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A Question of Honor: The Kosciuszko Squadron: Forgotten Heroes of World War II (2003)

Last week Poland lost its first soldier to a combat death since WWII. Fittingly, he died in Iraq in a war (post-war) where Polish troops have come to the aid of American and British forces. Fitting because the history, especially the military history, of America and Britain is so intertwined over the past two centuries. Polish volunteers--most famously General Thaddeus Kosciuszko and Kazimierz Pulaski--came to the Colonies to assist the American fight for Independence. As this book relates, American fliers fought with the newly independent Poland when it was attacked by the Bolshevik regime after WWI. And then Polish fliers, in turn, escaped to France and then Britain after their nation fell to Hitler and Stalin and they became heroes of the Battle of Britain in particular. The ties between America and Poland have been deepened by the immigration of so many Poles to the U.S. and by Poland's adoption of a universalist creed in the 19th Century--"For Your Freedom and Ours"--which, as the authors say, implies "Polish unity with all lovers of liberty." In one of the many fascinating details from the book, the immediate pre-war period of the 1930s finds "Gone with the Wind" a great bestseller in Poland, its people identifying with the portrayal of a culture facing destruction. Meanwhile, there may be no foreign author who was ever more successful in America than the Nobel winner Henryk Sienkiewicz, author of the still popular Quo Vadis. His great trilogy of Polish history was translated (badly) by Teddy Roosevelt's friend Jeremiah Curtin. Retranslated (brilliantly) just a few years ago, it won a new generation of American fans. Finally, the grip that both Pope John Paul II and the Solidarity Movement exercised on the American imagination, as they fought against Communism, often in unison with Ronald Reagan, must surely have been strengthened by our the long and unique relationship between the Poles and us. This background of friendship and the mutual historical obligations between the two nations makes the story that Lynne Olson and Stanley Cloud have to tell all the more infuriating.

The book's subtitle, "Forgotten Heroes", aptly describes the Eastern European troops who fought with the Allies after their own countries were defeated. Several years ago there was a bittersweet film, Dark Blue World, about Czech fliers who joined the RAF. A satisfying romantic adventure, it left the viewer longing to know more about its heroes. Come to find out out, beside the 1250 Czechs there were some 8500 Polish airmen (a total of 200,000 Polish soldiers, air force, and navy eventually fought with America and Britain). Lynne Olson and Stanley Cloud ably resurrect the memory of the brave Polish pilots here and more than fulfill our curiosity.

The something more may in its own way be more valuable, for they also show us, in depressing detail, just why we chose to forgot such men--and, make no mistake. they were erased from our collective memory just as purposefully as Beria was replaced by Bering Straits in the Great Soviet Encyclopedia. Thus. although the center of their story concerns first the Americans who fought in Poland, as the Kosciuszko Squadron--including Merian Cooper, in whose great-great-grandfather's arms Pulaski had died, and Cedric Fauntleroy--and then the Poles who in turn formed a Kosciuszko Squadron in the RAF (colorful souls like Jan Zumbach, Miroslaw Feric, and Witold Lokuciewski [known collectively as "The Three Musketeers"]; Zdzislaw "the King" Krasnodebski; Witold Urbanowicz; and even Jozef Frantisek [a Czech])--surrounding this uplifting tale is a history of betrayal by the West, which at the official level ignored Poland's war with the Bolsheviks after WWI, then left it to the depredations of Hitler and Stalin, and then, after WWII, abandoned it to Communist rule and domination by the Soviet Union--all this despite repeated promises to vindicate Polish independence and freedom. If the very nadir of this long history of Western backstabbing comes when the U.S. and Britain recognize the post-war Soviet-puppet government of Poland, the most symbolic moment comes when the British are conducting their Victory Parade, on June 8, 1946, and the Labour government invites Communist Poland to take part but, lest Stalin be offended, bars the Poles who actually fought for England.

Nine men of the Kosciuszko Squadron had become aces in the Battle of Britain, including Urbanowicz, and the squadron had shot down 14 Luftwaffe planes just on the first day of the Blitz. Yet in the haste to cozy up to the Soviets they were abandoned after the war. Even Churchill, whose romantic streak Poland and these Poles in particular appealed to, apparently felt no compunction about bargaining away Polish territory or even freedom in his talks with Stalin. And, once Churchill was gone from power, the British government made it clear that the two hundred thousand Polish refugees were no longer welcome, competing for scarce jobs, and should return posthaste to their homeland, even if it was oppressed. One finishes the book filled with admiration for Poland and her idealistic, resilient people--their motto, "For Your Freedom and Ours"--and deeply ashamed of the Anglosphere, which in its hurry to end WWII left the job undone and an invaluable ally under the jackbooted Soviet heel. Ms Olson and Mr. Cloud have done the Poles and the cause of honest history-telling a great service.

(Reviewed:09-Nov-03)

Grade: (A)

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Comments:

As an Englishman living in Poland for the last 16 years and having studied the II World War for over 35 years I was eager to read A Question of Honor. I believe this book could have been so much better had it not been written with such bias. It shows how badly the Poles had been treated without really examining all the details of that terrible time. Many very important points concerning the Poles own dithering during the run up to the war are not mentioned in this book. William L shirer's excellent book The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich explains in full detail the disasterous games played by the Polish Government just before 1939 and the lasting effect it had on world politics. It must also be remembered that according to A Question of Honor Poland and Nazi Germany had always been totally opposed to each other.....so why did the Poles so eagerly accept the gift of a part of Czechoslovakia when Hitler offered it to them in 1938, or the Polish progrom that pushed the Jews over the border into Germany shortly before the war. These points completely skipped in the book! The problem is that so many other points are skipped which have real relevance to this time. I mention these things only to indicate the bias of the book and in no way whatsoever try to wipe out the total contribution made by these incredibly brave and successful Polish pilots, without them I am certain the outcome of the Battle of Britain would have been very, very different. So why does the book, written by two Americans, not describe the actual details of the moment when Poland's post war future was decided? When the American President made the off the cuff remark that he had no interest in Eastern Europe. Churchill had not been invited to this meeting and flew into a rage on hearing the news. Roosevelt made it clear to Churchill that if Britain wanted to go to war against the Soviets over this question he could do so without the aid of America. Even the most foolish of people must understand that this was not an option that was ever going to be considered. Stalin took his prize and the rest is history. The book is entertaining and rightly presents a well deserved tribute to all the incredible Polish flyers that formed 1/3rd of the RAF and contributed so much to the ultimate defeat of the Nazi regime. Poland was owed so much more than it received but please lets get the facts correct about why it did not and exactly who it was that sold them out!

- Ray Fidler

- Jan-10-2007, 08:05

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The world remembers too little about Polish input into history regardless of whether the input is intellectual, scientific, religious, or military. This book shows the selflessness of the Polish spirit when it comes to defending freedom and standing true with allies in their time of need. The Polish motto will always be "For God, Honor, and Country." The promise in an alliance will always be "For Your Freedom & Ours." The attitude in a tough situation will be "Go For Broke." Too bad these attributes are not universal in other nations because we would be living in a better world. Thank you to the authors for this book.

- Ryszard M. Popielarz

- Jan-05-2006, 16:28

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Thank you, Lynne Olson and Stanley Cloud for this wonderful,hart-breaking story. The best history lesson I have ever experienced in my life!!!!!Although I knew about all these betrails on parts of all our allies, I just finished reading "Defeat in victory" by Ciechanowski, I suffered even more reading this book because it was written in much broader contest and in more dramatic way.Having dealt with all preduices against Poles I guess I started myself thinking a little lower about my nation, like battered women told over and over by their husbands t

- Jane

- Jan-27-2004, 15:19

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to say"finally somebody wrote this book to give the truth right place in polish history" would be too much. But imagine, how loyal, how tragic and bittersweet feeling had had this tousands of former polish soldiers who lived and died without this publication until now...

- janmamos

- Jan-25-2004, 15:00

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At last! I hope, that this book will show to American friends the truth about our history. And there will be no more polish jokes and movies about "Enigma", where there is no word about Polish.

- Chris

- Dec-17-2003, 08:33

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A Question of Honor: The Kosciuszko Squadron: Forgotten Heroes of World War II (2003)

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