Written in pencil on the wall of the candle store at Audley End House in Essex is a list. In the shadows for decades, this unassuming scrawl has now been deciphered as the names of six Polish men. Research by English Heritage – who now take care of the House – has revealed who they were and why they were there.
They include a 43-year-old father of two, fluent in five languages; a highly strung army officer who loved horse riding; a teacher; a film star and two young men in their early twenties.
These men were members of a select group, trained to drop behind enemy lines into occupied Poland to fight for their homeland during WW2. For it was eighty years ago today, on 1 May 1942, that Audley End became the principal training school for the Cichociemni, the Polish section of the Special Operations Executive.
Their fascinating story of heroism and sacrifice resonates with the current terrible events in Ukraine. Changing political boundaries and the movement of peoples within Eastern Europe over the centuries mean there are deep connections between Poles and Ukrainians. Of the six men whose names are scratched in pencil onto the wall in the candle store, one, Karol Dorwski, came from Lviv and another, Franciszek Socha, studied at university there. The warm welcome Ukrainian refugees have received in Poland today speaks to these historic connections and also reflects the Poles’ collective memory of destruction and displacement during WW2.
Yet their ties also extend to Britain. Audley End was known as Special Training School (STS) 43. Those who trained there were elite special operations paratroopers. They arrived having already completed paramilitary and fitness courses in the Scottish Highlands and parachute training in Cheshire. Most had also done specialist courses in sabotage, weapons handling and signalling.
At Audley End they took two courses: Underground Warfare and Briefing. The former tested their physical fitness, mastery of weapons, use of explosives and demolitions, and skills in communications and irregular warfare. The house’s extensive grounds and relative privacy made it the ideal site for such exploits. The Briefing course occupied the last six weeks of training. Operatives concocted individual cover stories or ‘legends’, chose an alias and were given false documents and authentic Polish clothes. Those who successfully completed it took an oath of allegiance to the Polish Home Army (AK). They then waited in a holding station until selected for a mission in Poland.
2,613 Poles volunteered for special operations during the war, with 606 of them getting through the rigorous training course. 316 were later dropped into occupied Poland; the majority of them trained at Audley End.
These incredibly brave personnel were at the forefront of Polish resistance. Many became important staff officers in the AK, taking part in widespread partisan operations culminating in uprisings in Wilno, Lviv and Warsaw. 103 were killed in action or murdered by the Gestapo, and a further nine were executed by the Communists after the war.
Today, the Cichociemni are revered in Poland, with many commemorated with statues or plaques in their home towns. Their brave and heroic service inspired GROM, Poland’s modern special forces unit, to adopt their name and continue their traditions.
Britain, Poland, Ukraine. Then, as now, an incommunicable bond was sparked by conflict. After the war, five of the six men settled here as refugees. Franciszek Socha married a Scottish woman and returned to teaching. The film star Karol Dorwski died in London in 1980. Another settled in Bath.
Now, more than ever, it is vital we remember their sacrifice, and the shared connection, renewed once again, between our three peoples.
Sir Tim Laurence is Chairman of English Heritage. A new display on STS 43 at Audley End opens today.
