Operation "Freston". A belated Allied mission, text and historical insert Marzena Kumosińska, drawings Tomasz Kleszcz, Lodz 2024, 60 pp., ISBN 978-83-8376-115-2 (print), 978-83-8376-116-9 (pdf)
Narracja komiksu zbudowana jest wokół postaci kpt. Antoniego Pospieszalskiego, cichociemnego uczestniczącego pod przybranym nazwiskiem w brytyjskiej misji obserwacyjnej „Freston”, pierwszej i jedynej alianckiej misji wojskowej skierowanej do Armii Krajowej w okupowanej przez Niemców Polsce. Bohaterami drugiego planu są żołnierze AK, którzy misję przyjmowali i ochraniali oraz dowódca AK. Pozostająca w zupełnym tle geopolityka jest w istocie zagadnieniem kluczowym tej opowieści, pozwalającym unaocznić młodemu odbiorcy tragiczną sytuację, w jakiej znalazła się Polska w 1945 roku.
***
The mission did not bear fruit. The primary objective (the transmission of knowledge of the relations in Poland to London on the eve of the Yalta Conference) was achieved at a marginal level. Only current radio reports reached London in time. The final written report with a very positive opinion of the Home Army and the Polish Underground State, drawn up in Moscow in late February/early March 1945, did not play a major role and the British, who were coming into contact with the Soviets in Poland, could not influence the course of history. Finally, the post-war world order decided at Yalta assumed the dominant position of the USSR in Central and Eastern Europe. Shortly afterwards, the Western powers withdrew their support for the Polish government in London.
As Antoni Pospieszalski points out in his memoirs, the mission was a failure. It was introduced to Poland but it was too late: "If a British military mission had been sent to Poland in 1943 or in the first half of 1944, during Operation Tempest and before the Warsaw Uprising, it might have had a bearing on the actions of the Home Army, and the attitude of the victorious Red Army towards the Polish armed effort. Perhaps even the Yalta Conference would have been different – if it had taken place." However, in 1945, "Colonel Hudson’s enthusiastic report could not have influenced the situation; it is probably buried deep in the Foreign Office files."
***
This material is for educational purposes and is not intended for sale.