UKH

I've just been catching up on the BBC series World on Fire. 

Early on, the older Polish brother, Gregor (elder brother of Jan), is seen fighting the Germans in woods around Danzig.  A bit later he is then avoiding the Germans in woods near to Dunkirk. 

How?? Did I miss part of the plot?  To get from Danzig to Dunkirk you'd have to wander right across Germany, which isn't that plausible for a Polish resistance fighter with a war on. 

Or is this just "dramatic license"? 

In reply to Coel Hellier:

could he have posed as a Polish ethnic German?

Having said that I think a few liberties were taken here and there.

In reply to wercat:

That bit did grate a bit.

still, possible he could have made it to Dunkirk:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sikorski%27s_tourists

In reply to Coel Hellier: In what uniform.  Left Poland to UK, joined free polish division?

In reply to Dr.S at work:

I guess so, given about 6 episodes of plot for the journey! 

In reply to wbo2:

There was no visit to the UK in between. 

Scene: woods outside Danzig. 

Next scene involving him: meets BEF Tommies outside Dunkirk! ??

Thence: embarks on boat at Dunkirk ==> UK, to be reunited with Jan.

In reply to Coel Hellier:

Yeah, that bit didn't make any sense but I was more intrigued when earlier he and the other Polish chap, who got killed soon after, linked up with British soldiers somewhere in a forest in Poland?! They fight with the Brits for a bit against a German patrol but then he has to run away again. 

I did some preliminary googling, because despite my reasonable knowledge of WWII history I had never heard of British troops being in Poland when and after Germany invaded. I'm always intrigued by those odd little stories of people ending up in seemingly bizarre places (one of the most successful Norwegian guerrilla groups that fought through the war in the mountains around Tromso included a Spanish republican, the first French troops into Paris who fought just before the city was liberated were a Chadian unit, although with people in it from all around the Francophone world etc.) but could find no suggestion that were British troops there. I suppose it was artistic licence. 

I didn't know that they dropped SOE people into Poland either like Harry does in the show. I know they put loads into Yugoslavia and down that way, but could access there from North Africa or airbases in the Med, but how did they fly planes over Germany to drop agents in Poland? That also seemed fanciful, although I could be totally wrong on that. 

In reply to Coel Hellier:

Kevin Costner rode from Dover to Hadrians Wall in a day in that notable documentary, Robin Hood - Prince of Thieves.

Thought you’d be more upset with the liberties taken in War of the Worlds

In reply to Coel Hellier:

The woods were not near Danzic (Gdansk), they were in eastern Poland as he tried to escape the country, presumably via one of the standard routes (the obvious hint was there were were Russians around). Tens of thousands of Poles made it to France before it fell to the Germans. Poland fell in October 1939 but even the Baltic route, via Lithuania,  was partly open until spring 1940 (after the Finland winter war ended, Lithuania was occupied by the Soviets; and Germany invaded Denmark and Belgium).

In reply to TobyA:

That's why I was locating that scene in the woods somewhere near Dunkirk, not in Poland! 

In reply to toad:

That's my personal favorite... from memory he went from Dover to Nottingham via Hadrian's Wall.

In reply to Coel Hellier:

After Googling I find that his name is Grzegorz not Gregor. Apologies to any Poles reading! 

In reply to Coel Hellier:

I thought the whole series was very watchable though. A bit like a war version of 'Love Actually'. I wasn't expecting an inconclusive ending however. 

In reply to Coel Hellier:

Some years ago I met an old Polish man who had done precisely that.  His family were, IIRC, involved in the Resistance and he was in danger of being arrested.  He and another man crossed Germany by avoiding towns, stealing food, and sleeping in barns and woods.  They managed to get to France and cross the Channel in a small stolen boat.  Amazing, extraordinary, but true!

In reply to toad:

Well, now you mention it...

The Martians seem to have had a serious technology upgrade (including antigravity), although strangely they still seemed to have opted for being fired from a cannon.

In reply to Coel Hellier:

So was the scene in Dunkirk or not?

In reply to Offwidth:

So did they get a ship from Lithuania to Denmark then on to France or something? Was neutral shipping not being stopped at the time?

It must have been when I reading history for my PhD, but I came across stories of British and American (and other) volunteers who went to Finland to help them fight the winter war (39-40) but who arrived to late to take part in the fighting (although large numbers of volunteer Swedes did fight). The Finns didn't really know what to do these 'volunteers' (chancers, adventurers and dreamers mainly it seemed) so I think gently kicked them out but I remember some got back to the UK via Shanghai and other via South Africa! A bit of a diversion to say the least.

In reply to TobyA:

All sorts of chancers got to Finland!

http://www.biggles.info/Details/23/

In reply to TobyA:

...

SOE did train Poles and dropped them back into Poland:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_Operations_Executive

In reply to toad:

Documentary!   I thought it was actual footage from the time

yes it looks very messy - I was disappointed

In reply to Dr.S at work:

I got my first knowledge of the early war in Norway from Biggles Defies the Swastika!  I think it was for doing well in some tests at school

In reply to TobyA:

I didn't think the actual SOE organization was formed until later in the war. However looked it up and it was actually officially formed quite early in July 1940; however this was just after Dunkirk I think.

In reply to TobyA:

I don't know the details Toby but it wasn't easy and I doubt very much it was on ordinary shipping. Many Poles didn't even escape Lithuania. There is this excellent resource that details individual struggles to continue the fight agaisnt the Nazis and the horrors perpetrated by Nazis and Russians, witnessed at the time.

http://www.polandinexile.com/escape.html

In reply to Coel Hellier:

That makes more sense except for the contact with Russian forces in freezing conditions which occurred in the same (maybe prior?) episode, that doesn't fit with springtime in Belgium/France. Big chunks of missing time and plot is the most charitable way of viewing what otherwise looks like a mish-mash of set pieces decorating and an implausibly woven web. Still, good TV.

jk

In reply to jkarran:

Yep, that is indeed the dis-junction.   From memory, all in the same episode:

1) Runs around with a mate in woods in Poland, encounters Russians.  Runs away.

2) Meets up with a troop of British soldiers in some woods, and joins them.  (Poland, or France/Belgium?)

3) They meet a troop of Germans in the same woods, and his mate gets shot; he runs away.   (Poland, or France/Belgium?)

4) He then turns up on the beach of Dunkirk, trying to get on a boat to the UK.

Whether you put 2 and 3 in Poland or in the West (I put them near Dunkirk, owing to 4, and the lack of British troops in Poland) you need a big leap across Germany somewhere between 1 and 4.