it!
History is what we remember.
Have a nice night.
It was the Stalinists who claimed that it happened. Very convenient for them. Have your relatives contact all those historians who have debunked the myth of Polish lancers attacking German tanks. It’s important to set history straight, even if the truth hurts someone’s familial feelings.
It was the Stalinists who claimed that it happened. Very convenient for them. Have your relatives contact all those historians who have debunked the myth of Polish lancers attacking German tanks. It’s important to set history straight, even if the truth hurts someone’s familial feelings.
LOL, That’s really cool.
Unfortunately, they just happen to be all DEAD!
Please let me know about all those “historians” who have “debunked” that so called “myth.”
BTW, I AM an historian, I’ll not bother you with my accolades because that would be construed as “high handed.”
But it includes post graduate degrees from NYU, GSAS ‘84.
Let the pissing contest continue.
There is plenty of information on the Internet about this myth, or as someone pointed out lie. It was debunked a long long time ago. With your high degrees, you can find it yourself, I’m sure. There is simply no historical evidence that such cavalry charges occurred, only propagandistic reports of the Germans from September 1939. No photographs, no witnesses. And, after WWII, the Soviet puppets in Poland produced at least one dramatic film showing such charges, shots from which ought to be somewhere on the Internet, and which you can use as “proof”.
I’m surprised there are still people who believe war propaganda from 70 years ago.
I read the book years ago when it was still believed by some, and long before the recent claims by another fellow, supported by his own manuscript from which Rawicz ripped off the story, and like you, I didn’t quite believe it.
But as you can see, there are emotional attachments to lies about history, especially lies that one believed for a long time.
“I’m surprised there are still people who believe war propaganda from 70 years ago.”
You haven’t be reading the U.S. Civil War threads, evidently!
No, I haven’t. But Civil War really is history, while the bolshevik propaganda continues to affect attitudes, votes and policies. Well OK, I’ve just painted myself into a corner.
An excellent read! I first read it as a teen in Madison, WI in the early 60s, and then just recently via Kindle.
Hand Salute.......................two
What an amazing life. Wow! RIP, sir. Thank you for your bravery, honor, and sacrifice.
There’s another Gulag escape movie that was made by a polish film company that I’ve yet to be able to locate a copy.
It’s called The Impossible Escape, fiction, about a group of escapees who escape from Siberia to Alaska over the pack ice.
There’s a trailer made, but I’m suspicious the film was never finished.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWEmIVAozlY
Yes this is all MYTH.
Oh, and there is also a MYTH that 6 million Jews were killed.
Oh Jeez, its only a MYTH. So says the Iranians.
The Holocaust?
Why hell, that was DEBUNKED years ago, just ask the president of Iran. Why, there is simply NO historical evidence that the gas chambers existed!
They were just “shower rooms.”
Ask ANYBODY!
I’m surprised that Holocaust deniers like you still parade around in public.
Stalinists like you really need to have your heads examined.
On September 1, 1939, both Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union invaded Poland. Germany and the Soviet Union were allies at the beginning of the war.
Everyone who disagrees with your mythical version of history is a “Stalinist”. Irony can be ironic sometimes, especially when you defend a long debunked lie propagated by your hero Stalin, whom you mention over and over again with such tenderness. Some historian. And yes, bring up Holocaust and the Eyeranians as winning arguments, that always works so well for you Communists. Still, you haven’t provided historical sources for the lies about the stupid Polacks charging tanks on horses. Your family was there? On the horses, or in the tanks, and later at the towers of Auschwitz and other “Polish death camps” as your hero in the White House put it?
Apart from countless battles and skirmishes in which the Polish cavalry units fought dismounted, there were 16 confirmed[4] cavalry charges during the 1939 war. Contrary to common belief, most of them were successful. The first and perhaps best known happened on September 1, 1939, during the Battle of Krojanty. During this action, elements of the Polish 18th Uhlan Regiment met a large group of German infantry resting in the woods near the village of Krojanty. Colonel Mastalerz decided to take the enemy by surprise and immediately ordered a cavalry charge, a tactic the Polish cavalry rarely used as their main weapon. The charge was successful and the German infantry unit was dispersed.The same day, German war correspondents were brought to the battlefield together with two journalists from Italy. They were shown the battlefield, the corpses of Polish cavalrymen and their horses, alongside German tanks that had arrived at the field of battle only after the engagement. One of the Italian correspondents sent home an article,[5] in which he described the bravery and heroism of Polish soldiers, who charged German tanks with their sabres and lances. Other possible source of the myth is a quote from Heinz Guderian's memoirs, in which he asserted that the Pomeranian Brigade had charged on German tanks with swords and lances.[6] Although such a charge did not happen and there were no tanks used during the combat, the myth was disseminated by German propaganda during the war with a staged Polish cavalry charge shown in their 1941 reel called "Geschwader Lützow".[1] After the end of World War II the same fraud was again being disseminated by Soviet propaganda as an example of the stupidity of Polish commanders and authorities, who allegedly did not prepare their country for war and instead wasted the blood of their soldiers
What evidence do you have that Revolting cat! is a Holocaust denier?
“Holocaust denier” is the silver bullet to kill an Internet poster with whom you strongly disagree when he says that sun rises in the East and sets in the West. Save it for future use!
Here is a long and fascinating discussion about Rawicz who wrote the book (actually, he had a ghostwriter named Ronald Downing), and a fellow named Witold Glinski, who in 2009 claimed that Rawicz, whose real name was Roscislaw Rusiecki, as I learned elsewhere just now, had stolen his, Glinski’s story. It turns out (as far as we can tell, and a number of historians including Ann Applebaum, who specializes in the history of Gulag, have studied these claims) that both of these gentlemen made up their stories without actually living them, although there have been successful escapes from the Gulag, and at one point 3 or 4 escapees managed to reach Calcutta. For example, there was never a camp #303, as Rawicz claims.
“Still, you haven’t provided historical sources for the lies about the stupid Polacks”
You’re not only revolting, you sound like an obama supporter who has all the answers.
I am once again made proud of my ancestry. I am equally relieved that all four of my grandparents emigrated here from Poland.
You may wish to fact-check that, in particular when exactly did the USSR invade Poland.
Odd thing, also, Germany invades Poland and England declares war on Germany. USSR invades Poland and England does not declare war on USSR.
And, of course, the Katyn Forest still sheds tears.
[If asking a Pole from that time and place: "Just who won WWII?", the reply would be the USSR.]
I stand corrected. September 17, 1939. It was pre-arranged by the Molotov Ribbentrop pact.
Why don’t you tell us what you know other than how to violate the rules of the forum and issue lame personal attacks against other posters who never claimed to “know everything”, and in fact would admit to knowing very little?
RIP for a defender of freedom
Thanks for the ping. He was a genuine hero. May he rest in well-earned peace.
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