Jerzy Iwanow-Szajnowicz was born in Warsaw on 14 December 1911, to a Russian army colonel and Polish mother. His parents divorced and his mother re-married a Greek man, moving them to Thessaloniki. Here he settled and excelled in sports, becoming a swimming champion and then part of the national Polish water polo team.
With the outbreak of the Second World War and the Nazi invasion of Europe, Iwanow set about trying to help Poles evacuate to Greece.
Fleeing the German invasion of Greece in April 1941, he left the country for the Middle East, joining the exiled Polish forces there. There he was selected by the Polish intelligence and the SOE for an undercover mission in Greece.
On 13 October 1941, the British submarine HMS Thunderbolt (N25) brought him to the coast of Attica near Nea Makri, Greece. His underground activity in Greece was to become legendary, subsequently making him one of the Nazis most wanted men.
He established an extensive intelligence network for the Allies reporting on the military and political situation in Greece, on the Greek war industry, and began a campaign of mass sabotage.
He was responsible for destroying the German aircraft motor repair facilities in the Maltsiniotis plant, which is credited with affecting over 400 engines and causing the crash of several German aircraft due to engine malfunctions. His name is also associated with the destruction of two German U-boats, U-133 and U-372, sabotaging the latter and forcing it to surface so it could be attacked by the RAF off Haifa.
He was captured by the Gestapo after being betrayed by one of his associates, Konstantinos Pantos, but he managed to escape after 3 days. The price on his head was 500,000 drachmas, a tempting proposition for some, and he was betrayed once more on 8 September 1942. He was sentenced to a triple death sentence but intriguingly, he was offered up in a spy exchange for a German general - something rejected by the British. Iwanow was executed at the Kaisariani shooting range on 4 January 1943. In the seconds before execution he attempted to escape. He was just a few meters from a bush when he was shot, wounded and put back in front of the execution squad.
On 30 March 1945, the Polish government in exile honoured Iwanow with the Virtuti Militari cross and in 1962 he was decorated by the British government for his service with the Polish forces. In the 1970s he was awarded the highest Greek medal for gallantry, the Cross of Valourin Gold.
In spite of these eventual accolades, recognising the number of 'hits' of strategic important throughout the war, Iwanow’s name as an exceptional allied asset remains little known.
He was clearly a man of exceptional spirit, talent and courage, wanting to do his bit to bring the war to an end as soon as possible, riding Nazism from Europe altogether.
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