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cf unbroken Resl3tanoo - By General Kaalnderg SOSNKDWSKI -

Conrnander-ln-Chief of the Pdiah Armed Faroes.

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When,/Pdand , the war began on Sopt.Iat 1939# sy country was the first amcng the Allled Natlons unhesitatingly to take up the struggle against the gigantio war machinę cf the German inrader.

Thua, Pol and'a contributian to the comacn war effort had already begun when the Western demooraciea were still unprepared. Thls oonęelled the Pdiah Anty to fight the hard battles of the Septecber canpaign against the whołe armed Power of Germany without auy proepeot of reoeiving the allghtest assistance frcm hor Alliea.

In absarbing the Irnpaot of over 70 dirisicns, of whioh 16 were armoured and motarised diYiaians, and ower 3 #000 operational aircraft, Pol and considerably weakened the eneny'a f arce a, and gained for the Alliea seweral preoicus montha in which to make thelr preparatians.    | ^

During that Septeirber in Poland I experienced the affenaiwe power of the Germania superior faroes and witnesaed the obstinate defenoe of the Pdiah troops.

I can, the ref aro, speak frcm cy own erperienoe of Poland'a resiatanoe - 3 uch episodes, for example as the defenoe of Warsaw, Hel, Westerplatte, Modlin and 1/frow, Her loeses, whioh in killed alone nurbered ab out 90,000 affioera and other ranka, together with many thousanda cf wounded, are the msaaure cf her deterndned effort in that canpaign.

As a result cf the fighting inę>osed co ua, the Germana were faroed to reveal the tactics of thelr armcured and motoriaed unita, of their air f oroea and of the modem str&tegy whioh they baaed on the co-operat i cn of the yarious arms. If our Alliea had innediately drawn the proper ccnolusiona frcm the erperienoes af the Polish oeayaign the Battle cf France woułd probably hawe run a different oourse.

It should be remenbered that the Polish G-oworament were hampered in their mbbilisatlan mśkaóm by the efforts their Alliea were naking up to the very last ■juntę to preserye peace by negoti&ting with the GermanaM

Bearlng thia fact in arind, it may urged that in the light cf subaequent events Poland'a eff arba in the Septeaber oarapaign were cf ocnaiderable magnitude.

Af ter cy countr'o occupaticn a nerw Poliah Aray under the Oonmand cf the late General Sikorski was farmad in France to continua the struggle. Already in the ftrst moathfl af 1940 thia Any representod a faroe cf 80,000. men. At the same time a Polish Brigade was f armed in the Middle Saat /Syria/.

Ali the unita af the Poliah Amy whioh took port in the fighting in Ifranoe aoquitted themselTea with much credit. They suffered ocnaiderable oasualties, not only in France, but also later in Norway, where betweon May 17 and Jurna 7th 1940# one af the Polish Brigades fought at Narwik in the far north in aid cfthe noble Narwogian natian.

The contributiona of the Pdiah Armed f oroea in France and Ncrway had an additional though# porhape not sufficiently appreoiated signifioanoe. The Polish aoldiers who, at the risk cf their liwes, succeeded in mnking their way out frcm the Occupied Motherland to the free soil of an Allied country In order to oontinue there the struggle for their oountry'a independence blazed a trail which was most helpful to the conncn oause cf the Alliea. Subsequently their eranęle was followed by the soldiers of other Allied armie a who'a ocuntries had faeen canguered.