In 1941, on the basis of an agreement between the leadership Soviet Union and the Polish government in London, in exile, a military formation was created, which received, by the name of its commander, the name "Anders Army". It was fully staffed by citizens of Poland, for various reasons, who were on the territory of the USSR, and was intended to conduct joint operations with units of the Red Army against the Nazis. However, these plans were not destined to come true.

Creation of a Polish division in the USSR

In early November 1940, People's Commissar of Internal Affairs L.P. Beria took the initiative to create a division from among the Polish prisoners of war to carry out military operations on the territory of Poland in the Second World War. Having received approval from I.V. Stalin, he ordered to deliver from the places of detention a large group of Polish officers (including 3 generals), who expressed a desire to take part in the liberation of their homeland.

As part of the implementation of the planned program, on June 4, 1941, the government of the USSR decided to create rifle division No. 238, which was to include both Poles and people of other nationalities who spoke Polish. The recruitment of personnel was entrusted to the captured General Z. Berling. However, for a number of reasons, it was not possible to create a division before, and in view of the emergency situation that developed after June 22, the country's leadership was forced to cooperate with the Polish government in exile, headed by General V. Sikorsky.

The difficult situation in the first days of the war prompted I.V. Stalin to the creation on the territory of the USSR of a number of national military units formed from Czechs, Yugoslavs, Poles, etc. They were armed, provided with food, uniforms and everything necessary to participate in hostilities. With their own national committees, these units were operationally subordinate to the High Command of the Red Army.

Treaty signed in London

In July 1941, a joint meeting was held in London, which was attended by: British Foreign Minister Eden, Polish Prime Minister V. Sikorsky and Ambassador of the Soviet Union I.M. May. It reached an official agreement on the creation on the territory of the USSR of a large formation of the Polish army, which is an autonomous unit, but at the same time fulfilling orders coming from the Soviet leadership.

At the same time, an agreement was signed on the restoration of diplomatic relations between the Polish Republic and the USSR, broken as a result of the events that followed the adoption of the infamous Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. This document also provided for an amnesty for all citizens of Poland who were at that time on the territory of the Soviet Union as prisoners of war or who were imprisoned on other, quite weighty grounds.

Two months after the events described, in August 1941, the commander of the newly formed military formation was appointed. They became General Vladislav Anders. He was an experienced military leader, who, moreover, expressed his loyal attitude towards the Stalinist regime. Subordinates to him began to be called the "Army of Anders". Under this name, they entered the history of the Second World War.

Material costs and organizational difficulties

Almost all the costs of creating and putting on alert the army of Poland, which at first amounted to 30 thousand people, were assigned to the Soviet side, and only a small part of them was covered by the countries of the anti-Hitler coalition: the USA and Great Britain. The total amount of the interest-free loan provided by Stalin to the Polish government amounted to 300 million rubles. In addition, an additional 100 million rubles were allocated. to assist Polish refugees fleeing the Nazis on the territory of the USSR, and 15 million rubles. the government of the USSR allocated a non-refundable loan for the benefit of officers.

Major General A.P. was appointed as a commissioner for issues related to the formation of the Polish army. Panfilov. In August 1941, he approved the procedure proposed by the Polish side for all the upcoming organizational work. In particular, it was envisaged that the recruitment of personnel of units and subunits should be carried out both on a voluntary basis and by conscription. To this end, in the NKVD camps where Polish prisoners of war were kept, draft commissions were organized, whose members were charged with the duty to strictly control the contingent of people who joined the army, and, if necessary, reject objectionable candidates.

Initially, it was planned to create two infantry divisions, each with 7-8 thousand people, as well as a reserve unit. It was especially noted that the terms of formation had to be extremely tight, since the situation required their speedy transfer to the front. Specific dates were not indicated, since they depended on the receipt of uniforms, weapons and other material supplies.

The hardships that accompanied the formation of the Polish army

From the memoirs of participants in the events of those years, it is known that, despite the agreement reached earlier, the NKVD was by no means in a hurry to grant the promised amnesty to Polish citizens. Moreover, on the personal instructions of Beria, the regime in places of detention was tightened. As a result, after the arrival of the draft boards in the camps, the vast majority of prisoners expressed a desire to join the ranks of the army of General Anders, seeing this as the only possible way to liberation.

The combat units, formed on the basis of an agreement with the Polish government in exile, consisted entirely of people who had a long stay in prisons, camps and special settlements behind them. Most of them were extremely emaciated and needed medical attention. But the conditions in which they found themselves, having joined the newly formed army, were extremely difficult.

There were no heated barracks, and with the onset of cold weather, people were forced to live in tents. Food rations were allocated to them, but they had to be shared with civilians, mostly women and children, who also spontaneously arrived at the places where military units were formed. In addition, there was an acute shortage of medicines, building materials and Vehicle.

The first steps towards worsening relationships

Beginning in mid-October 1941, the Poles repeatedly asked the Soviet government to take tighter control over the creation of Polish armed formations and, in particular, to improve their food supply. In addition, Prime Minister V. Sikorsky took the initiative to create an additional division on the territory of Uzbekistan.

For its part, the Soviet government, through General Panfilov, replied that, due to the lack of the necessary material base, it could not ensure the creation of a Polish armed contingent of over 30 thousand people. In search of a solution to the problem, V. Sikorsky, who was still in London, raised the question of redeploying the main part of the Polish army to Iran, to the territory controlled by Great Britain.

In October 1941, an incident occurred that caused a sharp deterioration in the attitude of the Soviet government towards the units of the Anders army that continued to form. This story did not receive proper coverage in its time, and in many respects remains unclear to this day. The fact is that, on the orders of General Anders, a group of his officers arrived in Moscow, allegedly to solve a number of organizational problems. However, soon the envoys of the Polish commander illegally crossed the front line, and, having arrived in Warsaw, made contact with the Germans. This became known to Soviet intelligence, but Anders hastened to declare the officers traitors, disclaiming any responsibility for their actions. The topic was closed, but suspicions remained.

Signing of a new agreement on friendship and mutual assistance

Further development of events followed at the end of November of the same year, when Polish Prime Minister V. Sikorsky arrived in Moscow from London. The purpose of the visit of the head of the government in exile was to negotiate the formation of Anders' army, as well as measures to improve the situation of his fellow civilians. On December 3, he was received by Stalin, after which another treaty of friendship and mutual assistance was signed between the Soviet Union and Poland.

Important elements of the agreement reached were: an increase in the size of Anders' army from 30 to 96 thousand people, the formation of seven additional divisions in Central Asia and the transfer to Iranian territory of all Poles not included in the armed forces. For the Soviet Union, this entailed new material costs, since Great Britain, under a plausible pretext, evaded its earlier obligation to supply an additional contingent of the Polish army with food and medicine. Nevertheless, military uniforms for the Poles were supplied by the allies in the anti-Hitler coalition.

The result of V. Sikorsky's visit to Moscow was a resolution adopted on December 25, 1941 by the USSR State Defense Committee. It specified in detail the number of divisions being created, their total number (96 thousand people), as well as the places of temporary deployment - a number of cities in the Uzbek, Kirghiz and Kazakh SSR. The main headquarters of the Polish Armed Forces on the territory of the USSR was to be located in the village of Vrevskiy, Tashkent region.

Refusal of the Poles from interaction with the Red Army

By the beginning of 1942, the preparation of several divisions that were part of the Polish army was fully completed, and General Panfilov turned to Anders with a demand to send one of them to the front to help the defenders of Moscow. However, on the part of the Polish command, supported by V. Sikorsky, a categorical refusal followed, motivated by the fact that the participation of the Polish army in hostilities would be possible only after the completion of the training of its entire composition.

This picture was repeated at the end of March, when the country's leadership again demanded that Anders' army, which had completed its formation by that time, be sent to the front. This time, the Polish general did not even consider it necessary to consider this appeal. Involuntarily, the suspicion arose that the Poles were deliberately delaying their entry into the war on the side of the USSR.

It intensified after V. Sikorsky, visiting Cairo in April of the same year, and meeting with the commander of the British armed forces in the Middle East, promised to transfer Anders' entire army to his disposal. The fugitive prime minister was not at all embarrassed that the formation and training of this 96,000-strong contingent of troops took place on the territory of the USSR and practically at the expense of its people.

By April 1942, there were about 69,000 Polish military personnel on the territories of the republics of Central Asia, including 3,100 officers and 16,200 representatives of lower ranks. Documents have been preserved in which L.P. Beria reported to I.V. Stalin that among the personnel of the Polish Armed Forces stationed on the territory of the Union republics, anti-Soviet sentiments prevail, embracing both privates and officers. In addition, unwillingness to go into battle together with units of the Red Army is openly expressed at all levels.

The idea of ​​a transfer to the Middle East

In view of the fact that the observance of British interests in the Middle East was under threat, and the redeployment of additional armed forces there was difficult, Winston Churchill considered it most acceptable to use Anders's Polish military personnel to protect the oil regions and other important strategic facilities. It is known that back in August 1941, in a conversation with V. Sikorsky, he strongly recommended that he move Polish troops to areas where they could come into contact with units

Shortly thereafter, General Anders and Polish Ambassador to Moscow S. Kot received instructions from London, under any pretext, to transfer the army to the Middle East, Afghanistan or India. At the same time, it was directly indicated that the use of Polish troops in joint operations with the Soviet army, and the need to protect their personnel from communist propaganda. Since such requirements fully corresponded to the personal interests of Anders himself, he began to look for ways to fulfill them as soon as possible.

Evacuation of Polish from the territory of the USSR

IN last days March 1942, the first stage of the redeployment of Anders' army to Iran was carried out. Together with the military, of whom about 31.5 thousand people left, about 13 thousand Poles from among civilians left the territory of the USSR. The reason for the transfer of such a significant number of people to the East was the decree of the Soviet government to reduce the amount of food distributed to the Polish divisions, the command of which stubbornly refused to participate in hostilities.

Endless delays with sending to the front extremely irritated not only General Panfilov, but also Stalin himself. During a meeting with Anders on March 18, 1942, he stated that he was providing the opportunity for the divisions entrusted to him to leave the USSR, since they were still of no practical use in the fight against the Nazis. At the same time, he stressed that the position taken by the head of the government in exile, V. Sikorsky, after the defeat of Germany, would characterize Poland's role in World War II extremely negatively.

At the end of July of the same year, Stalin signed a plan for the complete evacuation from the territory of the USSR of all the remaining by that time servicemen of the Polish army, as well as civilians. After handing this document to Anders, he used all the reserves at his disposal for its implementation.

However, despite the anti-Soviet sentiments that engulfed the vast majority of Poles, there were many among them who refused to evacuate to Iran and serve the interests of British oil corporations there. Of these, a separate rifle division named after Tadeusz Kosciuszka was subsequently formed, covering itself with military glory and taking a worthy place in the history of the Polish People's Republic.

Stay of the Polish military contingent in Iran

The complete evacuation of the armed forces subordinate to Anders and the civilians adjoining them was completed in early September 1942. At that moment, the number of the military contingent relocated to Iran amounted to more than 75 thousand people. Almost 38 thousand civilians joined them. In the future, many of them were moved to Iraq and Palestine, and, upon arrival in the Holy Land, about 4 thousand Jews immediately deserted from Anders' army, who served in it along with representatives of other nationalities, but who wished to lay down their arms, being in their historical homeland . Subsequently, they became citizens of the sovereign state of Israel.

An important moment in the history of the army, still subordinate to Anders, was its transformation into the 2nd Polish Corps, which became part of the British armed forces in the Middle East. This event took place on July 22, 1943. By that time, the number of its military personnel was 49 thousand people, armed with about 250 artillery pieces, 290 anti-tank and 235 anti-aircraft weapons, as well as 270 tanks and a significant number of vehicles of various brands.

2nd Polish Corps in Italy

Due to the need dictated by the operational situation that had developed by the beginning of 1944, parts of the Polish armed forces, stationed until that time in the Middle East, were hastily transferred to Italy. The reason for this was the unsuccessful attempts of the allies to break through the defensive line of the Germans, which covered the approaches to Rome from the south.

In mid-May, her fourth assault began, in which the 2nd Polish Corps also took part. One of the main strongholds in the defense of the Germans, which later received the name "Gustav's Line", was the monastery of Monte Cassino, located near the coast, and turned into a well-fortified fortress. During its siege and subsequent assault, which lasted almost a week, the Poles lost 925 people killed and more than 4 thousand wounded, but, thanks to their heroism, the Allied troops opened the way to the Italian capital.

Characteristically, by the end of World War II, the size of the corps of General Anders, who was still in Italy, increased to 76 thousand people due to the replenishment of its personnel with Poles who had previously served in the ranks of the Wehrmacht. A curious document has been preserved, indicating that among the military German army, taken prisoner by the British, there were about 69 thousand people of Polish nationality, the vast majority of whom (54 thousand people) expressed a desire to continue the war on the side of the Allied forces. It was from them that the replenishment of the 2nd Polish Corps consisted.

Dissolution of the Polish armed formations

According to reports, the corps under the command of W. Anders, fighting on the side of the powers of the anti-Hitler coalition, launched a broad anti-Soviet activity against the establishment of a communist regime in post-war Poland. With the help of encrypted radio communications, as well as secret couriers heading to Warsaw, contact was established with members of the anti-communist and anti-Soviet underground in the Polish capital. It is known that in his messages to them, Anders called the army of the Soviet Union "the new occupier" and called for a decisive struggle against it.

In July 1945, when the horrors of World War II were already behind us, members of the Polish government in exile and their head, V. Sikorsky, received very unpleasant news: the former allies of Great Britain and the United States suddenly refused to recognize their legitimacy. Thus, the politicians who counted on seizing the highest leadership positions in post-war Poland were out of luck.

A year later, Foreign Minister Ernst Bavin ordered the dissolution of all Polish armed units that were part of the British army from London. This was already a blow directly to V. Anders. However, he was in no hurry to lay down his arms and announced that the war was not over for the Poles, and the duty of everyone true patriot fight, sparing no life, for the independence of their homeland from the Soviet aggressors. However, in 1947, its units were completely disbanded, and after the formation of the Polish People's Republic, many of their members chose to remain in exile.

“Who can resist in an unequal dispute: Puffy Lyakh, or faithful Russian?”

In order to feel what was going on in the brains of the current "legend" of Poland, General W. Anders, let's start with an episode that happened three months before the meeting.
In September 1939, he was captured by the Soviets, cured, released in September 1941, and chosen to command the emerging Polish military units. They sewed a general's uniform. Dressed. And it began.

Stanislav Kunyaev in the book "The Gentry and Us" writes:

“... The general was the first to give his entourage an example of gentry behavior. The writer and journalist Alexander Krivitsky, a friend of Konstantin Simonov, who interviewed Anders in December 1941 at the Moskva Hotel, recalls:
“General Anders stood in front of me at full height already in a jacket, fastening his waist belt and adjusting his shoulder belt. He fastened his saber with an intricately decorated hilt at his left hip - probably he was going to some kind of reception. He was bursting with self-satisfaction.
- While the Russian is fumbling with a holster and pulling out a pistol, the Pole will pull the blade out of its sheath and ... j-i-ik! - Anders picturesquely showed in the air how easily and quickly he will cope with the saber and the enemy.
- But sir general- I said as calmly as possible, - despite such an advantage of yours, we have been fighting for a long time, and you still keep your sword in the scabbard, - he threw a glance at me, from a series of those that should kill».»

In a Russian person, such behavior will cause a smile, but the Poles are not like that: Anders quite seriously decided to circle Joseph Vissarionovich around his finger.

“... December 1941 is coming.
Anders understands that the fate of the future Polish Army and its fate depend on Stalin. He does not want the Poles to fight on Eastern Front side by side with the Soviet units, his secret dream was to collect all the Poles from the Soviet camps as soon as possible, save them as far as possible from domestic and food troubles in a foreign land and somehow get Stalin to give them an opportunity (incredible in bleeding country!) evacuate to Central Asia, and from there to the Middle East under the command of the British, closer to Europe, to London, where the Polish government sits in exile. Deep down he is horrified that the Poles will have to fight grueling battles with the Germans in Russia, but at the same time he needs to convince Stalin that the Poles are brave warriors, that they are ready to fight for their native Poland, not sparing their lives.
Both generals pour out belligerent phrases, thinking that Marshal Stalin will take their words at face value.
« We all, without exception, love our Fatherland and want to enter it first, we want to go into battle as soon as possible."(Anders). " We want our blow to be strong. Only then will we achieve our goal - we will raise morale not only among our soldiers, but above all in Poland. Perhaps we will be able to form part of the army in Iran, and then it, together with those units that remain in the USSR, will go to the front"(Anders).
General Sikorsky echoed him:
« I propose the withdrawal of the entire army and the entire manpower reserve to Iran, where the climate, and also, no doubt, the American-British assistance provided to us, will probably give people for a short time come to our senses and we will form a strong army. This army will then return here to the front to take its place on it. This is agreed with Churchill. For my part, I am ready to officially announce that the army will return to the Russian front and that it can be reinforced by several British divisions.».
That's how two Polish talkers chattered, not realizing that Stalin sees their two-hearted game.
The Soviet leader immediately realizes how the Poles yearn to “go into battle as soon as possible” and “enter” Poland “first”, and immediately makes it clear to the Polish rhetoricians that he understood their pitiful diplomatic game - and his answer to the Poles reminds us of the dialogues of Shakespearean tragedies :
« I am an experienced and old person. I know that if you go to Iran, you will never come back here. I see England has a lot of work to do and needs Polish soldiers.».

Anders begins to bargain - he asks for an increase in the number of rations for the Poles, he asks for weapons, transport, uniforms, but it is already clear to Stalin that Anders wants to enter Poland, liberated by proxy, as her "liberator". And the general himself in his memoirs does not hide the fact that he wanted to circle Stalin around his finger:
« Offensive in Europe- Anders thought, talking with Stalin, - should go through the Balkans, which would be most pleasant for Poland, because at the time of the defeat of the Germans(with our troops! - St. K.) a force would enter the territory of Poland Western states and the Polish army».
Having read these hidden thoughts of the gentry, Stalin, with his characteristic foresight and directness, summed up their discussion:
« If the Poles do not want to fight, let them leave. We won't keep them. If they want, let them leave... I am 62 years old, and I know: where the army is formed, it remains there... We can do without you. We can give all. We can handle it ourselves(Let's not forget, the conversation is in December 1941! - St. K). We will liberate Poland and then we will give it back to you.»…

But they never gave it to Anders and the Polish government in exile, which he represented.
On August 3, 1944, a delegation of this government headed by Prime Minister S. Mikolajczyk arrived in Moscow with great ambition to "share the pie".
From how Stalin politely “hooked off” the “Polish government in exile”, read in the transcript of the negotiations of the “puffy Poles” with Joseph Vissarionovich (

Which would be used in the war against Germany and become the basis of the Polish armed forces controlled by the USSR.

The People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs selected 24 former Polish officers (three generals, one colonel, 8 lieutenant colonels, 6 majors and captains, 6 lieutenants and second lieutenants), who sought to participate in the liberation of Poland. Some of these officers (Zygmunt Berling's group, General Marian Janušaitis) considered themselves free from any obligations in relation to the government of Vladislav Sikorsky, others (Generals Mieczysław Boruta-Spechowicz and Vaclav Przezdetsky) declared that only at the direction of the Polish government in exile - "London".

At the suggestion of Beria, the formation of the division was entrusted to the Berling group. However, due to fears of provoking a German attack on the USSR, the decision to create a Polish division was made by the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR and the Politburo of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks only on June 4, 1941. It was then that it was decided by July 1, 1941 to form the 238th Rifle Division of the Red Army from Poles and people who know Polish language. But before the German attack on the USSR on June 22, they did not manage to form a Polish division.

Agreement on the formation of the Polish army in the USSR

The German attack on the USSR created a new situation and prompted the Soviet leadership to cooperate not with some particular group of Polish officers, but with the government of V. Sikorsky as a whole.

Formation of the "Army of Anders"

Vladislav Anders

In a conversation with Major General A.P. Panfilov, authorized by the General Staff of the Red Army for the formation of the Polish army on the territory of the USSR, on August 16, 1941, V. Anders and Z. Shishko-Bogush (head of the Polish military mission in the USSR) indicated that the Polish army would be formed both by compulsory conscription and on a voluntary basis; first of all, two light infantry divisions of 7-8 thousand people each and a reserve unit should be formed; the timing of their formation “should be compressed in order to ensure their entry into the combat zone as soon as possible. The calendar dates for the completion of the formation of these formations will depend on the degree of receipt of weapons, uniforms and other stocks of material supplies. Polish generals reported that they expect to receive uniforms and equipment from England and the USA, while small arms and ammunition from the government of the USSR. An agreement was reached on the creation in Gryazovetsky, Suzdalsky, Yuzhsky and Starobelsky camps of the NKVD for prisoners of war draft commissions, which will include representatives of the Polish command, the Red Army, the NKVD of the USSR and a medical doctor. As Panfilov reported to the Chief of the General Staff, representatives of the Red Army and the NKVD "in order to strengthen our influence on the Polish formations" were given the right to reject persons entering the Polish army.

On August 19, at the second meeting of the mixed Soviet-Polish commission on the formation of the Polish army, V. Anders and Z. Shishko-Bogush (head of the Polish military mission in the USSR) were informed that the command of the Red Army was satisfying their request to form two rifle divisions on the territory of the USSR and one reserve regiment, their readiness date - October 1, 1941. The number of divisions was determined at 10,000 people each, the reserve regiment - 5,000. State Security Major G.S. Zhukov handed over to V. Anders a list of officers for 1,658 people located in the USSR . At this meeting, it was decided to deploy formations in the Totsk and Tatishchev camps (in Chkalov, and now Orenburg, and Saratov regions, respectively), headquarters - in Buzuluk (Chkalov region).

However, the NKVD was in no hurry to implement the decree on amnesty and the joint resolution of the Council of People's Commissars and the Central Committee of the VKB (b) of August 12, 1941. Beria's directive No. 00429 was sent to the POW camps, ordering to strictly maintain the regime, prisoners of war and internees were ordered to continue to obey him (Beria) . Special departments of the camps continued to intensively recruit agents.

The draft Soviet-Polish commissions arrived at the prisoner of war camps on August 23, and after their work was completed on September 2-6, the vast majority of the Poles were sent to form the Polish army in Buzuluk, Tatishchevo and Totsk. By September 12, 24,828 former prisoners of war had arrived there.

On October 1, Beria announced that out of 391,575 Polish citizens who were in places of detention and in exile, by September 27, 50,295 people had been released from prisons and Gulag camps, 26,297 from prisoner of war camps, and, in addition, 265,248 special settlers. By this time, 25,115 former prisoners of war had been sent to form the Anders Army. 16,647 people released from prisons, camps and special settlements also arrived there; another 10,000 were on the way. By this time, two Polish divisions and a reserve regiment were formed, staffed by former prisoners of war (23,851 people) and, in part, selected Poles from among former prisoners and special settlers (3,149 people).

On November 6, Panfilov informed Anders that the total number of his army for 1941 was determined at 30,000 people, and offered him "the surplus of personnel available in the area<…>send to the appropriate, at the request of the sent, areas for residence.

In pursuance of the agreements between Stalin and Sikorsky, the State Defense Committee on December 25 adopted a special resolution “On the Polish Army on the Territory of the USSR”, which determined its size (96 thousand people), the number of divisions (6) and deployment (headquarters and its institutions in Yangi-Yul of the Uzbek SSR , divisions in the Kirghiz, Uzbek and Kazakh SSR).

From the beginning of 1942, the question of the timing of sending Polish divisions to the front came to the fore. During a trip to the places of deployment of the Polish army, Sikorsky said that the Polish army would be ready to fight against the Wehrmacht by June 15th. Anders, following Sikorsky, named the date June 1, 1942, and rejected the possibility of bringing one separate division into battle.

Parts of Anders in the Middle East

On September 1, 1942, the evacuation of the Anders Army was completed. In total, 69,917 people arrived in Pahlavi, of which 41,103 were military. In total, during the two evacuations, about 80,000 military personnel and more than 37,000 members of their families left the USSR. Anders' army, which by that time (since August 12) had received the name "Polish Army in the East", consisted of: 3rd, 5th, 6th, and 7th infantry divisions, tank brigade and the 12th Lancers. (Anders personally commanded the 5th division, which was considered the most combat-ready in the army). National composition Anders' army was heterogeneous: in addition to the Poles there were Jews, a large number of Ukrainians and Belarusians (up to 30%). In Palestine, the 3rd division of the Carpathian riflemen, formed from Polish soldiers who managed to escape to Lebanon after the defeat of Poland, and several smaller Polish units that were part of the British army, was attached to Anders' army. In this new composition, Anders' army was transformed into the 2nd Polish Corps as part of the British army. In total, he numbered 48 thousand fighters. The corps was armed with 248 artillery pieces, 288 anti-tank weapons, 234 anti-aircraft weapons, 264 tanks, 1241 armored personnel carriers, 440 armored cars and 12,064 vehicles. The British command, however, for a long time did not want to include Polish air units in the corps. Subsequently, in 1945, the size of the corps grew to 75,000 due to the Poles liberated from German camps.

The composition of the corps (excluding small units) was as follows:

• The 3rd Carpathian Infantry Division (commanded by Major General Bronislav Duch), consisted of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd (added in 1945) Carpathian Rifle Brigades and the 12th Podolsk Lancers Regiment;
• The 5th Kresovaya Infantry Division "Zubry" (commander - Brigadier General Nikodem Sulik), consisted of 2, then 3 infantry brigades (4th Volyn, 5th Vilna (Belarusian), 6th Lvov and with 1945 - 7th Volyn) and 15th Poznan Lancers;
• The 2nd Polish Armored Brigade (from 1945 the Polish 2nd Warsaw Armored Division, commander - Brigadier General Bronislav Rakovsky), consisted of the 4th, 6th, 14th Greater Poland (since 1945) armored regiments, the 1st Krechovsky Lancers shelf.
• II Artillery Corps, Commander Brigadier General Roman Odzerzinsky: 9th Medium Artillery Regiment, 10th Heavy Artillery Regiment, 7th Field Artillery Regiment, 7th Anti-tank Regiment, 7th Light Anti-Air Regiment, 8th Heavy Anti-Air Regiment .
• Other parts of the corps subordination: 1st Special Polish airborne and sabotage company; Special Carpathian Lancers Regiment; medical, quartermaster, etc. parts.

2nd Polish Corps in Italy

Polish trumpeter at the ruins of Monte Cassino.

In January 1944, the corps was sent to the Italian front as part of the 8th british army. From January to May 1944, the Allied forces unsuccessfully tried three times to break through the German Gustav defensive line in the Monte Cassino region, covering Rome from the south. On May 11, the fourth general assault began, in which the 2nd Polish Corps took part (in the 22-01 artillery support company of which the Wojtek bear "served"). By May 18, after a week of fierce fighting, the Gustav Line was broken through in the area from the monastery of Monte Cassino to the coast. The monastery turned into a fortress was abandoned by the German units, and the Polish detachment hoisted the national white and red banner over its ruins. Thus, the way to Rome was opened, taken on June 4th. Near Monte Cassino, the corps lost 924 people killed, 4199 wounded (in total, 3 thousand killed, 14 thousand wounded during the war). After that, the Polish corps fought almost continuously in Italy for a year, again distinguished itself near Ancona, and ended its combat path in April 1945 with participation in the capture of Bologna. Until 1946, the corps remained as an occupying force in Italy, then it was transferred to Great Britain and disbanded there. Most of his fighters, like the commander himself, did not want to return to communist Poland and remained in exile.

In 1946-1949, some former soldiers of the Anders army (mainly Ukrainians and Belarusians) returned to their homeland in Western Belarus, Western Ukraine and Lithuania, mainly from Great Britain. In 1951, they (more than 4.5 thousand people, including members of their families) were exiled to a special settlement in the Irkutsk region, where they stayed until August 1958.

Anders' army in literature and folk art

The real combat fate of Anders soldiers from Soviet people was hiding. Meanwhile, for the Poles, on the contrary, the assault on Monte Cassino became a symbol of heroism; The feat of Anders' soldiers is sung in the famous song "Red Poppies on Monte Cassino" (music by Alfred Schutz, lyrics by Felix Konarsky), the first verses of which were composed during the assault. In Russian uncensored poetry, the theme of the Andersov army was reflected in Joseph Brodsky's "Song", written under the influence of "Red Poppies on Monte Cassino", Natalia Gorbanevskaya's poem "Like Andersov's army of soldiers ...", etc.

see also

Notes

Video footage

• "Red Poppies at Monte Cassino" performed by Adam Aston, 1944

Literature

• Military agreement between the High Command of the USSR and the High Command of Poland August 14, 1941
• Statement by A. Ya. Vyshinsky to representatives of the Anglo-American press in Moscow
• Materials of the international scientific and practical conference dedicated to the 60th anniversary of the formation of the Polish army under the command of Vladislav Anders in Buzuluk Orenburg region(October 24-26, 2001);
• Lebedeva N. S. Anders' Army in the Documents of the Russian Archives. // Repressions against Poles and Polish citizens. Issue. 1. M.: Links, 1997. S. 176-196.
• A. V. Chevardin "The fate of Polish special settlers (1941-1943) in the Ural region"
• "Red poppies on Monte Cassino" (with translation and commentary)
• Klimkovsky E. I was General Anders' adjutant. - M.: MPEI Publishing House, 1991.
• Gribovsky Y. "Belarusians in the Polish Army in the USSR, the Polish Army in the East, the Second Polish Corps (1941-1947)" (Belarusian)
• Gutman I.

Since September 17, 1939, Moscow did not consider that Poland, and even more so its government, existed. The situation was changed by the beginning of the war with the Third Reich. With the mediation of the British, negotiations began between Moscow and the government of Vladislav Sikorsky. At the same time, Moscow's view of Poland's future is beginning to change.

July 3 Soviet People's Commissariat Foreign Affairs (NKID) sent a telegram to the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Soviet Union in England, Ivan Maisky, in which the Soviet government expressed its readiness to start negotiations on concluding a mutual assistance treaty with the Polish government. The telegram noted that the USSR stands for the creation of an independent Polish state within the borders of national Poland, which may include some cities and regions that were ceded to the USSR in September 1939. Moreover, Moscow considered the question of the nature of the state regime of the Polish state to be an internal affair of the Poles themselves.

Signing an agreement

Negotiations were held from July 5 to 30, 1941 in the capital of England, the British Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden acted as an intermediary. The Poles were primarily concerned with the issue of the border. According to Sikorsky, they should have corresponded to the borders on August 31, 1939, the day before the start of the aggression against the country by the Reich and 18 days before the Soviet invasion of Poland.

Signing of the agreement, London 30 July 1941. From left to right: Sikorsky, Eden, Churchill and Maisky

The USSR did not particularly want to deal with border issues during heavy fighting, offering to focus on the formation of the Polish corps. The British, in turn, realizing that an alliance with the USSR was beneficial at least for the duration of the war, put pressure on the Poles.

There was even a dispute in the Polish government about this - three ministers resigned (including Foreign Minister August Zaleski), was against an agreement with the Soviet Union and Polish President Rachkevich in exile. But in the end the treaty was signed on July 30, 1941.

The treaty declared the agreements between the USSR and the Reich of 1939 on the partition of Poland to be invalid. It was also said about the restoration of diplomatic relations between the Soviet and Polish governments; about mutual assistance in the war with the Third Reich; about the creation on Soviet territory of the Polish army under the Polish command, appointed by the London government. The Polish army was supposed to be operationally subordinate to Moscow. In addition, the Polish government stated that Poland was not bound by any agreement with any third party directed against the USSR. And Moscow granted amnesty to all Polish citizens who were imprisoned on Soviet territory as prisoners of war or on other important grounds.

From left to right: V. Anders, V. Sikorsky, J. V. Stalin, translator (possibly), 1941.

On August 12, 1941, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union issued a decree on amnesty. On August 14, a military agreement was concluded, supplementing the agreement of July 30. The agreement provided for the creation in the shortest possible time on Soviet territory of the Polish army, which legally was part of the armed forces of sovereign Poland. The Polish army was to lead fighting against Germany together with the troops of the USSR and other allied powers. And at the end of the war had to return to Polish state, becoming the basis for the Polish armed forces. It was clarified that the Polish units would be transferred to the front only when they reached full combat readiness. On August 6, General Vladislav Anders was appointed its commander.

Who is this Anders?

Vladislav Anders came from a family of small gentry of German roots. He wanted to become an engineer: he graduated from a real school in Warsaw, then a polytechnic school in Riga. In 1913 he was called to royal army and graduated from the officer cavalry school. He took part in the First World War: he began serving as a lieutenant in a dragoon regiment, in battles he was distinguished by good abilities, courage, commanded a squadron. During the war he was wounded three times, had several awards (including the Order of St. George IV degree).

General W. Andersin English uniform

As an excellent officer, he was sent to study at the Petrograd Academy of the General Staff, where he underwent an accelerated course of study. In mid-February 1917, just before the crash Russian Empire received the rank of captain of the General Staff and a diploma from the hands of Emperor Nicholas II. After February Revolution participated in the formation of the national Polish corps, Major General Jozef Dovbor-Musnitsky (it was formed by the Provisional Government). He was chief of staff of an infantry division. After the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, the Polish units were disbanded, Anders, together with Dovbor-Musnitsky, returned to Poland. When a revolution took place in Germany and the empire collapsed, Anders participates in the creation of the Greater Poland Army, as a regiment commander he fights with the Red Army during the war of 1919-1921.

Then he continued to study - he received a higher military education in Paris ("Higher military school”) and Warsaw, from 1925 the military commandant of Warsaw, with the rank of colonel. For a number of reasons: firstly, he was an opponent of General Pilsudski during the May 1926 mutiny, and secondly, according to his adjutant E. Klimkovsky, he was distinguished by monetary unscrupulousness, which caused a number of scandals - Anders stopped in career growth. And he remained until the Second World War the commander of a cavalry brigade.

Badge of the 2nd Polish Corps

On September 1, 1939, when the Wehrmacht attacked Poland, Anders commanded the Novogrudov Cavalry Brigade. His brigade was part of the Polish Northern Front. Anders received the rank of general, his brigade and parts of several other cavalry brigades (Mazovetska, Volhynia, Pogranichnaya) were merged into the Operational Cavalry Group. The remnants of the group after the defeat near Warsaw retreated to Lvov, Anders planned to break through to Hungary in order to get to France from there and continue the fight against the Germans there. On September 27-28, his group was defeated by Soviet troops, and Anders himself was wounded and captured the next day. Vladislav Anders underwent treatment at the Polish military hospital in Lvov, then until August 1941 he was kept in the internal prison of the NKVD in Lubyanka.

In the Totsk camps, the 6th infantry division of the "Army of Anders"

On August 4, 1941, Beria personally informed Anders that the Polish government in London appointed him commander of the Polish army in the USSR (he received the rank of divisional general). He was appointed to this post for several reasons: firstly, he had experience in commanding a group of troops; secondly, his political past - non-participation in Pilsudski's entourage; thirdly, he knew Russian well and had a reputation as a specialist in Russia, which should have helped him in his interaction with Moscow. It should be noted that Anders was extremely negative about the Stalinist regime, considered him the executioner and jailer of the Polish people, and categorically did not want to fight under the banner of the USSR. This was one of the reasons for the failure of the idea of ​​​​using the "Army of Anders" in the war with Germany.

Army formation

At the suggestion of Anders and Shishko-Bogush (head of the Polish military mission in the Union), the corps began to form on a forced and voluntary basis. First of all, it is necessary to form 2 light infantry divisions (7-8 thousand people each) and a reserve unit in a “short time frame”. These units must be brought into battle in a "short time". And the time of their readiness depends on the speed of receipt of weapons, uniforms and other stocks of logistics. According to the Poles, they expected to receive weapons and ammunition from the Soviet side, and uniforms and other equipment from the British and Americans.

Polish prisoners of war, 1941 - the backbone of the Anders Army

Since September 12, Anders has been asking Moscow to create several new divisions in Uzbekistan. The Soviet side at first prevented an increase in the size of the Polish army, limiting it to a figure of 30 thousand people. In September, Polish Prime Minister Sikorski asked the British Prime Minister for new armament divisions, the absence of which, in his opinion, was the main obstacle to the creation of a 100,000-strong Polish army. It should be noted that at a conference in Moscow, the United States and Britain refused special supplies for the Polish army.

Soviet commanders and Polish officers during exercises (winter 1941). Polish soldiers wearing English steel helmets Brodie helmet. Seated on the right in an officer's cap - General V. Anders

But despite this, Anders managed to push through the idea of ​​​​creating new divisions. In October, he again asked for this, and already in December Sikorsky's negotiations with Stalin began. As a result, agree on the formation of seven Polish divisions in the USSR and on the possibility of withdrawing to Persia the Poles who are not involved in these military units.

Turkestan was determined as the location of the new Polish divisions. On December 25, 1941, the State Defense Committee (GKO) adopted a special resolution “On the Polish Army on the Territory of the USSR”, according to which the number of the Polish army was determined at 96 thousand people, with deployment in the Kyrgyz, Uzbek and Kazakh SSR.

From the beginning of 1942, Moscow raised the question of the timing of sending Polish formations to the Soviet-German front. Sikorsky, during a visit to the places of deployment of Polish units, said that the army would be ready to fight against German troops by June 15th. Anders, following him, named the date June 1, 1942, and also rejected the possibility of bringing one separate Polish division into battle.

Anders' Army before leaving Russia to help the British, RSFSR, 1942

In the second half of 1942, Anders, Sikorski and Churchill again proposed to withdraw the Polish army to Persia. In Moscow, they realized that there would be no sense from the Poles and agreed. Moreover, every day the appetites of the British and Poles grew: both of them demanded more divisions for the Poles. Anders' army, by the way, also managed to fight in Italy.

However, not all Poles went to Persia. Zygmunt Henrik Berling, commander of the headquarters of the 5th Infantry Division. With the participation of the Union of Polish Patriots, new Polish armed forces, who were subordinate to the Soviet command, they were reinforced by dozens Soviet commanders. Berling became commander of the 1st Polish Infantry Division. Tadeusz Kosciuszko, and then the Polish corps and the Polish army. Under Soviet command, the Poles took part in the liberation of their homeland from the Nazis, in the battle for Germany and the storming of Berlin. By June 1945, the Polish Army numbered approximately 400 thousand people. The Polish army was the most powerful regular military force that fought alongside the Soviet troops.

Oleg Nazarov
Doctor of Historical Sciences

Recently, in an article by Yaroslav Butakov, "Poland's Missed Chances" ("Fail-RF", August 15 this year), it was accurately stated: "Of the available alternatives, the Polish elite always chose the worst." Here is another example of such an unfortunate choice. In the 40s there was a joke: “What is the Second World War? This is an attempt by the USSR, England and the United States to force Anders' army to fight." The history of this amazing military formation began 70 years ago with the signing of a military agreement between the USSR and Poland.

In the prewar years, Polish military leaders and statesmen did not skimp on loud statements and high marks combat readiness of his army.

On August 18, 1939, the Polish ambassador to Paris, J. Lukasiewicz, confidently promised the French Foreign Minister J. Bonnet: “Not the Germans, but the Poles will break deep into Germany in the very first days of the war!”

The prediction came true exactly the opposite. Four weeks was enough for the Wehrmacht to defeat the "invincible" army of Poland.

In early September, a French representative, shocked by what was happening in the Polish General Staff, reported to Paris: “Complete chaos reigns here. The main Polish command has almost no connection with the warring armies ... It has absolutely no information about the advance of the enemy.

Quickly realizing the inevitability of a catastrophe, the Polish leaders rushed to save their precious skins and everything acquired by overwork. The government left Warsaw on 5 September. Commander-in-Chief E. Rydz-Smigly retreated on the night of the 7th. On September 17, the leadership of Poland fled to Romania. There, President I. Mościcki announced his resignation.

On September 30, the Polish government in exile was formed in Paris, headed by General V. Sikorsky. Soon it declared war on the USSR, and after the defeat of France by Germany, it quickly fled to London.

Anders' army also fled from the Nazis. But in September 1939, he chose not to surrender to the Germans, but to the Russians.

Moscow, July 30, 1941 Signing of an agreement restoring diplomatic relations between Poland and the USSR.

Ours respected Anders' request by sending him not to concentration camp, as the Germans would have done, but to be treated in a Lviv hospital with Polish personnel. The general was pleased with the work of the doctors. Nor did he experience any difficulty in meeting with visitors.

After the German attack on the USSR, the Kremlin and the Sikorsky government took steps towards each other by signing a political agreement on July 30, 1941 in Moscow. The USSR recognized the Soviet-German treaties of 1939 "concerning territorial changes in Poland as invalid."

An additional protocol to the agreement provided for an amnesty for all Polish prisoners of war. There were 391,545 such people.

Upon release, all former Polish prisoners of war were given a one-time gratuitous allowance. Privates received 500 rubles each, majors and lieutenant colonels - 3 thousand rubles each, colonels - 5 thousand rubles each, generals - 10 thousand rubles each, and personally General Anders - 25 thousand rubles. In total, grants were issued in the amount of 15 million rubles.

On August 14, the governments of the USSR and Poland also concluded a military agreement. According to him, the Polish army was to be organized on the territory of the USSR "in the shortest possible time", parts of which "will be moved to the front upon reaching full combat readiness." On August 22, at a meeting in the General Staff of the Red Army, points for the formation of Polish military formations were determined. It was decided to deploy the army headquarters in Buzuluk, the 5th infantry division in Tatishchev, near Saratov, the 6th infantry division in Totsk (near Buzuluk), the reserve regiment in the village of Koltubanovskoye.

A Polish officer recalled: “In Buzuluk, the headquarters received at its disposal a beautiful house, a hotel for officers, a five-room mansion for the army commander and a number of other premises, which housed a collection point for newcomers, the commandant's office of the garrison, departments of the headquarters and the department of social care.”

General Anders.

The Soviet leadership acted quickly and efficiently. What can not be said about Anders, who was put at the head of the Polish army. He did everything to ensure that its full combat readiness would never come. The general was clearly in no hurry to take part in the struggle against Germany. Especially side by side with parts of the Red Army.

Lieutenant E. Klimkovsky, appointed Anders' adjutant, knew well the true priorities of his boss. In a memoir published shortly after the war (when Anders was alive), he wrote:

“Anders built his political and military calculations on the belief that the Soviet Union would be defeated, and besides, he himself was hostile to him, all his activities were permeated with only one thought - to wait. As a result, both in his official policy and in personal life almost from the first moment he invariably pursued four main goals: 1) get rich as quickly as possible; 2) live happily, for your own pleasure, have more fun; 3) find a powerful patron for himself and reach an agreement with him (for this purpose, he tried with all his might to establish contacts with the British, which he completely succeeded in); 4) get out of the Soviet Union as soon as possible.”

Anders “stubbornly strove not to send Polish troops to the Soviet-German front and at any cost to keep them in the rear until the moment “when the Soviet Union is defeated”, or, if possible, withdraw them from the territory of the Soviet Union altogether. These were principles that completely contradicted the Polish-Soviet treaty and the military agreement.

Anders looked at the treaty with the USSR not as a basis for building long-term friendly relations between the two states, but considered it a forced temporary evil.

TO Soviet officers he treated them with contempt, although he did not show it in their presence.

Polish prisoners of war arrived at the assembly point to join Anders' army. Autumn 1941

At that hard time When the German troops rushed to Moscow, and the soldiers of the Red Army threw themselves under the tanks in order to stop the enemy at the cost of their lives, a considerable number of Poles showed their readiness to fight against the Germans.

On September 5, the ambassador of the Polish government in exile, S. Kot, wrote to Sikorsky from Moscow: “There are no more than twenty officers who refused to voluntarily join the army.”

The formation of the units of the Polish army went quickly. The Soviet government did everything possible to clothe, shoe, feed and arm the Poles. This happened in the autumn of 1941, when the fate of the Soviet capital hung in the balance.

The Poles received weapons that the soldiers of the Red Army and the poorly armed militias badly needed. The Poles received the same rations as the units of the Red Army that participated in the battles. The Red Army soldiers who did not participate in the battles received a smaller ration. However, Anders did not sound words of gratitude, but new requests and complaints. He considered rations and armament insufficient.

But it was not for Anders, whose greed and shamelessness knew no bounds, to throw reproaches at the Soviet authorities. The Polish general arranged feasts twice a day, in which at least a dozen officers took part. Klimkovsky recalled:

“The treats were plentiful. The most exquisite dishes, and in unlimited quantities, were always at the disposal of the interlocutors, the number of all kinds of drinks was also considerable. The general’s methods that became popular were called “gluttony sessions.”

Surrounded by the general, they knew that with state money he bought up gold coins and cigarette cases, dollars, diamonds and other valuables. Klimkovsky wrote:

“He acted in this direction without a twinge of conscience, having unbridled himself to such an extent that he bought, of course, with government money, jewelry from people who were often forced to sell them just so as not to die of hunger.”

It is a pity that the film director A. Wajda was in no hurry to make a film about these "travels" of Polish unfortunate warriors in the USSR. But the figure of the “general on a white horse,” as Anders is called by his admirers, is one of the central heroes of the Commonwealth in the pantheon.

The official correspondence of Anders and his entourage with the London government also contains a lot of interesting things. On October 29, from the shores of foggy Albion, an instruction was sent to the commander of the Polish army in the USSR under the heading “Owls. secret."

The annex stated that intelligence work on the territory of the USSR "should be carried out in such a way as not only to serve the needs of this war and the future uprising in Poland, but also to create permanent conditions for our intelligence to the East and for the post-war period."

It was necessary to spy on the Russians both during the war and after it ended.

Polish soldiers in the USSR. Spring 1942

The Polish leaders did not believe in the victory of the USSR over Germany. But they did not hesitate to take loans, probably counting on the fact that after the "imminent defeat of the USSR" they would not have to repay their debts.

On January 5, 1942, in a report to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Poland, E. Rachinsky, Ambassador Kot reported with satisfaction:

“Giving us a loan of 100 million rubles took place in a friendly atmosphere. In order to have time to sign a loan agreement in last year... the apparatus of the People's Commissariat of Foreign Affairs worked on New Year's Eve until late at night ... Our military claims that Soviet authorities calculate the cost of food, weapons and equipment supplied by them at very low prices.

It is worth listening to the recommendation of the historian I. Pykhalov: “Today, when our former “friends” from Eastern Europe are scrupulously calculating the damage allegedly caused to them during the years of the “Soviet occupation”, Russian leadership counter-claims should be made. And, in particular, to demand from the current Polish authorities, who have officially declared themselves the legal successors of the London government in exile, to return these debts.

In early December, even before the start of the Soviet counter-offensive near Moscow, Stalin received Sikorsky and Anders, who had flown in from London. This meeting of "friends in arms" clarified a lot.

In a situation where the Germans stood at the walls of the capital, Anders and Sikorsky began to prove to Stalin that the Polish units should be urgently sent ... to Iran. There they could complete their military training and, returning to the USSR, begin to fight the Germans along with the Red Army.

But the Poles failed to deceive the Soviet leader. Further, in the recording of the conversation, it says: “Comrade. Stalin points out that we cannot force the Poles to fight ... If the Poles do not want, then we will manage with our own divisions.

Stalin understood: there was no need to count on Anders' warriors. In parting, he threw that if the Anders army leaves the USSR, then it will have to fight where the British indicate.

It was said not in the eyebrow, but in the eye. Anders was initially overwhelmed by the idea to quickly withdraw the army from the USSR - to Iran or Afghanistan. There he planned to go under the command of the British. And they counted on the Poles as cannon fodder.

Great Britain was in dire need of soldiers. W. Churchill collected divisions from all over the world throughout the war, with which he plugged holes on different fronts.

Thus, the British Prime Minister saved the lives of more than one thousand of his compatriots. Citizens of other states shed their blood for them...

Anders planned to withdraw the army from the USSR in two stages. First, he got Stalin's consent to the transfer of the army to Central Asia. Anders was not stopped by warnings from the Soviet side that he had chosen ill-inhabited places. And that in unusual for yourself climatic conditions Poles are at risk of becoming victims of a wide variety of diseases.

These warnings did not stop Anders. He sought to take the soldiers away from the front and closer to the southern border of the USSR. Historian E. Yakovleva notes: “Brought out in February-March to Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, they immediately ended up in areas where various diseases spread. With the onset of heat, typhus, dysentery and malaria fell upon the Polish units, which caused a very high mortality. So, by June 1942, about 35,00 people died from the epidemic ... But, apparently, death in an unequal battle with diarrhea in the Anders army was considered more worthy of a real warrior than death from a German bullet near Stalingrad in the same trench with a Russian soldier.

Soldiers of the 1st Kosciuszko Polish Infantry Division.

The territory of the USSR "fighters against diarrhea" left on August 19, 1942. Standing on the pier in Krasnovodsk, they expressed their contempt for the people who sheltered them in parting, tearing the Soviet money that they had left and throwing it into the water ...

The Polish historian S. Shtrumf-Voitkevich, who participated in the formation of Anders' army, wrote that after Anders' army left the USSR, “the government of General Sikorsky lost a lot. In fact, his policy collapsed. Simply, Churchill could now wash his hands, and Stalin, too, was not obliged to reckon with an ally who abandons the common front, violating the agreement and the word of the soldier.

The cowardly flight of Anders' army in the midst of Battle of Stalingrad worsened relations between the governments of the two states. The final break came in April 1943, when the Polish government in exile immediately and very actively supported the "Katyn story" initiated by Goebbels.

On April 18, 1943, General Anders, who had “suffered” in Soviet captivity, ordered masses to be celebrated for the souls of Polish prisoners of war “tortured by the Bolsheviks”.

At that time, his army fought for the independence of Poland ... in Iraq, where they heroically guarded the oil fields controlled by the British. There, as Stalin predicted, Anders drove the army " best friend Poles" Churchill.

Fortunately, then not all Poles were like Anders. Polish soldiers and officers remained in the USSR, burning with the desire to fight. They were led by Lieutenant Colonel Z. Berling, who declared: “I will remain true to my convictions to beat the Germans at any opportunity, and if necessary, then from under the banners of the white eagle I will go under the red banners and I will beat the Germans in a cap with a star.”

First, Berling beat the Nazis at the head of the 1st Kosciuszko Polish Division, and then led the 1st Army of the Polish Army. Beurling and his fighters saved the honor of the Polish arms. They liberated Poland, took Berlin and became the only foreign troops to take part in the Victory Parade, held on Moscow's Red Square on June 24, 1945.