How Allied airmen defied death to aid the Warsaw Uprising in 1944

03/08/2025
History

In the heart of German-occupied Europe, amid the smouldering ruins of Warsaw, a unique chapter of international solidarity unfolded in the summer of 1944. While the world watched the Polish capital fight for its life, a multinational force of Allied airmen embarked on what would become one of the most dangerous and heroic aerial missions of World War II — the Warsaw Airlift.

On 3 August 1944, with the Warsaw Uprising just days old, the Allied command made a bold decision: to launch supply drops over the city to aid the Polish Home Army (Armia Krajowa), fighting one of the deadliest urban battles in European history. The airmen—mainly from the RAF, South African Air Force (SAAF), and the Polish 1586 Special Duty Squadron—took off from Brindisi, Italy. Their missions required flying more than 2,600 km round-trip, through heavily defended Nazi airspace, under the cover of night.

Some crews returned on fumes, landing in Brindisi with empty tanks. Others never made it back.

The missions began with Polish crews alone. Soon, British and South African squadrons joined, including No. 148 RAF, No. 178 RAF, and SAAF’s 31st and later 34th Squadrons. These flights were perilous — low-level, under heavy fire, over a burning city.

One man who never forgot was Bombardier Bryan Desmond Jones. Recalling the pre-flight briefing, he remembered a Polish officer rising to address the assembled Allied airmen:

“He was very emotional. He said, ‘My country, Poland, is in serious trouble. And I plead with you – South African and British gentlemen – to help Poland tonight.”

That officer, Captain Zbigniew Szostak, would die in action the very next day.

The airmen flew over Warsaw at altitudes as low as 300 feet. Flak, searchlights, and night fighters haunted every mission. George Robert Adams of No. 178 RAF Squadron described the surreal nightmare of flying into such concentrated fire:

“We came in about three hundred feet… we flew over the city. We were being fired at… Our guns shot at the searchlights. Without that, we’d have crashed.”

Air Marshal Sir John Slessor later captured the sheer audacity of these missions:

“It was quite another thing to bring a big aircraft down to a thousand feet… over a great city, itself the scene of fires and flashes from guns and bursting shell.”

While the British and Commonwealth crews continued the airlift at great cost, political roadblocks hampered American efforts. Franklin D. Roosevelt tried in vain to persuade Stalin to allow U.S. planes to refuel at Soviet-controlled airfields, a denial that cost precious time.

Only in September did the Soviets relent. On 18 September 1944, 107 B-17 bombers from the USAAF flew in from England. Flying high at 5,000 feet, they dropped 1,284 containers—tragically, only about 20% reached insurgent-held zones.

Still, for Warsaw’s embattled residents, the sight of Allied aircraft overhead brought hope: a signal that they were not forgotten.

The cost of this solidarity was staggering. Dozens of planes were shot down; hundreds of airmen perished. In a telegram to South African Field Marshal Jan Smuts, Polish President Władysław Raczkiewicz wrote:

“The epic flights will not be forgotten by the Polish people for many years to come.”

Smuts replied with equal gravity:

“We are proud to have stood by Warsaw in her hour of ordeal.”

According to the Warsaw Rising Museum, 112 Polish, 90 British, 43 South African, and 12 American airmen died supporting the Warsaw Uprising. Their names are now etched on the Memorial Wall at Freedom Park in Warsaw — a roll call of international sacrifice:

First Lieutenant Francis E. Akins
Captain Leonard Charles Allen
Lieutenant Peter Herbert Andrews
Second Lieutenant Clyde Alison Arrants
Corporal (Navigator) Włodzimierz Augustyn
Warrant Officer Wilhelm Andrzej J. Balcarek
Sergeant Fernard Joseph Barrett
Warrant Officer Murray Alexander Baxter
Flying Officer Ely Berenson
Warrant Officer (Pilot) Józef Bielicki
Warrant Officer (Radio Operator/Gunner) Stefan Bohanes
Flying Officer Albert Milvron Bonney
Warrant Officer Edward Bradshaw
Lieutenant John Christopher Branch-Clark
Warrant Officer 1 Douw B. Brandsma
Warrant Officer II Herbert James Brown
Lieutenant Oliver Coleman
Lieutenant Cedrick Arthur Cooke
Lieutenant Percy Gordon Coutts
Major (Navigator) Stanisław Jerzy Daniel
Flight Sergeant Robert Samuel Darling
Sergeant Sydney John Davis
Technical Sergeant Frank P. De Cillis
Flying Officer Ronald George Devine
Warrant Officer (Bombardier) Tadeusz Dubowski
Corporal (Radio Operator) Józef Dudziak
Second Lieutenant (Bombardier) Konstanty Dunin-Horkowicz
Corporal (Gunner) Franciszek Dziaduła
Captain Eric Arnold Endler
Warrant Officer 1 Jacobus Burger Erasmus
Lieutenant Keith Fairweather
Warrant Officer (Pilot) Włodzimierz Sergiusz Fedziński
Warrant Officer (Gunner) Jan Florkowski
Second Lieutenant (Pilot) Mieczysław Witold Foczpaniak
Sergeant Cecil Edward Foreman
Second Lieutenant (Pilot) Stanisław Zbigniew Franczak
Sergeant Edward George Fretwell
Sergeant William George Clement Garner
Warrant Officer (Pilot) Bolesław Graff
Second Lieutenant Robert George Hamilton
Staff Sergeant Paul F. Haney
Sergeant Ronald Rudolph Eugene Hartog
Lieutenant Arthur James Hastings
First Lieutenant Paul R. Hibbard
Lieutenant Grattan Chesney Hooey
Sergeant Sidney Frank Horne
Sergeant William Huddart
Sergeant Herbert Hudson
Lieutenant Eric Ben Horton Impey
Lieutenant (Navigator) Bolesław Antoni S. Jasiński
Lieutenant Tadeusz Jencka
Corporal (Gunner) Edward Jodis
Sergeant Gordon Wallace Joslyn
Corporal (Bombardier) Jan Kantowski
Second Lieutenant (Navigator) Stefan Gabriel Kleniewski
Lieutenant Walter Klokow
Corporal (Gunner) Bronisław Kłosowski
Second Lieutenant Władysław Kozioł
Second Lieutenant Zbigniew Jerzy Kozłowski
Second Lieutenant (Navigator) Tadeusz Lach
Lieutenant Ray Arras Lavery
Sergeant Thomas Law
Captain Gordon Lawrie
Lieutenant Ralph Laurence Lawson
Warrant Officer Jasper Victor Lee
Sergeant Peter Henry George Lees
Lieutenant Herbert Henry Lewis
Lieutenant Bernard Thomas Loxton
Staff Sergeant George A. MacPhee
Flying Officer George Dougald MacRae
Warrant Officer (Gunner) Rudolf Majewski
Sergeant (Gunner) Stanisław Malczyk
Lieutenant Harry Allpress Ruston Male
Sergeant (Pilot) Brunon Malejka
Sergeant Clifford Manley
Warrant Officer (Flight Engineer) Jan Zdzisław Marecki
Sergeant Leslie Mayes
Lieutenant Allan Graham McCabe
Lieutenant Allan John McInnes
Flight Sergeant Hugh Valance McLanachan
Second Lieutenant Myron S. Merrill
Warrant Officer II Joseph Arnold Meyer
Sergeant Matthew Thomas Mountain
Second Lieutenant (Gunner) Tadeusz Mroczko
Warrant Officer (Flight Engineer) Stanisław Józef Mucha
Second Lieutenant (Gunner) Adam Mühl
Lieutenant Anthony James Munro
Sergeant John Richard William Nickerson
Major Izaak Johannes Meyer Odendaal
Corporal (Gunner) Tadeusz Ogrodnik
Warrant Officer 1 Terence Desmond O’Keefe
Captain (Navigator) Franciszek Kazimierz Omylak
Corporal (Radio Operator) Jan Franciszek Ożga
Warrant Officer Ernest Henry John Page
Flight Sergeant Roland Charles Pain
Warrant Officer 1 Douglas John Palmer
Corporal (Gunner) Jan Paszkiewicz
Warrant Officer (Radio Operator) Witold Paździor
First Lieutenant Robert O. Peters
Lieutenant Gordon Bruce Pitt
Captain (Pilot) Zygmunt Pluta
Corporal (Gunner) Bolesław Podsiadły
Sergeant John Edward Porter
Sergeant William Pratt
Corporal (Pilot) Jan Radwan-Kużelewski
Captain Nicolaas van Rensburg
Sergeant Gerard Thomas Robinson
Flight Sergeant Richard William Robinson
Sergeant Peter Henry Roots
Warrant Officer Wincenty Tadeusz Rutkowski
Second Lieutenant (Pilot/Gunner) Edmund Rygiel
Sergeant Richard Herbert Charles Scott
Sergeant Arthur Sharpe
Second Lieutenant Forrest D. Shaw
Staff Sergeant Walter P. Shimshock
Sergeant (Gunner) Roman Jakub Sikorski
Senior Sergeant (Gunner) Józef Skorczyk
Lieutenant (Bombardier) Kazimierz Sorówka
Warrant Officer 1 Reginald Walter Stafford
Warrant Officer II John Atholl Campbell Steel
Lieutenant Timothy A. Stewart
Sergeant Rupert Vincent Stonier
Lieutenant Alan d’Egville Scott
Sergeant George Swift
Corporal (Flight Engineer) Alfred Jan Szmigielski
Captain (Pilot) Zbigniew Marcin Szostak
Warrant Officer (Flight Engineer) Antoni Jan Szyller
Flight Lieutenant Edwin Charles Thyer
Senior Sergeant Jerzy Józef Truszkowski
Sergeant Edward Hall Turner
First Lieutenant Joseph J. Vigna
Corporal (Radio Operator) Karol Wałaszek
Corporal (Radio Operator) Ludwik Wantulok
Lieutenant Thomas Tennant Watson
Sergeant (Gunner) Bolesław Wawrzak
Warrant Officer (Pilot) Bernard Weber
Sergeant (Radio Operator) Edward Weinz
Warrant Officer (Bombardier) Bernard Wichrowski
Second Lieutenant (Pilot) Kazimierz Widacki
Sergeant John Winter
Sergeant (Radio Operator/Gunner) Józef Witek
Sergeant (Flight Engineer) Leon Zygmunt Witkowski
Warrant Officer II Ben Nevis Woods
Warrant Officer (Pilot) Józef Henryk Woroch
Lieutenant (Navigator) Lucjan Piotr Woytanowicz
Flight Sergeant Ronald Zambra
Warrant Officer (Flight Engineer) Edmund Zieliński

Freedom Park in Warsaw. Photo: Warsaw Rising Museum

For those who survived, the bonds forged in those deadly nights remained unbroken. In the 1980s, former airmen reunited to form the “Warsaw ’44 Club” and later the “Air Bridge Association.” They published newsletters, held reunions, and honoured their fallen comrades across continents. In 2006, a group of veterans visited the Warsaw Rising Museum. Some returned to Poland to unveil memorials. Others remained in touch until the very end.

Among those who risked their lives to aid the Warsaw Uprising were also the English – steadfast friends of Poland. One of them is Jim Auton, who served as an RAF airman and flew over the burning city in August 1944 to drop supplies for the fighting Home Army. On the night of 13–14 August, his crew spent a full 50 minutes over the capital, braving enemy fire and great danger until Jim was certain the cargo had reached the resistance.

After the war, Jim Auton never turned his back on Poland. It was thanks to his initiative that a memorial was erected at Newark-on-Trent Cemetery – the largest Polish military airmen’s burial site in the world.

The monument honours both the Allied aircrews who lost their lives flying missions over Warsaw and the unwavering courage of the Home Army and the people of the capital who stood up in a desperate struggle for freedom. For Poles in exile, it is more than a gesture of gratitude – it is a solemn pledge never to forget people like Jim.

Jim Auton died in January 2020. The British Poles editorial team had the honour of attending the funeral Mass at St. Mary Magdalene Church in Newark and the burial of Jim Auton on 6 February 2020 at Newark-on-Trent Cemetery.

Jim Auton and Warsaw Air Bridge Memorial. Newark-on-Trent. Photo: Nikola Lakovic

Jim was laid to rest just steps from the Warsaw Air Bridge Memorial, which, as few Poles living here today know, he built in 1989.

The funeral Mass at St. Mary Magdalene Church in Newark. Photo: British Poles

You can read more about Jim Auton in our article Jim Auton, RAF hero of the Warsaw Uprising, was laid to rest with hundreds of strangers paying their respects.

All that happened as from the Vistula’s eastern bank, the Soviet Red Army watched as Warsaw was reduced to rubble. They intervened only in January 1945, long after the city’s fall. By then, over 180,000 Poles had died. Some 650,000 residents were expelled; the city, home to nearly a million before the war, ceased to exist in any meaningful form.

Communism would cast its long shadow over Poland for the next 44 years.

Today, memorials and commemorations across Poland honour these silent heroes of the sky. Official ceremonies mark their sacrifice, and new monuments continue to appear. Their legacy lives on not only in bronze and stone, but in the collective memory of a nation that remembers who flew through the fire — and who did not turn away from Poles in desperate need.

Source: Warsaw Rising Museum, British Poles

Photo: IPN, British Poles, Warsaw Rising Museum

Tomasz Modrzejewski