Remember the FbF from last year about the Battle of Westerplatte? Well - here's a reason to ponder again.
Aleksy Kowalik, one of the three surviving heroes of Poland's first World War II battle has died. He was 96.Rest well Mr. Kowalik. Rest well.
Kowalik's daughter Jadwiga Bucz told Polish news agency PAP that her father died on Sunday in the southern city of Blachownia, where the family has lived for over 60 years.
Kowalik was among the 205 Polish troops guarding the navy's arsenal on Westerplatte peninsula, on the Baltic coast, who on Sept. 1, 1939 put up an uneven fight against German warship Schleswig-Holstein. Kowalik operated an anti-tank gun and was wounded.
Cut away from munitions and food supplies, they resisted for seven days in what was Poland's first battle of the five-year war. When they eventually surrendered, their clout prompted the German troops to salute them, when taking them prisoner.
As a POW, Kowalik worked on German farms.
He returned to Poland in 1947, got married and settled in Blachownia. He had four daughters.
Bucz said Monday that Kowalik will be buried in Blachownia on Tuesday.
Hat tip Stuart.
As a historian by training (and primarily a naval historian) my study of WWII has obviously focused on the Pacific campaigns and the Battle of the Atlantic, and as an American the WWII land campaigns I learned were in the west (North Africa, Sicily/Italy and France). I never understood how narrow that focus truly was until I visited and learned about some of the sites and campaigns in the east.
ReplyDeleteAside from the big monument being, umm, not the most esthetically attractive thing in the world visiting Westerplatte was humbling. From the US perspective I liken it to visiting Wake Island...
heck, you should see things like ruins of Peenemuende or the Wolfschanze, or the recently opened Warsaw uprising museum... the whole region is full of WW2 mementos. barely few months ago builders dug out a turret of Panther tank near my dad's house...
ReplyDeleteThe statue in Warsaw of the "little insurgent" definitely had an impact. I've travelled fairly extensively in central and eastern Europe, and everywhere the locals will gently point me towards thing I need to see, without trying to overtly push them...gently but insistently. And every time those thing that They bought I needed to see, I really did need to see.
ReplyDeleteI love my country deeply, but I am humbled by the fortitude and the experiences of Thor I have met and come to know from Poland, the Baltics, Czech Republic, etc...
I have come close twice now to committing to spending a year or two living in Gdansk or Krakow to really get a feel for it.
Dammit, iPad typing typing is NOT good for spelling
ReplyDeleteI'm just happy he had the chance to enjoy a free Poland for a while after the fall of the Communist regime.
ReplyDeleteIsn't there an old saying to the effect that the best revenge is out-living your enemies?
Gdansk is worth every minute, as is Gdynia. Cheers!
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