Sealed orders take Polish destroyers to Britain before invasion

The destroyer commanders received the Peking signal on 29 August and opened sealed orders stored in their safes. They passed German warships without fighting because hostilities had not yet begun. After aircraft followed them on 31 August, they changed course toward Norway while continuing to their agreed destination in Britain. News of Germany's invasion reached them in the North Sea on 1 September, before contact with British destroyers and arrival at Leith that evening. The accusation that the officers had run away is challenged here as a criticism encouraged by postwar communist attacks on them. The military case for departure was that Poland lacked the forces to protect the ships at home and could employ them elsewhere.