Hello, I have a fairly specialized question. I'm a playwright working on a character, a British citizen caught in Poland at the start of the war and trying to get back home. How difficult would this have been? How would this have been achieved? Thanks much!
Hi Deborah, Welcome to the forum. Not really my specialised area but i'll have a go at it. I'm not sure if there would of been a British Embassey in occupied Europe at this time so probably wuldn't be worth trying to find one. Firstly i think you would of had to make contact with a Polish underground group and they would do something very much as what they would do for airmen who had been sot down. They would of been passed on from one group to another up to the coast and then hidden away on a fishing boat and taken across the Baltic Sea to Sweden which was of course neutral. They would of spent a short time llocked up by the Swedish authorities and then taken back to the UK. Hope that helps Sniper
Thanks. I'm not up on WWII - tho my dad did earn a Purple Heart at Omaha Beach - so my questions may be a bit naive. Was there any travel through Europe that wasn't either via the resistance or war-related? In other wars, I know that there have been "war tourists" who sort of watch battles. In other words, is there any other way for my characters to leave Poland? Cheers.
Question is not naive at all, answer may have been. There was no way a Brit could of travelled through Poland without being arrested by the Germans due to the fact that as soon as Germany invaded Poland, Britain declared war on Germany. Only way they would of been able to travel through Europe at this time is you would have to change the nationality of your character, maybe to American. No way they would of been able to watch battles either, artillery would of been to accurate and long range for that to happen. It may have happened in the Napoleanic wars when the battles were mainly in a set area but not in 1939. If your characters were American they could travel back via Germany and France. Mike
Really, really useful, thank you. They need to go to England, but the one character could indeed be American. BIG thanks! D
I think they would probably of had to of gone to England before returning to the US anyway. You could of course take the route from Poland to Germany, {seeing how the German people responded to war}, then travelling through Holland, Belguim and France just behind the German Army as it advances through Europe which would of been a way that your people could be war tourists. In the end maybe escaping on a fishing boat across to England from one of the French ports. Sniper
Thanks for expanding on that, it's good to know literally how they might have gotten out. I'm guessing walking, maybe horseback, hidden in a cart, occasionally motoring? I can just see the fishing boat. D
Glad to of been of help D. You could also use railway, in fact any type of transport you can think of really. Its just a case of letting your imagination run free. Don't forget the close encounters like hiding in hedges etc. Good luck with the play and if you need any other help you only have to ask. Mike
There is an actual, real account this, by someone who did it. I can't remember the author though. They escaped through Bulgaria, which was neutral at the time. There are plenty of accounts of how Poles got to the UK. .. . just type Escape Poland 1939.
