Northumbrian Gunner: National Memorial Arboretum 2024

Friday 12 July 2024

National Memorial Arboretum 2024 - Polish Forces Memorial

The Polish Forces Memorial commemorates the Polish men and women who gave their lives during World War Two.

Polish Forces Memorial

Polish armed forces were engaged from the very first day of the war when Germany invaded their homeland on 1st September 1939 until the surrender of German forces on 8th May 1945. They were the fourth largest Allied forces in Europe, after those of the Soviet Union, United States, and Britain, fighting on land, sea, and in the air.

The Polish Armed Forces in the West fought under British command and numbered 195,000 in March 1944 including about 20,000 personnel in the Polish Air Force and 3,000 in the Polish Navy. At the end of World War II, the Polish Armed Forces in the west numbered 195,000 and by July 1945 had increased to 228,000, most of the newcomers being released prisoners of war and ex-labor camp inmates.

The memorial consists of a bronze sculpture mounted on a plinth featuring four figurines representing the main branches of the Polish Armed forces, surmounted by an eagle, a the Polish State emblem. The Memorial statue is set within an 18-metre diameter circle which has with four walls at it's edge inscribed with a record of the the Polish contribution in the Second World War.

Polish Forces Memorial

The four figurines are a a sailor, soldier, airman and member of the Polish Underground Army.

The sailor is a crew member of the Polish destroyer Błyskawica. The soldier is from the Battle of Monte-Cassino. The airman is a pilot of the Polish 303 Squadron RAF that fought in the Battle of Britain. The figurine representing the Polish Underground Home Army is a woman courier wearing civilian clothes.