At War’s End

Introduction

The final days were a mixture of jubilation, exhaustion and terror of what was to come in most parts of Europe, the Balkans and Middle East.  Reynolds (2006) suggested that the ‘Big Three’ (Britain, the Soviet Union and the United States) wanted to maintain their wartime alliance on the basis for post-war international cooperation, even though their understanding of ‘cooperation’ was different.  However, the Sovietisation of eastern and central Europe clearly showed a schism in their understanding and while many nations were war-weary, the schism became the foundation of the ‘Cold War’.  The rebuilding and redevelopment of Europe through the Marshall Plan has been seen as the colonisation and Americanisation of Western Europe (Musienko and Lukin, 2025) while the Soviet Union’s approach of reconstructing Eastern and Central Europe took a more sinister route of Soviet American rivalry and mutual hostility (Naimark, 2004).  The invasion and occupation of Germany in 1945 have become a contested debate based on the legitimacy of both the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic.  Controversies and blame for whom was responsible for the Cold War and the array of political views on denazification, antifascist committees and the expulsion of ethnic Germans from eastern Europe dogged any political settlement or consensus right up to the reunification of Germany (Pritchard, 2009).  The pattern of a divided Europe forged at Yalta and frozen into place during the Cold War, shaped post-war Europe.  The West sought transnational unification tied to reconstruction and modernising of the West European economy while in the Sovietised East, obsession with productivity was imposed in the name of shared interest in social revolution (Judt, 2009) which fizzled out by 1989.

Germany was the first country in modern history to achieve total defeat.  The fabric of the country was destroyed from the collapse of transport systems and public administration, a wrecked economy and the breakdown of law and order (Bessel, 2011).  Millions of Germans were detained in rudimentary camps, not as POWs, but as DEFs (Disarmed Enemy Forces) and not covered by the Geneva Convention.  Millions of foreign troops attempted to restore law and order while 25% of the population was homeless and the need to restore public utilities was paramount.  The food crisis was such that a black market thrived and theft was widespread.  Crimes were committed by the displaced labourers and occupation forces and the local populous alike where the morality had sunk to its lowest level (Bessel, 2011) that earmarked 1946 as close to a living hell.  

For those in newly created East Germany, the situation was worse due to the behaviour of the Soviet occupation and punishment which lasted for years.  The dismantling and removal of industrial complexes and other equipment as war reparations left the economy broken.  Forced labour and deportations of both civilians and POWs to the USSR resulted in approximately 35% died in captivity.  The Soviet denazification programme ran by the NKVD saw 60,000 inmates held in Sachsenhausen Camp No. 7 of whom 12,000 died from hunger and disease.  Sweeping land reforms saw expropriation of large estates that changed the social structure of the agrarian economy and landscape.  The mass rapes of 1.4 German women by the Soviet troops saw an upsurge in unwanted pregnancies, STDs and suicides that Soviet propaganda attempted to hide (Dack, 2008).  Those that were deemed ‘lucky’ fled west over the green border.

The Sovietisation process also saw the merger of the Communist Party (KPD) and the Social Democratic Party (SPD) to create the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED) controlling the state.  Education and culture became aligned with Marxist-Leninist ideology and created a newly formed socialist nation-state of workers and peasants and modelled on the Soviet Union.  Increases in industrial productivity to meet Soviet reparations led to a spontaneous worker-led uprising between 16^th and 17^th June 1953.  Several people were killed and thousands arrested in the first major test of the Soviet and socialist ‘dream state’ (Crabtree, Kern and Pfaff, 2018).

The Road to Unconditional Surrender:

By October 1944 the final push to defeat the Reich (known as Operation ECLIPSE) entered a war of attrition.  The British, Canadian and Polish armies were pushing north into Schleswig-Holstein and needed to clear the Schelde estuary pocket, particularly Walcheren Islands to free Antwerp for access by Allied shipping that was realised on 28^th November 1944.  The US Army was concentrating on capturing Aachen, then Düren and Cologne in North Rhine-Westphalia.  The 9th US Army fought a series of battles on the east Belgian – German border centred on the Hürtgen Forest in one of the longest, bloody and entrenched battles of the war, lasting 88 days.

Further east, Patton’s Third Army was tasked in taking the fortress at Metz which held a prominent position in the region whose defences blocked access into the Saar.  Dever’s 6^th Army Group, Patch’s 7^th Army and the 1^st French Army were trying to capture Colmar and the fort at Belfort, were struggling against the stiff German defences, with weather and logistical issues hampering progress.  The intensity of the fighting along the US front required a commitment and resilience not seen before in the European theatre.  The risk in the frontline areas is exemplified by the ‘Lost Battalion’ of the 141^st 1^st Battalion which became surrounded and cut off on a ridge near St. Dié-des-Voges after being ordered to advance across the existing frontline.  Insertion of special forces (SAARF)and agents like the Bonzos was a high-risk operation against a backdrop of constantly changing events on the ground both militarily and waning civilian support for the war.

Northern Europe:

The River Rhine acted as a natural defence against the Allies and slowed progress due to the number of blown bridges.  An amphibious assault was particularly treacherous.  The strategic planners turned their attention to an airborne assault.  Operation VARSITY had been planned just before the Ardennes Offensive (Battle of the Bulge) had started, throwing the Allies Plans into partial disarray.

VARSITY was the Allied airborne crossing of the Rhine between Rees and Emmerich by 16,870 paratroopers (9,650 US and 7,220 British) led by Lt. Gen. Sir Miles Dempsey’s British 2^nd Army and Lt. Gen. William H. Simpson’s 9^thArmy.  VARSITY was planned for three airborne divisions to be dropped behind German lines in support of 21^st Army Group who undertook amphibious assaults over the Rhine in Operation PLUNDER.  Only two airborne divisions were deployed due to shortages of air transport.  The plan was to seize Diesfordterwald, a forest overlooking the Rhine and then secure bridges over the Issel and interconnecting roads that would assist in the capture of Hamminkeln.  It would be the largest single drop of airborne troops in World War II and had learned from the mistakes of MARKET GARDEN at Arnheim.  The Allies faced only 8,000 German troops with the remnants of the II Fallschirmkorps, 1^st Fallschirmarmee, LXXXVI Corps, LXIII Corps with the 7^th Fallschirmjägerdivision and the 84^th Division (Cossack) facing the airborne assault.

Operation PLUNDER commenced on the evening of 23^rd March 1945 at 21.00 and in the early hours of the morning of 24^th March.  Their targets were to cross the Rhine at Rees and at Wesel with a secondary crossing south of the Lippe Canal.  The German forces were alerted to the operation when British engineers laid a 100km smoke screen from generators opposite Emmerich.  

The Polish Airborne Division did not participate for several reasons.  Post MARKET GARDEN, the political fall-out instigated by Lt. Gen. ‘Boy’ Browning saw the unjust dismissal of Maj. Gen. Stanisław Sosabowski whose remaining troops covered the withdrawal of the British 1^st Airborne Division.  The Poles had suffered 590 casualties rendering the Division ineffective for further combat duties.  The survivors had withdrawn to Nijmegen by 26^th September 1944 and returned to Britain on 15^th October.  The remaining troops were dispersed into other Polish units where they remained for the duration of the war.  In 1947 under the Polish Resettlement Act (see https://polandinexile.com/article/polish-resettlement-corps-1946-1948/), many former servicemen and women were housed in camps to transition to civilian life where retraining and education were the focus (Blaszczyk, 2023) and became ‘little Poland’.  Around 200,000 Poles were given British citizenship through mass legislation (Williams, 2017).

While VARSITY was a successful large-scale and single drop in World War II, casualties had been high, but lower than anticipated.   By nightfall on 24^th March the first light bridge had been established over the Rhine and by the 27^th March a further 12 bridges capable of carrying heavy armour had been installed.

Source : https://warhistory.org/de/@msw/article/operation-varsity

Battle for Berlin:

The final Soviet offensive for Berlin commenced between 16^th April and 2^nd May 1945 with over 2.5 million troops (Beevor, 2002).  The Soviets were hell bent on avenging the devastating assault on Russia in Operation BARBAROSSA on 22^nd June 1941.  The final assault was as much a military operation as one of Soviet propaganda based on the brutality of the Nazis and Wehrmacht (Beevor, 2002; Le Tissier, 2010).  The mass rape and pillage have been well documented, however Soviet tanks crushing refugee columns fleeing west or the extensive destruction of buildings and utilities perhaps gains less attention.  The refusal by the Nazis to accept defeat added to the thousands who froze to death in the winter of 1944-1945.  Over 7 million fled westwards towards the Allies who crossed the Rhine in March 1945.  The Supreme Commander Dwight D. Eisenhower ordered the halt of the Allies race to Berlin at the River Elbe, leaving the final assault to the Soviets.  The Allied assault on Germany came at a price where the Siegfried Line gave some protection and the battle at Hürtgen Forest was one of the bloodiest of the conflict (Hamilton, 2023; Harrison, 2025).  The US-Soviet link up at Torgau on the River Elbe on 25^th April 1945, split the remnants of the Wehrmacht.  The unconditional surrender on the 8^th May 1945 had simply added to the military and civilian misery while the leading Nazis procrastinated over the conditions of the surrender.  However, this delay enabled Operation HANNIBAL to rescue civilians and Wehrmacht troops from the Soviet Advances.

The RAF’s operation EXODUS between 3^rd April and 31^st May 1945 had successfully repatriated POWs in converted Lancaster Bombers.  They flew from British controlled airfields in Belgium and other locations close to the liberated POW camps.  The decision for a rapid evacuation was based on the survivor’s health who were all suffering from illness, fatigue and starvation.  Freed and escaped POWs had flooded collection points across Europe.  Initially 72 Dakota C47s were deployed and due to the sheer volume of POWs, the fleet was joined by the converted Lancaster bombers.  They flew 3,500 sorties initially carrying 75,000 men from Lübeck in Germany, Brussels and Juvincourt et Damary in northern France to Westcott, Oakley, Cosford, Dunsfold and Wing in Britain.  By the end of the operation 350,000 had been repatriated.  They were then transferred to designated repatriation centres.  The fleet was reassigned to Operation DODGE in northern Italy.

Italy:

For the repatriation of Allied POWs, repatriation camps were set up in Italy, spanning across the country.  The table below indicates role and locations.

Unit Designation	Role	Location
No. 1	Allied repatriation and rest camp	Bari
No. 2	Allied repatriation camp.	Resina, Naples processed over 4,000 POWs
No.3	Allied repatriation camp.	Bari
	Collection post attached to 2 Transit camp.	Piombino, S5447.
	U.S. Army Air Force Personnel, 15th Air Force	Bari
1.	Detachment attached X Transit Camp	Taranto, P7414
2.	Detachment attached Camp Commandant.	61 Area, Ancona
3.	Detachment 159 Transit Camp	Rome, F7962
5.	Detachment Fifth Army Interrogation Centre	Florence, Q7866
6.	Detachment attached 29 LAA Regt. Leghorn	Q0145
7.	Detachment under command HQ. Delta Base Sector	Camp Calas, Montredon Area, Marseille, APO 772 handled the administration as its role of censorship of post was now redundant.
8.	Detachment attached 30 Reception Camp	Rouf Barracks, Athens with sub attachment to Sub Area Salonika, 202
Yugoslavia	Johnny 169	No details exist.

Source: TNA/ HS4-266

Conscripted Poles into the Wehrmacht and downed Allied aircrew over Poland and the Balkans were each interrogated before entering the process of repatriation which usually started with a medical checkup and disinfection if necessary; new uniforms, all personal details recorded and interrogation (TNA/ HS4-266).  

The interrogations were varied in length and contents where there were few commonalities, especially the downed aircrews.  In one interrogation, a captain in the USAAF was shot down on 13^th October 1944, 15 Kms S.W. of Tarno.  He was picked up by a local unit of the AK and concealed in a haystack for two days.  Then transferred to a local power station whose manager, Mr. Torczewski was an officer in the AK.  He remained there for about two months and then transported to the village of Podlipie, Dąbrowa County, 5ms south of the Vistula River.  When the Soviet offensive began on 13^th January 1944, he was taken with another USAAF airman to the Soviets 1^st Ukrainian Army H.Q. and remained there for two weeks.  They were transferred to Moscow where a BLO arranged for their transportation to Italy.  His only observation was that the local AK were terrified of capture and transferred to Siberia or simply murdered.

With the Soviet advances in the winter of 1944, release from a POW camp did not necessarily mean freedom.  A cypher from Force 139 to I.S.9 advised them there were many ex-POWs made up of British Officers and other ranks in Kraków in mid-February 1944 with local Poles sheltering and feeding them, but no resources to get them out due to the clandestine nature of the situation.  The cypher was forwarded to the Polish VI Bureau seeking their assistance and eventually it was agreed to have a BLO sent there to sort out repatriation.

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In another interrogation of a Bombardier in the South African Artillery who had fought with the AK, he recounted how a Polish Unit he was assigned to, attacked Mielec.  The unit consisted of 300 men and commanded 2^nd Lt. Zuk.  They held the town for four days until the Soviets arrived.  2^nd Lt. Zug and the Bombardier were arrested with the troops conscripted into the Soviet Army.  There was an attempt to conscript the Bombardier, however he was taken to Berling’s H.Q. for interrogation.  His description of Berling’s Army was of indisciplined troops dressed in a mixture of Polish caps, US boots and Soviet greatcoats and rifles.  Some of those conscripted formed AK cells within Berling’s Army and to desert at an opportune moment.  He observed the fate of Berling’s troops who had attempted to join The Warsaw Rising.  Arrested, disarmed and imprisoned in a camp at Jarosław, in southeast Poland.  The Bombardier confirmed suspicions the Soviets had deliberately held back their advance on Warsaw and relieve the AK.  He also confirmed the Lublin Committee had little support other than the Soviet bayonets and believed they had little confidence in governing Poland.  Despite Gen. Witold attempts to join Berling’s Army, the Bombardier was shipped to Moscow (TNA/ HS4-266).  He also confirmed Germany was supplying Ukrainian bands by airdrops in the Lwów area.

Reports emerging from Poland in January 1944, indicated Soviet propaganda and the infiltration of communist agent provocateurs into unions was taking place (TNA/ HS4-138).  There was a class divide between the working classes having no interest in the Curzon Line debate while the middle and upper classes were perturbed by the conflict between the government in exile and the Soviets.  As the Soviets advanced over Poland, the working classes gave greater support to the pro-Soviet P.A.L (Polish People’s Army) to the consternation of the London based Poles.  The intransient stance by both the Soviets and Poles was of deep concern to the Foreign Office which sought to control communications between the Government in exile and the AK (TNA/ HS4-138).  On the ground, cooperation between the AK and the Soviet Army or partisans was very mixed.  In any discussions about the future of Poland, both the Soviets and the Poles brought up the now constant debate about the positioning of the Curzon Line.

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The interrogation of a Corporal in the British Pioneer Corps is also revealing how the last days of the Reich panned out. Captured in April 1941 at Kalamata on the Peloponnese peninsula, he was imprisoned in Stammlager VIIIB near Lamsdorf from August 1941.  He escaped from a working party at Schömberg and eventually took a tram to Katowice. From there they travelled by train to Bielsko-Biala and Żywiec (Saybusch) and crossed the mountains to Makowa in southeastern Poland.  Picked up by an AK patrol close to Stary Sącz, they were guided through the Poprad Forest to another AK unit commanded by Lt. Tatar who decided they and a group of Russian escapees should be transferred to another unit led by Kmicic based in a village of Ropa, near Gorlice to the northeast (TNA/ HS4-266).  The Russians joined a local Soviet basked partisan unit while the British contingent were to contact the Soviets who were now in Świerzowa Ruska (now an abandoned village) on the border with Slovakia.  On arrival, they were taken to a local Soviet H.Q at Krempna in the Jasło county and had to fight their way through the Germans to the Soviet lines at Dukla.  They were held there as prisoners for eight weeks.  After, they were sent by air transport to Moscow before being handed to the British authorities.

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Confusion reigned.  In some camps, Russian, Ukrainian and Poles were lumped together so reporting of numbers was not only inaccurate but also confusing since each nationality would be treated and processed differently.  In this instance, seven Poles escaped from the Soviet 157 Transit Camp in Suez and ended up in Bari.  At the time, the operations in Bari were being wound up (used the term ‘liquidated’) and it is though the Poles left Italy between 15^th and 24^th December 1945 where the names and their details including their interrogations could not be found.  The investigation ruled out the use of Soviet Liaison Officers who misinformed the POWs that there was no Polish army fighting with the Allies, only Bering’s army with the Soviets.  Their repatriation would be based on where they were born or lived prior to the war.  The inquiry also ruled out the use of PLO’s since there was a fear the missing ‘Poles’ might reveal or conceal their true nationalities.  As the inquiry went on, the number of missing Poles became fourteen and then a list of twelve names appeared (TNA/ HS4-266).  Eventually, they were tracked down and only seven were of Polish nationality who had been POWs in Salerno before shipment to Suez.  On their escape, two had been caught by a Polish military policeman and taken to the Polish H.Q.  The other seven, were Ukrainian who had lived in Kresy and spoke no Polish but wanted to retain their Polish nationality thus avoiding Russian citizenship and return to the Soviet Union.  All of them were given the status of Polish nationality.

What stood out in the report was the psychological issues facing ex-POWs and the need for rest before re-posting to their units since they needed to build up physical and mental health as direct transfer proved they could not cope with the strain of military duties.  The Poles would remain in Italy for three months rest before transfer to Ander’s Army.  In the case of POWs wishing to marry their Italian girlfriends, the British Army tried to discourage this.  Permission from the army, the women’s parents and the Roman Catholic Church were required prior to marriage.

Operation DODGE used the Lancaster fleet from Operation EXODUS to ship mainly 8^th Army troops back to Britain from Bari and Pomigliano from August to November 1945 (Gration, 2004). However, this was not seen as an option for the Poles.

Ander’s II Corps:

The repatriation of Ander’s Army was complex and under political pressure from both the Allies and the Soviets.  The Yalta Agreement in (February 4^th-11^th 1945) not only changed the map of central and eastern Europe until the collapse of Communism and the Cold War but also sealed the fate of the Poles as a nation and the Polish combatants.  In effect, they were mercenaries.  A decree by the Provisional Government of National Unity (The Lublin Committee) on 26^th September 1946 stripped Anders and others of the Polish citizenship.

It is estimated between 100,000 to 105,000 Poles returned to Poland and hence treated with suspicion by the communist authorities.  On repatriation, the process was shaped by rank and unit with many ex-combatants interned and screened for political views in camps that were former POW or concentration camps.  Senior officers were detained and after interrogation sent to be re-educated with several senior officers tried and sentenced to death on arrival at ports.  Some were deported back to the gulags in Siberia (Wołek, 2018).  Generally, those who had fought under British rule were treated as second class citizens and potential subversives.

For Anders, he would not block or take military action against the 3-5,000 Jewish deserters while they were based in Palestine.  At the war’s end Anders facilitated the release of Jews from II Corps to join various underground militia who played an important role in the foundation of the State of Israel in 1948.  It is often referred to Anders Aliya.

Those Poles who returned to Poland from II Corps directly from Italy were mainly the former Wehrmacht conscripts who had been incorporated into II Corps (Williams, 2017; McGilvray, 2018; Hoffman, N.D) and were former inhabitants of Pomerania, Wielkopolska and Silesia.  It is estimated about 14,000 privates and 7 officers out of over 110,000 troops in II Corps returned.  They had been housed in seven special camps near Naples between August and end of November 1945.  The repatriation transport by train started on 2^nd September and 26^th September 1945.  On arrival they were met and had detailed interrogations about their role and units, having to give details of their commanders and other ranks in their units.  They had to report to the local communist authorities and the local military commission after they had made their declaration for their place in Poland (Hoffman, N.D.).  These troops were pro-German and anti-communist and reinforced Anders view that these troops despite bolstering II Corps, held less value as was anticipated (McGilvray, 2018).

The remnants of II Corps in Italy continued their military duties until mid-1946 when they moved to Britain and entered the Polish Resettlement Corps.  Those who elected to return to Poland after contacting surviving family, often through the International Red Cross, were moved to special transit camps.  They were then transported by sea to Gdańsk between 1945 and 1947 where only 1202 officers and 82,456 privates or other ranks returned and made up of numerous units in the Polish army (Hoffman, N.D.).  Many of these veterans were a ‘thorn in the side’ of the communist regime since they held pre-war values, beliefs and an oath.  From the 1970s many became politically active in seeking the return to democracy (Hoffman, N.D).  During the same period former members of the AK continued an armed struggle against the communist state up until the 1950s (Wołek, 2018).

II Corps were repatriated to Britain between 1946 – 1947 and transferred into the Polish Resettlement Programme mainly in Scotland.  The ships used were:

Major Ocean Liners converted to Troopships	Other Vessels
Queen Elizabeth Queen Mary Mauritania Orion Aorangi Circassian Letitia Ile de France Nieuw Amsterdam	SS City of Canterbury SS Llanstephan Castle SS Lancastria

Displaced Persons:

After the unconditional surrender, parts of Germany were lawless with all societal functions broken alongside the economy, transport systems and utilities.  An apt description can be found in Katarzyna Nowak’s article published 2019.  The Allies recognised an urgent need to establish not only the numbers of displaced persons (DP), but also how to manage them.  A special military unit, SAARF (https://polandinexile.com/article/s-a-a-r-f/) was formed to deal with military aspects namely POWs and agents held in camps (https://polandinexile.com/article/s-a-a-r-f/).  

Source: ‘A Paradoxical People’ Britain’s Responses to Polish DPs, 1945-1951, by Samantha Knapton Historical Review.

By March 1946 there were an estimated 400,000 Poles in German DP camps.  These camps were former Wehrmacht barracks, forced labour camps and former concentration camps.  The main camps were located at Wildflecken in Bad Kissingen a former Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS, Haren (aka Maczków) located on the river Ems in northern Germany and Hohenfels in Parsberg, Bavaria and Emmerich (former Stalag 383).  Initially these camps overseen by the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRAA) and then management was passed onto the International Refugee Organisation (IRO) from 1947.  With the Soviet occupation of central and eastern Europe, many Poles refused to return ‘home’. 

Wildflecken housed 20,000 people between April 1945 and 1951

Haren was managed initially by the Polish 1^st Armoured Division and had its own Polish police, fire brigade, schools and administration up until 1949 and finally closed in the early 1960s.  It housed up to 5,000 Poles.

Hohenfels housed approximately 2,500 Poles and closed in 1949 and became a US Army training ground

Emmerich, in the Hansestad Hamburg region.  Little data available.

In the US Sector of occupation, the Polish and Polish Jews were housed in:

Föhrenwald was the third largest camp for mainly a Jewish DP centre with some non-Jewish Poles.  It had the highest number of children born there after the war.

Heldenheim, near Stuttgart was a mid -sized camp mainly housing 2,328 displaced Jews and was shut down in July 1949.

Lampertheim, near Mannheim was a small camp housing a mixture of Polish Jews and a small number of non-Jews.

Neu Freimann, near Munich was a small camp housing a mixture of Polish Jews and a small number of non-Jews.

Those DPs who refused to be repatriated, several hundred found work with the British Army on the Rhine (BAOR) assisting in tracing war criminals and Nazis under the guidance of British Intelligence Corps. By the 1960s some were utilised to seek out spies from the Östbloc.

After 1951 the Union of Polish Refugees (Zjednoczenie Polskich Uchodźców) was their principal representative body and was under surveillance and attempted infiltration by the communists.  Their H.Q. was in Velbert, near Mettmann south of Essen.   

In the Soviet Occupation Zone, it is estimated 700,000 Poles were housed mainly in the Berlin area.  The Soviets made repatriation compulsory.  The brutality towards those in Sachsenhausen must not be forgotten.  Soviet denazification programme ran by the NKVD saw 60,000 inmates held in Sachsenhausen Camp No. 7 of whom 12,000 died from hunger and disease made the Soviets on equal parity to the Nazis.

In contrast, ethnic Germans (Volksdeutsche) who were re-settled in Poland and the Reichsgau (Sudetenland, Moravia and the Protectorate of Bohemia were subjected to collective retaliation ranging from the Nazis ethnic cleansing of civilians as the Soviet advanced, or ‘wild expulsions’ as the Czechoslovak state re-emerged from May 1945 onwards (Lamontagne, 2017; Mrňka, 2020).

Stragglers

Numerous people found themselves in the now Soviet controlled countries and sector in Germany.  Operation SAARF in the closing days of the war made a major contribution to the welfare of POWs, the repatriation of agents and the hunt for war criminals to be brought to justice.  There was also a need to clarify the fate of Polish Cichociemni who were listed as POWs in the hope they had survived the war.  In April 1945, 15 leaders of the AK were arrested by the NKVD where many were ‘invited’ to a meeting in Pruszków, to the west of Warsaw, to discuss the future of Poland (TNA/ HS4-145).  A settlement treaty was under discussion that would include finalising the Curzon Line.  It appears they were charged with clandestine W/T traffic and membership of the AK which had been deemed a terrorist organisation by the Soviets (TNA/ HS4-145).  Under Soviet law, not Polish, the prisoners could be shot by the NKVD.  Their whereabouts was uncertain and would ‘resurface’ at a Soviet show trial in the Luyanka, Moscow from 18th to 21st June 1945 (see https://polandinexile.com/article/trial-of-the-sixteen/).

Amongst this group was Wincenty Witos, a Polish statesman who was forming the Polish People’s Party (PSL) with Stanisław Mikołajczyk.  Concerns had been raised due to health issues.  During this period VI Bureau had been liquidated and no further funding or cladestine flights would be sanctioned (TNA/ HS4-145) leaving gaps in intelligence gathering.  During this period, the Foreign Office pressurised the Polish Government in Exile to hand over telegrams, codes of transmissions and access content (TNA/ HS4-144; TNA/ HS4-145) where their understanding of the situation in Poland lacked understanding and analysis (TNA/ HS4-144).  He had returned to his home in Wierzchoslawice, near Kraków and was taken by three civilians and one military person 31st March 1945.  Despite Foreign Office’s intervention, a response from Molotov indicated that the Soviet military were not in any negotiations or contact with the Polish-London government (TNA/ HS4-145).  Witos returned to his home in early May and was asked to form the Provisional Government on 15th June 1945 that included Władysław Gomułka, Bolesław Bierut, Edward Osóbka-Morawski and Władysław Kowalski who were Soviet approved.  The government also included Polish politicians: Wincenty Witos, Zygmunt Żuławski, Adam Krzyżanowski, Stanisław Kutrzeba and Henryk Kołodziejski. The ‘London Poles’ were also invited to form the provisional government and this included: Stanisław Mikołajczyk, Jan Stańczyk and Józef Żakowski (Kochanski, 2012).  The setting up of the Provisional Government was fraught with issues between the West, Stalin and the ‘London Poles’ accepting the Curzon Line.

There were a number of stragglers that required the British Foreign Office to trace their whereabouts with the Soviet authorities.  Eventually, the following were traced and repatriated via Odessa.

Status	Name
Returned ex-Allied POWs	F/ Lt. P.J. Anderson, RCAF.W/O J. Ward RAFP/O H. Brooks, RCAFSgt. F.R. Smith, US ArmyCpl. D. Durston, Royal Sussex Regt.F/ Lt. Schöffer, PAF.Lt. Col. Boughey, M.O.1 (S.P) War Office SOE.
FRESTON Mission	Col. W. (Bill) Hudson – only member to be interrogated/ debriefed.Maj. P.R.C. Solly-FloodMaj. P. KempCapt. Anthony Currie (Antoni Pospieszalski–Cichociemni) aka Łuk, Rosomak, Professor was a former trainer at STS 43.Sgt. Maj. D. Galbraith W/T operator
Poles smuggled out from Odessa with the ex-Allied POWs	2nd Lt. Luty-Lutomski2nd Lt K. ZylukT. Siehen, W. Wezyk ,M. Lichenstein

The debriefing of the ‘stragglers was illuminating since they had all played a significant role with the AK at the war’s end (TNA/ HS4-145; TNA/ FO371-47710).  Hubert Brookes was shot down on his second mission over Germany and imprisoned in Stalag VIII-B.  He escaped after several attempts and joined the AK and participated in raids and assassinations against the Germans.  He reported the Government in Exile was still held in high esteem by a cross section of the Poles who were no longer represented in the formation of the Lublin Government.  They were equally in favour of Mikołajczyk or Arciszewski forming a government. It was hoped the USA would financially assisted in the rebuilding of Poland and Britain would provide the political framework for the rebirth of the nation.  He stated that the general public were unaware of the Crimea Conference (Yalta) details and that the Curzon Line debate was seen as a blocking measure rather than seeking address with the Soviets.  He reported the arrest of Lt. Tatar by the NKVD in Nowy Sacz.  He refused to assist the Soviets search for senior officers and was tortured and then disappeared.  Their announcement over the long awaited land reform was acceptable to the peasant classes, but no to other social classes.  No attempt was being made to restart the economy unless it was directed at supporting the Soviets continued campaign against the Nazis.  The looting went unchecked.

Lt. John Ward (RAF) who had acted as a journalist for The Times and edited a Polish underground newspaper, had regularly broadcasted bulletins (Radio Lightning – Błyskawica) during the Warsaw Rising.  Captured by the Soviets in January 1945, he had been interrogated by the N.K.V.D and released after the intervention by the US. In November 1944 there was a debate within the Foreign Office to fly Ward out of Poland along with Wincenty Witos, leader of the Polish People’s Party whose aim was to block a communist power-grab as set out in the Yalta agreement.  The pick-up flight was delayed due to the discussion within the Foreign Office over Soviet interpretation of this action (TNA/ HS4-145). 

He confirmed the arrests of AK officers being carried out by the NKVD at night who simply vanished.  He confirmed the Lublin militia handled criminal cases, but former AK may have been deported to Russia without public trial.  He was unaware of any clashes between the AK and the Soviet forces.  He also confirmed those conscripted into the Soviet forces were being identified and ‘weeded out’ by spies of the P.P.R.  When asked about the proposed land reforms, his response indicated there were refusals to participate and that industrial production was negated by the machinery being sequester and sent to Russia.  The Lublin committee were seen as opportunists and NKVD agents whose attitude towards the Soviets had not changed since 1939.  Food shortages had been created by the Soviets requisitioning it for the army.  The situation had been made worse by changing the rail transport communications to the Soviet guage and not enough rail-stock to support the needs of both the army and civilian communications.  The Poles east of the Curzon Line were not permitted to travel westwards with evidence some had been deported to Russia.  The level of looting and theft would bring hardship to the Polish population.

F/ Lt. P.J. Anderson, RCAF, a navigator from Toronto, was shot down over southern Poland on 5th August 1944 near Tarnów and evaded capture through contacting Schöffer and the local AK.  He was captured by the advancing Soviet army.  Anderson confirmed that his contacts with the Poles indicated that the ‘London Poles’ were preferred and held in high esteem, but was not representative of the political parties in Poland in 1945.  He also confirmed the desire for financial support from the USA and political guidance from Britain.  He reported the Yalta conference details were not available and the Poles were generally downcast over the potential outcome.  Many of those arrested were placed in front of  closed-door Special Tribunals.  He also confirmed that in local areas members of the AK were instructed to join the Polish People’s Army where ‘Trojan Horse’ tactics were bring used to destabilise the army.  Those invited into administrative posts refused on the basis that the Lublin Government lacked credibility to govern.  The Soviet advance was halted in August 1944 indicated the Poles were not being liberated, but occupied.  Anderson highlighted the deplorable conditions facing the civil population where the population in the east where there was a high level of land confiscation were not permitted to travel westwards.  Food production quotas had been doubled by the Soviets that exasperated the food shortages.  Anderson confirmed the conditions of the transport networks being in a poor state and the introduction of the Soviet guage as part of the ‘repairs’.  He also believed the Soviet and Polish forces were suffering from Dysentery and Typhus.  Both Anderson and Brooks confirmed the return of Jews from eastern Poland to the west having survived the war by living in the forests.  The theft of livestock and looting by the Soviets was not controlled by the Lublin Committee who gave almost a free hand to the soldiers.  Anderson had been moved from Kraków to Lublin and imprisoned in a former school house with over 300 other POWs of differing nationalities in very poor conditions and had manged to contact the Polish Red Cross over their predicament (TNA/ FO371-47710) and eventually evacuated to Odessa.

Cpl. D. Durston, an escaped POW worked with the AK in the Częstochowa -Kraków-Katowice triangle gathering and confirming political views towards the Soviets.   There was a clear difference between industrial and country areas where between 30-60% were afraid of the Soviet occupation whereas a settlement based on British and US support had negligible being afraid and between 85-90% support.  Durston also confirmed that on disbandment of the AK, officers encouraged the enlisted men to join the Polish People’s Army (P.P.P).  He had misgivings over the role of the P.P.R party who had appointed the mayor of Sosnowice who had been a tram conductor and his assistant being a former tailor where the ‘hand’ of the Soviets were evident from the appointments.  Durston also confirmed the level of looting and rape where the spirits were a prised possession and women traded for goods.  Durston’s debriefing was shorter than some of the other respondents probably due to his duties and locality of operation.

F/ Lt. Władysław Schöffer, PAF (Stanley Staf, Samborski) was a navigator with 301 (Pomerania) Bomber Squadron on special duties flights re-supplying the AK and dropping Cichociemni into Poland from Brindisi as part of the No. 1586 Special Duties Flight.  He was shot down while on special duties in a Halifax Mk.III on 18th August 1944 over Łąkta Dolna, S.E of Kraków by three German Ju 88s.  He joined the AK and operated in the Carpathian mountains .  He had been informed that protests in Lwow had resulted in 25,000 being arrested by a protester.  She had heard machinegun fire from the next room which turned out to be a Soviet ruse.  He stated that the Lublin Government had no real authority since the Soviets were the decision makers with some resentment of a weak Soviet backed government foisted upon them.  The shortages of food was more evident in the urban areas than the countryside with the onslaught of famine predicted.  He indicated that the road networks were no worse than 1939, but the number of blown bridges made the network unworkable.  The shortage of rolling-stock, especially with the Soviet guage added to network inefficiency where the repaired bridges were of temporary construction – probably Bailey Bridges.  Caught by the Russians in Nowy Sacz, were initially transported to Lwów and eventually to Odessa in early March 1945, then Cairo and arrived in Britain on 23rd March 1945.

Lt. Col. Boughey, M.O.1 (S.P) War Office (SOE), had participated in Operation DEEHURST in Hungary ( see https://polandinexile.com/article/soe-and-the-poles-in-hungary/) and had brokered the financial planning and operations for SOE in Belgrade using his pre-war banking skills and contacts.  Arrested in Hungary on 3rd July 1944 by the Gestapo.  He escaped from a POW camp in Silesia and made his way to Odessa.  In his testimonial, he suggested the Poles were resigned to the loss of their eastern territory through the Yalta agreement and the definition of the Curzon Line and were awaiting the arrival of the ‘London Poles’ to form a government.  He could not confirm any evidence of N.K.V.D torture, however he did reveal that where airfields were being constructed, secret detention cells were being dug underground.  Arrests of AK officers and any remaining aristocracy may run into thousands and will probably ‘disappear’.  The threat posed by the Gestapo had now been replaced by the N.K.V.D.  He felt the representatives from the four main parties were under pressure from the Soviets where relatively unknown politicians with low political skills had been promoted leaving the Lublin Government universally despised.  He confirmed the proposals for land reforms where the peasants were not allowed to own more than 50 hectares of land.  Those who had land confiscated had to leave all possessions including clothing behind.  A local, communist backed committee would then redistribute the confiscated land.  Manor houses had been pillaged by the Soviet troops with many burnt to the ground.  The land had been divided into plots of 7 hectares making the newly formed peasant farms economically unviable and force the peasants to live on a collective farm.  In his experience, there was no bitterness towards Britain or Russia over the failed Warsaw Rising of 44 with the blame placed on the ambitions of Gen. Bor.  He estimated there were 80,000 N.K.V.D agents in Poland (over twice that of the Gestapo) where those arrested, their whereabouts are not known.  The officers and OR’s wear ordinary Soviet army uniforms with few showing rank or membership of the N.K.V.D.  Houses had been ‘requisitioned’ in towns and used the cellars as cells for the prisoners.  Prisoners were encouraged to point out any persons of interest in the street on the promise of freedom that never came.  Boughey confirmed the introduction of ration cards to ease the demand for food, however the dire shortages of bread, tea, coffee, butter and sugar would not be cured by ration cards with an active ‘Black Market’ filling the void.  Workers in Sosnowice and Kotawice area in March 1945 went on strike for better food rations since they could not meet the work quotas of a 12 hour shift on the current rations.  Boughey recognised the retreating German attrition and demolitions of the transport network had wreaked havoc.  On dual railway lines, one track was for the Soviet guage while the other track remained on the European guage.  Again, shortages of rolling-stock meant civilians were transported on freight and military wagons where a simple journey that once took a few hours now became days.

Bill Hudson responded to the questionnaire on behalf of the FRESTON team.  Anthony Currie (Antoni Pospieszalski) had been imprisoned by the Soviets and was released under diplomatic pressure and returned to Britain via Tehran and Cairo at a later date.  Hudson indicated that the ‘London Poles’ represented what they politically desired and not what Poland wanted, but showed greater allegiance to them than the Lublin Government with the US and Britain held in high esteem.  Hudson felt the Yalta agreement would have the West accept unconditionally if there was real freedom.  However, it was already eveident the Soviet influence would not grant any freedom and felt the agreement expressed in Yalta was unreliable.  Hudson confirmed when under arrest by the Soviets, there were held in a former Gestapo prison in Czestchowa where AK officers were also held.  Like others in this group, Hudson confirmed the Lublin Government was despised and were Soviet puppets.  Hudson observed the land reforms in Zytno did not inspire confidence in the agrarian reforms for the future since the holdings were too small to be economically viable and the lack of agricultural machinery would force many peasants to develop collective farming practices.  The confiscation of any monetary wealth meant the peasants have insufficient funds to invest in machinery, live stock and seed, let alone feed themselves making the Lublin Government even more unpopular with the peasant community.  The failure of the Warsaw Rising 1944 was easily blamed on Gen. Bor, however opinion was divided over the responsibilities of the Soviets while it was recognised the Allies had limited scope to intervene effectively.  The uncontrolled pillaging and requisition of livestock meant the spring sowing would not take place adding a greater burden on the populous which would result in famine.

Sgt. F.R. Smith, US Army only made one response to the questionnaire.  He described that while in hiding, a visitor to the house demanded to know where a certain individual resided.  Given that the person lived next door, thought nothing of the consequences.  The neighbour had been shot three time from the back along with fourteen others who were representatives of the ‘London Poles’.  Sgt. Smith confirmed that officers in the AK who had been part of the Warsaw Rising lived in fear since they were being shot or imprisoned with O.Rs being disarmed.  He also reported that he knew a man using false papers and had a code name of Kanarek (Canary) lived in fear of execution or imprisonment.

The Poles smuggled out of Odessa gave limited responses to the questionaire, however, their responses were equally illuminating and important since they had survived the German occupation and the Soviet ‘Liberation’.  Their views were largely confirmed other reports emanating fro Poland (TNA/ HS4-146).  Collectively, the Government in Exile was seen as favourable and broadly supported.  The role Britain and the US played in the war gave hope that Poland would not be destroyed by the Sovietisation of the country.  They confirmed the presence of 3 camps in the Lublin area for returning Polish officers, executions and deportations with widespread arrests of the AK by the N.K.V.D and Lublin militia.  This included Lichenstein’s sighting of a train deporting Poles from Lwow to Kraków.  They reported many young people joined the militia to avoid conscription into the Soviet army and many N.C.O’s in the AK joined the Soviet army to avoid their officers being executed.  All were concerned about the quality and role of the Lublin Government and were awaiting the return of the ‘London Poles’.  Again, all agreed there was no confidence or benefit of the agrarian reforms.  When asked about the Warsaw Rising 1944, the responses blamed the Soviets behaviour and recognised the duty to the Fatherland.  The confidence in the Lublin Government was poor due to the lack of authority where attempts to integrate into the publics favour was destroyed by the mass arrests, deportations and known executions.  They concluded that the Soviet invasion in 1944 was initially seen as liberation that turned quickly into an oppressive occupation.  They were divided in opinion over the role of the N.K.V.D since any agents wore civilian clothes within the Polish community and the relationship between the Soviets and the role of the Lublin Government was not obvious with the Soviets appearing to work independently of them.  All commented on the degree of looting and its impact in the future upon both the rural and townships alike.  They had observed the refugees fleeing eastern Poland with Zyluk confirming deportations of Poles to the East of the river Bug to Siberia with Siehen confirming the deportations were mainly from Lwow and Wilno.  All agreed the shortage of food had worsened where food costs had spiralled.  Transport was recognised as in a dire state with Soviet guage tracks being installed by POWs and civilians with the track between Kraków and Lwow completed.  When questioned about antisemitism, they had not seen or heard of any incidents and recognised mass genocide had been responsible for this.

Soviet Release of Allied POWs

Over 250,000 Allied POWs were in Soviet hands (Kershaw, 2025) and used as pawns in Stalins ‘end game’ to ensure Soviet POWs were repatriated to Russia (Tolstoy, 1988).  The process had been agreed at the Yalta conference and mostly took place between 1946 to 1947.  Many Allied POWs were processed through military missions and the Red Cross.  It was a hazardous time since liberation did not necessarily lead to repatriation and were left to ‘fend for themselves’ where food and medical attention was in urgent need.  One example was the liberation of Stalag III -A at Luckenwalde where US and British POWs were held for weeks with little care despite transport being available.  There were a number of missing US POWs who have never been accounted for.

For the Soviet POWs their repatriation was a different story.  Under Operation KEELHAUL, repatriation officially confirmed 1.8 million troops would be returned to their units through various assembly points and those who may have committed ‘crimes against the state’ (treason) or collaboration would be dealt with by the N.K.V.D. with a significant number interned in the Gulags. 

In the Soviet sector, many senior officers were sent to the Soviet Special Camp at Sachsenhausen and paraded in front of Military Tribunals for re-education and de-Nazification where some 60,000 inmates were held.  Over 12,000 died of hunger and disease between 1945 and 1950.

NKVD Atrocities’

In a file labelled ‘Reports from Poland (TNA/ HS4-319) dated Spring 1945, the innocuous title hides the extent of NKVD activities against locals and more importantly members of the AK.

As the Soviets advanced across Poland, the People’s Army (AL) under Col. Zymierski (a former NKVD agent) role diminished as the Soviets lost trust in the unit after the collapse of the Warsaw Rising in 1944 and the heavy losses on the front at Frankfurt where the Kilinski Division was almost wiped out.  Senior officers were Soviets while the lower ranks up to Captain were mainly Poles with a few ‘White Russians’ in disguise.  The army was poorly led and equipped and not trusted to be involved in anti-AK operations (TNA/ HS4-319).  Towards the end of May 1945 an officers training centre for Poles, located at Majdanek near Chełm, revolted and fled to the forests with the NKVD in pursuit.

The NKVD carried out rear-guard and anti-partisan (‘bandit’ as the AK were now labelled) actions with reports emerging from Łodz and Białystok in February 1945 which indicated the Lublin Committee had no authority or control since looting and plundering of equipment from factories continued.  Some actions were random arrests for forced labour in Russia where in February 1945 125 wagons from Grodno (now Belarus) headed for the Gulags.  Former AKsoldiers were tortured and starved in primitive cellars where ice or kept in knee high water was a common report.  After two months, there were no Poles east of the Curzon Line by the end of June 1944 (TNA/ HS4-319).  In most towns and cities, the Polish Committee of National Liberation assisted the NKVD in identifying individuals whose politics did not match the new occupier’s ideals.  It is known over 40,000 former AK soldiers had been arrested and to be ‘liquidated’ without trial (TNA/ HS4-319).  In the Kraków area, the AK were openly fighting elements of the PPR (Polska Partia Robotnicza) or Polish Workers’ Party.  32,000 men had been conscripted which although was coming to an end, sent raw recruits with no training sent to the front.  For the lucky ones, Infantry Officers were trained in Kraków with sailors sent to Odessa and technicians to Russia.

Able bodied men were forcibly conscripted and Eastern Małopolska, Ukrainians participated in massacres and deportations of Poles in greater numbers than the Germans.  The deportees ranged in age from 14 to 70 years old with 20% made up of women.  In Minsk, the local PPR committee decided to shoot all AK soldiers.  In Minsk Mazoweicki, on 18^th March 1945 the local militia attempted to arrest a former AK officer.  The militia lost 6 killed and 2 wounded while the AK lost 2 killed.  These incidents were tragic since the AK had been officially disbanded on 18^th January 1945.

Between 23^rd and 30^th March, mass arrests in Kraków and Rzeszow took place with both renegade bands of Germans and AK hiding in the forests.  Ironically, forced labour camps when liberated had the Poles sent to Russia.

In late May 1945, the Soviet Air Force bombed and strafed the forests around Białystok which also had artillery support to flush out remnants of the AK while arrests in local villages continued with shootings and looting of livestock with the PPR militia supporting the NKVD.

The quality of intelligence gathering was exceptionally high despite the presence of the NKVD.  While political and economic conditions were regularly reported, the coverage of the hounding of the former AK soldiers was detailed.  In one report of a raid on the village of Budy-Wolińskie in Mazovia, the detail is exceptional.  On 7^th October 1944, a group of PPR militia were supporting the NKVD on the raid.  Henryk Osowski and a comrade, Czesław Skora were captured.  Henryk Osowski (a student) and his brother Ludwick (a veterinary surgeon) were taken into the forest and shot fifty times.  Skora was bayonetted and then shot.  In the village Jan Pietraszyk was shot with Stanisław Wiechetek shot just outside the village.  The AK investigated and identified the PPR individuals as:

1. 2^nd Lt. Adam Soczewka
2. 2^nd Lt. Zygmunt Zieliński
3. Pietnia from Siedlce
4. Stefan Niedziołka, prison commandant in Siedlce
5. Alexander Adamiak, NKVD agent
6. Kosioł
7. Hipolit Zieliński, militia from Siedlce
8. Stanisław Kosiol, militia from Siedlce
9. Ryszard Chmielek, militia from Siedlce
10. Brodziak, militia from Siedlce
11. Serowiec, chairman of the PPR in Trzciniec near Lublin.
12. Pietrak, militia from Trzciniec
13. Kielczykowski, militia from Trzciniec 

On 30^th May 1944, the villagers of Studzienicznie in the north east of Poland, were celebrating mass.  30 people were arrested and the church desecrated.  On 3^rd June 1944, 30 people were killed and 310 arrested in Sztabin, Dędowo and Kolnica.  Those condemned to death were tortured.  The officer in command of the unit was Maj. Smiotankow and second in command was Capt. Stanisławski (Stawianskij) from the 183 O.D.S.B (Otdelny Dvigatelny/Dozorny/Batalyon), a Soviet unit dressed in Polish army uniforms operating in the Baltic states and north eastern Poland around Augustów region (Obława Augustowska) with the NKVD.  Many of the men arrested managed to write letters home were sent from Leningrad a year later.

The Augustów Roundup (Obława Augustowska) started on 27^th May 1945 until 9^th June 1945 with roundups, arrests and looting in the village of Jesionowo which included the theft of cattle, pigs, chickens and horses.  On the night of the 27^th-28^th May 1945 the N.K.V.D and militia looted food and clothing from all the villagers in Krasnybór and Jesionowo.  On 30^th May a Soviet unit from Hruskie, numbering 30 men returned to Krasnybór pillaged what was left.  Then, on 6^th June 1945 2,500 men from the N.K.V.D. with members of the UBP (Urząd Bezpieczeństwa Publicznego) carried out a mass round up and arrests in the villages of Sztabin, Dędowo, Kopytowo, Obuchowizna, Balinka and Promiski by forming a double skirmish line to seek out any AK or locals sympathetic to the cause.

A report published by the IPN (2010) indicated mass murders where eyes were gauged out, tongues cut out, tortured, bayoneted, beaten and scalped before being shot.  In total 31 people were arrested and 3 murdered in this way.

Again, on 7^th June 1945 the N.K.V.D. with UBP militia consisting of 50 men carried out arrests and looting in Krasnybó, Jesionowo and Krasnoborki.  In response, villagers formed partisan self-defence units (some were OAK or Obywatelska Armia Krajowa) in the Grajewo district which became entrapped by the Soviets and managed to break out.  This period 1944-1948 in the Augustów-Suwałki was incredibly tense as a state of civil war was taking place.

Between 1944 and 1948 over 1.5 million Poles were returned. Agreements between the Soviet Union and the newly installed Polish Communist Government saw the first wave of around 500,000 Poles between 1944- 1946 who had to settle West of the Curzon Line providing housing, health care and medical problems in the war-torn country. Those who had been in the Gulag were slowly repatriated up until 1948. Political prisoners released from 1945 until 1948 faced being re-imprisoned by the communist authorities. Some 30,000 ex-prisoners were caught up in a bureaucratic and endlessly slow processing where no transport was provided for the journey.

Post Script

The heavily manipulated elections on 19^th January 1947, just three years after the Soviet invasion was won by the Blok Demokratyczny which was made up of the Polish Workers Party (PPR), the Polish Socialist Party (PPS) and the People’s Party (PL).  The falsifying of the 1946 referendum meant the former exiled politicians headed by Stanisław Mikołajczyk of the Polish People’s Party (PSL) were marginalised and would be persecuted by the Volunteer Reserve of Citizens Militia (Ochotnicza Rezerwa Milicji Obywatelskiej) up to the election.  The Polish Secret Police (UB – Urząd Bezpieczeństwa) followed the instructions of their puppet masters, the NKVD.  Mikołajczyk threatened with arrest fled the country.  80,000 members of the PSL were arrested under false charges with some murdered as part of the fear campaign against them.  Kazimierz Puzak, a prominent social leader was arrested in 1947 and died in prison.  Jan Jankowski, Deputy Prime Minister and Government Delegate, died in a Soviet prison in 1953.

After Anders was stripped of his Polish citizenship, he became a leading figure of former officers and politicians in exile.  They were deemed fanatical and unrealistic (McGilvray, 2018).  Conspiracy theories surrounding Sikorski’s death flourished.  Anders had a dislike for Sikorski despite his loyalty during the conflict.  McGilvray (2018) suggests the perpetrators were most likely a rogue element in II Corps based on papers released from the National Archive (TNA).  

Prof. Kot also became a political refugee, having worked with the Provisional Government of National Unity as an ambassador to Italy.  His exile took him to Paris and then London and in 1955 became the leader of the exiled People’s Party (Draus, 1996).

Selected References

Ack, T.S. (2023) “East Germany 1953: Workers forgotten rebellion against Stalinism”, Marxist Left Review, No.25 (Accessed 11.03.2026)

Beevor, A. (2002) “Berlin: The Downfall 1945”, Viking, UK.

Bessel, R. (2011) “Establishing Order in Post-war Eastern Germany”, Past & Present, Vol.210, No.6, pp.139-157.

Blaszczyk, A. (2023) “The resettlement of Polish refugees after the second world war”, Forced Migration Review, Issue 54, pp.71-74.

Crabtree, C; Kern, H.L, and Pfaff, S. (20018) “Mass Media and the Diffusion of Collective Action in Authoritarian Regimes:  The June 1953 East German Uprising”, International Studies Quarterly, Vol.62, No.2, pp.301-314.

Dack, M. (2008) “Crimes Committed by Soviet Soldiers Against German Civilians, 1944-1945: A Historiographical Analysis”, Journal of Military Studies, Vol.10, No.4, pp.1-33.

Draus, J. (1996) “Stanisław Kot – historyk kultury i wychowania”, Roczniki Nauk Społecznych, Vol.24, No. 2, pp.335-355.

Gration, R. (2004) “Lancaster Bombers and Operation Dodge”, (N/K.)

Granville, J. and Ostermann, C. (2003) “Uprising in East Germany 1953: The Cold War, the German Question, and the First Major Upheaval behind the Iron Curtain”, German Studies Review, Vol.26, No. 3, pp691-

Hamilton, G.S. (2023) “The Allied Forces Begin the Battle for Germany”, https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/history/allied-forces-begin-battle-germany, (Accessed 01.04.2026).

Harrison, R.W. (2025) Prelude to Berlin: The Red Army’s Offensive Operations in Poland and Eastern Germany, 1945”, Helion & Co. UK.

Hoffman, A. (ND) “POLAND IS WAITING FOR YOU. POST-WAR FATE OF SOLDIERS OF THE 2ND CORPS IN COMMUNIST POLAND” https://2korpus.org/en/poland-is-waiting-for-you-post-war-fate-of-soldiers-of-the-2nd-corps-in-communist-poland/ (Accessed: 13.13.2026)

Judt, T. (2009) “The Past is Another Country: Myth and Memory in Postwar Europe”, In Deák, I; Gross, T and Judt, T. (Eds) “The Politics of Retribution in Europe: World War II and its Aftermath”, Princetown, USA, pp.293-324.

Kershaw, R. (2025) “The Long March to Freedom 1944-1945”, https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/explore-the-collection/the-collection-blog/the-long-march-to-freedom-19441945/ (Accessed 30.03.2026).

Kochanski, H. (2012) “The Eagle Unbowed: Poland and the Poles in the Second World War”, Allan Lane, UK.

Lamontagne, E ( 2017) “A Post-World War II Tragedy: The Expulsion of Ethnic Germans From Poland and Czechoslovakia, 1945-49”, The General, Vol.2 DOI 10.26522/tgV2i0.1484.

Le Tissier, T. (2010) “Race for the Reichstag:  The 1945 Battle for Berlin”, Pen & Sword Military, UK.

Mrňka, J. (2020) “The Moment between Occupation and Freedom: Forms of Collective Violence at the End of World War II in the Czech Lands”, Zeitschrift für Ostmitteleuropa-Forschung, Vol. 69, No. 4, pp.471-494.

McGilvray, E. (2018) “Anders’ Army: General Władysław Anders & the Polish Second Corps 1941-46”, Pen & Sword Military, U.K.

Musienko, T. and Lukin, V. (2025) “Managing the process of rebuilding post-war Europe: falsification and facts”, National Security and Strategic Planning, No.1.

Naimark, N.M. (2004) “Stalin and Europe in the Postwar Period, 1945-1953: Issues and Problems”, Journal of Modern European History, Vol.2, No. 1, pp.28-57.

Nowak, K. (2019) “A Gloomy carnival of Freedom: sex, gender, and emotions among Polish Displaced Persons in the Aftermath of World War II”, DOI: 

https://doi.org/10.3167/asp.2019.130108 (Accessed 14.03.2026).

Pritchard, G. (2009) “The Occupation of Germany in 1945 and the Politics of German History”, History Compass, Vol.7, No.2, pp.447-473.

Reynolds, D. (2006) “The ‘Big Three’ and the Divisions of Europe, 1945-1948”, in “From World War to Cold War: Churchill, Roosevelt, and the International History of the 1940s”, OUP, UK, Ch.15, pp.267-290.

Tolstoy, N. (1988) “Forced Repatriation to the Soviet Union: The Secret Betrayal”, Imprimis, Vol.17, No.12, https://imprimis.hillsdale.edu/forced-repatriation-to-the-soviet-union-the-secret-betrayal/ (Accessed 30.03.2026)

Wołek, K. (2018) “Post-war war.  The Years of 1944-1963 in Poland”, Warsaw Institute, Poland.

Additional References:

Absalom, R. (1995) “Hiding History: The Allies, The Resistance and the Others in Occupied Italy 1943-1945”, The Historical Journal, Vol. 38, No.1, pp.111-131.

Absalom, R. (2006) “Allied Escapers and the contadini in occupied Italy”, Journal of Modern Italian Studies, Vol. 10, No. 4, pp.413-425.

Edele, M.; Riabichenko, A and Goldlust, J. (2025) “Those Who Stayed: Polish Jews Who Remained in the Soviet Union after the Second World War”, Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Vol.39, Issue 3, pp.507-522.

Knapton, S. K. (N.D) ‘A Paradoxical People’ – Britain’s Responses to Polish DPs, 1945-1951. https://refugeehistory.org/blog/a-pparadoxical-people-britains-responses-to-polish-dps. (Accessed 15.03.2026).

Knapton, S. K. (2020) ‘There is No Such Thing as an Unrepatriable Pole’: Polish Displaced Persons in the British Zone of Occupation in Germany”, European History Quarterly, Vol. 50, No. 4, pp.689-710.

Lis-Turlejska, M; Szumiał, S and Drapała, I. (2018) “Posttraumatic stress symptoms among Polish World War II survivors: the role of social acknowledgement”, European Journal of Psychotraumatol, Vol.9, No.1,Doi: 10.1080/20008198.2018.1423831

Schröder, S. (2003) “Displaced Persons” im Rheinland das Nachkriegsschicksal befreiter Zwangsarbeiter in regionaler Perspektive”, Geschichte im Westen, Vol.18, pp.180-204.

Selected Websites:

https://2korpus.org/en/poland-is-waiting-for-you-post-war-fate-of-soldiers-of-the-2nd-corps-in-communist-poland/ – excellent site on II Corps

https://warsawinstitute.org/post-war-war-years-1944-1963-poland

https://www.porta-polonica.de/en/atlas-of-remembrance-places/displaced-persons-dps

https://fasos-research.nl/occupationstudies/the-occupied-become-occupiers-the-case-of-maczkow-haren

https://www.warrelics.eu/forum/polish-armed-forces-west-polskie-si-y-zbrojne-na-zachodzie-1939-1947/polish-army-exile-post-war-victims-polanda-s-communist-regime-425899/ Includes a list of names of those sent back to the Gulags

Selected Films:

‘Interrogation’ (Przesłuchanie) (1982) Directed by Ryszard Bugajski with Krystyna Janda, Adam Ferency, Janusz Gajos.

Red Poppies’ (Czerwone maki) (2024) Directed by Krzysztof Lukaszewicz with Nicolas Przygoda, Leszek Lichota and Michal Zurawski.

‘Report on the Living’ (1947) Documentary series produced by JDC https://archives.jdc.org/topic-guides/jdc-in-the-displaced-persons-dp-camps-1945-1957/#:~:text=Report%20on%20the%20Living%20(excerpts,camps%20of%20Germany%20and%20Austria.

Selected YouTube Videos:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2UgSQ6u1oU We crossed the Rhine (1947)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQQgFLKF1ZQ How Sovietisation of Poland

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEfXwR2kXbs Cursed or Unbreakable? The anti-communist resistance in Poland

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LqZcQo6dpEg Who were WWII’s Cursed Soldiers of Polandhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLnAmiXN4a0