Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1954-08-23

our CraOlClOn, IL was always
served on Saturday.
Our pay. 8 zloties monthly,
was so small that It was only
enough to buy our toothpaste
and razor blades. II one got no
money from home. as few SOL
diers did. there was little left
with which to buy even ciga-
rettes or a ticket to the cinema.
The cheapest cinema seat cost
3 zlotieS.
What annoyed all Of us most
were the Soviet officers In the
Polish army. They start with
Rokossoysky at the top; he Is
considered the highest repre-
sentative OF the Soviet rulers.
In my detachment, during the
two years. we had two CONF
manders. One OF them was Col:
Lipiecki who despite his purely
Polish name didn't speak a word
OF Polish. It really made me
angry when he spoke to us in
Russian, but he always went
about in Polish uniform and
pretended to be a popular COM
mander.
After him came Col. Naurnc-
zuk who was from Moscow. He
spoke tolerable Polish but ! COM
slider that the British immigra-
ton officer who spoke to me on
the Dabrowski knew much bet
ter Polish than the commander
Of the third Warsaw engineers
regiment in which I served.
On maneuvers. which were
held on training grounds at
Padjuchy, many Soviet officers
appeared. We were shocked when
our Col. Lipiecki appeared this
time openly in Soviet uniform
with the rank of full Soviet col
onel. Present also was a Soviet
general whose name I don't re-
call. Later we were informed
that Lipiecki had gone back to
Moscow.
Soviet Officers Everywhere.
In Gdynia Soviet officers were
everywhere. particularly IN the
so-called Polish Navy, head of
which is Admiral Tcherakov.
Commanders of different naval
units are Commodores Mironow
and Skoorchodow; head of the
Polish air division near Gdynia
at Babe Dolly is Comdr. Turkov.
His deputy is Maj. Kuzmin. Pol
ish shipyards in Gdynia. Gdansk
and Saczecin are headed by nigh
Soviet officers and among the
employees there is a crowd of So
called Soviet advisers. They ap-
peared publicly dressed in Pol
ish uniforms, displaying their
lack Of knowledge of the Polish
language to everybody's anger.
The position of younger Pol
ish officers is very bad. have a
few friends from school who
Joined the army and became Of
fcers.
Their earnings are below 1000
zloties monthly. If they are UNI
they pay $50 zloties for
so-called officers mess. With the
$50 left they must manage for
the whole month.
II they are married, the sit
uation is even worse. So there
Is great discomfort among Pol
iSh soldiers, even among the
younger ones of the so-called
proletarian upbringing. If only
the West could give them some
hope; If only they could create
some Polish detachments in the
West. The spirit of Rokossov-
sky's army would be completely
destroyed.
I would like to add that dur
ing the whole of my two years
service in the army didn't re-
ceive any leave. My worst ex-
perience and memories are of
the time when my mother was
gravely Ill. My father sent me
a telegram urging me to come
home Immediately.
I went to my commanding
officer and asked for compass
sionate leave. He did not reply
Immediately. After an hour he
called me back.
"You will not get your leave.
If your mother were to die then
you would be allowed to go.
While she is merely Ill you
cannot"
At that moment ! would gladly
have killed him.
Tomorrow: Seamen believe
Mr.. Klimowicz's escape ship is
used by Reds as floating prison.