GLYVICE | We celebrated the silent

klubygp.pl 2 weeks ago

The first drop of the Silent Ones – the National Army paratroopers took place on 15/16 February 1943. This date became a day of remembrance. The Gliwice Polish paper Club is the initiator of their monument in the centre of Gliwice. The clubmates that day, after listening to the Mass, folded candles and then switched to a gathering devoted to their memory.

A peculiar lecture was prepared by club owner Filip Łukaszczuk, who presented the past of Cichociemnych – elite of the Polish Armed Forces in the West and the Home Army. He stressed that this formation was born in Scottish training camps, where soldiers were prepared for diversion and intelligence activities in occupied Poland under strict conditions. Of the 2385 candidates to the country only 316 – the best of the best.

In his speech he drew attention to the first (failed) drop in February 1941 and the function of officers who created the concept of an airline to the country. He stressed that the Ciemni did not make a classical military unit, but were specialised leaders, prepared to act independently under conspiracy conditions.

The traditions of the silent took over the GROM Military Unit. Filip Łukaszczuk recalled the Hall of Tradition, the sign “CICHOCIEMNY” and the continuity of values: professionalism, courage and service of the Republic.

An example was the figure of Antoni Żychiewicz – Cichociemny, a soldier of the September campaign, a associate of Kediv and the Warsaw Uprising, a prisoner of the Sachsenhausen KL, decorated with the Order of Virtuti Militari. His aliases were mentioned: “Listek”, “Interruption”, “Puszczyk” and the fact that after the war – despite repression – he served Poland as an engineer and lecturer.

It was a touching minute to hand over the commemorative parachute patch to Antoni Żychiewicz's daughter, This motion symbolically combined the generation of the Silent with modern soldiers and young people raised in the spirit of their traditions.