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The unknown Polish Flying officer and sergeant on Ameland

On July 2 and 10, 1943, two bodies washed ashore at Hollum on Ameland, identified by their clothing as Polish. Unfortunately, besides their rank, nothing more is known about their identities. Their graves at the cemetery in Nes only bear the inscription “An Airman of the War 1939 – 1945,” their rank, and “Polish Forces.”

  • A Porucznik (a lieutenant)
  • A Sierżant (a sergeant)

Who are the two unknown Poles?

This naturally raises the question of who these two unknown Poles might be.

This excerpt from a presentation on the Amelander Historie website with a brief description of all the war graves present on the island gives a first clue.

Stefan Tomicki?

Both graves are also listed on the website polishwargraves.nl (now managed by the Oorlogsgraven Stichting), which has been a significant source for our website. The site suggests that the Porucznik (lieutenant) who washed ashore on July 2 might be Stefan Tomicki. He went missing after the crash of the Wellington bomber with registration number HE148, BH-T, from the 300 Squadron Ziemi Mazowieckiej. This crash occurred on the night of April 9, 1943. All six crew members were killed. Only two were identified: navigator Jan Rudek and gunner Stanisław Stępień. They washed ashore at the beaches of Castricum and Egmond aan Zee the day after the crash. Both are buried in the general cemetery in Bergen.

Given the discrepancy in the location where the body was found, the fact that it was almost three months later, and that Tomicki held the rank of podporucznik rather than porucznik, the above assumption should certainly be treated with caution.

For the grave of the sergeant, polishwargraves.nl provides no further information.

Other possibilities?

Our site lists several airmen who went missing in the period before the bodies were found. In addition to Tomicki, three other crashes result in Poles missing in the period before early July 1943. We start with the most likely candidate.

On May 12, Halifax II with serial number DT627 and squadron code NF-P from the 138 ‘special duties’ squadron crashed in the Wadden Sea off the coast of Sint Jacobiparochie (according to polishwargraves). Their mission was to drop agents in the Netherlands. The loss register states that of the seven-member crew, four washed ashore on the Dutch coast, with the dates on which they washed ashore:

Three are still missing:

We intentionally mention the ranks in Polish so the correspondence with the ranks on the graves stands out. Given the ranks of the missing and the timing and location of the bodies washing ashore, these could be possible candidates.

The question then arises as to why these two could not be identified when the other crew members were. Unfortunately, the description of the discovery does not mention the condition of the bodies, which would provide clarity on this matter, but it is worth investigating.

Finally, we see on the Amelander Historie website that a 13th body washed ashore and is listed as a member of the British Air Force. Could this be the third crew member, but his uniform too damaged to be identified as “Polish”?

Other possibilities?

In addition to the option described above, on May 13, an aircraft from the 300 Squadron disappeared over the Zuiderzee east of Volendam (5 missing). Given the presence of the ‘Aflsuitdijk’ this option is not very likely. Perhaps an expert can indicate whether it was still possible that the bodies would end up on the mudflats and thus on Ameland when the water flows from the IJsselmeer into the Waddenzee.

On June 22, another bomber from the 300 Squadron disappeared 60 kilometers off the coast of IJmuiden, resulting in four missing (by the way, none of them were a porucznik). Here the currents in the Northsee should be taken into account to estimate if this is a possibility.

Can we still solve the mystery?

The question is, of course, whether after all these years the mystery can still be solved. Are there perhaps any reports about the discovery on Ameland that provide more information about the condition of the bodies? Could someone with knowledge of the currents in the North Sea shed light on the hypothesis involving Stefan Tomicki? Or could someone with knowledge of the Wadden Sea speak to the locations where the bodies from the May 12 crash were found in relation to the location near Hollum? For now, they remain an unknown lieutenant and sergeant in Nes, Ameland.

Photos of the gravestones by Klaas Graansma

Jazz musician and pilot Syktus Lewkowicz

On Friday afternoon, September 20, 2024, relatives of Syktus Maria Lewkowicz visited the crash site in Hollands Kroon. Following this visit, Mark Hakvoort of the Hollands Kroon Memorial Poles Foundation wrote this report. Our thanks also for the beautiful photos we received, with which Syktus becomes more than just a fallen Polish airman.

Jazz musician and leading aircraftman Syktus Lewkowicz

On Friday afternoon, September 20, 2024, there were English-Polish relatives in the municipality of Hollands Kroon, Nick and Sally Lewkowicz. The plane of Nick’s uncle Sykstus (Marys) Lewkowicz had crashed just behind the farm of the Vosbergen family at Molenweg 38 Slootdorp. There are now apple trees at the site of the plane crash.

In the verge of Molenweg 38 is the memorial post for the six deceased crew members of the Wellington bomber Z1467 GR-L. A moment of remembrance was held for the deceased uncle Sykstus Lewkowicz. The SHHK foundation had provided the Polish national flag and the English Union Jack and the Vosbergen family provided flowers.

Sykstus was co-pilot (2nd pilot) of the Wellington bomber. Normally, at 30, he would have been too old for Bomber Command, but probably because he already had a pilot’s license, operational flying was allowed. In August 1934, he completed his flight training in Poland and obtained his pilot’s license. In the same period, he was a member of a jazz band.

After the German invasion of Poland in September 1939, Sykstus fled Poland with his two younger brothers Janusz and Antoni via France to England. All three of them went into military service. The middle Janusz was Nick’s father, flew a P-51 Mustang of the RAF. The youngest brother Antoni was in the Polish-English army and had fought in the battle of Monte Casino in Italy in 1944, among other things.

Janusz (Nick’s father) obtained English citizenship after the war and married an English woman. He had four sons, of whom Nick is the youngest. Nick and Sally themselves have three sons.

In the early 1960s, Janusz, Nick’s father, came to the Netherlands with his family (his mother and four sons). To visit the grave of his brother Sykstus Lewkowicz. There is a cemetery in Huisduinen near Den Helder. When he arrived there with his family, he could not find Sykstus’ grave. After asking around, it turned out that all war graves, including Sykstus’ grave in 1948, had been transferred by the Dutch government in collaboration with the English government to the Allied cemetery near Bergen op Zoom. Nick’s father had not been informed about this and was now looking for nothing 200 km away.

Jurgen from local TV channel RTV-NH was also present and interviewed Nick. Nick talked about his family in Poland, whom they visited during the Cold War and in the early 1990s. Afterwards, tea, coffee and apple pie were served at the Vosbergen family. Several photos were exchanged including photos of the Lewkowicz family in the 1930s, Sykstus during his flight training, birth photo and the jazz band.

Nick informed his three older brothers about the crash site.

Pilots of the famous 303 squadron who died over the Netherlands

The summer of 1940 saw a massive battle for air superiority in the skies of Great Britain which became know as ‘The Battle of Britain’ starting at the 16th of June with ‘Adlertag’. In the mean time the Polish units – with already battle hardened pilot – where trained in RAF procedures. On August 2nd 303 Tadeusz Kościuszko Warsaw Fighter Squadron was formed (in Polish 303 Dywizjon Myśliwski „Warszawski im. Tadeusza Kościuszki”).

On August 30, 1940 during another training exercise Polish pilot Ludwik Paszkiewicz spotted a German Messerschmitt Bf 110 fighter in the area, and he shot it down. An event used in the epic film the Battle of Britain.

The next day, the squadron was declared operational and officially put on full duty to become the highest scoring unit in the Battle and gained lasting fame which resulted in books and films. A long read can be found on Polen in beeld (long read in Dutch but embedded clips are in English).

Few people know that later in the war the unit saw action in the skies over the Netherlands and lost three men of which details can be found on our website:

Oberdak, the Polish victim of Woeste Hoeve, remained forgotten for a long time

His name was unknown for a long time, Czesław Oberdak. After the mass execution at Woeste Hoeve in 1945 he was not identified. As an anonymous victim, he was buried first in Uchelen and then in Loenen until the journalist Richard Schuurman started looking after a letter from Czesław’s sister, Ludmilla Oberdak. Thanks to that search, this Polish airman was identified, his name is on the monument at Woeste Hoeve and his remains were buried in the family grave in Kraków in 2009. All this can be read in the book that Schuurman wrote ‘Spoor naar Woeste Hoeve’.

Oberdaks childhood dream ends at the Woeste Hoeve

Czesław Oberdak was born on July 20, 1921 in Kraków, Poland. There he grows up with his older sister, Ludmila, and a younger brother, Roman. His childhood dream is to become a pilot. In 1939 he started that dream at the Air Force School in Poznań. When the Germans invaded Poland in September 1939, he, like so many other Polish soldiers, fled Poland. He follows the route via Romania, Yugoslavia and Italy. In France he joins the Polish Air Force formed there in Lyon. His stay there is temporary. Most Poles were evacuated to the United Kingdom when France fell in June 1940, including Czesław.

How he becomes a fighter pilot and how he ends up as an anonymous victim of the mass execution at Woeste Hoeve for a long time can be read on his page.

One night, two Lancasters shot down over the Netherlands

On the night of June 12 to 13, 1944, eight Lancasters from the Polish 300 Squadron departed from Faldingworth airbase on a mission to Gelsenkirchen. A total of 286 bombers departed for this mission. Seventeen did not return that night, including three from 300 Squadron. Two of the Lancasters were shot down over the Netherlands. Of the 14 crew members, only one survives the crash.

Bomb aimer Morski from the Lancaster BH – C is captured. Flight engineer Bladowski washed ashore at Wijdenes and is buried there and later transferred to Breda. The other crew members were recovered during the salvage of the aircraft in May 2003 and were buried in a shared grave in Breda.

From Lancaster BH – K, wireless operator Pacula is MIA. The other crew members were found during 1944. Flight engineer Szeliga is buried in Elburg. Three crew members, tail gunner Bardzo, pilot Różański and turret gunner Wróblewski, first found a grave in Urk but were later reburied in Amersfoort, where bomb aimer Bakun and navigator Hahn are also buried. The photo accompanying this post shows Różański’s crew in June 1944, shortly before they were killed.

About the 300 Squadron: “Ziemi Mazowieckiej”

On June 28, 1940, the British Air Ministry sent an order to the 6th Bomb Group to form the first Polish bomber squadron No. 300. This started with the single-engine Fairey Battle. Later in the war they switched first to the twin-engine Wellington and finally to the four-engine Lancaster.

THE POLISH AIR FORCE IN BRITAIN, 1940-1947 (HU 106355) Final adjustments are being made to the cargo of mines before they are loaded into a waiting Vickers Wellington bomber of No. 300 Polish Bomber Squadron (BH-E, HF598) at RAF Faldingworth. The message on the mine reads ‘From Polish Airmen’ both in Polish and English. Copyright: © IWM. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205230375

300 Squadron flew 3,891 missions, including 684 combat missions, dropping 10,712 tons of bombs. 15 German aircraft were destroyed or damaged during the fighting, with 79 own losses. 371 pilots were killed and 87 were captured. The squadron was disbanded on January 2, 1947. Of the 371 victims, 44 are buried in the Netherlands.

Crest 300 Squadron
Crest 300 Squadron

An extensive history of the squadron can be found on the Bomber Command Museum of Canada website. It also contains a passage about both of these bombers:

“LL807 was brought down by flak at the Dutch coast, probably from Texel, while outbound, and crashed into the Ijsselmeer with no survivors from the crew of F/L Rozanski. DV286 was on its way home when it was intercepted by a night fighter, and also crashed into the Ijsselmeer, killing F/S Rembecki and all but one of his crew. The bomb-aimer, P/O Morski, managed to drop through the escape hatch underneath him, and parachute to safety, and he was rescued by two Dutch fishermen, before being handed over to the Germans.” (pag 180).

Photos of the aircraft and crew can be found on pages 178 and 179.

THE POLISH AIR FORCE IN BRITAIN, 1940-1947 (HU 128268) Flying Officer Jerzy Rózanski (foreground) and his crew of No. 300 Polish Bomber Squadron standing in line at RAF Faldingworth, early June 1944. The crew perished during the bombing sortie over Gelsenkirchen shortly after this picture was taken, on 12/13 June 1944, Note a Lancaster bomber flying over the airfield and another one parked in the background (ED327, BH-R – lost in August 1944). Copyright: © IWM. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205402356

More information about both aircraft

The site tudiegroep Luchtoorlog 1939-1945 writes the following about the crash of DV286:

“Lancaster DV286 took off from RAF Faldingworth at 11:20 PM for a bombing raid on the Nordstern synthetic oil plant at Gelsenkirchen, Germany. On its way home, while crossing the Dutch coast, it crashed in fire after being intercepted by night fighter pilot Leutnant Gottfried Hanneck of 6./NJG 1, who had taken off from Deelen airfield in a Bf 110G-4. Pilot P/O. B.F. Morski was rescued by two Dutch fishermen and later transferred to a German naval ship. Flight Engineer Sgt. F.S. Bladowski washed up at Wijdenes. The aircraft was recovered in May 2003 and the crew members were subsequently buried in Breda on October 25, 2003.”

Bladowski was buried on June 17, 1944, in Wijdenes and was later transferred from Wijdenes to Breda, where he rests in an individual grave. The five crew members recovered in 2003 are laid to rest in a communal grave.

Upon further research on the internet, it appears that the Aircraft Recovery Group Foundation has been involved in the recovery of the victims. On their website, there is an account of the search and photos of the recovery.

Since 2007, there has been a monument at Zuiderdijk 41 in Wijdenes in memory of the crew of this Lancaster.

Sources

The PDF of Bomber Command Museum of Canada can also be consulted on our site if the above link no longer works (in the long term).

Several photos of the squadron and crews can be found on the IWM website. The photos in this article are from this source.

Below is a Wellington from the squadron that did return to base.

THE POLISH AIR FORCE IN THE AIR OFFENSIVE AGAINST GERMANY, 1942-1945 (CH 7350) Vickers Wellington Mark IV (Z1407, BH-Z), named ‘Zoska’, of No. 300 Polish Bomber Squadron on the ground at RAF Ingham, having lost most of its rear fuselage fabric through battle damage sustained on 4/5 September 1942 when raiding Bremen, Germany. In spite of a damaged wireless set, a badly working rudder, damaged flaps and no navigational instruments, the pilot, Pilot Officer Stanislaw Machej, w… Copyright: © IWM. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205210254