Memories of the War - Julian Kowalski

My father, Julian, whom I am named after, was an instructor in the Polish Air Force from around 1937. When the Germans and Russians (Soviets) overran Poland in 1939, he was interned in Romania where he had fled for safety. Most of the officers interned in Romania ended up being handed over to the Soviets and were taken to Katyn Wood (20,000 Polish officers were murdered there by the Russians).

However, my father survived - before his journey, his friends strongly advised him to get out of uniform and run away. He did this with 13 others, and together with this group, they rowed a boat from Romania to Italy. This group then travelled up from Italy to France by train, and immediately joined the French Air Force. Within the French Air Force, a Polish contingent had been established called 1/145 Sector - it was an all-Polish unit.

During the Battle of France (May 1940) he was shot down and injured. After France fell to invading German forces, they escaped through the west of France (evacuation of 2nd BEF from French Atlantic ports, and from there they made their way to the north of England. My father was on the last ship of the last convoy to leave France.

He had no English when he arrived in the U.K. and immediately began training in the English language and flying British aircraft before being posted to the first Polish RAF squadron to be formed: No. 302 Squadron.

Julian fought during the Battle of Britain. On 15th September (Battle of Britain Day), he took part in 3rd scramble during that day when three planes took off at 2:00 pm in the afternoon. 1 pilot (the interviewee's godfather) was shot down, another died and my father, Julian, was also shot down but survived, albeit with a broken leg. Only 1 pilot from the section returned unscathed to Duxford that day.

Julian was eventually promoted to Squadron Leader of No. 302. He eventually finished his tour with the squadron and became instructor for new pilots and carried on as a flight instructor for new pilots until 1944.

During D-Day and the Normandy Invasion, Julian commanded the Polish Wing (of the Allied air forces supporting Operation Overlord). Temporary landing strips were established once the beachhead had been secured, and the Polish Wing was allocated to one of these, at Plumtot, in order to provide air support to the ground forces moving inland.

Members of the Polish forces fighting in Europe initially assumed they would return, or make their way home. However, at Yalta, Stalin came to an agreement with Churchill and Roosevelt that after the war Poland would fall under Russian control, and many Polish servicemen in the West realized they could not return home.

In 1945, Julian got married and in 1946 the contributor (Julian's son who is also called Julian) was born.