ESCAPE FROM POLAND

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume LXXI, Issue 13802, 20 November 1942, Page 6

ESCAPE FROM POLAND

THREE BROTHERS REUNION IN BRITAIN Serving within a hundred miles of each other in Britain, three members of a Polish family, two brothers and their brother-in-law recently celebrated their reunion. One of the brothers is a staff captain in the Polish army unit in West Scotland, the other a flying officer in a squadron north of England, their brother-in-law is a pilot of a fighter squadron in the south-east of Scotland.

All three could relate thrilling stories of their escapes from their own country. The Army captain, who is 42, made his way out of Poland through Lithuania, Sweden and France. His brother, aged 34, escaped through Rumania to Malta and France and when the French capitulated went to North Africa, reaching England by way of Gibraltar.

The third member of the trio, who is 25, journeyed to France by way of Rumania and Syria. When France fell he obtained a passage to North Africa and ultimately sailed to England.

The brother now serving in North England was an observer in the Polish aircraft which led five bombers in an attack on the German panzer troops a few days after the invasion of Poland. The bombers were attacked by seven Messerschmitts 110 and the 34-year-old observer baled out of his damaged plane and walked for two days through forest country, having neither food nor drink; he finally made his way to an airforce base and later crossed the frontier into Rumania.