Description
Object description
Polish civilian deported to Soviet Union, 1939-1941; served with Polish Armed Forces in the East in the Soviet Union and Iran, 1941-1943; officer served with 2nd Rifle Bn, 1st Carpathian Rifle Bde, 3rd Carpathian Rifle Div, Polish II Corps in Italy, 1943-1945
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Tarnopol, Poland, 1923-1939: family; education; composition of city's population, pre-1939; historical background of area and rise of Ukrainian consciousness. Recollections of period as civilian of Eastern Poland, 9/1939-12/1939: arrest of Polish Communists by Soviet authorities; appearance of Soviet Army, 9/1939; teasing of Soviet Army troops by Poles after 9/1939; education under Soviet authorities; arrest of father, 5/12/1939. Recollections of imprisonment and deportation to Soviet Union, 12/1939: arrest, 12/1939; imprisonment in Tarnopol Prison; sentencing to twenty years imprisonment.
REEL 2 Continues: father's experiences as cavalryman during First World War; journey in cattle truck to Pavlodar on River Irtysh. Recollections of period as deportee in Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic, Soviet Union, 1940-1941: allocation to work with horses on state farm; initial job carrying clay for making bricks; story of handling wild stallion; techniques employed in handling stallion; applying survival techniques learnt from father.
REEL 3 Continues: dealing with wolves on steppe; being entertained in Kazakh yurt; Kazakh living techniques; death of his stallion; handling horses on state farm; reasons why he was not given permission to leave state farm after 22/6/1941. Recollections of journey to join Polish Armed Forces in the East at Buzuluk, Soviet Union, 1941: escape from state farm; method of obtaining access to train; arrival at Novosibirsk; commercial enterprise in Novosibirsk; narrow escape from People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs (NKVD) on train journey to Alma Ata.
REEL 4 Continues: contracting illness on journey to Alma Ata; arrival in Buzuluk. Recollections of period with Polish Armed Forces in the East in Buzuluk, Soviet Union, 1941-1942: reception; arrival of British military equipment; reasons for General Władysław Ander's policy of packing as many men into Polish Armed Forces in the East; cholera outbreak; character of military discipline; relations between Poles and local Soviet civilians. Aspects of period with Polish Armed Forces in the East in Iran, 1942: voyage from Krasnovodsk, Soviet Union to Pahlevi, Iran, 4/1942; arrival in Pahlevi, 4/1942; reaction to availability of soap.
REEL 5 Continues: recovering in Iran. Aspects of period as officer with 51st Infantry Regt, Polish Independent Carpathian Rifle Brigade in Middle East, 1942-1943: joining heavy machine-gun unit in Palestine, 1942; defence duties in northern Iraq, 1942-1943; role with unit. Recollections of operations as officer with 2nd Rifle Bn, 1st Carpathian Rifle Bde, 3rd Carpathian Rifle Div, II Polish Corps in Italy, 1943-1944: move to Italy, 12/1943; action at Castel di Sangro; amusing story of joke played on Germans with skeleton; passing his matriculation whilst serving in military; attitude to being in action; move to Monte Cassino; character of conditions at Monte Cassino; problems securing supplies under German observation; story of counter-firing against German machine-gun fire.
REEL 6 Continues: character of Polish attack at Monte Cassino, 11/5/1944; story of wounding during attack and evacuation; question of speed of fire of Vickers and MG 42 Machine Guns. Aspects of period of hospitalisation in Italy, 1944: medical treatment for wounds; refusing leg amputation after gangrene had set in; use of penicillin on leg; role of Polish nurse in saving his life and how he expressed his gratitude to her.
REEL 7 Continues: pride which Poles had in Monte Cassino victory. Recollections of operations as officer with 2nd Rifle Bn, 1st Carpathian Rifle Bde, 3rd Carpathian Rifle Div, II Polish Corps in Italy, 1944-1945: return to unit near Ancona; effect of German Army multi-barrelled mortars; attitude towards treatment of Soviet prisoner of war in German Army uniform; opinion of Italian Alpini troops; story of continuing friendship with Italian officer post-war; Polish practice of maintaining quiet on frontline; mutual respect between Polish and German Army troops, 1944-1945; character of action at Castel Bolognese.
REEL 8 Continues: wounding in leg by machine gun fire at Castel Bolognese; German casualties at Castel Bolognese; narrow escape from being shot by sniper; question of effects of Yalta Conference on Polish Armed Forces, 4/1945.