The upper house of Poland's parliament, the Senate, on Wednesday unanimously passed a resolution to mark the 80th anniversary of the Battle of Britain, in which 145 Polish pilots fought alongside British airmen and thousands of ground personnel, according to the Polish embassy in London.
Conservative Senator Marek Komorowski, one of the initiators of the resolution, said that the battle in the skies over southern England eight decades ago helped defend Britain against German air force attacks and was of key importance to the eventual Allied victory in World War II, public broadcaster Polish Radio’s IAR news agency reported.
The resolution by the Polish upper house came after UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and the Polish ambassador to Britain, Arkady Rzegocki, last month marked Battle of Britain Day by laying wreaths at a military museum in Uxbridge, west London.
The Battle of Britain is the name given to a series of aircraft battles that were waged from July to the end of October 1940 against the German Air Force (Luftwaffe) to save Britain from Nazi invasion.
Polish pilots are credited with shooting down more than 200 enemy aircraft during the campaign.
A total of 29 Polish pilots died in the Battle of Britain, including eight from the famous No. 303 Squadron, which downed more German planes than any other Allied squadron fighting in the skies over Britain in 1940, the IAR news agency reported.
(gs/pk)
Source: IAR