A chapter of forgotten history; "Unwelcome Heroes"
Forte
Unwelcome Heroes
On the 8th of June 1946, a huge Victory Parade marched all the way from Trafalgar Square to Buckingham Palace. It was a truly great parade. Units from all allied countries were marching in front of the Royal Family and a cheering crowd. Representatives from the Great Britain, USA, France, Belgium, Brazil, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Egypt, Ethiopia, Greece, Iran, Iraq, Luxembourg, Mexico, Nepal, Netherlands, Norway and Transjordan were in attendance. Even units from Fiji were marching proudly .However, representatives of one nation were not invited. None of the 228,000 Polish soldiers who had served under the British High Command were invited to the Parade because the Labour government considered it too controversial.
They just didn’t want to annoy Stalin.
The end of WWII meant freedom to many European countries. But not to all of them. Some Eastern European Countries found themselves under new occupation - the Soviet one. Their governments were not democratically elected - they were puppets designated by Stalin to rule Soviet client states. The dark era of Communism began. Polish pilots who fought fearlessly defending the British skies from Nazi bombers and stayed in Britain after the war were not considered heroes anymore. They became unwelcome guests. As British troops from the continent and colonies returned home, Poles started to be considered a burden for the British economy.
“Poles go home!” - this text could be seen sprayed on walls across the UK. But they couldn’t just go back home. Return to Poland in late 1940s and early 1950s meant suicide.
The Polish Communist government considered everyone coming back from the West an imperialistic spy.
Those Polish pilots who did come back to their homeland were put in prison. Some of them were executed for “espionage”.
Despite the obstacles, the majority of Polish pilots decided to stay in Britain.
We are here to commemorate those great men who 70 years ago fought for your freedom and ours.
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Wings
Periodical of the Polish Air Force
June October 2010 – 70th Anniversary of the Battle of Britain
Surreyman
Bill
<alansp...@googlemail.com> wrote:
>And we also forcibly repatriated some 1.5 million Russians, many to their deaths.
British servicemen who had fought for the Germans, some were
executed.
Surreyman
Stalinesque mass massacres v. 2 well-founded executions, I believe, apart from Joyce.
You do espouse some strange causes.
Andrew Chaplin
news:743d92e2-eacf-47a3...@googlegroups.com:
legally empaneled court martial.
--
Andrew Chaplin
SIT MIHI GLADIUS SICUT SANCTO MARTINO
(If you're going to e-mail me, you'll have to get "yourfinger." out.)
Bill
>On Wednesday, May 1, 2013 12:32:37 AM UTC+1, Bill wrote:
>> On Tue, 30 Apr 2013 01:54:53 -0700 (PDT), Surreyman
>>
>> <alansp...@googlemail.com> wrote:
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> >And we also forcibly repatriated some 1.5 million Russians, many to their deaths.
>>
>>
>>
>> Under a reciprocal agreement the USSR forcibly repatriated several
>>
>> British servicemen who had fought for the Germans, some were
>>
>> executed.
>
>Millions v. several?
>Stalinesque mass massacres v. 2 well-founded executions, I believe, apart from Joyce.
>You do espouse some strange causes.
The two countries had an agreement and stuck to it.
Surreyman
But you seem loath to agree that it was an appalling & inhumane sell-out.
Bill
>On Saturday, May 4, 2013 6:04:35 PM UTC+1, Bill wrote:
>> On Thu, 2 May 2013 03:18:36 -0700 (PDT), Surreyman
>>
>>
>>
>> The two countries had an agreement and stuck to it.
>
>We all know there was an agreement.
>But you seem loath to agree that it was an appalling & inhumane sell-out.
Because we shot a couple of traitors?
Surreyman
Because we 'traded' millions for a couple of traitors.
Bill
>On Sunday, May 5, 2013 11:25:44 AM UTC+1, Bill wrote:
>> On Sun, 5 May 2013 01:55:33 -0700 (PDT), Surreyman
>>
>> <alansp...@googlemail.com> wrote:
>>
>>
>>
>> >On Saturday, May 4, 2013 6:04:35 PM UTC+1, Bill wrote:
>>
>> >> On Thu, 2 May 2013 03:18:36 -0700 (PDT), Surreyman
>>
>>
>>
>> >> I espouse no cause here.
>>
>> >>
>>
>> >>
>>
>> >>
>>
>> >> The two countries had an agreement and stuck to it.
>>
>> >
>>
>> >We all know there was an agreement.
>>
>> >But you seem loath to agree that it was an appalling & inhumane sell-out.
>>
>>
>>
>> Why?
>>
>>
>>
>> Because we shot a couple of traitors?
>
>You seem to have lost it entirely.
>Because we 'traded' millions for a couple of traitors.
for no good reason, and Soviet civilians displaced by the war who
ended up in Western areas were treated horribly when repatriated I
cannot find it in my heart to feel sorry for the XV SS Cossack Cavalry
Corps.