I just googled the "Sobieski", as that was the name of the ship my father was on in 1940 while on the Atlantic convoys. His seaman's book, in Polish and English, was his only official ID, as he escaped from internment camp in Romania with just the clothes on his back, and got to England after many adventures. I found the book last week at my aunt's apartment in Gdansk, where I went for her funeral. (Dad died 4 years ago).
Dad was a motorcycle scout in the Polish Army when the Germans invaded, and talked about accompanying a convoy of trucks to Romania. He told me the trucks contained the stuff from foreign embassies, and it was extremely important that it all get over the border ahead of the advancing Germans. Dad even shot a couple of Germans on a motorbike with sidecar, who were getting too close to the convoy.
Today while googling, I found that the Sobieski accompanied the Batory on these Atlantic convoys, and also helped get the Polish treasures to Canada. The "embassies" truck convoy to Romania sounds like the one that got the treasures out of Poland. It seems to me that my father helped in both of these actions, but as a simple soldier/seaman, had no idea what he was accompanying! Dad also sailed from Piraeus to Alexandria, to Marseille, to the west coast of France and then eventually to Liverpool and Scotland. He was also off Narvik.
Does anyone have more information about how the treasures escaped to safety? Is there a book, or a historical article about this? Did anyone else's father ever tell him/her a similar tale? It's a pity my father died before I had a chance to discover more about this, but I'd like to pass on the real story to his grandson. Of course, many people were trying to leave Poland a step ahead of the Nazis, but Dad always talked about this "special" convoy, and the fact that there were many non-Poles in it and the trucks were heavily guarded.
Any information, preferably in English, would be greatly appreciated. Dad's name was Waclaw Klinke, and other relatives were Bandrowski, Plenkiewicz, and Wahl.
