During the night of 2 to 3 July 1942, the Royal Air Force attacked the German port of Bremen with 325 bombers. The attack was not a success and twelve aircraft did not return to England. One of the twelve was a twin-engine Vickers Wellington.

The aircraft and crew belonged to the Polish 301 Squadron, which consisted of Polish soldiers who had fled their homeland in 1939 after the German occupation. The Wellington with number Z1314 had taken off from its English home base Hemswell at 23:12 and was intercepted on the outward flight to its target by the German night fighter pilot Hauptmann Helmut Lent, who was operating from Leeuwarden (Friesland, Netherlands).

The attack resulted in the death of tail gunner Sergeant Stanisław Kędzierski and navigator Flying Officer Stanisław Ateński was wounded in both legs. Pilot Wing Commander Maksymilian Longin Brzozowski then gave orders to abandon the aircraft. Ateński, Pilot Officer Michal Benoit, Sergeant Stanyslaw Marek Kowalczyk, and finally Brzozowski did so. They landed safely on the ground, but the first three were immediately taken prisoner.

Brzozowski likely landed near Schoonloo, as he was found in a forested area there by a Dutchman, Tuinis Bos. Tuinis provided him with civilian clothing and took him to his house. The pilot indicated that he wanted to go to Utrecht, but Bos came into contact with Durk Nijhof, who belonged to the resistance and indicated that he wanted to help the pilot. Bos then took Brzozowski to Nijhof's house in Assen.

Following a betrayal by J. ten Brink, a Landwächter (the Nederlandse Landwacht was a Dutch paramilitary organisation founded by the occupiers), Brzozowski was arrested in his hiding place on 5 July 1942. Although there were suspicious of Nijhof and his house was searched, the occupiers took no measures against him. Brzozowski disappeared behind barbed wire in a POW camp, Stalag Luft III in Zagan, Poland. After the liberation, he returned to England and emigrated to Canada in 1948, where he died in 2001.