File:Polish Navy ORP Wodnik (52065053904).jpg

A Polish destroyer that saved Cowes from destruction in WWII is celebrated on the Isle of Wight by locals who are still grateful to the sailors who came to their rescue. On the night of May 4-5, 1942, the crew of ORP Błyskawica repelled a Luftwaffe attack on Cowes. The destroyer was serving alongside the Royal Navy under the Polish flag after having left its home port Gdynia at the start of the war. The crew then helped extinguish fires and rescue the town's inhabitants. About 70 people died in the air raids. To mark the 80th anniversary, the Polish warship ORP Wodnik visited Cowes this week. When the Luftwaffe raid began, Commander Wojciech Francki immediately gave the order to return fire. The Błyskawica quickly became a floating anti-aircraft base. According to regulations, the Błyskawica had to disarm during its overhaul, but the ship’s captain Francki had earlier spotted German air reconnaissance planes and decided to re-arm the ship and issue a combat alert. The firing of the ship’s large calibre guns forced the Luftwaffe to fly higher, affecting the accuracy of its bombing. During the attack, the crew took a small boat out into the harbour and lit smoke canisters in an attempt to obscure the town from its attackers. Due to the actions of the captain and his crew, a large proportion of the bombs failed to reach their targets with many of the incendiaries falling harmlessly onto nearby marshland. After the raid ended, the Polish sailors were sent into the town to help residents with firefighting and rescue operations. The ship’s guns became extremely hot, and the crew resorted to passing up buckets of river water in an attempt to cool them down. It is said that the hands of some sailors were permanently deformed from the heat. The events of that night forged a bond of friendship between the people of Cowes and the crew of the Błyskawica that has endured until today and one of the local squares is named after Lieutenant Commander Wojciech Francki. After the 1942 raid, the overhaul of the Błyskawica was completed it went on to take part in convoy and patrol duties, engaging both U-boats and the Luftwaffe in the Atlantic and Mediterranean. Today, the Błyskawica is a museum ship and lies in dry dock in Gdynia.