D-Day and Poland

Polish cruiser ORP Dragon shelling German positions on D-Day

Letter to the Editor of Daily Telegraph

Dear Sirs,

In reading your splendid text on D-Day {DT 06/06/19} which described the immense risks and the foreseen loss of life in the military strategic planning for Operation Overlord it is often easy to overlook the political planning behind that decision. It was made just as the Red Army was pushing the German army out of Russia and into Eastern Europe and there was concern that after the collapse of Germany a triumphant Soviet Union could dictate the peace in Europe.

The problem is that while D-Day saved Western Europe it was too late to save Eastern Europe. By refusing earlier to challenge the Third Reich through the Balkans and by delaying the Normandy landings until June 1944 the Western Allies gave the Soviet "liberators" the opportunity of destroying the independence of countries like Poland, the UK's longest most faithful ally against Germany. Despite the crucial input of Polish Armed Forces in the Battle of Britain, the Battle of the Atlantic and in the campaigns in Norway, North Africa and Italy and not omitting the 11 Polish airforce squadrons, the Polish cruiser ORP Dragon, 4 Polish destroyers and numerous Polish civilian troop ships who participated in D-Day itself, as well as the subsequent role of the Polish Armoured Brigade in Normandy and Polish paratroopers at Arnhem, Poland was abandoned to its Soviet fate and eventually her servicemen were not even allowed to participate in the London Victory Parade in 1946.

Yours faithfully
Wiktor Moszczynski
Chair
Friends of Polish Veterans Association (SPPW)
Published in DT 07/06/2019