1939 Defeat Not Only Jews Blamed Cynk

History of the Polish Air Force, 1918-1968, by Jerzy B Cynk. 1972

An Encyclopedic Analysis of the Polish Air Force. 1939 Myths Debunked. Not Only Jews Were Blamed for Poland’s Defeat in 1939

This comprehensive work is based on many sources, notably the archived Polish information in England. Polish military aviation goes far back in time. Already by 1910, there were Polish flyers in the tsarist Russian air force, and they stirred up quite a ruckus by insisting that they be listed as Poles, not Russians.

AIR COMBAT IN 1918-1920

Details are provided on the role of the infant Polish Air Force in the 1918-era collapse of the Partitioning Powers’ rule over Poland, and in the 1918-1919 Polish war against the Austrian-backed Ukrainian separatists (e. g., the siege of Lwow). The role of the Polish Air Force in the 1920 Polish-Bolshevik War is particularly instructive, in that the Polish Air Force outperformed its Soviet counterpart: “According to official Soviet statistics, the Red air force made a total of over 2,000 operational sorties, dropped over 6,400 kg (14,100 lb) of bombs and fought about thirty-five air battles during the Russo-Polish War between April and October 1920. The infant Poland’s Air Force, having at its disposal less aircraft, flew a total 3,652 operational sorties in 7,164 flying hours during the same period…” (p. 61)

THE 1939 WAR

The author is unsparingly critical of the tardiness of the interwar Polish politicians in the modernization and expansion of the Polish Air Force. However, even obsolete planes could have been put to better use, in 1939, than they were. For instance, the Soviet Air Force successfully used vintage 1929 P-2 biplanes in its war against Germany. (p. 115).

Cynk soundly debunks the myth of the Polish Air Force getting destroyed on the ground, by the Luftwaffe, in the first day or so of the 1939 war. The Poles hid their aircraft in secret airfields, camouflaging the planes themselves with hay. (p. 128). The last recorded Luftwaffe plane shot down by a Polish one occurred on September 17th. (p. 141; see also the day-by-day table of P.A.F. “hits”, which total at least 126, and do not include those relatively few German planes downed by Polish ground-based fire: p. 276). The author provides many details of the air battles over Poland, notably around Warsaw, Pomorze, Lodz, and Lublin. Also: “In the first five days of its operations, September 2nd to 6th inclusive, the Bomber Brigade made thirteen bombing raids totaling 119 aircraft-sorties, sixty-nine of these being made by Karas and fifty by Los bombers, and altogether some 100 tons of bombs were dropped on enemy armour concentrations.” (p. 138).

1939 GERMAN TERROR BOMBING

The Luftwaffe clearly engaged in terror bombing of Polish civilians, and mass strafing of unarmed civilian columns. In addition, German planes shot Polish pilots who were parachuting out of their stricken aircraft. (p. 127). Later complaints about Polish pilots shooting at parachuting Germans, during the Battle of Britain, sometimes repeated to this day, are ironic in this light.

NOT ONLY JEWS WERE FAULTED FOR POLAND’S 1939 DEFEAT!

Defeat is an orphan. Accusations have been made of Poles blaming those Jews found in the Polish leadership for the 1939 defeat. Actually, the blame went all around. Cynk describes the Poles in 1940 France, how they were received coldly by the French and scorned for their rapid defeat (laughable in view of the subsequent French performance), and adds: “The mood of utter despair was deepened by fresh memories of the September disaster, and the discipline was at a very low ebb, an acute crisis of authority arising from the fact that the men distrusted many of their high-ranking officers who had led them in September 1939.” (p. 157).

THE DECISIVE BATTLE OF BRITAIN

Cynk provides excellent coverage of the Poles’ participation in the Battle of Britain. He provides revised figures for the number of German planes shot down, and indicates that, during the period of their active participation, the Polish airmen accounted for about 15% of the downed German planes (even though they comprised only 8% of the RAF airmen.)(p. 171). Cynk cites Captain Newell O. Roberts, an American volunteer pilot in the Battle of Britain, who wrote in COLLIERS magazine, commenting: “’The Poles are the best sky fighters I saw anywhere.’” (p. 181).

POLISH PILOTS AVENGE THE EARLIER GERMAN BOMBING OF POLAND

The Polish airmen were subsequently involved in virtually every front of the German-British air war. This included the May 1942 massive bombing of Cologne, and subsequent raids on Essen and Bremen. Cynk elaborates on the Polish airmen’s extensive involvement in D-Day. They were also involved in most of the airdrops to the Polish insurgents in the ill-fated, Soviet-betrayed Warsaw Uprising of 1944. After the establishment of the Soviet puppet state, the postwar Polish Air Force was modeled after that of the USSR.