Warsaw Airlift 1944: Brotherhood-in-arms between the Western Allies and Poles

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On 3 August 1944 the Allied command decided to send Liberators and Halifaxes over Warsaw to drop supplies to Poles fighting the deadliest urban battle in their history. These daring missions operated by RAF, SAAF and Polish 1586 Special Duty squadron meant that the airmen would be forced to fly 2,600 km at night over German occupied territory from the British airbase in Brindisi to Warsaw and back. Without stopping over. Up to 12 hours in the air with some airmen just managing to land back at Brindisi with empty fuel tanks. Many would never return. On 18 September 1944, 110 USAAF B-17s were sent from the UK airfields to Warsaw. However, the fate of Warsaw was almost sealed.

Sorties to Warsaw were initially operated only by the Polish 1586 Special Duty Flight. RAF No.148 Squadron assisted the mission but only towards different drop zones outside Warsaw. During the night of 12/13 August No. 148 Squadron flies direct to Warsaw for the first time alongside 1586. SAAF 31 Squadron and RAF No.178 Squadron join in from the night of 13/14 August. Later, due to losses, SAAF 34 Squadron was also assigned to those dangerous flights.

Bombardier Bryan Desmond Jones recalled the moment when the allied airmen learnt about their task, visibly moved still after years:

“Right at the end of the briefing, the wing commander invited a Polish squadron leader to address us. And he stood up and very emotionally, I can see him now, he was very emotional. He said „My country, Poland, is in serious trouble. And I plead with you – South African and British gentlemen – to help Poland tonight.” Bryan Desmond Jones

The Polish squadron leader who pleaded for support was Cpt. Zbigniew Szostak, who would be killed in action the following day. The world was on fire and the lives of those young men were consumed far too fast. Germans would not give up so easily the land they took over in 1939.

Photo: Cpt. Zbigniew Szostak, First pilot of Liberator KG 890, decorated twice with Virtuti Militari Cross, four times with the Cross of Valour and a Distinguished Flying Cross. Separated by war from his wife and son whom he would never see again. Source: public domain

Air Marshal Sir John Slessor reported that:

“It was one thing to drop supplies to pre-arranged dropping zones, marked by light signals in open country behind the lines ... it was quite another thing to bring a big aircraft down to a thousand feet, flaps and wheels down to reduce speed, over a great city, itself the scene of fires and flashes from guns and bursting shell.” Slessor, The Central blue, London 1956, p. 615

Germans had anti-aircraft artillery, night fighters and a radar located on a special train to detect any allied bombers that would appear in the sky, therefore we owe due admiration to those brave airmen who did their best to supply Warsaw, desperately crying for help. The Liberators and Halifaxes flew at low level over the roofs of Warsaw buildings as recalled by George Robert Adams, 178 RAF Sq.:

“We came in about three hundred feet. We couldn’t get through on the first occasion so we made a second attempt and went through at about three hundred feet, we flew over the city. We were being fired at because we were low, we could see Germans firing at us, we could see the guns operating at us. Our guns were able to shoot at the search lights which saved us because otherwise if we were hit by the search lights we couldn’t see anything and we would have crashed.” George Robert Adams

Photo: Flying Officer George Dougald MacRae, 178 RAF Sq. Royal Canadian Air Force, killed in action on 13 August 1944. His aircraft exploded over Skaryszewski Park in Warsaw. Air gunner Henry Lloyd Lyne was the sole survivor. Two days later G.D. MacRae’s brother, Jamie D. MacRae was KIA in the battle of Falaise. The losses for so many families were so hard to endure.

Since the outbreak of the Warsaw Rising, Franklin Delano Roosevelt struggled to convince Joseph Stalin to allow their aircraft to refuel at the Soviet occupied airfields. Americans wanted to reduce losses to their airmen. The weeks passed and Warsaw would become a heap of rubble.

Photo: Aerial documentation of Warsaw’s city-centre on the 30th day of the Warsaw Rising. For more photographs visit https://korzeniemiasta.pl/en/home/.

The Russians accepted the American plan to supply Warsaw with weapons, ammo, food and medical aid finally in September. Frantic VII, an operation on a huge scale was launched. 107 B-17 reached Warsaw at noon on 18 September. However, as the bombers flew at 5,000 feet, out of 1,284 containers they dropped, it is believed that only 20% fell into the areas of Warsaw where Insurgents held their positions. Still, for the people of Warsaw it meant that we were not alone and any aid was like a ray of hope that maybe not everything was yet lost.

Photo: A B-17 bomber dropping supplies over Warsaw. FRANTIC VII. 18 September 1944

For Polish and Commonwealth airmen who flew at night from Southern Italy to Warsaw each sortie brought more and more casualties. On 14 September 1944 Władysław Raczkiewicz, the Polish President, wrote a telegram to South-African Field-Marshal Jan Smuts: “I have just received (…) a detailed report of the heavy losses suffered by the South African Squadron No.31 in their gallant attempt to help our fighting capital. The epic flights will not be forgotten by the Polish people for many years to come.” J. Smuts replied that “we are proud to have stood by Warsaw in her hour of ordeal.”

Photo: SAAF pilot Dirk Nel used to say that Warsaw Airlift was “mission impossible”. He was decorated by Lech Kaczyński, the President of the Republic of Poland in 2006. Standing (from the left): George Robert Adams, William Hayden Jones, David Patison Lambert, Douglas Frederick Matthews and Dirk Nel.

The view of Warsaw in flames from above would never leave those who saw Polish people during their time of the utmost trial. In 1980’s some former airmen were reunited for the first time in decades when being awarded the Warsaw Uprising Cross. They decided to stay in touch. First, they formed the 'Warsaw '44 Club' and later the 'Air Bridge Association'. They issued an annual newsletter for years and would regularly meet and keep the bonds of friendship alive, both in Poland and overseas. Now, the archives of the ‘Warsaw’44 Club’ and the ‘Air Bridge Association’ can be found in the Archive of the Warsaw Rising Museum.

Photo: Application for membership of “Warsaw’44 Club”. Cpt. Jack Van Eyssen was one of the five survivors of SAAF Liberator KG-939 that crashed in Michalin near Warsaw on 15 August 1944.

”At 0500 hours on the 15th, when flying at 1500 feet some 3 miles south of the capital, A-Able was held by searchlights and subjected to accurate fire from a battery of light anti-aircraft guns. Although the period of engagement was short, (estimated at 15 sec.), the ground defenses scored repeated hits, and extensive fires broke out immediately. A rapid check showed that there was only one engine not on fire, and parts of the fuselage were burning. Prompt feathering of the three engines, and the use of fire-extinguishers failed to put out the flames, and the supplies were jettisoned at a height of 600 feet. The captain succeeded in bringing No. 3 engine back into operation and climbed to 1000 feet on a south-easterly heading. By this time, however, the starboard wing was breaking up and he gave the order to abandon aircraft. Unfortunately, three members of the crew were killed; one, whose opened parachute was found beside him, had apparently pulled his rip cord too late; two others must have been killed by „flak”, or seriously wounded as to be unable to survive the jump. A-Able, with all the equipment, burned out after hitting the ground.” Capt. Van Eyssen testimony in appendix A to RAF HQ MED/ME CMF Sir Guy Garrod report, 7.10.1945

Some allied airmen would come to Poland to unveil memorials and pay tribute to those who stayed on the Polish soil forever. A group of Warsaw Airlift veterans visited also the Warsaw Rising Museum in 2006. We miss them so much.

Photo: Veterans of the Warsaw Airlift. South-African, British and Polish crew members reunited after the years. Under 1:1 replica of a B-24 liberator. Warsaw Rising Museum, 2006.

These brave airmen are forever in our memory. Their courage and dedication to the cause will be always remembered. In Poland we try to uphold the memory of those who did not leave us alone then when Warsaw was in need of air supplies. There are many memorials in Poland where every year official commemorations are being held and still new are being unveiled.

Photo: A new monument dedicated to the crewmembers of SAAF Liberator EW 248P was unveiled in Ostrów near Cracow in June 2024.

In the Warsaw Airbridge, also referred to as Warsaw Concerto, 112 Polish, 90 British, 43 South-African and 12 American airmen sacrificed their lives.

The Warsaw Rising lasted from 1 August to 2 October 1944. Up to 180,000 people are said to be killed. Additionally, 650,000 inhabitants of Warsaw were expelled from their homes, relocated or deported into the Unknown – to the concentration camps or forced labour. A city of 900,000 inhabitants ceased to exist. The Soviet Red Army stood on the right river bank of the Vistula river and watched peacefully the spectacle of Warsaw in flames. The Soviets decided to intervene on 17 January 1945 when the capital of Poland was already a sea of ruins with no sign of life. Their plan worked well. The night of communism would fall over Poland for long 44 years till 1989.

The list of the Allied airmen who perished at the time of the Warsaw Rising whose names are engraved in the Memorial Wall that stands in the Freedom Park in Warsaw:

1st Lt. FRANCIS E. AKINS

Capt LEONARD CHARLES ALLEN

Lt PETER HERBERT ANDREWS

2nd Lt. CLYDE ALISON ARRANTS

kpr.nawig. WŁODZIMIERZ AUGUSTYN

plut.mech.pokł. WILHELM ANDRZEJ J. BALCAREK

Sgt FERNARD JOSEPH BARRETT

W/O MURRAY ALEXANDER BAXTER

F/O ELY BERENSON

plut.pil. JÓZEF BIELICKI

plut.r/op.strz. STEFAN BOHANES

F/O ALBERT MILVRON BONNEY

W/O EDWARD BRADSHAW

Lt JOHN CHRISTOPHER BRANCH-CLARK

WO1 DOUW B. BRANDSMA

WO II HERBERT JAMES BROWN

Lt OLIVER COLEMAN

Lt CEDRICK ARTHUR COOKE

Lt PERCY GORDON COUTTS

mjr.nawig. STANISŁAW JERZY DANIEL

F/Sgt ROBERT SAMUEL DARLING

Sgt SYDNEY JOHN DAVIS

T/Sgt. FRANK P. DE CILLIS

F/O RONALD GEORGE DEVINE

plut.bomb. TADEUSZ DUBOWSKI

kpr.r/op. JÓZEF DUDZIAK

ppor.bomb. KONSTANTY DUNIN-HORKOWICZ

kpr.strz. FRANCISZEK DZIADUŁA

Capt ERIC ARNOLD ENDLER

WO1 JACOBUS BURGER ERASMUS

Lt KEITH FAIRWEATHER

plut.pil. WŁODZIMIERZ SERGIUSZ FEDZIŃSKI

plut.strz. JAN FLORKOWSKI

ppor.pil. MIECZYSŁAW WITOLD FOCZPANIAK

Sgt CECIL EDWARD FOREMAN

ppor.pil. STANISŁAW ZBIGNIEW FRANCZAK

Sgt EDWARD GEORGE FRETWELL

Sgt WILLIAM GEORGE CLEMENT GARNER

plut.pil. BOLESŁAW GRAFF

2/Lt ROBERT GEORGE HAMILTON

S/Sgt. PAUL F. HANEY

Sgt RONALD RUDOLPH EUGENE HARTOG

Lt ARTHUR JAMES HASTINGS

1st Lt. PAUL R. HIBBARD

Lt GRATTAN CHESNEY HOOEY

Sgt SIDNEY FRANK HORNE

Sgt WILLIAM HUDDART

Sgt HERBERT HUDSON

Lt ERIC BEN HORTON IMPEY

por.nawig. BOLESŁAW ANTONI S. JASIŃSKI

por.nawig. TADEUSZ JENCKA

kpr.strz. EDWARD JODIS

Sgt GORDON WALLACE JOSLYN

kpr.bomb. JAN KANTOWSKI

ppor.nawig. STEFAN GABRIEL KLENIEWSKI

Lt WALTER KLOKOW

kpr.strz. BRONISŁAW KŁOSOWSKI

ppor.bomb. WŁADYSŁAW KOZIOŁ

ppor.bomb. ZBIGNIEW JERZY KOZŁOWSKI

ppor.nawig. TADEUSZ LACH

Lt RAY ARRAS LAVERY

Sgt THOMAS LAW

Capt GORDON LAWRIE

Lt RALPH LAURENCE LAWSON

W/O JASPER VICTOR LEE

Sgt PETER HENRY GEORGE LEES

Lt HERBERT HENRY LEWIS

Lt BERNARD THOMAS LOXTON

S/Sgt. GEORGE A. MacPHEE

F/O GEORGE DOUGALD MacRAE

plut.strz. RUDOLF MAJEWSKI

sierż.strz. STANISŁAW MALCZYK

Lt HARRY ALLPRESS RUSTON MALE

sierż.pil. BRUNON MALEJKA

Sgt CLIFFORD MANLEY

plut.mech.pokł. JAN ZDZISŁAW MARECKI

Sgt LESLIE MAYES

Lt ALLAN GRAHAM McCABE

Lt ALLAN JOHN McINNES

F/Sgt HUGH VALANCE McLANACHAN

2nd Lt. MYRON S. MERRILL

WO II JOSEPH ARNOLD MEYER

Sgt MATTHEW THOMAS MOUNTAIN

ppor.strz. TADEUSZ MROCZKO

plut.mech.pokł. STANISŁAW JÓZEF MUCHA

ppor.strz. ADAM MÜHLN

Lt ANTHONY JAMES MUNRO

Sgt JOHN RICHARD WILLIAM NICKERSON

Maj IZAAK JOHANNES MEYER ODENDAAL

kpr.strz. TADEUSZ OGRODNIK

WO1 TERENCE DESMOND O'KEEFE

kpt.nawig. FRANCISZEK KAZIMIERZ OMYLAK

kpr.r/op. JAN FRANCISZEK OŻGA

W/O ERNEST HENRY JOHN PAGE

F/Sgt ROLAND CHARLES PAIN

WO1 DOUGLAS JOHN PALMER

kpr.strz. JAN PASZKIEWICZ

plut.r/op. WITOLD PAŹDZIOR

1st Lt. ROBERT O. PETERS

Lt GORDON BRUCE PITT

kpt.pil. ZYGMUNT PLUTA

kpr.strz. BOLESŁAW PODSIADŁY

Sgt JOHN EDWARD PORTER

Sgt WILLIAM PRATT

kpr.pil. JAN RADWAN-KUŻELEWSKI

Capt NICOLAAS VAN RENSBURG

Sgt GERARD THOMAS ROBINSON

F/Sgt RICHARD WILLIAM ROBINSON

Sgt PETER HENRY ROOTS

plut.mech.pokł. WINCENTY TADEUSZ RUTKOWSKI

ppor.pil.strz. EDMUND RYGIEL

Sgt RICHARD HERBERT CHARLES SCOTT

Sgt ARTHUR SHARPE

2nd Lt FORREST D. SHAW

S/Sgt. WALTER P. SHIMSHOCK

sierż.strz. ROMAN JAKUB SIKORSKI

st.sierż.strz. JÓZEF SKORCZYK

por.bomb. KAZIMIERZ SORÓWKA

WO1 REGINALD WALTER STAFFORD

WO II JOHN ATHOLL CAMPBELL STEEL

Lt TIMOTHY A. STEWART

Sgt RUPERT VINCENT STONIER

Lt ALAN d'EGVILLE SCOTT

Sgt GEORGE SWIFT

kpr.mech.pokł. ALFRED JAN SZMIGIELSKI

kpt.pil. ZBIGNIEW MARCIN SZOSTAK

plut.mech.pokł. ANTONI JAN SZYLLER

F/Lt EDWIN CHARLES THYER

st.sierż.strz.r/op. JERZY JÓZEF TRUSZKOWSKI

Sgt EDWARD HALL TURNER

1st Lt. JOSEPH J. VIGNA

kpr.r/op. KAROL WAŁASZEK

kpr.r/op. LUDWIK WANTULOK

Lt THOMAS TENNANT WATSON

sierż.strz. BOLESŁAW WAWRZAK

plut.pil. BERNARD WEBER

sierż.r/op. EDWARD WEINZ

plut.bomb. BERNARD WICHROWSKI

ppor.pil. KAZIMIERZ WIDACKI

Sgt JOHN WINTER

sierż.r/op.strz. JÓZEF WITEK

sierż.mech.pokł. LEON ZYGMUNT WITKOWSKI

WO II BEN NEVIS WOODS

plut.pil. JÓZEF HENRYK WOROCH

por.nawig. LUCJAN PIOTR WOYTANOWICZ

F/Sgt RONALD ZAMBRA

plut.mech.pokł. EDMUND ZIELIŃSKI

„Warsaw. Phoenix from the ashes” is the exhibition that was prepared by the Warsaw Rising Museum and it has already been showed in several cities in Japan. On 12 May 2025 it has been opened for public at the Tokyo University for Foreign Studies by Paweł Ukielski, Deputy Head of the Warsaw Rising Museum; Nobuo Haruna, the TUFS President and Paweł Milewski, the Polish Ambassador to Japan.

Warsaw Airlift 1944: Brotherhood-in-arms between the Western Allies and Poles

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