Opens in a new tab

Threads of History: Selected Chapters from First to Fight

  • Table of Contents

This document contains selected chapters from First to Fight: Threads of History, presenting personal wartime accounts from Polish veterans. These excerpts include stories from Soviet prisons, the Carpathian Brigade, the Polish Navy, Bomber Command, and the Warsaw Uprising, offering a vivid insight into Poland’s struggle during the Second World War.

Click here to download the full excerpted PDF.

Related Articles

  • Book cover of "First to Fight: Poland's Contribution to the Allied Victory in WWII," featuring a crowned eagle emblem and edited by Marek Stella-Sawicki, Jarek Garliński, and Stefan Mucha.

    Press Release: First to Fight and the Polish Contribution to WWII

    1 mins
    Press release for First to Fight, highlighting Poland’s wartime contribution, with statements from Thatcher and military leaders ahead of the 2009 memorial dedication.
  • La traduction française de cet article n'est pas encore disponible.
    A line of uniformed soldiers stands outdoors, facing forwards with their right hands raised in salute.

    1st Polish People’s Army

    Formation and operations of the Soviet-backed Polish People's Army, tracing its origins, campaigns, and political implications.

    Read Article
    A typewritten letter dated 25 October 1943 discusses wartime experiences and observations, with handwritten notes and stamps visible at the top of the page.

    Operation DUNSTABLE

    Operation Dunstable was a secret WWII SOE–MI9 mission training Polish agents to aid POWs, sabotage German industry, and gather intelligence — later mired in postwar politics.

    Read Article
    Sepia-toned 1940s photograph showing Allied intelligence officers working at a table covered with maps, coded documents, and a radio transmitter during World War II.

    Special Planning Unit 22

    Formed in 1944, Special Planning Unit 22 (Operation Euphemia) trained and deployed Polish, French, and Belgian agents behind enemy lines to sabotage, gather intelligence, and rescue POWs.

    Read Article