The beginning of a breakthrough
As a result of the Soviet repression more then 500 thousand people were sent into the depths of the Soviet Union between September 1939 and June 1941. They were mainly deportees and prisoners of forced labour camps whom the Soviets deported to Siberia and Kazakhstan.
The German aggression against the Soviet Union on June the 22nd, 1941 arose as the first chance to improve their situation. Two allies had now become fierce enemies. The first weeks of the invasion showed that the Red Army was unable to face the advancing Wehrmacht alone. This meant that Stalin was in need of a new ally who would provide some support. The natural candidate for this role was Great Britain, still actively resisting the Germans. And here a great problem arose…
Enemies or friends?
Great Britain already had itself a loyal ally, who had proven time and again that it would never surrender. Of course this was Poland – non-existent on the map but with its own authorities in London and Armed Forces fighting against the German army on land, water and in the air. So how could an anti-German bloc be created from Poland, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union, when less than two years earlier the Soviets had invaded the Republic of Poland, annexed over half of its territory, and imprisoned, deported, and murdered Polish citizens? The situation seemed to have reached a stalemate. But each side needed some form of agreement: the Soviets had to gain a new ally, the British saw an opportunity to relieve the front in the west and coordinate the actions of allied armies, and the Poles could fight to improve the fate of their citizens deported deep into Soviet territory. Under pressure from the United Kingdom authorities, Poland and the Soviet Union signed the famous Sikorski–Mayski Agreement, which announced a so-called amnesty for Polish citizens in the USSR and proclaimed the creation of the Polish army. However, the details of its creation had yet to be determined.
General, you are free!
General Sikorski wanted General Stanisław Haller (cousin of the better-known General Józef Haller) to lead the Polish army in the Soviet Union. However, in the autumn of 1939 he was taken prisoner by the Soviets and disappeared without a trace. Today it is known that he was murdered in the Katyń Massacre in the spring of 1940 and that his body rests in the Piatichatki cemetery in Kharkiv. Unaware of this fact, Sikorski was forced to change his plans. He opted for General Władysław Anders – who at that time was being held captive at the Lubyanka in Moscow – as the new commander. After spending nearly two years in prisons and hospitals, Anders was finally released. On August the 10th, he was officially appointed commander of the Polish Army in the USSR by Sikorski.
All roads lead to… Buzuluk
On August the 14th, a Polish-Soviet military agreement regulating the formation of the Polish Armed Forces in the USSR was officially signed. At that moment tens of thousands of men, women and children, who had been longing for an escape from Soviet captivity, were able to head towards Buzuluk, where the formation of Polish units began. For many, this was a journey that proved too difficult, often being mortally dangerous. Not everyone who wanted to, managed to reach the Anders’ Army. In such a tragic way, did a new chapter begin in the lives of those who would become the heroes of Monte Cassino just three short years later, …