Polish in Northern Ireland & Ireland
during World War 2
Meet the Neighbours Project
The Polish people have been in
Northern Ireland since World War 2
They were our allies then and our now
They intergrated well with the local population and after speaking with local people in the County Down area near Ballyhalbert
315 Squadrons Base
They have found memories of their manners, politeness and their sheer determination to fight against the Nazis who invaded Poland
On my journey I have also encountered many ex-service men from both sides of the border Ulster and Irish men who fought along side the Polish Brigades and have nothing but admiration for both the men and women of Poland who stood up to defend their Country from invasion against the Nazis and Hitler
The Irish Brigades also fought along side the Polish Brigades on the assault at
4000 died and are buried below
When the War was over many of the Polish people could not return to their own country as Hitler was replaced by another
The Polish people chose to stay loyal to Britain
during the Communist Rule
In 1940 the Polish Air Force was the 5th largest of the
Allied Air Force it joined the ranks of the Royal Air Force
initially consisting of the following squadrons
300 and 301 Bomber Squadrons
they were initially supplied with Fairey Battles & Wellingtons
and went on to fly Lancastors and Halifaxs
302 and 303 Fighter Squadrons
they were initially supplied with Hawker Hurricanes
and first went into action in August of 1940 during the
Battle of Britain
There are 7 Polish Air Force Graves at Milltown
ADAMOWICZ Klemens F/Sgt P-780537
He was born on 25th April 1911 and became a pilot instructor in the Polish Air Force before escaping to England. He was killed on HF208 on 21st December 1943 whilst returning from a U-Boat patrol over the Bay of Biscay, the aircraft is thought to have been struck by lightning and went down in flames on or near Mount Brandon in the Irish Republic. The bodies of the crew were given a guard of honour by the Irish Army and handed over to the British at the border. Flight Sergeant Adamowicz was interred in the Milltown Cemetery, Belfast.
CZERNIEWSKI Stanislaw Sgt P-794362
He was posted in from RAF Swinderby on 21st June 1941. He was a pilot, born 14th February 1916 and killed on HF208 on 21st December 1943 whilst returning from a U-Boat patrol over the Bay of Biscay. The aircraft is thought to have been struck by lightning and went down in flames near Mount Brandon, Irish Republic. He is buried at Milltown Cemetery, Belfast. The inscription on his gravestone spells his name as CERNIAWSKI.
KOWALEWICZ Pawel Sgt P-703968
He was a radio operator, born on 9th February 1917. He was killed on HF208 on 21st December 1943. Whilst returning from a U-Boat patrol over the Bay of Biscay, the aircraft is thought to have been struck by lightning and went down in flames near Mount Brandon, Irish Republic. He is buried in Milltown Cemetery, Belfast. The bodies of the crew were thrown clear and were not burned; they had been killed by exploding ammunition. They were given an honour guard by the Irish army and their bodies were handed over to the British authorities at the border.
LUGOWSKI Kazimierz Sgt P-703438
He was an air gunner, born on 20th July 1920 and was killed on HF208 21ST December 1943. Whilst returning from a U-Boat patrol over the Bay of Biscay, the aircraft is thought to have been struck by lightning and went down in flames near Brandon, Irish Republic He is buried at Milltown Cemetery, Belfast.
PIETRZAK Wincenty Sgt P-782657
He was an air gunner, born on 25th July 1916 and killed on HF208 on 21st December 1943. Whilst returning from a U-Boat patrol over the Bay of Biscay, the aircraft is thought to have been struck by lightning and went down in flames near Brandon, Northern Ireland. He is buried at Milltown Cemetery, Belfast .
There last of this crew of 6 from this crash
is buried at Carnmoney Cemetery
in the Jewish Plot
KUFLIK Pawel Naftali Hirsz Sgt P-794712
He was a navigator, born 4th January 1923; he was Jewish and born in Cologne, Germany to a Polish family of German descent. He trained at Eastbourne then the Air Observer School at RAF Jurby (Isle of Man) where he qualified as a navigator. Then he went to Squires Gate at Blackpool for flying training. After that he was posted to 6 OTU at RAF Silloth where the crews were assembled and he was finally posted to 304 Squadron in September 1943. Whilst returning from a U-Boat patrol over the Bay of Biscay, the aircraft is thought to have been struck by lightning and went down in flames near Mount Brandon, Irish Republic. HF208 21st December 1943. Pawel Kuflik was a Jewish volunteer, whose family had moved to the Netherlands to escape the Nazis. He was laid to rest in the Jewish Cemetery at Carnmoney, Belfast.
Wellington XIV HF208 (2S)
crashedwith 6 crew on board
20th Decmber 1943
they were members of 304 Squadron
304 Squadron was raised on the 22nd August 1940
at Bramcote, Warwickshire and made ready for operations with their Vickers Wellington medium bombers on the 25th April 1941.
While returning from U-Boat patrol over the Bay of Biscay, the aircraft is thought to have been struck by lightning and went down in flames near Mount Brandon in the Irish Republic. The crew transmitted a request to end their patrol and return home due to their inability to get a proper navigational fix because of a malfunction in their radio location equipment.
The whole crew were killed and their bodies were given an honour guard by the Irish Army and handed over to the British authorities at the Ulster border, specifically at Middletown on the Monaghan and Armagh border. This occurred at 18.30 hours on 23rd December 1943.
Sergeant Naftali Pawel Kuflik was buried in the Carnmoney Jewish Cemetery in Belfast.
The remainder of the crew were interred in
Milltown Cemetery, they were:
Sgt Stanislaw Czerniewski, Sgt Kowalewicz,
Flight Sergeant Klemens Adamowicz, Sgt Kazimierz Lugowski and Sgt Wincenty Pietrzak.
The following extract is a direct quote from the website of the Warplane Research Group of Ireland:
R.A.F. 304 Squadron, based at Predannack, Lizard, Cornwall, flew Wellington Bombers. The members of this Squadron were Polish. Like many others, they too were involved in hunting U-Boats. On the 20th of December, 1943, their aircraft was seen by several Look Out Posts (L.O.P.’s) skirting along the coastlines of Kerry, Cork and Waterford. Indeed records show that their last reported position was over Lismore in County Waterford heading east-southeast presumably to Predannack. I cannot offer any reason why their aircraft should end up on the slopes of Mount Brandon a few hours later with the loss of all six crewmen on board but I can relate that all the crew were shot by the exploding ammunition in the fire that engulfed the aircraft. All the bodies were recovered outside the aircraft. None suffered burns.
The impact point was on the slopes above Slieveglass, near Cloghane, above Brandon village on the Dingle Peninsula.
the last two sentences of this report are completely wrong!
I have contacted the Irish Army authorities and they have allowed me access to documents which revealed a totally different story.
The crash took place at 23.22hrs, probably due to losing its bearings in very bad weather.
There were reports of snowstorms but
I have seen no reference to any lightning.
Sergeant M. Duffy and other Gardai (Police) attended and took charge of the scene at 12.25 on 21st December 1943 and handed over to the military at 3 pm on the same day. Two of the airmen had suffered burns and one was badly charred but none had gunshot wounds (in accordance with the official report). They were identified by identity discs found in their pockets. The Coroner, Mr Sheehan, decided that an inquest was not necessary and the bodies were removed at 9 pm.
Captain Pringle of the Irish Army visited the scene and found four aerial depth charges, three of which were damaged and the other had burnt out (they were not primed). He also found two damaged incendiary bombs and a quantity of burned out, or otherwise unserviceable flare floats. The whole lot were destroyed at the scene by a charge placed on the depth charges and detonated. A large quantity of ammunition, both ball and tracer, was found with the six machine guns and presumably taken away as it would be too dangerous to dispose of at the scene – it had most certainly not “cooked off” and none of the bodies were reported to have gunshot wounds.
Reporting on the wreckage, Major W. P. Delamere of the Irish Air Corps wrote that the visiting British Engineering Officer had disclaimed any interest in the wreckage as it would be too expensive to remove due to its remote and difficult location.
He described it thus: “The Wellington lies on a steep rocky slope 2500 feet above sea level and 3 and a half miles from base of Mountain over Marsh and Ravine, 2 streams and boggy land.” I think the photograph shows the difficulty in recovering the aircraft
He also said that the scrap value of the Duralumin would be £10 - £20 and not worth melting down as it was of little use. In England, where aircraft were being mass produced, it would have been a very different story.
It must be said that the Irish authorities were very thorough in the way they dealt with the situation and they were very respectful to the dead airmen.
Wreckage of HF208 still lying where it fell in 1943.
Photograph taken in 2008 © Dennis Burke.
The two names mentioned below are the other names at
Milltown Cemetery but no other details as yet
I am hoping to be able to add some more
information as it becomes available
PUDELKO Jozef Antoni Sgt P-781015
Killed 23rd April 1942
On board a Lysander V9721
along with Sgt Norman Elcock 1112747
(more details to follow)
Killed 30th April 1942
Polish Aircrew Commonwealth War Graves
at Milltown Cemetery in Belfast
We are presently researching all Polish War Graves here in Ireland
and as the information is gathered we will be adding it to the site
So please keep checking back with us as the database grows
We also hope with further research to add some of the personal
information related to those that rest here
As a result of the work we started this year
on Remembrance day the 11th November 2009
which is also Polish Independence Day
Wreaths were laid on the Polish graves for the first time in years
There are 3 graves of 315 Squadron Personnel
at Mount St Joseph Cemetery
315 Squadron was based at Ballyhalbert
11th September 1943 was a tragic day for 315 Squadron; three of their pilots took off to practice formation flying in very bad weather conditions, all flying Supermarine Spitfire Mk V’s.
One crashed, one crashed on landing and one crash landed – note the subtle differences. The dead were classified as Killed on Active Service rather than Killed in Action. Sgt E. Zygmund, flying AR338 (PK-P) was only slightly injured after crash landing on high ground near Glengormley; the aircraft was a total loss after having both wings ripped off. Sgt Zygmund made his way unaided to the
Royal Ulster Constabulary station at Glengormley.
GRONDOWSKI Stanislaw F/Sgt P-782063
Flight Sergeant Stanislaw Grondowski – Service Number P782063, flying W3427 (PK-J) over the southern part of County Antrim crashed into the side of a hill near Plantation House (not sure if that is a building or a place name) near Lisburn; he was killed instantly and was also buried with full military honours.
KOLEK Wladyslaw F/Sgt P-783150
Flight Sergeant Wladyslaw Kolek – Service Number P783150 was flying BL469 (PK-F). There is very little information on him, but more than one report states that he crashed on landing when he undershot Ballyutoag.
I do not know if this was an airfield or a place he had chosen for an emergency landing. In any event, he was killed and buried with full military honours.
TUCZEMSKI Jerzy Ryszard Pilot Officer P-2124
Pilot Officer Jerzy Tuczemski – Service number P-2124 was killed on 15th August 1943 only a few weeks after transferring into 315 Squadron.
His service number indicates that he was probably one of the first Polish fighter pilots in Britain. It is likely that he was a member of one of the French Groupes de Chase (fighter squadrons) which were formed shortly before the capitulation of France in June 1940.
Usually 3 Poles were sent to each G de C. Prior to this the Poles were widely scattered in the French Air Force (Armee de l’Air) and not exclusively in to Polish squadrons as they were in Britain.
It would not be unreasonable to suppose that he had fought in Poland, France and Britain.
The story varies, according to reports but they are closely similar.
He was involved in a training exercise and some say he was killed whilst attempting to land, others say he was flying at very low level but all agree that he struck something on the ground.
He was flying a Mk Vc Supermarine Spitfire Registration Number AB245 and bearing the squadron code PK-L.
PK indicates 315 Squadron and L is the individual code letter for the aircraft.
He was killed instantly, which was merciful because of the fireball that enveloped the stricken aircraft.
The crash site was just to the north east of Ballymena.
He was buried with full military honours at Ballycranbeg, County Down.
Aug 15. The unit took part in a full-scale defence exercise and suffered a loss. Entry from Station Diary for RAF Ballyhalbert reads:
"P/O Tuczemski (Killed on Active Service) of 315 (Polish) Squadron, whilst taking part in an authorized low-flying practice, flew into rising ground north-east of Ballymena, Co-Antrim, and was killed instantly, his aircraft being burnt out. In accordance with Polish custom, he was interred on the third day after death. His funeral took place at Ballycran and was attended by almost the whole of his Squadron. An escort party was also provided of British personnel and W/C Hancock attended as representative of the Station Commander, who was absent on duty. Full military honours were accorded and many beautiful wreaths were sent".
Polish records state the August 22nd as the date of this accident.
315 Squadron arrived at RAF Ballyhalbert on 6th July 1943 from RAF Hutton Cranswick and left on 13th November 1943 for RAF Heston.
They were sent there to rest and train newer members and were not in active combat during that time;
the squadron commander was J. Poplawski.
Other than the information in above, the following incidents occurred:
8-Jul-43 Supermarine Spitfire V BL852 PK-? F/Sgt F. Malczewski was injured and the aircraft was written off in a training accident.
5-Oct-43. Supermarine Spitfire V BL922 PK-I. Sgt H. Flegier, who had survived the previous incident, was Killed on Active Service when the aircraft lost power and crashed at Ballyherbert during a low flying exercise.
We have had made progress with the work that we have done with in the Polish community and hope that it continues builds and grows
as not only have we the ties with Ballyhalbert and the Polish Airmen but with the 38th Irish Brigade fighting through Italy and to Monte Cassino
"LEST WE FORGET"
If you are aware of any other Polish service men buried on our isle
please let us know so we can add their details here so others can may be
visit the graves and pay their respects
History shared is history preserved!
with sincere thanks to Neville Bougourd
The Polish Contribution in WW2
A personal link first if you go to the restoration section on this web site
You will see the Polsten Quadruple Mount Anti-Aircraft Gun
The word polsten is widely believed to have derived from
pol for Poland and sten for Sten company from RSAF
were 8 Polish engineers worked in the design area
of the Royal Small Arms Factory
The design team had escaped from Poland after it was invaded
by the Germans back in 1939
The Oerlikon 20mm cannons were designed through the advancement of technology
but were costly the Polish design was much simpler and more cost effective
with out affecting the effectiveness of the cannon
More information to be added