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ofthe“inhumanland”.
“…Therewereonlytwocategoriesofpeople:those
whowereinthearmyandthosewho,atanycost,
wantedtobethere!…”suchweretherecollections,
threeyearslater,ofFeliksKonarski(pseudonym:Ref-
Ren),theauthorof
TheRedPoppiesonMonte
Cassino
,themostfamousPolishsoldiersongofthe
SecondWorldWar.
On25August1941,thefirstPolishCatholicworship
withintheSovietUnionwascelebratedbyReverend
CanonTeofilWdzięcznyinGryazovets(afewdayslater,
hewasappointedheadofpastoralofficeofthe5th
InfantryDivision).Forthefirsttime,
TheKozelskVirgin
Mary
appearedatamakeshiftfieldaltar.Itwasawood
bassreliefcreatedon3May1941intheprisoner-of-war
campKozielskIIbySub-LieutenantTadeuszZieliński,and
lateritaccompaniedsoldiersoftheAnders’Armyontheir
way.ItiscurrentlyplacedinthePolishSt.AndrewBobola
ChurchinLondon.
ThefirstinspectionofPolishsoldierswithintheSoviet
UnionwasalsoheldinGryazovets.Itshouldbenotedthat
theformationoftheAnders’Armyproceeded
inextremelydifficultconditions.Thesoldierswereafter
anearlytwo-yearstayinprisoner-of-warcamps,prisons
andGulagcamps,whichresultedinthestrikingfact
ofover46%ofthesoldiersbeingill.
BetweenJanuaryandFebruary1942,unitsofthePolish
ArmyintheSovietUnionweremovedfromRussia
tothreethenCentralAsianSovietrepublicsKazakhstan,
UzbekistanandKyrgyzstan.Jangi-Jul(English:NewWay)
nearTashkentinUzbekistanbecametheseatoftheArmy
Staff.
On24March1942,theevacuationoftheAnders’Army
fromtheSovietUniontoIranbegan(atthattime,the
ArmyStaffofficiatedinTehran,over4,300kmawayfrom
Warsaw).Theevacuation,completedbetweenAugust
andSeptember1942,butcontinuedinmuchsmallersizes
eventillNovember1943,coveredatotalnumber
of77,000soldiersand44,000civilianrefugees.There