Polish Naval Memories of WWII

1939

1940

1941

1942

1943

1944

1945

1946-7

Bolesław Romanowski, Lieutenant, Ship Captain

Convoy PQ15 to Murmansk, 2nd May.

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In the spring of 1942 the Polish submarine Jastrzab was ordered to help protect convoy PQ15 bound for Murmansk. The submarines were to act as a screen to protect from German surface ship attack from out of Norway. On 2^nd May, in bad weather and dreadful visibility, the zig-zaging convoy escorts found via their Asdic the Polish submarine, submerged. Jastrzab was probably out of position due to inability to navigate accurately because of the weather conditions. After being depth charged the submarine surfaced and furiously tried to signal via aldis lamp, but the Norwegian escort destroyer St Albans and RN minesweeper Seagull opened fire at close range. Jastrzab lit flares and the Polish flag was displayed. By now all of the seamen were appearing on deck. Eventually, some fifty metres away, St Albans hailed the submarine with the question, ‘Are you German?’ A wounded Lt Cdr. Romanowski replied, ‘I am Polish submarine, you bloody fool, can’t you see P551?’ By now the submarine was full of chlorine gas and so the crew were forced to abandon ship. Peszke, a medical doctor, in his book wrote about Romanowski’s later memoirs. He noted how well he had described the hell of the injured and shell shocked during this convoy to Russia, of the ‘pain, fear, smell of gangrene and of the horrible sight of burns and disfigurement’ which often resulted in what is now known as post traumatic stress disorder. To quote Peszke again, ‘… the hospital in Murmansk, filled with hundreds of sailors, both naval and merchant marine, of many nationalities, some dying, some facing loss of limbs and of sight, brings a different and horrible perspective to the glamour of war…’‘Friendly fire’ had killed five crew and injured six more. Seagull, along with St Albans, which had rescued the survivors was herself sunk returning to the UK from Murmansk. Such were the fortunes of war.Source: Poles Apart: Polish Naval Memories of WWII by Martin Hazell

Approximately 116,000 Polish exiles (78,572 were military) escaped the Soviet Union this way. The first ship ASTRAKHAN left Krasnovodsk on 24^th March. This contingent numbered 1,387 Poles, almost all of whom were sailors and airmen earmarked for onward transfer to G.B. under Operation Scrivner.Władysław Pacewicz had volunteered for the Polish Navy and was on this first evacuation to Pahlevi on the 24^th March 1942.From Persia, and then to Iraq, the more able-bodied Polish troops were moved to Palestine where the Polish Army was being re-organised. On 1^st June 1942 Władysław Pacewicz was transferred to the Polish Navy camp in Palestine. He was 14 years old, but lied about his age by 5 years. On the 3^rd July he left by ship for the UK, arriving in Clyde or Liverpool on the 23^rd August 1942. With effect from the 28^th August 1942, Władysław Pacewicz was enlisted in the Polish Navy under British Command.