Flightpath - May 2018

FLIGHTPATH|57

TheprestigiousPolishCrossofValourwaspresentedto

veryfewAustralianservicepersonnel.Fourareknown

tohavebeenawardedtowartimeRAAFaircrew.Three

ofthemwereearnedindirectservicetoPoland.

Elise Horspooloutlines their achievements and discovers

thesacriicesmadebyothersduringtheWarsaw Airlift

and the ongoing eforts to remember them.

timestomaketherendezvous.Theywere

equipped with eight auxiliary fuel tanks

for the long-range flight. Bombastic

drums,thesweepingromanceofviolins

andthemelodicnotesofpianowould

routinelywaftovertheradio.Thiswast

signal to abort and turn back. Weather condi-

tions, visibility problems or enemy move-

ments influenced the complete success and

timing of the op. Richard Addinsell’s Warsaw

Concerto became something the crewmem-

bers probably associated with anxiety and

dreadfortherestoftheirlives.

DakotaFD919cametoanunfortunate

endin1946whenitranofftherunwayin

Semarang,Indonesia.Therewerenocasu-

alties, but the aircraft was written off.

Those who eventually scrapped it probably

hadnoideaofitshighlysignificantservice.

Wildhorn was a clandestine mission to

ferrymembersofthePolishgovernmentin

exileandagentsofthePolishHomeArmy,

theArmia Krajowa(A K ), between Pola nd

andEngland.TheideawasthatRAFcrews

and their aircraft would act as the air bridge

to ferry agents, material and information.

The success of Operation Wildhorn I and II

wouldeventuallyculminateinOperation

Wildhorn III – a mission to extract crucial

partsandplansfortheV-2rocket.

The very day Operation Wildhorn I was

preparing, the Soviets had captured the

then Polish city of Tarnopol (now in

Ukraine).Threeyearsandsevenmonths

previously, the Soviets had invaded Poland,

O

n15April1944,aloneDouglasDa-
kota crossed the Carpathian Moun-
tainsandtentativelycircledabeet-
root field near Bełżyce, Poland.
Flight Lieutenant Edward ‘Ted’ Harrod ac-
knowledged the expected signal from the
ground and landed his aircraft on the soft
earth,tothereliefofhisPolishco-pilot
FlightLieutenantBolesławKorpowski.Two
passengers disembarked and five others
boarded.Despitealmostbecomingbogged,
theDakota,itsundercarriagecoatedin
mud,tookoffbythelightofhurricanelamps
lining the makeshift runway. Flying Officer
JohnWellsRAAFandBritishPilotOfficer
Noel Wilcock plotted their anxious five-hour
flight back to Brindisi, Italy. A day later,
membersofthePazdziorfamily,whoowned
thebeetrootfield,wereexecutedbythe
Germansinretribution.
HowdidWells,a26yearoldpublicserv-
antfromAdelaide,becomeinvolvedasthe
navigatorona2000kilometrereturnjour-
neytooccupiedeasternPolandinthemid-
dleofthenight?Hewasdescribedbyhis
wingcommanderas“alwayscheerfulunder
themosttryingconditionsandanexcellent
navigator”in1945.HereceivedthePolish
CrossofValour(KrzyżWaleczy nch) ‘for
specialservicesofhighlysecretnature.’
The operation Wells was involved in on 15
April was codenamed Operation Wildhorn by
theBritish,(but‘Most’inPolish,meaning
‘Bridge’).ThecrewofDakotaFD919from267
Squadron RAF took off from Brindisi several

two weeks after the Germans. They occu-

pied half of Poland until the Germans’ ill-

fatedOperationBarbarossa,whichforced

them out and made Germany a common en-

emy. Again, Poland would be the scene for

conflictbetweentheSoviets,Germansand

the Western Allies.

Stuck between German occupation and

the incoming Soviet Army, the AK and other

fragmented Polish resistance movements

banded together to enact Operation Tem-

pest.Inearly1944,theybeganaseriesof

co-ordinated uprisings all over Poland.

Tempest was an attempt to gain recognition

of Polish independence from the incoming

SovietArmyandliberatethecountryfrom

the Germans.

To support the operation, Warsaw joined

theuprisingon1August.TheWarsawUp-

rising was rash, poorly planned and ulti-

matelytragic.Thecityhadbeencompletely

decimated by October and the AK suffered

more than 15,000 partisan casualties with

thesamenumbercapturedbytheGermans

asprisonersofwar.Over150,000civilians

weresummarilyexecutedorkilledduring

thefightinginthecityoversixtydays.The

Germans brutally crushed the uprising

LEFT:Liberators from 31 and 34

SquadronsSAAFalsoperformed

supply drops over Warsaw.

[via Graeme Gibson]

BELOW:FlyingOicerJohnWells

(right)withFlightLieutenant

G.M.FreemaninSicilynexttoa

267SquadronDakota.Theunit

moved to India in February 1945

to support the Fourteenth Army’s

campaign in Burma.[Courtesy of the

Australian War Memorial MEA0453]