WARSAW: It was hailed a masterstroke of British code-breaking that helped to defeat Hitler and save the lives of thousands of Allied soldiers.

However, decades after Nazi Germany's Enigma code was cracked, Poland has gone on the offensive to reclaim the glory of a cryptological success it feels has been unjustly claimed by Britain.

Code breakers ... Henryk Zygalski (left) Marian Rejewski and Jerzy Rozycki.

Frustrated at watching the achievements of the British wartime code-breakers at Bletchley Park lauded while those of Poles go overlooked, Poland's parliament has launched a campaign to ''restore justice'' to the Polish men and women who first broke the Enigma codes.

As part of the effort, the upper house of Poland's parliament is to pass a resolution praising Marian Rejewski, Jerzy Rozycki and Henryk Zygalski, the three Polish mathematicians who first broke the codes in the 1930s.