Stanislaw Morgowik

Polish 2nd Corps

Stanislaw Morgowik was born in Poland in 1917.

At the outbreak of war as Germany invaded Poland in 1939, he was part of the Polish army and was badly wounded – shot in the side of the head, his ear badly damaged. He was taken to hospital in Warsaw but because of his injuries they weren't too keen to take him. He was then transported to Prussia where the skill of doctors saved his life.

In February 1940 he was deported to Russia with his family. They were taken to the railway station and loaded into cattle cars with 50-60 other people. This included infants, toddlers, children, teens, adults, and seniors. Most of the adults and seniors were women. The cattle car had two shelves at either end, where people could sit or sleep – the rest had to make do with the floor. There was a cast iron stove, but they soon ran out of wood to fuel it. There was also a hole in the floor that served as a toilet. They travelled like this for weeks, and were given some water, stale bread, and watery soup, only a few times. When someone died, their bodies were cast out next to the tracks and left there.

When they reached the work camp in Siberia, they were told that this is where they would eventually die, but in the meantime, they had to work to earn their daily ration of bread.

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.

The news of this ‘amnesty’ did not reach every camp, but where it did become known, the men and boys soon made plans to make their way south to join the army. For most, this meant walking thousands of kilometers and only occasionally getting on a train for part of the journey. Many did not make it, and those who did were emaciated skeletons by the time they got there. Stanislaw was among those who made this perilous journey.

General Anders negotiated the right to evacuate the army to Persia, where the British would provide what was needed. The evacuation took place by ship over the Caspian Sea to Pahlavi in Persia (now Iran). The ships that were used were oil tankers and coal ships, and other ships that were not equipped to handle passengers. They were filthy and lacked even the necessities, like water and latrines. The soldiers and civilians filled these ships to capacity for the 1-2-day trip.

Stanislaw served with the Polish 2nd Corps in Iraq, Palestine, and Egypt, and then sailed to Italy and fought in the Italian Campaign.

He fought at Monte Cassino and recalls that on 10/12 May there was a big barrage of artillery – the storming of the Monastery by the Polish Brigade, and with his damaged ear he is now severely deaf and has constant ringing in his ears.

At the end of the war some of the men returned to Poland – the rest of the 2nd Corps came to England. Stanislaw joined the Polish Resettlement Corps and ended up in Brendtree Camp. After being discharged from the army he found agricultural work near Letchworth then moved to Marsworth Camp near Tring, then to Dunstable. He worked at cement works in Pitstone, Buckinghamshire.