Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1954-08-23
] Escaped Red Poland
Polish Troops Hate Russians
And Look to West for Hope
By Antoni klimowiczl,

'ss&@ @~~HA ~ w
BY Antoni Klimowicz/
tcepyrisht, 1854. BY North American
Newspaper Alliance. Inc. Western Hsmis-
phsss rights reserved.
LONDON. Aug. 23.-I served
in Marshal Konstantin Rokos-
sovsky's army for two years. It
has IS divisions and the Com
munists boast about this strength.
In fact they are equipping it quite
well. mostly with Soviet tanks
and weapons. Even Polish pro-
duction Of ornaments Is, pro-
crossing
This is not a Polish army
though. Really it is a typical
Sixth OF q Series.
satellite army under Soviet
command.
I enlisted in Gdynia and was
sent to an engineer detachment
the third Warsaw detachment
of engineers. pontoon service
in Wloclawek, central Poland.
We were issued one uniform each
"a jacket. trousers. greatcoat
and leggings and cap. new but
of grossly inferior quality. We
also received drill uniforms.
The prewar barracks were un-
touched by brush or paint. They
were as dirty as they could pos
sibly be. cold. md had rotting
floors. For three months. as a
recruit, I was not allowed to
leave the barracks
4. Told u. s. Was Enemy.
Drill of the most exhausting
kind was held and two hours
Of political indoctrination, dur
ing which we were told that
Poland was liberated by Russia,
that our great enemies are the
United States and Great Brit
ain. that they are trying to de-
stroy the Polish peoples repub-
lie as well as the whole of the
so-called democratic bloc and
that for existence we could look
only to the Soviet Union.
Then came instruction on the
Soviet revolution and the Com
munist revolution in Poland.
Day after day, week after week,
1t became so terribly boring that
nobody listened.
We were never allowed to at
tend church. On Sunday we were
sent to play various sports. Our
heads were shaved to the skin
in the Soviet manner.
I After the training period some
of US were supposed to be sent
TO a non-commissioned officers
School. I was one of the candi-
dates. but one day a tragedy
occurred.
Cleaning some pontoons with
a steel brush, ! discovered that
they bore the inscription Made
in q. S. A." (Our company
leader, Capt. Darda, an ardent
Communist, had assured us that
all the equipment was of Soviet
manufactured I don't know now
whether it was foolhardiness or
bravery that made me say during
the hour Of political indoctrina-
ton. Capt. Dardas. I discovered
that our equipment Is made III
the United States It is probably
equipment sent to the Soviet
Union during the war. when
America was helping the Soviet
Union'to fight Hitler"
Darda was speeches., but
then recovered. Instead Of any
logical reply, he started bawling
at me that I was a Fascist and
probably an American agent as
well. That was the end of my
military career.
Instead of joining the MOO
school I was sent to an ordinary
detachment where I spent two
years in a very. very hard life.
Our day began always at S
am. and ended at 10 pm. We
built different kinds Of bridges
pontoons and Bailey bridges
with. I believe. English equip
ment. At any rate the American
Studebakers which we had In
our attachments were much
Better and more efficient than
the Soviet trucks.
From those times remember
that we were constantly hungry.
Food in the present Polish army
Is absolutely inadequate. For
breakfast it was corn. coffee and
$50 grams Of bread. For lunch
we had soup. meat or fish and
potatoes. AS all Poles are Cath
olics we naturally expected to
have fish on Friday. But to
make us angry or break down