ORZEL: THE LEGEND OF WWII

After the welcoming party, Orzel was examined to see what damage she had sustained. Her conning tower and bow were damaged, and the propellers had been damaged too - probably when she struggled off the rock at Lawica Strachu. Orzel's crew were happy to see their friends in Wilk, which had reached Rosyth on 20 September 1939. All of Orzel's men had friends in Wilk. Grudzinski saw his friend Boguslaw Krawczyk who was the Commander of Wilk. They had been in the same class at the Polish Naval Academy. Piasecki also saw his best friend, Boleslaw Romanowski, who later became one of the most successful Allied submarine commanders. Of course there was a new problem in communicating with the British, since no-one spoke good English, and some of them spoke no English at all. The British officers were amazed at Mokrski's improvised maps. One suggested that as they were of such unusual interest, they should be kept safely in a museum. In the event, that is what happened to them. The unique, excellent hand-drawn maps stayed in London for a while. Orzel remained in Dundee for repairs until 1 December, before going to Rosyth where three British officers, Lt.Cdr. D.A.Fraser, radio operator L.W.Jones and signaller W.F.Green joined the crew.

Before that, on 16 November, while Orzel was in Dundee for refit, Jan Grudzinski was decorated by the famous Polish General Sikorski with the "Krzyz Srebrny Order Virtuti Militari" (Silver Cross Medal, Virtuti Militari). The four other officers and 16 members of the crew were decorated with the "Krzyz Walecznych".The awards were made by Sikorski and Count Raczinsky,the Polish Ambassador to London,aboard HMS Unicorn, the Naval HQ in Dundee.

When Wilk escaped, her entire crew had been decorated, and Wilk's crew wondered why the whole of Orzel's crew had not been similarly decorated after their successful escape. The officers of both submarines discussed the matter, but none could understand why Orzel's crew should have been treated differently. Orzel's officers suggested that it was because not all of the crewmen had played a big part in passing through the Sund Narrows. Wilk's officers took a different view, and pointed out that every crewmember had been in the submarine throughout its dangerous escapade. They were of the opinion that just because some had less responsibility than others did, it was a mistake not to decorate them all.

The most likely explanation may be that towards the end of the of Orzel's odyssey, while she was in the Skaggerak and crossing the North Sea, discipline had broken down amongst some of the crewmen. Everyone was tired, dirty, hungry, and suffering from nervous exhaustion. The reaction as their state of high nervous tension gave way to feelings of relief after surviving the most dangerous part of the journey through the Sund Narrows, had caused some of them not to behave exactly as they should. Grudzinski did not like that, as he was a stickler for military discipline. The crew concluded that this must be why they had not all been decorated.

Some considered that Grudzinski's inexperience as a Commander was exposed here, and that he had made a mistake in not pressing for the whole crew to be decorated. But it was the only mistake he made. Despite having been less than a year in the submarine service, he had quickly learned how to control the submarine and lead the crew, but there were those who felt he had let them down somewhat in respect of the decorations. Many authors have said he did well in the situation, but the breakdown in discipline must have been the reason for not awarding decorations to everyone, and to some, it seemed a harsh decision.

However, everyone respected Orzel's crew. They were all celebrities. Even the British radio operator, who was new to submarines, felt honoured to be a member of the crew. Although he did not understand a lot of the things his new friends spoke about, as the Poles had some difficulty with English grammar, he spent a lot of time with them, and began to feel that he was participating in their legendary odyssey. He was excited to be serving on Orzel, and thought that other British radio operators should envy him.

Finally on 8 December 1939, the British radio and press informed the whole world that Wilk and Orzel were at Allied ports after successfully passing through the Sund Narrows, and that earlier German broadcasts had lied when they claimed to have sunk all of the Polish submarines in the Baltic Sea. The French press coined a nice nickname "le sous-marin fantome" (the phantom submarine) for the Orzel, since it had managed to reach Great Britain without being detected by the Soviets and Germans.

King George VI personally presented Jan Grudzinski with the Distinguished Service Order. Many reporters were so interested in Orzel and her commander and crew that they visited the submarine every day in December. Winston Churchill said, "The escape of the submarine Orzel is an epic. Sailing from Gdynia when the Germans invaded Poland, she first cruised in the Baltic, putting into the neutral port of Tallin on September 15 to land her sick captain. The Estonian authorities decided to intern the vessel, placed a guard on board, and removed her charts and the breech-blocks of her guns. Undismayed, her commanding officer put to sea, after overpowering the guard. In the ensuing weeks the submarine was continually hunted by sea and air patrols, but eventually, without even charts, made her escape from the Baltic into the North Sea. Here she was able to transmit a faint wireless signal to a British station giving her supposed position, and on October 14 was met and escorted into safety by a British destroyer"

Before Orzel started to carry out patrols, one of her crewmembers, Wladyslaw Gwiazdinski, was dismissed from the submarine, and transferred to the Polish depot ship Gdynia, which was based at Devonport. During the whole of the escape trip he had discouraged the entire crew with pessimistic forebodings of gloom and despondency, because of the depressing news emanating from Poland. Lt.Cdr. Fraser also left Orzel, to command the British submarine HMS Oswald. (Subsequently sunk in the Mediterranean by the Italian destroyer Vivaldi on 30 July 1940). Lt.Cdr. Keith d'Ombrain, who was pleased to be posted to the famous Orzel, replaced him.

After a refit carried out by the Caledon Shipyard in Dundee,Orzel undocked from Camperdown Dock on 14 December,moved to the Eastern Wharf,and proceeded on sea trials the following day. Orzel was assigned to the Second Submarine Flotilla, based at Rosyth, and was ready to carry out patrols in the North Sea. Her first patrol was during December when, along with several Royal Navy ships, she escorted two convoys. Her second patrol was on 29 December. In company with four destroyers, she escorted four vessels to Bergen. Orzel's crew spent New Years Day in Bergen. Leaving Bergen in January, Orzel, and the four destroyers escorted a large convoy of 35 ships from Norway to Great Britain.

At last Orzel set out for her first lone patrol on 18 January 1940. She patrolled near the Skaggerak, but did not encounter any German ships. On 26 February King George VI visited the 2nd flotilla of submarines and visited Jan Grudzinski and Boguslaw Krawczyk of the Wilk. He showed an interest in the Polish crews and their achievements, and had a personal chat with Grudzinski, but it is not known what they discussed.

In March, on her fourth patrol, Orzel was off the Dutch Coast when she found a ship flying the Danish flag. According to international rules, Grudzinski stopped the ship and examined the vessel's papers. The Danes at first thought they had been stopped by a U-boat, but were happy to find that it was a Polish submarine. The ship was allowed to continue on her route, and Orzel returned to Rosyth.

Part 6: ORZEL DISCOVERS THE INVASION