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 to become a general) was appointed its head. The Soviets, when beginning 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 faithfulness of General Anders’ soldiers. At the same time, they were out in the Middle East, waiting to be brought into the military operations. In this way the Kremlin hoped to persuade the British and Americans that post-war Poland should fall under the Soviet sphere of influence.
The Soviets cared not at all that Berling’s soldiers should, like their colleagues from Anders’ Army, undergo lengthy training, exercises and convalescence after countless months spent in the Soviet Union. They were far from being battle-hardened soldiers, but… well, who exactly 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 the Soviet land as deportees, prisoners of forced labour camps or forcibly conscripted into the Red Army – they made up the volunteers of Berling’s Army. To this list should also be added those Poles who were forcibly conscripted into the Wehrmacht (mostly Silesians and Kashubians), who were sent to the Eastern Front and ended up in Soviet captivity. What exactly made them any different from the soldiers of the Anders’ Army? In fact, very little. Both had wound up in the Soviet Union against their will.
So why hadn’t some of them simply joined Anders’ Army earlier and evacuated to the Middle East? In many cases, they simply did not arrive in good time to the mobilization points of the previous units. Covering distances that numbered over thousands of kilometres through vast Soviet lands was not the easiest of tasks. In 1941, a great number of them were not aware that a Polish army was being formed, as the Soviets had simply not informed 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 up to another Polish army. Some however were not even presented with 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 Seltsy on the Oka River in the Soviet Union. There they were greeted with the sight of Polish flags and a sign that hung over the gate, which read: “Welcome soldier, yesterday’s wanderer”.
Seltsy undoubtedly came to be a mini replacement for Poland. Even more so when the Soviets and Polish communists allowed for the exposition of patriotic and religious symbols- the unit even received its own chaplain, Fr. Wilhelm Franciszek Kubsz.
Of course, in the midst of the omnipresent Soviet-communist propaganda, the Germans were portrayed as the Poles’ only true enemy, erasing 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 the 15th of August 1943, on the 533th anniversary of the Battle of Grunwald, in Seltsy on the Soviet Union’s Oka River, the above-mentioned oath was delivered by Polish soldiers. What must the “wanderers of yesterday” have felt when they pledged their allegiance to the Soviet Union, the very country which had forced them into a wandering life?! We cannot imagine and they are the only ones who can rightfully answer that question…
The day chosen for the oath taking was not accidental – the anniversary of the Battle of Grunwald was for commemoration of the victory over the Teutonic Knights, who are identified with the Germans.
To all intents and purposes, it seemed that the soldiers of The Polish 1st Tadeusz Kościuszko Infantry Division were ready to fight. It was however, just an illusion. When sent off to the frontline in October 1943 they had not been adequately trained. The Battle of Lenino was their baptism of fire, in which they suffered significantly heavy losses.
They returned to the front next summer. In the following months their blood was not spared. They fought against the Germans, reaching the Oder River, and after its crossing, they took part in the assault on Berlin.
When making mention of the Poles fighting under the command of General Zygmunt Berling, it is always necessary to remember that the common soldier had little idea of the purpose behind the creation of the new Polish army. They were completely in the dark about what Stalin and his associates, including Polish communists with Wanda Wasilewska at their head, were planning. They only desired to escape from Soviet captivity and fight – not only against the Germans but also for the improvement of their own fortunes.