大象传媒

IN MEMORY OF MY FATHER

My name is Marta Nordstrom-Bagot and I am today 54 years old and living in London. I came here some four years ago due to my work that moved from Sweden to the United Kingdom. I am married and have Swedish Citizenship, and two grown up daughters and a grand daughter, Emma, who is soon to be 9 months old and is our future.
I am sitting right now on our living room floor surrounded by faded black and white pictures and a bundle of papers that were written in Polish on an old typewriter ages ago by my father when I was still a child and not bothered about life and the world outside. He gathered carefully together a handful of his impressions and memoirs to be remembered and not forgotten as a record that I can hardly understand.
Today when we are celebrating memories of D Day here in Britain I would like to share his past service in World War Two with all people, be a part of our history.
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The Second World War started for Wladyslaw Niedochodowicz on the 1st September 1939 at 6am in Krakow in South Poland. He is 31years old and just about to finish his master degree in history at the Jagielonska University in Krakow.
Under a rain of bombs a small group of young men gathered together and, along with other citizens, commenced their long trek towards the south of Europe. They walked through Ukraine then Rumania and reached Yugoslavia in 1940 and on to Belgrade with the intention of joining up with Polish Forces in France.
After a six-day voyage across the Adriatic and Mediterranean seas a group of 30 of them reached Marseilles in France. Circumstances were difficult as at the end of February the daily temperatures ranged from +25oC during the day to fall to between 鈥�3oC to 鈥�5oC during the nighttime. They gathered together in huts, often without windows and doors. Their neighbours were Africans from Senegal who had arrived a few days before them. The youngsters quickly got used to their situation. There was still eagerness and hope for the future and freedom.
The Polish group was quickly organised into a regiment, the 2nd Division of the Infantry Fusiliers. After France capitulated on 17 June 1940 a group from the Division went towards South Loire and on to English Channel ( la鈥橫anche). On 19th June thirty-two of them left La Rochelle by boat destined for the UK. On 22 June in the afternoon after a nightmare journey, Plymouth appeared on the horizon.
Their first meeting with Britain and its people was quite a shock to the young men. With tearful eyes, pupils from a local school, a delegation of cheerful men and women met them. Fruit, sandwich, cakes and of course English tea with milk weighed down huge tables.
A short rest and the next part of the voyage was taking place by train towards the north of the United Kingdom, and parts of the country that still didn鈥檛 see the harms of the war. On the train they were told that their new destination was to be Glasgow.
Their first night was in Bellahousten Park School with its great park and with friendly people, who met them everywhere. This was their first stop on Scottish land and my father writes that the meeting was in a really 鈥楶olish鈥� way 鈥� open-hearted and hospitable.
From young people who assist them through the days they soon begin to learn their first English words.
The rooms they were given were simple but clean and warm. Outside was summer with its flowers, green, careful cut, grass and fresh air. It was very peaceful. After their terrifying time in France it felt like arriving in a kind of Paradise.
A few days of rest and relaxation and they moved towards Symington, near the town of Biggar. This new camp was warm with friendship and there were already several thousands of Polish soldiers living in the tented camp. Even the rainy Scottish weather didn鈥檛 change their cheerful mood of being united.
During the beginning of September my father鈥檚 section was relocated to a larger camp not far from the village of Douglas in Lanarkshire. Douglas Camp was a gathering of officers and soldiers from different groups and divisions with a Polish background, units from the 10th Cavalry Brigade and the 10th Mounted Rifles Regiment among others. Within a short time everything began to have a structure. My father and two of his friends, Bu艂at and Maniszewski are attached to the 10th Cavalry Brigade. It has the abbreviation 鈥�10BK鈥� and combines the motif of leather wings of a Polish hussar with an anchor. The motif that accompanies them through the war.
Everybody is now getting their equipment and receiving daily training in drill.
The Scottish people are curious and tend to gather round the camp in Douglas as friendships grow between the two nations. Even General Maczek, Commanding Officer of the 10th Brigade, expressed his gratitude for the hospitality and kindness the Polish soldiers had received (October 1940). By the middle of October, following weeks of rain and some night frost, the camp receives orders to move north. Their new destination will be on the coast between Dundee and Aberdeen, near a little town called Monifight. This unit is based here in case of a German invasion on the Scottish coast, and some soldiers are stationed on the headland of Barry Links where they built shelters and maintained an armed guard. Regular daily training and English language instruction continued.
After some weeks new friendships began to grow between the soldiers and the local people. In spite of negative thoughts the Scottish people show generosity and friendliness as well as an interest in learning everything about the Poles and their country. During this time there are even some marriages between the soldiers and the local girls.
1940 was passing by, this was their second Christmas abroad, and 1941 begins with wind and snow, typical for this part of the United Kingdom. At the beginning of February my father was sent, together with his friends, to a school for Officer cadets for Artillery. This was the first school of its kind that started in Scotland. Originally situated in Dundee, the school later moved to a beautiful castle in Lintrose House, under Coupar Angus.
Each course had 63 cadets from differing social groups with different education, jobs and ages. Instruction took place between February and June 1941 and my father was now an Officer Cadet.
Following his commission he was moved about through several camps such as Monikie Hall, where they lived in a local church with owls and bats, later on to Kingoldrum near Forfar, Arbroath in Forfarshire until eventually they arrive at a permanent camp in the grounds of Gosford House north of Edinburgh at Aberlady in Haddingtonshire. At one stage they were even located in a real Scottish castle belonging to the Baxter family.
My father describes his time in the Gosford House camp as one of intense training. From time to time they were sent on manoeuvres down towards the north of England together with British and Canadian forces.
Every day sees the arrival of better-trained drivers, engineers, telegraphers and radio navigators, recruitment being from American and Canadian nationals. The soldiers are stationed in the castle park where special huts were built for them. The officers stayed within the castle.
During August 1942 the 1st Regiment Motor Artillery was formed, which has its own standard (flag). The Regiment was divided into two companies and then into platoons. My father鈥檚 platoon, which comprises of 10 soldiers, comes under the 1st Company, and he is responsible for this group of men.
Around this time the Regiment is given new heavy armour, vehicles and guns, and in the meantime the soldiers and townsfolk begin to get along more and more. A Polish-Scottish Association has been started in Edinburgh as well as a British-Polish Association in Bradford, England. Both these associations were active in organising free time for the soldiers and even vacations together with English families.
At the end of 1942 my father goes for his first two weeks vacation to stay with the Bairstow family in Bradford. The head of the family was a coal merchant and they lived in a nice cottage in a suburb of the city. Christmas and New Year was a time for family traditions and drinking beer in their local public house. But the biggest impression made on my father was drinking huge amounts of tea with milk during these days.
Another thing new to him was the language. Learning and using phrases daily such as 鈥榟ow do you do鈥�, when you greet people in the morning, wishing them a 鈥榥ice day鈥� even though it was raining outside and using the words 鈥榮weet home鈥� (which seemed to be a symbol for the English way of life: closed, discreet and intimate), was often really amusing for him.
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12 June 1943 saw the beginning of the great march of troops through north and middle England towards Wales, to a place near Brecon, Hereford called Abergavenny. And afterwards through the middle of England to Brandon in the Cambridge district.
After some days at the new camp rumours began circulating about concentrations of forces prior to an invasion of the continent.
At the end of October 1943 the Regiment returned to Gosford House in Scotland, and General Montgomery, the Commander 鈥攊n-Chief, gave orders for only short vacations.
My father and a friend took a short trip in November down to London. They stayed at a Bed & Breakfast in Bedford Way, the owner of which was Swiss. The bombing of London was still continuing almost each night, starting at about 8pm and not stopping until about 2 to 3am. My father writes about the English peoples鈥� courage and discipline, which he admired during those days.
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January 1944 鈥� The 1st Polish Armoured Division is put with the 21st Army Group under the command of General Montgomery.
February 1944 鈥� All permission for vacations were suspended and the word 鈥榬eadiness鈥� becomes the whisper within the Division. The group receives new tanks for their use.
March 1944 鈥� Inspection of the camp by General Eisenhower; who is now the Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces and a month later a similar inspection was conducted by General Montgomery. Many years in the future my father still recalled Montgomery鈥檚 speech as he stood just yards away from his jeep.
鈥業 can鈥檛 go there alone - you need to help me. So we can go together killing German Fascists.鈥�
Leaving Scotland in the middle of May 1944 was like leaving their friends and families. 鈥楪od bless you鈥� was said after them. With a song on their lips the groups left these friendly parts for travels and an unknown future. 鈥楳y Bonnie is over the ocean, my Bonnie is over the sea鈥�. . was heard long in the afternoon hours.
The first stop was near Scarborough on the East coast and they stayed in the local school as well as some private accommodation. Exercise and drill took place each day together with General Leclerc鈥檚 French Division. During the night hours of the 5th/6th June 1944 the exercises are suddenly stopped and news was distributed by the General in Command that 鈥極peration Overlord is started鈥�. The operation for the Division鈥檚 part in the invasion was named 鈥楴eptune鈥� and was under Commander-in-Chief General Montgomery.
On 6th June, at 12.15 am, the first groups of Allied Forces reach the coast of Normandy, but the Polish Armoured Division remains at readiness until 20th July when the order comes from London for them to move towards Aldershot in Hampshire.
The Division comprised about 15,210 soldiers and 885 officers. There were about 380 tanks and about 4,430 other motor vehicles. The Commander was General Stanis艂aw Maczek, his Assistant was Colonel Kazimierz Dworak.
25 July 1944 鈥� The Division is split up into smaller groups and makes its way towards embarkation points. TLCs of the variety 鈥楲iberty鈥� leave Portsmouth harbour during the evening and slowly make their way towards the English Channel. They were leaving an island where a part of them still remained. No one knew their new destination; no one knew their coming future.
Self-examination and thoughts about surviving were mixed during those hours, melancholy feelings on the cruelty of those days.
Early morning on 29th July 1944 saw the groups landing on the coast of France. Sitting in their tanks they were driving from the boats into France 鈥� driving this time to fight for freedom and for the future.
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(Second Lieutenant (Artillery) Wladyslaw NIEDOCHODOWICZ served with Polish Forces under British Command from 1 July 1940 to 9 June 1947 (honourably discharged). Awarded: Polish Army Medal; British 1939-1945 Star; France and Germany Star; Defence Medal.)
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