September 1944 - The citizens of Ghent, Belgium, welcome as liberators the Poles of the First Armoured Division (Public domain).

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The Liberation

The Liberation

Chapters

1. Before
2. Origins
3. The participants
4. Daily life
5. ”A school unlike any other”
6. Fighting
7. Twilight
8. The aftermath
9. Today

The Polish resistance network POWN-Monika took part in the liberation of Paris. The liberation was that of France and Europe, in which the Polish Army of the West has participated. Sixty-seven former students of the school took part. Nine were killed in action on the French, Dutch and German fronts.

Lucjan Owczarek, a student at the Polish high school in Paris and then in Villard, joined the POWN-Monika Resistance network, first in Lyon and then in Paris, where he was a member of the command staff. He took part in the liberation of Paris.

The Polish Army in France joined Britain and became the Polish Army of the West. Its 250,000 men took part in the Battle of Britain and the Allied landings in North Africa, Normandy and Italy. The “Villardians” joined the First Armoured Division, the First Independent Parachute Brigade, the Navy, the Air Force, the Second Polish Corps in Italy, the 90th Infantry Regiment of the Third US Army and the Polish Infantry Group under the command of the French Army. Nine of them were killed in action.

The “ Chronology” chapter [link] ## https://lycee-polonais.com/la-chronologie/[/link] gives the names, dates and circumstances of the deaths of the students, staff and teachers (concentration camps, maquis, fighting in the Vercors and during the Liberation).

6.6.1 “The liberation of Paris was a great joy.”

A group of Polish Resistance fighters in Paris (Public domain).

—Lucjan Owczarek, student. Account on loose leaf, undated.

Our search for weapons was finally successful. On 15 August, two German lorries with weapons, munitions and Polish personnel from the German units left their barracks in Enghien and headed for the prepared drop-off point, the Borys garage in Alfortville. Borys, a member of POWN, also had strong links with the local Resistance… We were mobilising all our members. I was particularly concerned about the Paris-Saint-Paul section. Paris was criss-crossed with retreating German soldiers, makeshift vehicles, horses and various old machines. This was clearly the beginning of the end. Everyone was very impatient and wanted to take action. The only order I received was to wait…

But soon we heard shots being fired here and there. Barricades were being built out of furniture and cobblestones from the damaged streets. In Saint-Paul, I saw a damaged German tank. The French flag was flying over the town hall. Lots of people were in the square and in the streets. We passed the bewildered German soldiers on guard at Orsay station. Moving between gates and entrance ways, we headed for the Polish embassy, whose occupation was one of our priorities. We arrived at the embassy. It was closed up. There was no one there. We noticed that the neighbouring buildings were already occupied by the Resistance: the Ministries of War and Labour, Invalides and the Maison de la Chimie. The Germans were entrenched at the Invalides train station…

I decided to bring at least some of the defectors from Alfortville, with their weapons, to Paris. We had to take advantage of the general disorder and the Germans’ indecision. I knew that there were German patrols and checkpoints at the entrances to Paris. The operation was risky, but feasible. I asked for the vehicle to be painted white and red so that it would be clearly visible. The truck would thus be driven under Polish colours. The repainted vehicle passed a German checkpoint without incident. The occupants of the cab and the passengers lying down in the back were all armed. In accordance with instructions, the Polish House at 7 Rue Crillon was the first target to be liberated…

I saw the first French tank at the Town Hall and the madness that had taken hold of people. I saw the enthusiasm, the fear that made people take down the flags, I heard the most unbelievable gossip. And then happiness….

The outcome. From the very first days of the fighting, all the members of the POWN had been mobilised. We had twelve sections in the region with 333 members, including 16 women. We did not suffer any losses. We occupied all the buildings that had housed official Polish services or belonged to Poles. The liberation of Paris was a great joy for us, but was tempered by the thought of what was happening in Warsaw, of the struggle that was going on there without any hope of effective help from the West, and of the Polish problems, the seriousness of which we were aware.

6.6.2 “The beginning of the end of the war.”

Jan Ambik, left. He was killed in the fighting at Falaises (Association Mémoire du lycée polonais - Polish High School Memorial Association).

—Maria Orzchowska, student. In a letter to Stéphane Malbos. 26 September 2007.

The Battle of Falaise Pocket ended the Battle of Normandy and sounded the death knell for the superiority of the German army, which had been considered invincible for five years. The role played by the Polish first armoured division, led by General Maczek, was significant, as it was placed in a location that could not have been more exposed: the Falaise Pocket. The Falaise route was determined in 1943 at the Quebec Conference, where the decision to land in Normandy was taken. In fact, only the Falaise “threshold” opened up the spaces needed to build airfields.

Having occupied the area around Normandy after fierce battles, the Allied armies headed south: the British from Caen, which had been completely devastated, the Canadians alongside the Poles from the regions further west, and the Americans, after the liberation of the Cotentin region, from the south, also with Leclerc ‘s second armoured division. Facing them were the German seventh army and fifth panzer army, which Hitler had deployed in the hope of defeating the twelve American divisions rushing to the Loire by cutting them off from their bases.

This movement of the enemy between the Anglo-American front to the north and the American front to the south gave General Bradley the idea of encircling the German forces and creating a trap. The narrow corridor left for the enemy retreat would be the object of a tug of war that would cost Hitler the fate of two armies. On the evening of 19 August, at Chambois, the Falaise pocket was closed by the Polish first armoured division which had come down from the Auge hills and by the American 90th Division. On 20 and 21 August, the Germans attempted to pierce the net in a fight to the death, but the Poles, on the heights of Mont Ormel, inflicted a heavy price on any attempts to retreat towards Vimoutiers and the Seine. Mount Ormel, known as “the Mace” , was at the end of the exit corridor.

The enemy saved some 20,000 to 40,000 of its own, but abandoned 450,000 killed or wounded, 1,500 tanks, 3,500 guns and 20,000 vehicles.

The German fighters called the Falaise pocket their Stalingrad in Normandy. Marshal Montgomery described this Allied victory as “the beginning of the end of the war” .

After Falaise, the Polish first armoured division resumed its march towards the Seine at the end of August, crossing near Elboeuf after liberating various areas. It then turned north and liberated several towns, including Neuchâtel, Abbeville and Saint-Omer. It then entered Belgium and, among other cities, liberated Ghent. In Holland, at least twelve towns were liberated, including Breda on 27 October. Then, from 1 November, the fighting died down as each side took up its winter quarters.

After resuming its march through Holland, the Polish first armoured division liberated a good dozen towns and, in the second half of April 1945, entered Germany and liberated or occupied a further ten towns, the last being Wilhelmshaven on 5 May 1945, the date on which the war ended. During its march through Germany, it liberated the Oberlangen camp where 1,726 people were being held: women and soldiers of the AK, the Polish Partisan Army, made up mainly of Polish army soldiers who, after the defeat of 1939, had joined the maquis – the largest by far of all the resistance movements in Europe. They had all been deported there after being taken prisoner during the Warsaw Uprising (1 August to 3 October 1944).

6.6.3 “Despite these trials and tribulations, we are staying strong.”

—Zbiguiew Niemczycki, student. In a letter to Zofia Łukasiewicz, his biology teacher at Villard. 15 February 1945.

You will no doubt be aware that the majority of Villardians serve in the Polish armoured division and that for many months we have been in constant contact with the enemy. We have suffered heavy losses. The graves of our six comrades are scattered along our division ‘s battle route from Caen to Breda (Netherlands). Many were wounded and are either being treated in British hospitals or have returned to their units. A handful of us are still on the continent, safe and sound. In addition to the armoured division, we have representatives in the navy and air force. And over there, our comrades are doing their duty brilliantly. Despite all these trials and tribulations, we are staying strong and we are still Villardians.

You might like to know how our morale is. It ‘s good, in line with what a soldier should have. We have now entered perhaps the most tragic phase of all. Our country is in mortal danger. The pessimists say that all our pains and sacrifices will have been for nothing. But we do not have the right to think like that. As never before, we need to concentrate all our will and efforts, because that’s the only way we ‘ll achieve our Poland! We do not have the right to doubt our own strength!

6.6.4 “I have learned what the ‘Front’ means.”

Recovering in hospital in the UK. On the left, Henryk Zdziarski. (Association Mémoire du lycée polonais - Polish High School Memorial Association).

—Stanislaw Rudkowski, student. In a letter to Zofia Łukasiewicz, his biology teacher at Villard. 11 January 1946.

Here, I volunteered for the Polish army and was drafted into the Polish first armoured division, in which I took part in the battles around Falaise in Normandy. On 21 August 1944 I was wounded and evacuated to Great Britain. I was in hospital for two months and had two operations on my leg. When I was discharged, I decided to go back to school to take my baccalaureate.

About my classmates, I have some very sad news: Drohomirecki Marian was killed on 21 August 1944 at Falaise. Szybka Marian too, on the same day. Jaworczak Zdzistaw was killed in December in Holland. Ciemor Roman suffered a serious injury to his leg. Grelak Pawel was seriously injured in the face. Koczwara Jan lost a leg, but was promoted to second lieutenant. Drwiega Juzek is currently an instructor at the officer training school. I have no news of Łukasiewicz and Nowinski, but they are said to be at the front in Holland. Meres Zbigniew, Wielgomas Roland and Moczorodynski Marian are in the air force and doing well, while Gawlik Stanislaw and Skroba are in the navy. I have no news of the others, but it seems they are also in the army.

We always manage to pass on news among the Villardians on British territory and, for the time being, some of us are trying to hold out. But what does the future hold? I cannot say, because I have learned what the “Front” means. Please forgive me for writing you such a dull and uninteresting letter, riddled with spelling mistakes and stylistic errors, but in the army you don ‘t make intellectual progress, on the contrary, you regress.

6.5The Battle of Vercors

Soldiers, internees, deportees, victims6.7