Visit marks Polish connections

As part of an ongoing project, the School of Geography and Sustainable Development hosted a group of Polish soldiers and diplomats in St Andrews on 28 August. 

During the visit they were able to hear more about the results of recent research using an advanced suite of geospatial and geophysical technologies of the WWII coastal defences at Tentsmuir Forest. 
The Polish delegation was led by Mr Mirosław Sycz, Consul General of the Republic of Poland in Edinburgh, and Colonel Piotr Bieniek, Commanding Officer of the 6th Airborne Brigade in Poland. Visitors also included the director of the Polish Cultural Institute in London, Ms Anna Tryc-Bromley, and Blanka Kamińska-Pienkosrom, of the Institute of National Remembrance in Warsaw.

Vice-Principal Professor Tom Brown welcomed the visitors and shared some of his personal experience learning about the Polish legacy in North East Fife and the Largo area, in particular.
The study is part of a joint project between the University of St Andrews and Hong Kong Polytechnic University.  During the visit, Dr Hon Chim Chiu was joined by Professor Tom Dawson from the School of History and SCAPE Trust to introduce the project, which has been specifically looking at anti-invasion structures, such as anti-tank concrete blocks, built along the coast of Scotland as part of defence effort. Together with Professor Wallace Lai from Hong Kong, the team has been mapping these features using both satellite imagery and ground-based survey. The structures were mainly built by Polish workers between 1939 and 1940 under Britain’s command. 
On site the Hong Kong team was joined by Professor Richard Bates from School of Earth and Environmental Sciences to conduct the geophysical survey from which a digital model of the coastal defence was built. This detailed survey revealed buried structures and provided hitherto unseen detail of them that allowed the historians and archaeologists to further interpret the history of the defence efforts in Scotland. 
With coastal erosion and deposition constantly changing the landscape around the defences, this project not only demonstrated the benefit of a tech-based approach to revealing the structures themselves but also provides a digital record for posterity, before they are forever lost to the sea. 

The work reignites the cherished relationship the University had with the Polish Army, arriving in Scotland in the middle of the Second World War. Around that time the University awarded General Wladyslaw Sikorski, commander-in-chief of the Polish armed forces, with an honorary doctorate in 1941.

This visit was held as part of the planned Commemoration & Memorial Events to honour the memory and legacy of Major General Stanisław Sosabowski, commander of the Polish 1st Independent Parachute Brigade during the Second World War.
You can watch ‘Uncovering WWII Relics in Tentsmuir, Scotland: Starting a New Chapter with Geospatial Tech’ on YouTube.