Always been a student of the Battle of Britain, from living over there.
The British had a habit of a 4 finger flight of a/c. They would go after a bomber in that formation. German fighters would come up and take them down 1 2 3 4, while they were trying to line up on the Bomber.. It was a dumbass thing to do.
they Poles, much like the Rasta of the Luftwaffe, loose formation of pilot and wingmen in two pairs.
Their training and experience, and their hate for the Nazis, that attacked their nation, they were Highly Motivated.
They would dive, and come up under a bomber, then pop up at a 100 yds or less, right on their tail. Flying RAF Hurricanes, which carried either 8 or 12 machine guns, in 303 caliber, they'd open up and tear the living crap out of the German bomber, and then drop away in a dive, before a Luftwaffe ME 109, could get on their tail.
The Poles didn't wait for a gun camera , to record a victory for them. They knew the bomber wasn't going to make it back to Germany, and that they had just killed half the crew at least, at close range.
The RAF was trained to open up at about 400 yds, and to not get closer, within range of the bomber's 8 mm guns, for fear of being hit. German fighters carried at least ONE 20 mm cannon in the nose, the RAF used rifle caliber 303s. The Poles knew they had to use them at close range, to make them effective.
After the Battle of Britain was over, the Spitfire Mk 2 and the Hurricane Mk 2s, started having at least one 20mm cannon in each wing.
As hunters and shooters, we know that a 303, equivalent to a 30/40 Krag, loses energy and trajectory at 400 yds.
Within 3 to 4 weeks, of operation, the Poles became the leading fighter squadron for the RAF, and ended the Battle of Britain, scoring twice the kills as the second highest scoring group, and having a small fraction of loses of any other RAF Squadron.
Basically in American terms... they had both Balls and Brains, and an intense hatred of German Nazis for motivation, of what they did to,and within Poland, the year earlier in 1939.
Poles fought in the military of Allied nations against Germany. They were always given the crap jobs, like they were disposable. But Polish forces were the ones that over and over again, held their own in the face of combat with Nazi forces, regardless in the Air or on the ground. Poland deserves more respect for their efforts in WW2, which no one seems to do, or as on here, the response is some worn out Polish Joke, about them being Stupid.
The Poles sacrificed MORE than any other allied nation in WW2, but their people never shirked standing up to fight the NAZIs, whatever Uniform of Allied Force they were wearing. They deserve respect, NOT a worn out Polish Joke on how dumb people think they are.
