Czeslaw was born on 18 February 1926 in Poland, the son of a soldier of the Army Geeral. Haller. The Germans invaded Poland from the west on 1 September 1939, and the Russians invaded from the east on 17 September 1939. They divided Poland between them. In the Russian-controlled area, the plan to ethnically-cleanse the area soon took effect with the first of four mass deportations to Siberia that were carried out in 1940 and 1941.

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Czeslaw was deported with his family to Siberia in 1940. The family were forcibly taken from their home at gunpoint, by Russian soldiers. They had been given less than an hour to pack what they could, without knowing where they were being taken. They took what they could carry and had to leave the rest behind.

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They spent nearly two years at the forced labour camp, working to the point of exhaustion and suffering a variety of illnesses due to malnutrition.

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In June 1941, Germany turned on its ally, Russia. Stalin then quickly changed tactics and allied himself with the west so that the allies could help him defeat the Germans. This led to the signing of the Sikorski-Majewski agreement that called for the freeing of Poles imprisoned in POW camps and labour camps in the USSR, and the formation of a Polish Army in the southern USSR.

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On release, Czeslaw took the perilous journey to the southern USSR and joined the Polish Army on 10 February 1942. He was one of the youngest soldiers serving in the 8th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Regiment of the 2nd Polish Corps. He evacuated to Persia (now Iran) with the army, trained in the Middle East, and fought in the Italian Campaign. After the war, he moved to the UK with the army.

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At age 23, he married 19-year-old Aniela Wawrzynczyk on 6 August 1949 at St. Mary’s RC church in Shefield.

Throughout his life in England, he was a social, scouting and combatant activist in the city of Sheffield, the surrounding area, and London.

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He was a long-time member of the Association of Polish Veterans, Chairman of the Council of the World Federation SPK, President of the Main Board of the SPK in the United Kingdom, Chairman of the Company PCA Ltd., Vice-Chairman of the Federation of Veterans at the Minister for Veterans and Repressed Persons in Warsaw.

Czeslaw was awarded the following:

• Polonia Restituta Commando,

• Knight's Cross of the Order of St. New Year's Eve,

• Gold and the Silver Cross of Merit,

• Combatant Cross of Merit of the SPK World Federation,

• and other Polish and British medals

 

Czeslaw passed away in London on 18 February 2002 at the age of 76years. He was buried with full military honours at the Gunnersbury cemetery in London.

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Copyright: Zychowicz family

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