I remember being a young boy as my brothers and sisters and I progressed our way through St. Stanislaus Elementary School in East Baltimore. One of our favorite times of the year was “Majówka” (“My-oof-ka” for those of you unfamiliar). It is the May celebration, and as Poland has always been a country dedicated to Mary, the Holy Mother, it is a time of reflection, appreciation and celebration. In 1791, during the Partitions of Poland, the country adopted the first constitution in Europe (and only the second in the world after the US) on the Third of May. So Majówka has become the three day festivities leading up to this national day. Our school would sponsor trips to the local amusement park to celebrate Majówka, so you can only imagine how popular that was!

As I was researching my latest novel, “The Twins of Narvik”, I came across perhaps the longest Majówka trip in Polish History: The travels of the Independent Polish Podahle Rifle Brigade during World War II.

The Polish Army reformed in France in late 1939/early 1940 under General Wladyslaw Sikorski’s leadership as Prime Minister and Commander-in-Chief of the Polish Government-in-Exile. In the overnight hours of April 23/24, they set sail on three French converted luxury liners to head for war. After stopping in Scotland for a change of military escort, they proceeded on to Norway’s Arctic Circle where the Polish Army would play a critical role in recapturing the port of Narvik.

They were still at sea on the 3rd of May, and the Poles aboard all three ships celebrated Majówka with a Mass (left) followed by general festivities (right). Accordionists played national tunes, followed by singing and dancing, emotionally culminating in Dąbrowski’s Mazurka, the Polish National Anthem. Can you image the bolts of inspiration that ran through each man as he sang the lines,

“Poland has not yet perished,
So long as we still live,

What the foreign force has taken from us,
We shall with saber retrieve.”

Imagine singing those lines as your home country lay destitute under the controls once again of the dictators of Germany and Russia. So many men had already lost family and friends, and could not wait to take the fight to the Nazis in the volcanically looming mountains over the icy fjords of Norway alongside the Norwegians, British and French. They literally fought from hill to hill, from rock to rock, and the Allies did indeed drive the Nazis out of Narvik. They were on the verge of driving them out of Northern Norway altogether when Churchill ordered an evacuation of all troops because of the Fall of France, and the need for all fighting forces to return to defend against Nazi aggression at home.

The Poles returned to France in time to engage the Wehrmacht’s Panzers there, before being ordered on to the Highlands of Scotland on the 18th of June. At the same time, General Sikorski and the Government-in-Exile relocated to London. The very next day, General Sikorski pledged to Winston Churchill that all Polish troops, be they soldiers, airmen or seamen would fight alongside Britain until Germany was defeated. And even though Sikorski did not live to see it, his pledge was faithfully fulfilled on land, air and at sea.

By the way, these images (sans my overlays) came from a great book my research assistant and lovely wife, Marie, found for me during the “Twins” writing. Entitled “Polish Troops in Norway,” it was published by the Polish Government-in-Exile in July 1943, the month of General Sikorski’s tragic death in the plane crash at Gibraltar. The images in the book were all taken by the Polish troops themselves, and is an amazing photo-documentation of their exploits and sacrifices.

If you enjoy this history, I have captured as much as I could in the plot lines and narrative of the brand new two-book historical fiction “duology” entitled “The Twins of Narvik”. Part I is available now, Part II comes in early July. More details can be found at my website, davidtrawinski.com.