Those who missed the Anders’ Army

In the spring of 1943 the formation of the 1st Tadeusz Kościuszko Infantry Division began in Seltsy located on the Oka River in the Soviet Union. Colonel Zygmunt Berling (later a general) was placed at its head. The Soviets, when they began to form a new Polish unit, sought to use it on the front as soon as possible for propaganda purposes. Moscow wanted to persuade the Allies that the Polish units, formed under the auspices of the Kremlin were striving to achieve combat readiness and stand on the front line as soon as possible. The purpose was to juxtapose their situation with the faith of General Anders’ soldiers. At the same time, they were in the Middle East, waiting to be included in military operations. In this way the Kremlin wanted to persuade the Brits and Americans that post-war Poland should be in the Soviet sphere of influence.

The Soviets did not care that the Berling’s soldiers should, like their colleagues from Anders’ Army, undergo long trainings, exercises and convalescence after months and years spent in the Soviet Union. They were not battle-hardened soldiers, but… Well, who were these people who reported to the camp in Sielce?

From Sybir to the Oka River

Polish citizens, who in the years 1939-1941 were sent to Soviet land as deportees, prisoners of forced labour camps or forcibly conscripted into the Red Army – these were the volunteers for the Berling’s Army. We should also add the Poles who were forcibly conscripted into the Wehrmacht (mostly Silesians and Kashubians) who were sent to the Eastern Front and ended up in the Soviet captivity. What was the difference between them and the soldiers of the Anders’ Army? Very minor. Both ended up in the Soviet Union against their will.

So why didn’t some of them join the Anders’ Army earlier and evacuate to the Middle East? In many cases , they simply did not arrive in time to the mobilization points of the previous units. Covering the distance of thousands of kilometres through vast Soviet lands was not the eas iest task. Many of them did not know that in 1941 a Polish army was being formed as Soviets did not inform them. Still others were forcibly detained in their previous places of residence.

“Welcome soldier, yesterday’s wanderer”

Now, in the spring of 1943, they stood a chance of joining another Polish army. Some were not even given a choice and, as Poles, were simply drafted into the ranks commanded by Berling. Headed by the Soviet recruitment offices, the Poles were sent to the military camp in in Seltsy located on the Oka River in the Soviet Union. They could see Polish flags there and a sign over the gate: “Welcome soldier, yesterday’s wanderer”.

Seltsy undoubtedly became a small substitate for Poland. Even more when the Soviets and Polish communists allowed to the exposition of patriotic and religious symbols- the unit even received its own chaplain, Fr. Wilhelm Franciszek Kubsz.

Of course, in the omnipresent Soviet-communist propaganda, Germans were portrayed as the only enemy of Poles, repressing from memory the Soviet aggression of September 1939, deportations, prisons, gulags…

I hereby swear to the blood-rinsed Polish land, to the Polish nation tormented by the German yoke, that I will not desecrate the name of a Pole and that I will courageously serve my Fatherland.

I swear to the Polish land and to the Polish people that I will honestly serve the duties of a soldier, on the march and in battle, in the camp and at any other moment, I will guard the secrets and fulfil the orders of my officers and commanders.

I swear to be a loyal ally of the Soviet Union, which gave me the arms to fight our common enemy, and I swear I will preserve the brotherhood of arms with the allied Red Army.

I swear allegiance to the standard of my division and the slogan of our fathers that appears on it: for our freedom and yours.

I swear to the Polish land and to the Polish nation that to the last drop of blood, to the last breath shall I hate the enemy – the German who destroyed Poland; to the last drop of blood, to the last breath shall I fight for the liberation of my Fatherland, so that I could live and die as a rightful and honest soldier of Poland.

So help me God!

On the anniversary of the Battle of Grunwald

On 15 August 1943, on the 533th anniversary of the Battle of Grunwald, in in Seltsy located on the Oka River in the Soviet Union, the oath mentioned above was delivered by the Polish soldiers. What must the “wanderers of yesterday” have felt when they pledged their allegiance to the Soviet Union, which made them wanderers?! Only they can answer this question…

The day to take an oath was not accidental – the anniversary of the Battle of Grunwald was to commemorate the victory over the Teutonic Knights, identified with the Germans.

It would seem that the soldiers of The Polish 1st Tadeusz Kościuszko Infantry Division were ready to fight. It was just a semblance. They were not sufficiently trained and they were sent to the frontline in October 1943. The Battle of Lenino was their baptism of fire, in which they suffered very heavy losses.

They returned to the front next summer . In the following months they did not spare their blood. They fought against the Germans, reaching the Oder River, and after crossing it, they took part in the assault on Berlin.

While talking about the Poles fighting under the command of General Zygmunt Berling, it is always necessary to remember that ordinary, common soldiersdid not know for what purpose the new Polish army was being created. They had no clue what Stalin and his associates, including Polish communists with Wanda Wasilewska as the head, were planning. They just wanted to escape from Soviet captivity and fight – not only against the Germans but also for the improvement of their fates.