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Bohdan
MINTOWT-CZYZ

Polish 2nd Corps - Education Officer 15th “Wilkow”
Infantry Regiment

Bohdan’s Military history:

  • 1st Corps of Poland, fighting for Wilno (1918-1919),

  • Polish-Bolshevik war (1920),

  • September 1939 campaign,

  • Lieutenant in the 2nd Corps (1941-1946)

  • Polish Resettlement Corps (1946-1948)

 

Bohdan was captured by the Russians after the September Campaign collapsed, and he was deported to Siberia. After a 2-week railroad journey in a cattle car, Czyz found himself at a POW camp where he was used as forced labor. The hard labor took place in unbearable heat in summer and incredible cold in winter, with little food and no medical facilities. This gave rise to malnutrition, starvation, and disease.

In 1941, President Sikorski negotiated the release of all Poles being held in the USSR, and Bohdan was able to leave the camp and make his way to the southern USSR, to where the Polish army was being formed under the command of General Anders.

General Anders eventually negotiated the evacuation of the army to Persia (now Iran) because the Russians were not providing the quantities of food and supplies that had been promised.

After exiting the USSR by sailing the Caspian Sea and receiving some basic military training in Polish Camps in Iran and Palestine, Czyz was named Education Officer of his regiment.

It is not known whether he was aware of his son Waldemar’s deportation to Kazakhstan, his release, or his participation in the European Campaign with the 1st Polish Armoured Division.

After the war, Bohdan joined the Polish Resettlement Corps (PRC) in the UK. His son Waldemar eventually joined the PRC as well, and they met for the first time since 1939.  Waldemar emigrated to the USA, while Bohdan remained in England, where his wife Helena joined him.

Medals from the Republic of Poland, the UK:


* Polish Army Active Service Medal
* Cross of September Campaign 1939

* Medal for the Defence of Poland

* Polish Armed Forces in the West

* Monte Cassino Cross
* Defence Medal (UK)
* War Medal (UK)

 

Bohdan passed away on 04.12.1981 at the age of 89 years, and is buried at the Gunnersbury Cemetery, in London England (Section C, Grave 262)

Copyright: Mintowt-Czyz family

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