This is a photo of mine and my collegue from assault battalion Polish Army in USSR. I don’t remember her name. This photo was taken in 1944. I think, it was in Smolensk region.
I volunteered to Polish Army in 1943. During my stay in Kemerovo I contacted Aunt Chana and Uncle Aron Perec. In 1939 they were in Volodymir as well and they volunteered there to go to up-country Russia. They went to Orel, a city approx. 360 km south of Moscow. When it was time for evacuation, they moved to Kuybyshev, presently Samara, a city 800 km east of Moscow. I found out about them somehow and we wrote letters to each other. Uncle Aron wrote me once there was a Polish paper being published in the USSR. It was published by the ZPP, Union of Polish Patriots. I subscribed to it. And from the paper I learned a Polish army is being formed and people were invited to enlist. The air was such that I wanted badly to fight, it seemed to me I wasn't doing enough. So I wrote a couple of letters to Berling, to the ZPP, and got a draft notice some time later.
I went to Sielce near Ryazan, a city ca. 180 km southeast of Moscow where the camp of the Second Dabrowski Division was located. It was in August 1943. I was assigned straight to the medical battalion - the sanbat. I wanted to be on the frontline as soon as possible so I volunteered for the assault battalion.
I came to Lublin in 1944 with the army.
