How I Unleashed World War II is a 1970 Polish comedy film directed by Tadeusz Chmielewski and based on Kazimierz Sławiński's novel "Przygody kanoniera Dolasa" (The Adventures of Dolas the Cannoneer). It was shot in Sochi, Baku, Poświętne and Łódź, among other places.

Synopsis

The film was divided into three parts: Originally filmed in black and white, it was digitally colorized in 2001 by the Hollywood company Dynacs Digital Studios, as requested by the Studio Filmowe "Oko" and TV Polsat. The film tells the story of a Polish soldier Franciszek (Franek) Dolas, who—as a result of comical coincidences—is convinced that he started the Second World War. Trying to redeem himself at all costs, he constantly gets into new trouble. In doing so, he finds himself on different war fronts (Yugoslavia, Mediterranean Sea, Middle East, Italy) and eventually returns to Poland. In a particularly famous scene, Dolas is questioned by a German-speaking Gestapo officer in Austria and answers that his name is "Grzegorz Brzęczyszczykiewicz"; the officer gets increasingly frustrated trying to write the fictitious Polish name.

Cast