The war started on 1 September 1939, when the Germans invaded from the west, and the situation was  compounded on 17 September 1939, when the Russians invaded Poland from the East.

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On 10th February 1940, after the fall of Poland, my entire family were forcibly removed from our home by the Russians, and deported to a forced labour camp in Kazakhstani.

  

After 19 months of hard labour, starvation, and disease, I was released under the so-called ‘amnesty’ and allowed to leave. Along with others from the camp, I set off for the south of the USSR, with the objective of joining the Polish Army that was being formed there. 

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After a 12 week journey (on trains, barges, and on foot) through the Ural Mountains and Uzbekistan, we reached the Polish Army (later known as the Polish 2nd Corps commanded by General Anders).  I altered the date of birth on my papers, making me 18 years old instead of 16, so I could join.

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The whole corps evacuated to Iran, then moved to Iraq, Palestine, Egypt, and finally to Italy. I fought in the Italian Campaign, including the Battle of Monte Cassino.

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I came to England in 1946 on a ship from Napoli to Liverpool. After arrival in England, and was sent on to camps where the Polish Army were stationed.  On being demobilized, I joined the Polish Resettlement Corps and moved to a resettlement camp where Polish dependents, families and ex-soldiers were housed.  I then moved from Marsworth Camp, near Tring, to Dunstable.  This is where I have lived since the war.

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Source:  Stanislaw Czaczka at the BBC website: www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/

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Copyright: Czaczka family

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