(Download) "Polish Special Duties Flight No. 1586 and the Warsaw Uprising." by Air Power History ~ eBook PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Polish Special Duties Flight No. 1586 and the Warsaw Uprising.
- Author : Air Power History
- Release Date : January 22, 2006
- Genre: Engineering,Books,Professional & Technical,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 162 KB
Description
In a recent, highly acclaimed, and extensive monograph on the Warsaw Uprising of August 1944, the distinguished historian Norman Davies writes, "The Warsaw Airlift of 1944 is one of the great unsung sagas of the Second World War." (1) Moreover, Davies asserts that while the Allied participants included the Americans, Soviets, and British, "In reality, only the British and their partners made a significant contribution." Twenty years earlier, Neil Orpen made a similar observation: "I [first] realized the extraordinary nature of the Warsaw airlift of 1944, which I have since regarded as the most shining example of selfless courage in all my experience and research." (2) Indeed, the Soviet contribution to the Poles should be left to Soviet propagandists. (3) The Americans, inveigled in major political and long term strategic policy issues, did make one major effort but only under great political pressure from the Polish-American Congress and strenuous urging by Winston Churchill. (4) In fact, while belated, the American effort produced significant results, both material and moral. Thus, equating Soviet and American contributions is preposterous. Further, Professor Davies, leaves the reader with the impression that it was the Royal Air Force that made "a significant contribution." This is grossly unfair to the one major American effort and a cavalier dismissal of the Polish Special Duties Flight 1586 and crews of the Royal South African Air Force. (5)