Parachuting into Poland, 1944

This firsthand account, never before published in English, details a secret World War II mission in 1944 called Operation Salamander, in which Tadeusz Chciuk (writing as Marek Celt) parachuted into German-occupied Poland with the enigmatic political adviser Dr. Józef Retinger. The goal of the mission was to persuade the Polish underground forces and political leadership to accept that it was imperative to start negotiating with the Soviets right away, as they were now to be considered Poland’s allies and had the full support of the British and Americans. The story culminates in Operation Wildhorn III, in which Chciuk and Retinger were picked up in Poland by a British plane that landed just a short distance from a significant detachment of German forces, and flew them to safety.

The late Marek Celt, pen name of Tadeusz Chciuk-Celt (1916–2001), was a second lieutenant in the Polish Army who twice parachuted into occupied Poland on secret missions during World War II and was awarded the Virtuti Militari, Poland’s highest military decoration. After the war he worked for Radio Free Europe for forty years.
Wojciech Frazik is a Polish historian with particular expertise in the history of the wartime Polish Underground. He lives in Kraków and works for the Institute of National Remembrance (IPN) there.
Jan Chciuk-Celt grew up in Germany, the son of Polish refugees. He lives in Portland, Oregon.

Jan Chciuk-Celt
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 220
Bibliographic Info: 31 photos, appendices, notes, index
Copyright Date: 2013
pISBN: 978-0-7864-7460-8
eISBN: 978-1-4766-0338-4
Imprint: McFarland

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments  v
Introduction by Jan Chciuk-Celt  1
One. Prologue  27
Two. Prehistory  31
Three. With Captain Paisley in Bari  49
Four. 4.4.44  69
Five. Salamander, the Conspirator  89
Six. The Tragedy of the Jews  114
Seven. Patient Józef Brzoza  117
Eight. The Third Bridge  140
Nine. The End of the Song  161
Appendix 1. Salamander’s Report  179
Appendix 2. Source Documents  182
Chapter Notes  201
Index  209