Poland, the Knight of Nations
- Donald R. McClarey
Donald R. McClarey
Cradle Catholic. Active in the pro-life movement since 1973. Father of three, one in Heaven, and happily married for 43 years. Small town lawyer and amateur historian. Former president of the board of directors of the local crisis pregnancy center for a decade.
Good to see recognition of the Polish experience in World War Two. IMO, the brave Polish nation was done a grave disservice by the Allies at Yalta, along with the rest of Eastern Europe. Thank God for their enduring Catholic faith. It was that faith that enabled them to endure.
Being sandwiched between the Germans and the Russians have taught the Polish not to to trust the Russians or the westerners. Rejecting the concepts of both and setting their own path is why they have both a thriving economy and substantial military power.
And the standing joke during most of my life was that the Polish are stupid. Unfettered and uncontrolled immigration and endless borrowing to prop up the socialist giveaways to the migrants who hate you and your culture is smart don’t you know.
My dad fought alongside Polish troops in the Italian campaign & had the greatest respect for them. He said that their hate of the Germans for what they were doing to their country gave them an extra spur to their ferocity in battle.
Indeed Don. One of Audie Murphy’s battle buddies was PFC Joe Sieja, a Polish born GI, who is one of the men he dedicated his war memoir, To Hell and Back to. “If there be any glory in war, let it rest on men like these.”
When he is killed in the film, To Hell and Back, as he was in real life at Anzio, his friends in his squad noted that for him the war was a holy war, a Crusade.
In WW II the free Polish military was the third largest of the Allies fighting the Nazis.
Yes, Faithful, I too would like to know what really went on in Yalta.
The Poles broke the Enigma Code.
Thank you Donald for saying this first.
The Poles have been Catholic since 950.
On Saturday, Poland commemorated the 82nd avviversary of the Warsaw Uprising. Before 5PM Warsaw time, hundreds of thousands of people congregate in Warsaw. At 5PM, sirens around the city go off and individuals light torches in rememberance of those wo, on their own, rose up to fight the German occupiers.
Denied help from Great Britain and the United States, abandoned on purpose on Stalin’s orders, the Poles fought valiantly for 63 days. Viewed by many as a failure, Poland views the Uprising as a noble cause where her allegedly allies failed her even though the Polish Army fought the Germans through the end of the war wherever they could. Monte Cassino, the Falaise Gap, Marker Garden…whose failure Montgomery blamed on a Polish general…
In the evening of August 1, there is always an event where the songs written and sung in support of the Polish troops, the Home Army, the Underground and all who collaborated against the Germans are recited by singers, a band and those who come and want to join in. Noticeable by his absence was Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, whose Civic Platform party has sought to stop the annual November 11 Independence Day march. Tusk is an EU simp who became PM despite receiving only 30% of the vote in the 2022 election. He got power with two other parties in a coalition.
The stupid Pole thing originated with some German immigrants to the US in the late 19th century. Norman Lear made it mainstream. One notable WWII American of Polish descent was Gaby Gabreski of Oil City, PA. He was originally attached to the Kosciuszko Squadron and later flew fighter missions for the US Army Air Corps. The Germans shot him down and he spent the last several months of the war as a POW
Poland embraced the Catholic faith in 966, 22 years before Sts. Cyril and Methodius evangelized Kievan Rus.
One more thing…the Ukrainian government named a battalion or some division of its armed forces for the OUN-UPA, the Ukrainian independence movement that butchered around 150K Poles in WolynVolhynia in 1943 and 1944. Archbishop Sheptysky of the Ukrainian Catholic Church supported the OUN-UPA even though he knew full well what they were doing and never condemned or criticized the bloodshed. Francis okayed Sheptysky becoming a saint.
When the Polish government found out about what Zelensky did it caused an uproar. Poles were and are furious. Nobody has stepped up to help Ukraine like Poland did and to commemorate murderers of innocent Poles is beyond stupid
Bog
Honor
Ojczyzna
Reading up on the Wolyn Volnynia massacres, Penquins Fan. Horrible. Whole villages burned. History hidden.