- POLISH
MEMORIAL GARDEN IN
PREPARATION
-
- The Douglas Gardening
Club in Lanarkshire, Scotland are well under way with
their plans to create a Polish Memorial Garden
incorporating three Polish memorials from 1940 and
which lie in the vicinity of the village. The aim is
to have the garden prepared by 29th August
2002.
-
- Robert Wilson a member
of the Gardening Club, who, as a young boy, remembers
the Polish soldiers in 1940, felt that the Polish
monuments were a "part of our history and in memory of
the Polish Armed Forces who were our allies in the
war, a lasting monument should be
established."
- Lord Home has greatly
assisted the Club's plans by granting the Club the
ground where the Memorial Garden will be sited and
with funding from a local trust they hope to make the
Garden special, "in order that local people and
families of the Polish soldiers can spend a quiet
moment reflecting on the past and how much it meant to
the people concerned." The memorial pillar presented
by General Maczek to the village has been renovated.
The Glasgow Herald of 28th October 1940 reported the
words of General Maczek, .... "May this monument
always remind you that you have in the 10th Cavalry
Brigade most sincere and faithful
friends."...
- Two other monuments
exist within the Polish Camp - one lies in a field
opposite Lady Home Hospital.
- Dziennik Zolnierza on
7th September 1940 reported, "W niedziele o godz.
11-ej w szwadronie techniczna-samochodym naprzeciwko
szpitala miejskiego ogladzic sie uroczystosci
przekazania „SOUVENIR" miasta Douglas i okolicy w
formie pomika przedstawiajacego oznake wojskowa
ofiarodawców. Pomnik ten z betonu wykonal szw.
tech.-samochowdowy."
- Present were General
Dresxer, then commanding the brigade and members of
the Polish National Council including General
Zeligowski, Mr Mikolajczyk, prof. Folkierski and
others as well as Scottish guests.
-
- The third Polish
monument (photograph below) is a mystery.
-
- (photo)
-
- It has the abbreviation
"10 BK" - 10th Cavalry Brigade and combines the motif
of the leather wings of a Polish hussar (in the same
way as the emblem of the 1st Polish Armoured Division)
with an anchor. Is this symbolic of the evacuation by
sea of Polish troops on British and Polish ships from
the western ports of France in June 1940?
-
- The camp occupied by
units of the 10th Brigade, 10th Mounted Rifles
Regiment, the 24th Lancers and Podhalanska Rifle
Battalion from late June to October 1940 is in an area
steeped in the history of Scotland and Poland. For
instance it is where the Scottish Cameronians Regiment
was raised and nearby at Castlemains where pani
Malkowska, the Chief Guide of pre-war Poland set up a
Polish primary boarding school. It was on the 27th
June 1940 that the Polish Highlanders started to
arrive at the permanent tented camp at Douglas, with
more troops arriving on the 29th. These troops came
mainly from Glasgow where they had been billeted in
the city and now found themselves under canvas on
either side of Douglas Water. Douglas was the setting
of the first review by General Sikorski of the Polish
Army in Scotland and where the Highland Brigade's
standard was decorated with the order of Virtuti
Militari. Numerous distinguished guests visited the
Polish camp including the Duke of Kent. Many locals
fondly remember the friendly invasion by Polish
troops. In early August 1940 some 3,350 men were
located in Douglas. The 10th Cavalry Brigade left the
camp in October 1940 to participate in the defence of
the Scottish coast in the Angus sector. Then as the
10th Armoured Cavalry Brigade, part of the 1st Polish
Armoured Division, its soldiers achieved fame in
combat in France, Belgium, Holland and Germany. Today
the brigade has contributed troops to the
Balkans.
-
- Already the Gardening
Club has information and fascinating photographs from
two soldiers who were in the camp - a Mr Kulig of
Ontario, Canada and Mr Tabrecki of England. If any
readers have memories or photographs of their stay in
Douglas or can provide information about the monument
with its anchor and wings please write to Mr R
Ostrycharz, Polish Social and Educational Society, 5
Parkgrove Terrace, Glasgow G3 7SD and I will be very
pleased to pass on information to the Gardening
Club.
- Owing to the foot and
mouth disease plans were disrupted but it is hoped to
complete and open the Memorial Garden situated at the
edge of the village by 29th August 2002 with all three
Polish monuments situated in the garden.
- The memorial garden
demonstrates a shared heritage between the Scots and
the Poles.
-
- Directions:
- To get
to Douglas if travelling south on the M74 come off at
the service station at Junction 11 and look for the
A70 to Ayr, if northbound on the M74, Douglas is
signposted at Junction 12.
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- Draft
notes
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