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Praetorium Honoris

Wednesday, January 12, 2022

A New Tale

Lech, Czech, and Rus oaks in Rogalin, Poland.
(Source)
 
... three brothers went hunting together but each of them followed a different prey and eventually they all traveled in different directions. Rus went to the east, Čech headed to the west to settle on the Říp Mountain rising up from the Bohemian hilly countryside, while Lech traveled north. There, while hunting, he followed his arrow and suddenly found himself face-to-face with a fierce, white eagle guarding its nest from intruders. Seeing the eagle against the red of the setting sun, Lech took this as a good omen and decided to settle there. He named his settlement Gniezno (Polish gniazdo - 'nest') in commemoration and adopted the White Eagle as his coat-of-arms. The white eagle remains a symbol of Poland to this day, and the colors of the eagle and the setting sun are depicted in Poland's coat of arms, as well as its flag, with a white stripe on top for the eagle, and a red stripe on the bottom for the sunset. (Source)

So yeah, history. I've decided to start another fictional tale of the Second World War, prior to really digging into that, some research is required. While I do know quite a bit about WWII in Europe, some of that knowledge is rather old and could stand some updating. While starting my research I came across that old legend mentioned above, I truly had no idea ...

So you might get the impression that I've decided to start the tale very early in the war, at least from a European standpoint, fighting in Asia had been going on since 1937 -

On July 7, 1937, the Second Sino-Japanese War began with a conflict known as the Marco Polo Bridge Incident. Japan was attacked by Chinese troops while carrying out military training—they didn't warn the Chinese they would be shooting gunpowder rounds at the bridge that led to Beijing. This amplified already tense relations in the region, leading to an all-out declaration of war. (Source)

 I can't begin to imagine what it must have been like to live in that era, especially in Poland, where the war began at 0445 when the German pre-dreadnought battleship Schleswig-Holstein opened fire at Polish defenses in the vicinity of Westerplatte. (An excellent movie which covers this is the film 1939 Battle of Westerplatte .Tajemnica Westerplatte is the original title, roughly "Westerplatte Mystery." You can watch it dubbed in English or in the original Polish with English subtitles, which I recommend.)

Though tensions in Europe had been rising ever since the Germans marched their army into the demilitarized Rhineland in 1936, the invasion of Poland on the 1st of September 1939 began a war which would see millions die, both combatant and civilian, which wouldn't end until the 8th of May 1945. For the Poles, the betrayal by the West, the Nazis, and the  Communists wouldn't really end until 1990.

I did a lot of reading on Poland, the country has a fascinating history, bits of which I have written about numerous times here on The Chant. It's time, I think, to write about the early stages of World War II in Europe, at least up until the moment when Erwin Rommel's Afrika Korps is turned back at the gates of Egypt at El Alamein. (Yes juvat, I'll try to end on a high note ...)

Some of the characters from my first novel will show up, at least among the Brits, Poles, and Germans, it's a bit early for the Yanks but you never know ...

It's going to be a few days before I get started, much research remains to be completed, or at least started. I'm looking forward to this, hope you enjoy it. Feel free to offer suggestions, complaints, corrections, etc., just like with the last book. This should be interesting! (Lord I hope so.)



58 comments:

  1. Sounds very interesting...looking forward to it!!

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  2. Well if you WANT to get the Americans involved early, you could always go with a "Final Countdown" scenario. What do you think the WW II Germans would do if a bunch of Abrams tanks suddenly showed up???

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    1. Ah, but remember, in that film the Alpha Strike was on deck, ready to go when the time warp returned. But yeah, M-1s would probably make the Wehrmacht wet its collective trousers.

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    2. And then maybe some A-10s? But then they would have to get from the Fulda gap to Poland...

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    3. Heck, even some A1 Skyraiders loaded with Vietnam-era munitions would have been a shocking encounter. Cluster bombs, proximity fused rockets, napalm, 8,000lbs of ordnance dropped from one plane that is as fast or faster than any the Germans had at the time.

      But, well, a couple platoons of M1A2SEPs with all the latest hardware. Actually a couple platoons of Bradleys, the 25mm Bushmaster firing DU rounds would do a number on any armor of the time, even the heaviest French stuff. Not to mention what some modern TOWs and Javelins would do.

      Or even better, a full company of the most modern and updated Polish Leopards... Stay in-theater for the players and would be so funny for Kraut tanks to kill, well, Kraut tanks.

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    4. I think it's safe to say, not gonna happen.

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    5. someone in Poland had similar idea laready
      https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8644911-www-1939-com-pl
      so to avoid ground already trodden...

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    6. https://youtu.be/UWTLmGvxkec one well armed F-15 versus Kido Butai

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    7. I think if you want Americans early, you could use POV of military attaches and assorted tourists/vagabonds around the world - Herman Wouk did it awesome in the Winds of War

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    8. Paweł #2 - I'd send in a Tomcat.

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    9. Paweł #3 - I remember that well.

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    10. The Bombcat modified version would wreak similar havoc to F-15

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  3. It was last night that I viewed a series of videos about the 303 Squadron. And I do know more than a bit about the shameful betrayal and devastation visited upon the Poles after WWII. I am primed to read what will be written here. Pray you fortitude as you delve into that fascinating history of the courageous Poles.

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    1. 303 Sq. one of my favorite military units of all time!

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    2. We (the Western Powers) screwed all of the eastern nations with our dirty deal with Stalin. Not a bright spot in history, no.

      Heck, if we went by 'You keep what you kill or capture' we'd have most or a good portion of Czechoslovakia, and let Patton continue east in Germany, coulda made it well into or slightly past Berlin if we skipped the city itself.

      But no. Had to make deals with the actual devil's son himself.

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    3. Wanna screw up a thing, give it to the diplomats.

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    4. While 303 was most famous, Polish Air Force in exile had many more squadrons formed
      fighter:
      302,306,307,308,309,315,316,317,318
      bombers 300,301 (later special operations transport, tasked with airdrops for resistance at home) ,304,305
      obervation/artillery 663
      special: 145 - fighters sent to North Africa

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    5. Well 303 gets all the press, but the Poles made a significant contribution to the British armed forces.

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  4. So excited Sarge! Poland (and really, all of Eastern and Central Europe) has such an amazing history that I was woefully ignorant of for many years (thanks, Cold War that focused on Western Europe). It was unknown to me - and indeed, probably many people - that at one time the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was considered a major international entity (which, of course dwindling, the outcome of squabbling nobles and hungry neighbors on every side - The Hapsburg Empire, Russia, The Ottoman Empire - that did not suffer from the same "noble" problem).

    The years between 1933 and 1939 must have been unsettling and strange for most of Central/Eastern Europe: new nation-states that did not have long histories and were dealing with ancient pasts, hungry neighbors with totalitarian regimes, and the fact the Great Depression was still rolling on with its economic turmoil. I suspect there is a lot to learn from this period of history.

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    1. Some of the research I did opened up a lot of new things I didn't know about Polish history. Most of my history classes in school focused far too much on Western Europe. And that was in the 60s!

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    2. I find Central and Eastern Europe history endlessly fascinating. So many cultural influences.

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    3. I need to read more about that area.

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    4. We all need to learn about the eastern European nations, many who had a long and horrid struggle with peoples from more southern lands (cough, Muslims, cough cough.) Like Vlad Tepes. Probably one of the most interesting people of his time, and didn't have an ounce of 'give up' or 'give a damn about other peoples' feelings (except in a very bad way.)'

      And the Poles have a very long history of being screwed with and fighting back.

      Maybe we need a guest post from Pawel to add in the pre-1939 Polish history.

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    5. I think we would all benefit from more knowledge of Eastern Europe.

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  5. I love me some history! Especially from a source I've come to trust. I have a very shallow knowledge depth with Poland, I know just enough to know I need to learn more. Looking forward to it.

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  6. Everything I have learned about Central and Eastern Europe I have pretty much had to find out on my own.
    When I was in school we didn’t talk about countries that were behind the “Iron Curtain” unless it was the USSR, and we didn’t talk much about them.

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    1. Same here. Kind of sad as there is a lot of history in that neck of the woods.

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  7. You know. that "work" thing can really interfere with writing progress, and can annoy the muse. "Work" undoubtedly pays bills better than writing, but...

    Looking forward to whatever you create, on whatever schedule you adopt.
    John Blackshoe

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  8. More and more, I regret all the Polish jokes I told as a kid. If only my teachers had been fair, but by the 70's the communist-leftist rot had already taken over American education.

    And taken over Christian education. Seriously, the Siege of Vienna being lifted as if a miracle by the Winged Hussars? What more Catholic of a miracle was that. Or the great naval battle of Lepanto? Or the earlier Italo-Norman victory at the battle of the Mountain (when, losing, the I-Normans prayed and a host of armed warriors in white cloaks joined them suddenly and they were able to defeat a much larger army of Byzantines, Italians and Turks...)

    Seriously, the bitter history of Eastern Europe may be full of defeats, but what defeats. The stand of Vlad Tepes and the Walachians against overwhelming odds, only to be shafted by his own family. Man died a martyr. And the Fall of Acre. The few escaping forces fighting a bitter retreat on land and in the ocean to eventually end up at Malta and making seemingly last stand after last stand.

    More and more, I want that time vortex talked about above to send me back to early-me time so I can beat my teachers with the real history, maybe knock some sense into them and save the American school system, or hold the rot off for a few years more.

    In other news... Yes, so looking forward to Eastern Europe and the fall of 1939 and how Poland got screwed by the Russkies. I know people who refuse to admit the truth about that and of the Katyn Forest massacres. Bastards!

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    1. One could make an argument that historical affairs in eastern Europe were far more important than most of us realize. For precisely those reasons you mention.

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    2. Beans, among the many egregious errors of the Western World in the Early and Middle Middle Ages (Looking at you, Italian city states, Normans, and various Slav kingdoms) the continued and relentless battering of the Byzantine Empire at their hands is among the worst ("If only there was a way we could bottle up our opponents geographically across a body of water. If only...) culminating in the Fourth Crusade of 1204. Unable to see the existential threat across the Golden Horn, they destroyed the bulwark what kept the Abbasid and Seljuq/Ottoman Turks at bay, ushering in the 200 year period (more or less) of expansionism that was checked at Vienna in 1683. This is covered - literally - not at all, as is the Byzantine Empire at all (sort of an "It was there, but it went away. Istanbul is Constantinople and all..."). And we are still dealing with the impact of those decisions today.

      For any that have not, a study of the Byzantine Empire is well worth your time.

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  9. Hey Old NFO;

    It was already touched upon the shameless treatment by the Poles and the Cassocks after the war by the allies, it was diplomats that screwed them over trying to curry favor with Stalin. I care a bit about Eastern Europe, I have had family that was from Eastern Europe(Lithuania and Romania), don't know if any survived the war and the subsequent Iron Curtain. There is a believed theory that the Japanese framed the Chinese for the Marco Polo Bridge incident because the nationalist in the Army were pushing to expand in China and Manchuria.

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    1. MrG, seriously, "OldNFO"? Man, I ain't that old.

      But yeah, pretty sure the Japanese forced that incident, and yes, the diplomats sentenced Eastern Europe to decades of life under Soviet Communist rule.

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    2. Methuselah wasn't THAT old! Just sayin'

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    3. Chanters arguing about being old. This will go well...

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  10. Crusty Old TV Tech here. Without the Polish, Bletchley Park would have had nothing to feed the Bombe. The Poles provided the first real information leading to cracking Enigma, and consistently reading the Nazi's mail. They have always been heroes in my book. Learned that at Wolfe Hall at Keesler, 40 years ago now. Can't wait to hear more of their story.

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  11. https://youtu.be/limkE1_7TV8
    Just to prove that I am not only interested in all things Polish
    look this up
    Before Pearl Harbor... Before Taranto... hell back in the start of WW1
    Naval aviation shows potential to surprise strike enemy at their bases.

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    1. I had forgotten about the raid on Cuxhaven, good one.

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  12. The yanks were always there. That same thing that made them hateful also thrust them into battle much like the wild geese.

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  13. Thanks for the movie recommendation. I watched it on Amazon, then did some research on the intertubes.

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