The Saracen's Head

Happy Airborne Day!

Today is National Airborne Day!

So here's an airborne poem:

 

The sun was sinking slowly down the hot Tunisian hills

When we lined up at the airfield on that broiling summer’s eve;

We were tense with great excitement, we were raring for the kill,

And the pride was stiff within us of the Airborne on our sleeve.

We were green but quite undaunted, we were eager for a spree,

Though ‘twas hell that we were nearing on the hills of Sicily.

 

We took off in the darkness, smoothly forming into flights

Two hundred mighty transports throbbed out bravely in the night

We lost our bragging voices and our joking lost its fun

We were praying, we were silent, as we readied for the run.

Sarge called “Ready”, we were ready, we lined up above the sea

And we wondered what was waiting on the hills of Sicily.

 

"Saint Anthony!" We put ourselves in God’s almighty power

We jumped although the wind was screaming thirty miles an hour

Around us searchlights glistened, shellfire burst apart the sky

But we tumbled from the heavens with the good old Injun cry.

Before us lay a battle, grim from sea to bloody sea,

But we showed ourselves true soldiers on the hills of Sicily.

 

We have won this little island, we have won her with our blood

We have fought her menfolk, dug our graves and foxholes in her mud.

We have loved her, and ‘twas for her weeping people that we fought,

We have wept upon her, cursed her for the sorrow she has brought.

We are leaving for Salerno and the crags of Italy,

But Sicily’s soil is sacred to our comrades’ memory.

For their canopy forever is her flawless azure sky

And above them, wailing, mourning, is her foreign sea-gulls’ cry,

And her sunny sea is lapping at their gravestones as they lie

Where they gave their lives for freedom on the hills of Sicily.

posted by Mary Rose

Living History: A Few Snapshots

This weekend we attended a WWII tribute day at a historic tavern, bringing our Warsaw Uprising display. Unfortunately we don't have any PIATs or machine guns or anything, but our poster displays and our conversations serve well to educate the public about this unknown tragedy.

Besides the fun of the WWII event, it's very cool to hang out in a 18th century tavern and admire all the period furniture lying around. And of course the tavern is great for authentic-looking photographs...

 

I have seen a photo of real Polish insurgents posing like this and laughing...I don't know, maybe five years of German occupation effects your sense of humor?

And, because it wouldn't be a WWII re-enacting event without GIs: This is after the mock skirmish while the medic rolls up his fake bandages. We didn't get any stellar shots of GIs, but anyways, everyone knows medics are the best.  

"Goose Farm" is Liberated

In 1943, the Nazis had removed the inmates of the Warsaw concentration camps to an extermination site. Nearly 400 of the prisoners, mostly Jews of various nationalities, had been kept behind to destroy evidence of Nazi atrocities and would suffer the same fate as their comrades when their task was done.

The camp, known as "Goose Farm", was not on the Home Army's list of goals to capture, on account of its heavy fortifications. However, Zoska Battalion was composed of members of the Polish scouting program, and like true boy scouts the soldiers wanted to help their fellow man in his dire need. Having obtained approval for the mission, a group of volunteers attacked the camp on August 5th with the aid of two captured German tanks. The German guards were killed and the prisoners liberated with few losses to "Zoska". The Jews then organized themselves into a battalion, placed it under Zoskas' command, and were killed fighting in the uprising, almost to a man.

 

Hello! Warsaw Calling!

Today "Lightning" (Blyskawica), the radio station of the Home Army, began broadcasting! 

The uprising was not an insurrection undertaken on the spur of the moment, but a carefully planned, long-prepared-for, coordinated rebellion. Plans had even been laid for a great propaganda campaign which would unfold with the uprising, a campaign to be carried out by newspapers, speeches, songs, a theater, and a radio station.

However, the large antennae which the radio station were supposed to use were not captured, so the resourceful insurgents turned to plan B, which was to use a short-wave radio. The radio was damaged as it was being shipped from Czestechowa to Warsaw and the radio crew was not able to fix it until a week of the uprising had passed. For a while the crew wrote, translated, and broadcasted their messages with no response. At last on August 15th, Our Lady's feast day, London answered.

The station broadcasted in English and Polish, telling the progress of the uprising, giving reports on the living conditions in Warsaw, asking Britain for help. It also transmitted subversive propaganda in German.  

 

 

 

 

Mary Rose / Rosemary

A Polish girl was seen singing "O moj rozmarynie" to a sprig of rosemary while making dinner on 4 August.

"O mój rozmarynie, rozwijaj się

O mój rozmarynie, rozwijaj się

Pójdę do dziewczyny, pójdę do jedynej

Zapytam się.

 

A jak mi odpowie: nie kocham cię,

A jak mi odpowie nie kocham cię,

Ułani werbują, strzelcy maszerują

Zaciągnę się."

Fourth Day

The uprising has failed in the Praga district but many important buildings are in Polish hands. Infamous SS and Russian gangs massacred hundreds of civilians in Wola and Ochota. I have noticed that Himmler threw either specialized or criminal units into the defense of "Warschau" ...  

Against orders, a small group of Polish airmen flew from a British airbase in Italy to drop supplies over Warsaw--this is the first air support of the Rising.   

Third Day of the Rising

The Warsaw Uprising has gone on for three days...much of the city is in Polish hands, but Himmler has called for SS reinforcements. Polish losses have been  heavy and relief from the Allies is expected: 

"...we found a suitable garden and marked an area for parachute drops with white sheets. We were full of hope, aid was bound to arrive any time now: weapons, ammunition, all that was required for the conduct of war. But in vain did we search the sky..." -- Stanislaw Likiernik, soldier of "Kedyw" diversionary group   

Wordless Wednesday: New Book

Dad got a new book...this copy is from 1944!!!

(he got Our Lady of Czestochowa and General Komorowski in the shot too!)

Today, August 1st...

...at five in the afternoon, a battle began in the city of Warsaw... 

To Arms! In the ranks of the AK.