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GeneralAnders’Armyonits
WayAcrossThreeContinents
ThenameGeneralAnders’Armyisusedforthearmy
ledbyMajorGeneralWładysławAnders,established
intheSovietUnioninAugust1941,inallofitsthree
forms–thePolishArmyintheSovietUnion,thePolish
ArmyintheEast(establishedintheMiddleEast
inSeptember1942)andthePolishIICorps(established
inJuly1943andthen,fromFebruary1944,fightinginthe
ItalianCampaign).
Anders’ArmywasthemostremarkableofallAllied
ArmiesduringtheSecondWorldWar.Itwastheonlyone
consistingsolelyofcaptives,prisonersandexiles,andthe
onlyoneledbycaptivesandprisoners.Likewise,itwas
theonlyoneofAlliedArmieswhosetrailledthrough
threecontinents–fromEuropethroughAsiaandAfrica
toEuropeagain.InMay1944,thesoldiersofthisarmy
werecalledthebestsoldiersoftheSecondWorldWar
aftertheconquestofMonteCassino.
Thebeginningoftheirextraordinarysaga–whichcan
becomparedtothefamous
anabazis
ofAlexanderthe
Great’sArmy–isatragicandbitterrouteoffuture
soldiersoftheAnders’ArmytoSovietprisoner-of-war
campsandprisons,toGulagcampsandexile,theroute
whichlastedfromtheSovietinvasionofPoland
on17September1939.
FromAugust1941,thoseofthemwhosurvived–and
werenotvictimsoftheKatynmassacre–startedtojoin
theformationoftheAnders’Armycampslocatedinthe
EuropeanpartoftheSovietUnion,ontheMiddleVolga
(BuzulukwasthefirstheadquartersoftheArmyStaff
afterashorttermofofficeinMoscow),fromallparts