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 agression against the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941 became the first chance to improve their situation. Two allies became fierce enemies. The first weeks of the invasion have shown that the Red Army was unable to face the advancing Wehrmacht. This meant that Stalin needed a new ally who would provide some support. The natural candidate for this role was Great Britain, which was still actively resisting the Germans. And here a big problem arosed…

Enemies or friends?

Great Britain already had a loyal ally, who had proven time and again that it would never surrender. This was Poland – non-existent on maps 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 might seem stalemate. But each side needed some kind of agreement: the Soviets wanted to gain a new ally, the Brit ish 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 Soviet Union signed a famous Sikorski–Mayski Agreement, which announced the 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 we know that he was murdered in the Katyń Massacre in the spring of 1940 and his body rests in the Piatichatki cemetery in Kharkiv. Unaware of this fact, Sikorski had to change his plans. He chose General Władysław Anders, who was then in captivity at the Lubyanka in Moscow, as the new commander. After almost two years in prisons and hospitals , Anders was released. On August 10, he was appointed commander of the Polish Army in the USSR by Sikorski.

All roads lead to… Buzuluk

On August 14, a Polish-Soviet military agreement regulating the formation of the Polish Armed Forces in the USSR was officially signed. Now ten of thousands of men, women and children, who wanted to escape Soviet captivity, could head towards Buzuluk, where the formation of Polish units began. For many, this was a journey that was too difficult, often mortally dangerous. Not everyone managed to reach the Anders’ Army. In this tragic way , a new chapter began in in the lives of those who, just three years later, were to become the heroes of Monte Cassino…