Description
Object description
Polish NCO served with the Polish Army in Poland, 9/1939; member of Union of Armed Struggle in Warsaw, Poland, 1940-1942; officer served with Baszta Regiment, Polish Home Army (Armia Krajowa) in Warsaw, Poland, 1943-1944 including Warsaw Uprising, 8/1944-10/1944; prisoner of war in Oflag VII-A, Murnau, Germany, 10/1944-4/1945
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Imperial Russia and Poland, 1916-1939: reasons for birth in Moscow, Imperial Russia; family; education; military training whilst student. Aspects of operations as NCO with Polish Army in Poland, 9/1939: background to joining Polish Army; nature of fighting against Germans; character of Soviet Army; nature of his unit; capture by Soviet troops; story of escape from Soviet prisoner of war camp, 23/9/1939.
REEL 2 Continues: encounter with German Army officer who he knew as student. Aspects of period as member of Union of Armed Struggle in Warsaw, Poland, 1940-1942: organising student resistance group; problems with security; organisation of group; joining 'Black Musketeers' group; failed promises of arms and support. Recollections of period as officer with Baszta Regiment, Polish Home Army (Armia Krajowa) in Warsaw, Poland, 1942-1944: background to joining unit; promotions; courier work to France, 5/1944-6/1944.
REEL 3 Continues: further details of courier work in France, 5/1944-6/1944; incident of French civilian being arrested near hiding place in Argenteuil, France; return to Paris, France; train journey from Paris, France to Berlin, Germany, 6/1944; stay in barracks in Berlin, Germany, 6/6/1944; presence of German Polish speakers on train from Berlin to Poznań; return to Warsaw and discovery that his mother had been arrested; fate of couriers on second mission to France.
REEL 4 Continues: training in forest south of Warsaw, 7/1944; rapid return by train to Warsaw, 7/1944. Recollections of operations as officer with Baszta Regiment, Polish Home Army (Armia Krajowa) during Warsaw Uprising in Warsaw, Poland, 8/1944-10/1944: mobilisation of unit; size of unit; abortive start of uprising, 7/1944; actual start of uprising, 1/8/1944; capture of telephone exchange; under German fire in potato field; withdrawal and taking up new positions; losses amongst Polish Home Army (Armia Krajowa) units; results of fire fight with Germans; discovery of train full of murdered civilians; role as reserve company; arrival of company from outside city through German lines; attack on cloisters.
REEL 5 Continues: inability to hold cloisters after attack; under charge for appropriating arms after attack on cloisters; wounding by sniper during attempt to use Projector Infantry Anti-Tank (PIAT) against German armour, 18/8/1944; evacuation and medical treatment in school; collecting walking wounded and taking to sewers; nature of German attacks on sewers; conditions in sewers; arrival of Germans at field hospital. Aspects of period as prisoner of war in Oflag VII-A, Murnau, Germany, 10/1944-4/1945: train journey away from Warsaw; treatment as Poles; removal to camp; arrival of United States Army troops, 5/1945; work as courier on release.
REEL 6 Continues: move to GB, 1945; behaviour of Germans towards captured Polish Home Army (Armia Krajowa) personnel. Recollections of operations as officer with Baszta Regiment, Polish Home Army (Armia Krajowa) in Warsaw, Poland, 1943-1944 including Warsaw Uprising: instances of German brutality during uprising including use of human shields; degree of awareness of objectives at start of uprising; expectation of aid from Allies; conditions in sewers; aid given by Poles to Jews during Warsaw Ghetto rising, 1943; presence of Jewish fighters in his company; presence of Frenchman, Australian and Russian in his unit; German behaviour prior to uprising; incident when he was caught in German round-up.
REEL 7 Continues: incident of narrow escape whilst carrying ammunition prior to uprising; question of bribing German searchers; story of aid received whilst burying arms; behaviour of Ukrainians in German military service; members of his unit with German names and how individuals cannot be judged by their names.