Polish war hero who helped guard Scotland tells his story

Many of the 20,000 Polish troops stationed in Scotland during the war could never return to a Poland under communist oppression and settled around the country, including in Glasgow, Edinburgh and the Borders, where Maczek's unit was initially based.

Mr Sliwinski's incredible story only came to light after the late Lord Fraser of Carmyllie launched a campaign for a monument to Maczek in Edinburgh.

Mr Sliwinski's comrades were forced to leave him for dead in a hasty retreat, and aged 20 he thought his life was over.

His role as scout in the only Polish armoured brigade was key. Two tanks would go ahead to provide the battalion with critical frontline intelligence.

Mr Sliwinski points out his general was not 102 when he died in 1994 in Scotland.

Speaking from his tenement home in the west end of Glasgow, the proud grandfather who married a Scot said: "He was 102 and eight months. He was a great leader. He cared for his soldiers as a good Baca. There was a tremendous morale."

His head bows, however, as his memory returns to his own personal trauma that left him disabled.

"I was wounded. I woke up in the night on a stretcher in the open air. People were crying. I was lying in water.

"I had a bandage on my head, I could hear voices. I heard our troops had to retreat from the area where the battle was.

"They called on 'somebody who can walk'; those who were unable were the hopeless cases.

"The hopeless cases were left behind. I was a hopeless case."

He went on: "I didn't know what happened. I didn't realise being so young that I was paralysed."

"When the troops moved on I crawled in the bushes. I heard German voices shouting. I found two dead Germans. I crawled between them on my stomach and pretended I was dead. After an hour the German voices were gone and I could move again.

"A jeep came back from the Polish Red Cross, and then I lost consciousness. I was very fortunate."

After the war, Mr Sliwinski religiously visited "my Baca" - pronounced "Batsa" - every year on his birthday, taking his wife flowers and his daughters and son chocolates and sweets.

Mr Maczek never neglected to look over his troops who stayed with him in Scotland.

He worked in a Borders hotel - owned then by a subordinate - and later in at the Learmonth Hotel in the Scottish capital. In the Learmonth, his loyal number would click their heels in military salute as they purchased drinks from their general.

He was not entitled to any soldier's pension in Britain despite decades of service to the allied forces.

On his 100th birthday he wrote from Scotland to the remaining members of his flock: "To you and to your families there come sincerest greetings from one who once commanded you - and who now is still your shepherd - your Baca."

Although Poles were banned from victory celebration marches in London for fear of upsetting the Russians, Scots welcomed them on parades in towns and cities across the country.

Scots historians have recognised the links between the two countries dating back to centuries ago, when Polish and Scottish soldiers once fought in Europe together under an earlier allegiance.

Bonnie Prince Charlie was half Polish; his mother was Maria Clementina Sobieski of the Polish royal dynasty.

According to the book Poland and Scotland, co-edited by Professor Tom Devine of Edinburgh University, the number of Poles to have migrated to Scotland in modern times is about 70,000.

Mr Sliwinski reflects on a tale from his Eastern Poland homeland when he played in a pear orchard as a nine-year-old. After being approached by a Romany Gypsy who read his palm, he did not believe he would end up with the riches she promised.

However, he said of his Glasgow family: "I have a fortune here."