Large Fierce Mammal

303 Squadron badge

Bloody Foreigners is the name of a four part series that aired on British television beginning in 2010. It tells the story of how pivotal events in British history were brought to a successful conclusion in no small part through the efforts of non-British people. The series title alone spoke to me because I am the direct and proud descendant of bloody foreigners from Germany who answered Britain’s call for people to settle the strategic port of Lunenburg, and dd just that in 1753, but one particular episode hooked me completely in my capacity as one who has a passion for military history, aviation, and most particularly, is proudly Polish by marriage. The one titled Bloody Foreigners: The Untold Battle of Britain.

While it’s open to dispute whether it actually represents an “untold” story in the overall historical sense, the episode chronicles the exploits of a small band of pilots who survived the German invasion of Poland, and made it to England where they were formed into RAF 303 Squadron. Untold or not, when I played selected segments of the documentary for Mrs. LFM, she was delighted, and admitted that she had never heard about any of it before. Well dear reader, that’s “untold” enough for me, and my beauteous specimen of Polish Pulchritude is now even prouder than ever of her national heritage.

Polish pilots of 303 Squadron generously granting their German opponents a few more hours of life by taking a break. (Click to enlarge)

303 Squadron went operational on 31 August 1940 – a date that also marked the first anniversary of the German invasion of Poland. A few points of note I would like to highlight before we move on to the documentary itself were those that plucked the strings of my own black heart. Foremost is the fierceness of the Polish airmen in the face of the Luftwaffe’s vastly superior numbers that, rather than giving pause, filled them instead with joy that they had been blessed with so many more Germans to kill. And therein lies a critical point – each of these men had seen what the German war machine had done, and continued to do, to their country and countrymen. The Battle of Britain was about staving off the horrors of invasion, but every one of the Poles in 303 Squadron had experienced it first hand, and so as one British pilot points out in the film, they weren’t simply about shooting down German airplanes. They were out to kill everyone in them. To my mind, such Men deserve the drinking of the kind of toast that ends with the breaking of the glass on the grounds that few among us will ever have the honour of seeing their like again. Warriors truly heir to the legacy of their superb Husaria forebears of whom Italian envoy Cosimo Brunetti wrote in 1676, “It is a chivalry that has no equal in the world; without seeing it with your own eyes, its vigour and splendour is impossible to imagine.” Winged Hussars indeed.

Having been shredded by the superior machinery of the Luftwaffe over their home turf, many of the Polish pilots had then fought in France as the Blitzkrieg thundered towards the English Channel (picture above right: Lt Jan Zumbach of 303 Squadron). That didn’t go too well either, but finally the Battle of Britain offered them the chance to hit back at Jerry on more equal terms. Even though they were equipped with Hurricanes rather than the more glamorous but less numerous Spitfires, they tore into the huge German formations with malice palpably aforethought, almost welcoming the Germans’ numerical superiority because it gave them more targets to shoot at. Where home-grown pilots might start firing at the enemy when they were 400 yards away, the Poles reckoned 100 yards was about right – if you got that close, your quarry became quite difficult to miss. As British pilot Billy Drake commented, while the Brits merely wanted to shoot down the German aircraft, “the Poles wanted to kill anybody that was in those aeroplanes.”

They achieved this with merciless efficiency. Historians and statisticians have made subsequent revisions of the numbers, but according to the programme, it took less than a month for 303 Squadron to record its 100th “kill”. The squadron shot down six German aircraft on its first official combat sortie, and on 7 September 1940, 303 shot down 16 planes in less than 15 minutes. Józef František, a Czech pilot flying with the Poles, was credited with 17 kills and was the highest-scoring Allied ace in the Battle of Britain. ~ Bloody Foreigners: The Untold Battle of Britain, Channel 4 – Bittersweet saga of the RAF’s heroic Polish pilots

The accomplishments of 303 Squadron are overshadowed by the betrayal of Poland by the allies through agreements made with Stalin at the Yalta conference. The end result – Poland was handed from the rule of one totalitarian maniac to another.

The Polish flyers thought they were fighting for their own post-war freedom, only to find that the Western allies had sold them out to Stalin at the Yalta conference. Pilots who returned home were liquidated by Poland’s new Communist administration. When the British held a huge multi-nation victory parade in London in 1946, the Poles weren’t invited because apparently our government was afraid of upsetting Stalin. “We watch with sorrow the strange outcome of our endeavours,” said Winston Churchill. “Strange” doesn’t seem quite adequate, somehow. ~ Bloody Foreigners: The Untold Battle of Britain, Channel 4 – Bittersweet saga of the RAF’s heroic Polish pilots

So now, on to our feature presentation. It relies heavily on reenactments and footage from films depicting the Battle of Britain, and purists such as myself will quickly notice that it tends at times to treat the more famous Supermarine Spitfire as interchangeable with the Hawker Hurricanes then being flown by 303 Squadron. In view of the importance of the subject matter, and the otherwise fine nature of the production, I am inclined to overlook that flaw, and urge you to do the same. The version I have embedded here comes complete with Polish subtitles to assist my Honoured and much loved Polish Family in the Old Country who have unreservedly embraced me as worthy of being one of their own.