Description
Object description
Polish civilian deported from Lwów, Poland to Soviet Union; worked on collective farm in Kazakhstan, Russia, 1941; private served with 8th Infantry Div, Polish Armed Forces in the East in Soviet Union, Iran, Palestine and Egypt, 1942; officer cadet trained with Polish Anti-Aircraft Artillery Regiment School at Gullane, GB, 1942-1943; officer cadet and officer served with 1st Anti-Aircraft Artillery Regt, 1st Polish Armoured Div, Polish I Corps in GB and North West Europe, 1943-1945
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Dzwingród and Lwów, Poland, 1921-1940: family; education; political situation; preparations for war; training with cadet force; employment in armaments factory; German invasion of Poland, 1/9/1939; German Air Force attacks; retreat with father's police company to Lwów; death of father; accommodation with grandparents; story of meeting German Army troops; nature of threat from Ukrainian underground movement; reaction to arrival of Soviet Army troops; story of being given Soviet manufactured tobacco; opinion of Soviets; enrolment in college in Lwów; story of arrest by Soviet People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs (NKVD), 1941.
REEL 2 Continues: detainment in school. Recollections of period as deportee in Soviet Union, 1941: nature of train journey from Lwów, Poland to Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic; living conditions and work on collective farm; rations; weather conditions; opinion of treatment received; relations with local Soviet civilians; arrest and interrogation by People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs (NKVD); use of cattle dung for fuel; accommodation; rations; nature of interrogation by People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs (NKVD); taken to prison in Aktyubinsk; living conditions; reason for arrest; interrogation methods; religious beliefs; mock executions; rations; story of German prisoner.
REEL 3 Continues: use of spies in cell; physical condition; attitude to imprisonment; reason for signing confession; description of communal cell and inmates; nature of trial; verdict and sentence; imprisonment in Temirtau Prison; living conditions in communal cell; rations; story of prisoner making razor; making playing cards; period spent in punishment cell; release from Temirtau Prison; eating camel meat; removal to railway station in Soviet Army trucks; attitude of Soviet Army troops towards Soviet premier Joseph Stalin.
REEL 4 Continues: train journey back to collective farm; reception on arrival; delivering hay on oxen; problem of attacks from wolves; accusation of sabotage. Aspects of period as cadet with 8th Infantry Div, Polish Armed Forces in the East in Soviet Union, 1941-1942: induction on joining Polish Armed Forces in the East; issue of British Army battledress and equipment; training; illness; march to Tashkent; problem of equipment. Aspects of journey from Soviet Union to Middle East, 3/1942: journey to Tehran, Iran; problem of understanding English language; contracting measles and damage to eyes; voyage from Iran to Suez, Egypt; guard duties with 8th Infantry Div in Palestine and Egypt, 1942. Aspects of voyage aboard HMT Mauretania from Egypt to South Africa, 1942: embarkation at Suez, Egypt.
REEL 5 Continues: conditions on board ship; 'Crossing-the-Line' ceremony on crossing equator; disembarkation at Durban, South Africa. Aspects of period as officer cadet with 8th Infantry Div in South Africa, 1942: attitude towards black servants; period in transit camp in Pietermaritzburg; opinion of living conditions and rations; musical activities with choir; visit by Field Marshal Smuts; attitude to apartheid laws; presence of internment camps containing Germans; reception at Yugoslav Embassy in Cape Town. opinion of South African lifestyle; nature of going voyage from Cape Town, South Africa to Cardiff, GB, 1942. Recollections of period as cadet with Polish Anti-Aircraft Artillery Cadet School at Gullane, GB, 1942-1943: attitude towards British; amusing story of Bovril signs; initial posting to camp in Lanarkshire; question of choosing unit.
REEL 6 Continues: nature of training at Polish Anti-Aircraft Artillery Cadet School, Gullane; opinion of Polish officers and training; further training at Clacton-on-Sea; opinion of British women serving in military; story of shooting down German Air Force Junkers 88 aircraft; relations with British civilians; reaction to death of General Sikorski and discovery of Katyn Wood massacre; further details of training; relations with Czech soldiers; tactical exercises. Aspects of period as officer with 1st Light Anti-Aircraft Artillery Regt, 1st Polish Armoured Div, Polish II Corps in GB, 10/1943-7/1944: posting to Scarborough; attitude to female company and alcohol; reaction to news of Normandy Landings, 6/1944; social life.
REEL 7 Continues: amusing story of dance hall; march to camp in Aldershot Garrison, 6/1944; rank and question of commission; preparations for landing in Normandy, France; description of voyage from Tilbury to Normandy, France, 7/1944. Aspects of operations as officer cadet with 1st Anti-Aircraft Artillery Regt, 1st Polish Armoured Div, Polish II Corps in North-West Europe, 7/1944-5/1945: disembarked at Arromanches-les-Bains, Normandy, France; move to Caen area, Normandy, France; use of self-propelled 40mm anti-aircraft guns as transport; opinion of General Bernard Montgomery; attachment to Canadian Army; opinion of bombing of Caen, Normandy, France and Allied casualties; role of anti-aircraft artillery; story of death of cadet officer; artillery bombardment and advance of tanks; opinion of Allied M4 Sherman Tank and German Tiger Tank; problem of artillery hitting Allied fighter aircraft; opinion of infantry and tank crews; description of Caen after capture, Normandy, France; burning of German bodies; attitude towards Germans; story of dead German Army soldier.
REEL 8 Continues: capture of German prisoners of war; role in operations in Falaise Gap, 8/1944; opinion of commanding officer; question of using anti-aircraft guns against tanks; rest period; story of obtaining bottle of calvados; pattern of movements across France and Belgium; attitude to punishment of female collaborators; reception received from Belgian civilians, 9/1944; move into Netherlands; living conditions for Dutch civilians; liberation of Breda, Netherlands, 29/10/1944; conversion of unit to infantry role; duties patrolling along River Maas, Netherlands; story of falling into cess pool, 2/1945; commissioning as second lieutenant; story of hearing German Army soldier play 'Silent Night' on trumpet, 24/12/1944; character of German V1 Flying Bomb and V2 Rocket.
REEL 9 Continues: reaction to suppression of Warsaw Uprising, 8/1944-10/1944; return to Gullane, GB; duties as troop commander. Aspects of period as officer with Polish Resettlement Corps in Scotland, GB, 1945-1947: duties as lieutenant; reaction to British recognition of communist government in Poland; question of returning to Poland. Post-war life and employment in GB: resettlement course and further education; marriage; employment; contacts with family in Polish People's Republic; reflections on nationality.
