1 Konstanty Okołów Zubkowski was born on 30/09/1919 in Aleksandrówka, in Krasnoyarsk, in Siberia. It was a small Siberian village where Polish exiles were deported for participating in the national uprisings against the Russians in the 19 th and 20 th century. Aleksandrówka exists until today. In 1990 s, 70 per cent of the village population were Polish descendants. Nowadays, there are approx. 80 Poles living there. Today it is a city and the administrative centre of Krasnoyarsk Krai, in Russia, located on the Yenisei River. It is the third largest city in Siberia after Novosibirsk and Omsk. First documentary entries about this Okołów-Zubkowski family can be found in 1692 when King Sigismund III had donated small estate in Nowogródek, district to wellestablished family of Okołów-Zubkowski. The estate and surrounding villages will be known as Zubkowo (today in Nowogródek Province). The Okołów Zubkowski family was involved in the Napoleonic Wars and two Polish uprisings in 1830, and in 1863. Mieczysław Okołów-Zubkowski, Konstanty s father was sentenced and deported to Siberia for taking part in student revolt at the University of Wilno. He settled down in in Nieśwież, got himself a job and married a daughter of another deportee, Julia Okołów Zubkowska. She was holding the same surname before she married her husband Mieczysław. Although Julia was coming from Okołów-Zubkowski family she was not directly connected with her future husband and therefore they could legally be married. After Poland regained her independence, Mieczysław was allowed to return to Poland in 1923. Konstanty was born in Siberia in 1919 and his daughter Irena in 1925 in Poland. Konstanty attended the Wƚadysƚaw Syrokomla Gymnasium in Nieśwież. Just after he graduated from the gymnasium he declared his wishes to become a war naval officer. None believed in him and his chance to pass the entry exams to study navy. This upset Konstanty (a very stubborn young man, as he described himself), and against the odds he decided to apply to became a naval officer. In summer 1938, when he was taking a holiday break after passing his matriculation exams (Matura Matriculation- it can be compared to A-Level exams in Britain) he had received a letter inviting him to take the entry exams at the Navy Cadet School in Bydgoszcz. There were 206 other candidates applying with him and only 60 places available for prospective students. To his surprise, Konstanty was accepted to study at the Naval Officer Cadet School in Bydgoszcz. His sister Irena was very proud of Konstanty s achievement and she was showing his photography to her friends. A few years later, he graduated from the cadet school being on the list of first 10 best performing students. On 1/09/1939, Konstanty s family was staying in Nieśwież, at that time Nowogródzkie voivodeship (Poland). Today Niasviž- Nieśwież (in Belarusian), a city in Belarus. It is the administrative centre of the Nieśwież District (region) of Minsk Province.
2 1/09/1939 Miraculously, Konstanty s parents were not sent to Siberia and they were allowed to stay in their family home. However, Konstanty s father and his sister were both brutally shot by Germans as hostages (victims of a raid in Nieśwież) in 1944. His mother survived the war and arrived to the UK joining his son and his new wife in 1950 s. However, she only stayed a year with Konstanty s new family and she returned to Poland in December 1953. She died in 1988 in Poland. Konstanty was visiting his mother in Poland every second year beginning in mid. 50 s. Konstanty on ORP Iskra-Spark In 1939, he was sent to be trained to ORP Iskra, Polish Navy training tall ship ORP Iskra Spark. ORP ISKRA
3 At the beginning of WW2 the training vessel Iskra (the sailing ship) under the command of Cdr. Pacewicz was positioned in the vicinity of Casablanca, which it entered on 2 September 1939. On 10 September, the crew of Iskra demonstrated their bravery and determination rescuing the crew of the French minelayer Pluton which suffered a mine explosion on board. Konstanty remembered that event. After this incident, Iskra moved on to Port Lyautey (French Morocco) where, with the exception of a few crewmembers, the crew and the cadets disembarked. It is from that port that Cdr. Pacewicz managed to get to Great Britain. When WW2 broke up, new cadets were on their study trip on ORP Iskra from Casablanca to Canary Islands. They all spent first few days of WW2 in Casablanca. In the middle of September 1939, all cadets were transferred to France via SS Marrakesh and then from France to Devonport in the UK, where their navy school was also relocated. In December 1939, Konstanty was sent to service on destroyer ORP Burza (Storm). Konstanty on ORP Burza-Storm ORP Burza
4 Konstanty was serving on Burza when a Polish destroyer was assisting British forces off Norway in April 1940 and in the English Channel in May 1940 during the evacuation of Dunkirk. The objective of this mission was to rescue seamen, who miraculously escaped death fighting on the sea. As German tanks were waiting for the rescuers on the beaches, the allies task was to secure marines escape. Burza was participating in those actions shooting German tanks from the sea, which allowed sailors to escape being captured by Germans. After the Germans invaded France in May 1940, Burza was assigned to several missions off the coast of that nation. During that time two enemy s bombs made a direct hit on Burza, causing some serious damage. But the ship s anti-aircraft fire was effective, so the German planes broke off the attack and returned to base. Fortunately, Burza was able to limp back to Dover, England, for temporary repairs. After spending several months being repaired at Portsmouth, Burza was assigned to escort coastal convoys. On 26 October 1940, Burza assisted in the rescue of survivors from the large British ocean liner Empress of Britain, which had been heavily damaged by a German bomber. Burza rescued 254 men from the ship before it was sunk by a German U-boat. But on 26 October 1940, Burza was involved in a collision with the British anti-submarine warfare (ASW) trawler HMS Arsenal in a very dense fog. Arsenal was sunk in the collision, while Burza suffered some serious damage to her bow. The destroyer was able to make it back to port, but had to undergo substantial repairs over the next few months. After the repairs to Burza were completed by the end of July 1941, the ship was assigned to escort convoys between England and Canada. According to Konstanty, Burza successfully escorted numerous convoys and there were many confrontations with deadly German U-boats. Konstanty on HMS King George V After the evacuation of Dunkirk, Konstanty and his cadet colleagues were sent back to Devonport to continue their naval studies. In spring 1941, before promotion, all young cadets were sent to serve on the Royal Navy ships (for 8 months). Konstanty as a young midshipman was sent to the battleship King George V, one of the newest in the Royal Navy. At that time he was 22. After he got promoted he was sent to practice on fast hunters (another 9 months). In 1942, he also took a training related to the use of submarine weapon. Konstanty and the sinking of the Bismarck battleship When Bismarck sailed for the Atlantic in May 1941, HMS Hood, together with the newly commissioned battleship Prince of Wales and several other groups of British capital ships were sent out in pursuit of Bismarck. Their objective was to interrupt Bismarck before they could break into the Atlantic and attack Allied convoys. Bismarck and her sister ship Tirpitz were the largest battleships ever built by Germany, and two of the largest built by any European power. Bismarck engaged
5 and destroyed the battle cruiser HMS Hood, the pride of the Royal Navy, and forced the battleship HMS Prince of Wales to retreat. HMS Hood sank with 1418 men aboard in only three minutes. Only three people survived. Despite these problems, she had hit Bismarck three times. Her loss had a profound effect on the British people. After sinking Hood, Bismarck had disappeared in the fog. It was eventually found by the British battleships. Rodney and King George V both participated in the last battle of the battleship Bismarck. On the night of 26/27/05/1941, Bismarck was hit by a single torpedo from a Swordfish (a torpedo bomber biplane) which jammed Bismarck's rudder and steering gear 15 to port. This resulted in her being, initially, able to only steam in a large circle. Repair efforts by the crew to free the rudder failed. Bismarck attempted to steer by alternating the power of her 3 propeller shafts, resulted in the ship being forced to sail towards King George V and Rodney, two British battleships that had been pursuing Bismarck from the west. At 23:40, on 26 May 1941, Bismarck sent the signal "Ship unmanoeuvrable. We will fight to the last shell. Throughout that night, Bismarck was the target of intermittent torpedo attacks by the tribal-class destroyers. The constant worrying tactics of the British helped wear down the morale of the Germans and deepened the fatigue of an already exhausted crew. On 27 May 1941, HMS Rodney and King George V drew closer to Bismarck. After they opened fire in the morning Bismarck had returned it. However, her inability to steer and her list to port severely affected her shooting accuracy. Her low speed of 20 km/h also made her an easy target and she was soon hit several times by the large guns directed from the British battleships. Finally, salvo from Rodney destroyed the Bismarck s forward control post, killing most of the senior officers, while other salvoes destroyed all four gun turrets. Within 30 minutes, Bismarck's guns had all been silenced, and the ship was even lower in the water. HMS King George V fired too. Her fire would strike the Bismarck from a more vertical angle and be more likely to penetrate the decks. Rather than risk her being captured, Bismarck s First Officer ordered the men below decks to abandon ship. Similar advice was given by the chief engineering officer, who ordered the crew to abandon the ship. Most of the crew went into the water, but few sailors from the lower engine spaces got out alive. Bismarck went under the waves at 10:39 that morning. In her final battle the following morning, Bismarck was neutralised by a sustained bombardment from a British fleet, was scuttled by her crew, and sank with heavy loss of life. Today, most experts agree that the battle damage would have caused her to sink eventually. Only 110 Bismarck sailors were rescued, the majority of Bismarck's 2,200-man crew was abandoned and died in the ocean. Konstanty had a chance to take a photo of sinking Bismarck.
6 In the meantime, the remaining Allied battleships were being bombarded by German aircraft. The fog however, secured the ships. Sub-Lieutenant Eryk Sopoćko from Poland, serving in HMS Rodney, was pleased with the destruction of the German vessel, and mused: 'Justice, you still exist'. Timing of the sinking was fortunate for the UK. Publicity concerning Bismarck distracted public attention from the heavy losses suffered by the Mediterranean fleet during the Battle of Crete, where cruisers HMS Calcutta, HMS Fiji, HMS Gloucester, HMS York and six destroyers were sunk. Bismarck After Bismarck, King George V went back to their base in Orkney. Until August 1941 Konstanty s battleship participated in Brest blockade, Norwegian bases searching for the enemy. In August 1941, Konstanty got promoted to sub lieutenant (podporucznik marynarki wojennej). He was sent to serve on the fast hunters, where he spent the entire winter of 1941/42. At that time, he was based in Dover and Ramsgate. Konstanty on ORP Garland Konstanty was eventually sent to serve on HMS Garland also known by her Polish designation ORP Garland, where he spent 3 years. Garland was a G-class destroyer. Konstanty was given a choice to serve on the following destroyers: ORP Garland, Błyskawica, or Burza. He chose Garland. On the Atlantic Ocean, convoys commenced their journey from Murmansk to Halifax and form Iceland to Ascension Islands during WW2, an important naval and air
7 station, especially providing antisubmarine warfare bases in the Battle of the Atlantic and throughout the war. In May 1942, Konstanty was sent to take another training course the use of submarine weapons such as torpedo, mines, and the depth- bombs. Garland was loaned to the Polish Navy in May 1940. The ship was assigned to the Mediterranean Fleet afterwards and escorted convoys there before being assigned to the Western Approaches Command in September for escort duties. She escorted a convoy from Gibraltar to Malta during Operation Halberd in September 1941 and escorted Convoy PQ-16 from Iceland to Murmansk in May 1942. She was badly damaged from a German bomber during that operation and required three months of repairs. Garland was then assigned to the Mid-Ocean Escort Force in the North Atlantic until December 1943, when she was transferred to Freetown, Sierra Leone to escort convoys off West Africa. In April 1944, the ship was transferred to back to the Mediterranean Fleet where she escorted convoys. She sank one German submarine in September 1944, before returning to the UK for a lengthy refit that lasted until March 1945. After this success, when the ship reached Alexandria on 20 Sep.1944, she was welcomed by British admiral with message: "U-407 sunk. Long live Poland! The German submarine, U-407 was attacked by the depth-bombs directed from Garland situated near the Greek Island of Santorini. Only three German officers were saved form the boat and 45 sub-lieutenants and seamen. After investigating the German officers in captivity, the Garland crew learnt that after U-407 had decided to surrender their rescuers objective was to destroy Garland in a suicide attack to make as much damage to Garland as possible. Fortunately, that plan failed. In October 1944, Garland took part in Operation Manna (landing near Athens). Her objective was to secure the Alliance forces during their landing in Greece. In November 1944, the ship was moved to England, where after long renovation (which ended in March 1945), Garland started to escort coastal convoys. After the war Garland took part in 'Operation Deadlight', where on 7 Jan. 1946 she sunk U- 1010. In August 1946, the ship was disarmed and on 24 Sep.1946 returned to British.
ORP Garland 8
9 Konstanty after WW2 After the war, Konstanty was sent to train young naval officers how to use torpedoes and mines. He also joined the Polish Resettlement Corps and was assigned to the Polish resettlement camp in Oakhampton in Devon. He took charge of employment at the camp preparing naval officers into civilian lives. Oakhampton Camp today Then, he was transferred to ORP Bałtyk a camp on the land, but arranged as a battleship. Antonia Okołów Zubkowska (nee Dębińska) was Konstanty s wife. She was studying medicine when they met. After they met, Konstanty pointed out that he thought that he had not been a good husband material. However, it was his future wife who firmly stated that it had been up to her to decide whether he could become appropriate material to be a husband. After, they got married she interrupted her medical school and took care of their children. Antonia also helped Konstanty to manage their small business, delicatessen shop in Kilburn in London. Monika Joanna Konstanty s daughter. She has got two children, a daughter and a son. Monika lives in Cambridge too. Marek Stefan Konstanty s son lives and works in London. He is a computer programmer. Both Konstanty s children speak Polish language. Children were brought up in the Polish tradition and culture.
10 Both children are also university graduates. Citizenship Polish, after the war Konstanty took the British citizenship Religion Roman Catholic Church After the war, Konstanty spent 10 years in the British merchant navy being continuously away from home. When one day his daughter asked his wife when that gentleman would be going?, he realized that he was only seen by his daughter as a home visitor who from time to time was bringing some toys to his girl. Soon after this incident, Konstanty started working for the firm exporting and importing wine. He was based in the company s branch in London and stayed in this company until his retirement. He also became the Chairman of the Polish Naval Association. He and his wife moved out of London to live in Cambridge in 2002, where he lives today.