In WWII
Poland fought on the side of the Allies and suffered for it since it was the
first country occupied by Nazi Germany. In the period 1940-45 the Polish
Government in Exile and its military forces contributed to the Allied cause by
taking part in multiple campaigns of war. Polish pilots fought for the RAF
during the Battle of Britain, Polish troops fought in N.Africa, Italy and
Western Europe and the Polish intelligence service operated in occupied Europe
and even had agents inside the German High Command.
Although it
is not widely known the Polish intelligence service had spy networks operating
throughout Europe and the Middle East. The Poles established their own spy
networks and also cooperated with foreign agencies such as Britain’s Secret
Intelligence Service and Special Operations Executive, the American Office
of Strategic Services and even the Japanese intelligence service. During
the war the Poles supplied roughly 80.000 reports to the British intelligence
services (1), including information on the German V-weapons (V-1
cruise missile and V-2 rocket) and reports from the German High Command (though
the agent ‘Knopf’) (2).
The
activities of the Polish government departments and intelligence agencies
attracted the attention of both Germany and the USA and UK and their
codebreakers were able to solve most of the Polish cipher systems.
