News from the Polish Association
The Bravest of the Brave
Of the heroic women who sacrificed themselves as secret agents for Britain’s Special Operations Executive (SOE) in the Second World War, none had a stranger life than Krystyna Skarbek.
The Spy Who Loved: The Secrets and Lives of Krystyna Skarbek aka Christine Granville is an engrossing biography as thrilling as any fiction.
Polish Association Gloucestershire warmly invites you to a talk given by Clare Mulley.
8th September 2018, 4pm – 7pm. St. Nicholas Church, Westgate Street, Gloucester, GL1 2PG. Polish style food and refreshments available.
Clare Mulley is an award-winning historical biographer. Her first book, “The Woman Who Saved the Children” won the Daily Mail Biographers Club Prize. “The Spy Who Loved” has been optioned by Universal Studios. Clare’s latest book The Women Who Flew For Hitler is a dual biography of Hanna Reitsch and Melitta von Stauffenberg, the only women to serve as test pilots for Nazi Germany, who both received the Iron Cross but who ended their lives on opposite sides of history.
As well as speaking at many of Britain’s leading history and literary festivals, Clare has given a TEDx talk (local speakers presenting to local audiences) in Stormont, spoken at the Imperial War Museum, National Army Museum and British Library, as well as lecturing on the female SOE agents of the Second World War for Historical Trips. Clare writes and reviews non-fiction for the Telegraph, Spectator and History Today. In 2017 she was chair of the judges for the Historical Writers Association Non-Fiction Prize, and she has recently become an honorary patron of the Wimpole History Festival.
Battle of Britain
"Never was so much owed by so many to so few" was a wartime speech made by Winston Churchill on 20 August 1940. Its name stems from the specific line in the speech, “Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few”, referring to the on going efforts of the Royal Air Force crews who were at the time fighting the Battle of Britain.
A total of 145 experienced Polish airmen fought in the Battle of Britain. They shot down 170 German planes, damaging an additional 36, which statistically was close to 12% of Luftwaffe losses suffered during the Battle of Britain. Most of these shoot downs, 126 of them, were done by the Polish 303 squadron. The 303 “Warsaw” Fighter Squadron named after Tadeusz Kosciuszko was recognized as the best unit in the RAF. The division’s engagements during the Battle of Britain became, even during the war, one of the most prominent symbols of Poland’s contribution to the Allied cause.
From the 8th until the 16th September the exhibition "Battle of Britain: To Commemorate the Fight for Freedom" will be presented at the Jet Age Museum in Gloucester. The exhibition features Polish, Czechoslovak and British brotherhood in arms during the Battle of Britain in 1940.
Polish Association Gloucestershire warmly invites you to a talk prepared by our members on 15th September at 11am at the Jet Age Museum, Meteor Business Park, Cheltenham Road East Gloucester, GL2 9QL. Refreshments available. www.facebook.com/JetAgeMuseum/
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