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POLES IN THE NORWEGIAN CAMPAIGN OF 1940 Bjorn Bratbak On May 28, 2000 - the day of the 60 Anniversary of the capture of Narvik - several ceremonies took place in this town. Representatives of the Norwegian, British, French and Polish governments were in attendance. A memorial stone had been unveiled on the seashore, where the Polish Independent Highland Rifle Brigade landed on May 14, 1940 before the final assault on Narvik...
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Eight months after their invasion of Poland, on April 9, 1940 without any warning the Germans attacked Norway. However, thanks to the Polish Navy submarine ORP Orzel, the Norwegians received a last minute warning the day before, that something was about to happen. The warning came on the morning of April 8, when Orzel sank a German transport vessel Rio de Janeiro off the southern coast of Norway. A number of German soldiers were rescued by Norwegian fishermen. According to the captured soldiers they were going to Bergen on a mission to protect the Norwegians from the British! The German attack was well planned and carried out. German army troops transported on naval vessels landed during the night in Oslo, Kristiansand, Egersund, Stavanger, Bergen, Trondheim and Narvik. The Stavanger airport was taken by paratroopers transported by planes coming from airports in already occupied Denmark. Narvik was occupied by 2000 mountain rifles delivered by ten destroyers, all of which were sunk by the British Navy on April 10 and 13. 2600 rescued German sailors and navy officers reinforced the mountain rifles units in Narvik. The Norwegian Royal Family, the Government, and the Parliament escaped the German attempt to capture them in Oslo by leaving the country. King Haakon VII, 68 years old at that time, refused to accept the German demands to instal a Nazi government in Norway and to stop the resistance against the invaders. During those first days, the King received a cable from the Polish President, Wladyslaw Raczkiewicz, wishing him and his loyal citizens good luck in the coming days. Even before the German attack on Norway, the British and the French were preparing for a military operation that would give them control over some of the most important towns, harbours and airfields on the western coast of Norway. The allied troops, mostly British, were already on stand-by and had even started to embark on merchant and naval vessels that were to transport them from the United Kingdom to Norway. Included in this armada were three Polish transatlantic liners: MS Sobieski, MS Chrobry and MS Batory. On April 15 Sobieski and Batory arrived in Harstad and Chrobry in Namsos bringing British troops and supplies. Polish destroyers: ORP Burza, ORP Blyskawica and ORP Grom were part of the operation's naval escort. Burza, damaged during its crossing of the North Sea had to return to Scotland. Blyskawica and Grom arrived in Northern Norway and were used for patrolling the fiords. The Germans occupying Narvik and the surrounding mountains detested the two Polish destroyers wholeheartedly for their effective use of artillery causing great trouble for the invaders. Burza arrived in Northern Norway some time later and took part in the surveillance of the fiords. On May 4, while on duty north of Narvik, ORP Grom was hit in a bomber attack - she sank within minutes and fifty nine members of her crew lost their lives. Shortly thereafter, on May 15, the Poles lost another vessel - MS Chrobry, used as a troop carrier, was hit by German bombs while on her third sailing to Norway. [on February 29, 2000 a Norwegian Navy vessel KNM Tyr located the wreck of Chrobry at a depth of 160 meters] Due to the able seamanship of the Polish crew and good training of the soldiers of the Irish Guards, the number of casualties was remarkably small. Only thirteen of Chrobry's crew members lost their lives, three of which were British. Another victim during the Norwegian Campaign was the Polish Navy submarine ORP Orzel which at the end of May failed to return from a mission in the North Sea. She disappeared without trace and all of her sixty three crew members lost their lives. The most recognized Polish participant in the Norwegian Campaign of 1940 is the Independent Highland Rifle Brigade (Samodzielna Brygada Strzelcow Podhalanskich, Brigade des Chasseurs de Montagne), established in France on February 14, 1940, with Col. Zygmunt Bohusz-Szyszko in command. The officers were those of the Polish Army officers corps, who decided to leave Poland in the last stages (as well, as after) the Polish Campaign of 1939 in order to continue the fighting abroad. The soldiers of the Brigade were also Polish Army veterans of that Campaign, the majority, however, were volunteers, prewar Polish emigrants to France. The Brigade was originally formed to help the Finns in the Soviet-Finnish War of 1939-1940. It was therefore equipped with winter gear and the troops had received training in winter warfare. When Norway was attacked on April 9, 1940 the almost five thousand man strong Brigade was ready for action and the allied Supreme War Council decided that it should be part of the allied North-Western Expeditionary Force. On April 10, in the French town of Malestroit in Brittany, the Brigade was presented with a standard which was a gift from Field Bishop Jozef Gawlina, the Chaplain Chief to the Polish Armed Forces. The Brigade paraded before the President of Poland, Wladyslaw Raczkiewicz and the Prime Minister and Commander-in-Chief, Gen. Wladyslaw Sikorski. That day it had been also made known that the Brigade would soon be sent to Norway. A Norwegian flag was flown over the parade grounds side by side with the flags of Poland, France and the United Kingdom. On April 19, the Brigade reached the Plougastel-St. Renan-Guipavas area, near Brest. On the same day, many NCOs and soldiers received their promotions. On April 21 Gen. Sikorski visited the Brigade again, in Guipavas, for a final inspection before departure - that day he promoted the Brigade's Commander to the rank of a brigadier - five other officers also received their promotions. Two days later, on April 23, 1940 the Brigade embarked on French troop carriers: TSS Mexique, TSS Colombie and SS Chenonceaux in the port of Brest and sailed to Greenock in Scotland. On April 30 the convoy set sail again with the course for Northern Norway. Two celebrations took place during the voyage - Poland's Constitution Day (May 3) and when the ships crossed the Arctic Circle. On the latter occasion, the soldiers and officers received their Arctic Circle Crossing diplomas in the very same way as passengers on a tourist cruise. On the morning of May 9, the Brigade landed in Lenvik, near Harstad - it had to be ferried ashore by Norwegian fishing boats due to the lack of harbour facilities suitable for large vessels. The Brigade was given various tasks including guarding vast areas of territory and keeping them free of Germans. On May 16 and 17 the Brigade was transferred by sea to the area south of Narvik with the task of attacking German positions on the Ankenes Peninsula. Heavy fighting between the Germans and Poles took place in the rigid, naked mountains of the Peninsula. The Germans made a vain attempt to make the Poles surrender by dropping propaganda leaflets from a plane. Dedication of the Polish soldiers increased even more when they found photographs of their homeland on Germans taken prisoner. As it happened, some of the Germans fighting in the mountains of the Northern Norway were veterans of the German invasion of Poland in 1939. They proudly kept photographs and other war "souvenirs" stolen from the ruins of Poland. The main assault on German-occupied Narvik and surroundings took place during the night on May 27/28. The Polish Brigade advanced relentlessly from the mountains south of the village of Ankenes. After heavy, often hand-to-hand fighting, the Germans withdrew over the fiord on fishing boats. The Poles then turned east and, still under fire, advanced towards Beisfjord. On the same day, in the afternoon, the first Polish troops entered liberated Narvik. In the centre of the town they were met by the French and Norwegian troops coming from the north. The German units, under command of the already legendary Gen. Eduard Dietl, were forced eastwards toward nearby Swedish border. Their total destruction was only days away, but in light of the new developments in France, the allied Supreme War Council decided to withdraw. That decision, although justified and necessary under the circumstances, shocked the Polish officers and soldiers - the destruction of the enemy was imminent and yet they were ordered to evacuate! Some of the Polish soldiers wept openly when saying goodbye to their astonished Norwegian comrades in arms. On June 8 the last soldiers of the Brigade left Norway, headed for war-torn France. The Polish Independent Highland Rifle Brigade left behind in the Norwegian soil ninety seven soldiers and officers. One hundred and ninety were wounded, some of them seriously. During the funeral ceremony at Haakvik, a Norwegian priest in his funeral oration promised that the Norwegians would never forget the sacrifice offered by the Poles. On December 8, 1940 Gen. Carl Gustav Fleischer, the Commander of the Norwegian 6 Division, which fought shoulder to shoulder with the Poles in the Northern Norway, visited the "Polish Brigade Narvik" (as the Scots called remnants of the Brigade reorganized into Highland Rifle Battalion) in Tentsmuir, Scotland. Gen. Sikorski also took part in the ceremony, during which Gen. Fleischer was awarded the Polish Order of VIRTUTI MILITARI together with several Polish officers who distinguished themselves during the Norwegian Campaign of 1940. All soldiers of the Brigade were awarded a commemorative lanyard in the Norwegian national colours: red, white and blue, with the Norwegian national emblem - the Golden Lion. This decoration had been established by the Polish authorities with the permission of the King of Norway, Haakon VII and the Norwegian Government. The right to wear the lanyard was later extended to the crew members of: ORP Burza, ORP Blyskawica and ORP Grom. On September 9, 1945, the King of Norway, Haakon VII established the Deltagermedaljen (the Participation Medal) - to honour all those, including the foreigners, who participated in the Norway's struggle for freedom during the Warld War II. Many Poles were awarded this decoration for their participation in the Norwegian Campaign of 1940. * For the Poles living in Poland and abroad, the name of Narvik and the history of the Norwegian Campaign of 1940 has a special place in their hearts. The name of Narvik is engraved on the Unknown Soldier's Grave in Warsaw. Several streets and places in Poland also bear the name of this town.
POLES IN THE NORWEGIAN CAMPAIGN OF 1940
Last modified December 31, 2009 9:02 PM |
