Sailor in Korean crucible

And did your military vocation come from household traditions?

That's 1 way to say it, due to the fact that my father was a man and a soldier. Józef Piłsudski in 1920. Although he originally wanted me to take over his farm, at the same time, he instilled my passion for the uniform with his wartime memories, so effectively that I chose the army for my life course. Above all, though, my father wanted me to get an education. After graduation from simple school, I wanted to go to the cadet corps, but my father then said, “Son, wait, get your advanced school and we will see.” I listened to my father, and I passed my graduation, and then he said: “Okay, now finish your higher education and see. You will always be promoted to an officer.” Yes, I did. Especially that I finished an interesting direction for the army, namely I studied at the Diplomatic-Consular Department of the abroad Service Main School. Just after the political thaw in 1956, at the end of my studies, I received an offer of service from the army. I was told that it now takes young, educated men to replace russian officers sent back to their country. At that time, the slogan with the “second bottom” was fashionable: “Let the russian friends aid us to walk the Polish road in Poland”. And so – since 1958 – my adventure with the army began, specifically with the Navy, due to the fact that the Navy at that time was the only kind of armed force that had authoritative contacts with the West. After all, Western warships called our ports with authoritative visits, and so did our units in Western European ports. So individual had to be liable for accepting these abroad delegations, and I knew both English and Russian well, which was not common at the time.

Have you remembered any peculiar event from these authoritative visits of Western flotilla ships? After the Stalinism era in Poland, this must have had a peculiar effect.

The first visit of the British ship took place before the thaw – in July 1955, a cruiser HMS “Glasgow” wrapped in the port of Gdynia, and then a revision in the UK conducted our wartime destroyer, well remembered there, ORP Lightning And after that first step, saying colloquially, the ice cream was broken. As far as my individual experience is concerned, I peculiarly remember the visit of the British delegation to Szczecin in the late 1960s and 1970s, which coincided with the expulsion from Britain of a number of russian diplomats and embassy staff charged with espionage. Notabene was then the only allied flotilla from the planet War II period to wrap it in Szczecin. Imagine this situation: there is simply a conflict on the russian Union-UK line, and to 1 of the russian satellites, which was unfortunately Poland at the time, a British ship arrives with a courtesy visit, and I am to take care of it. I remember the guidelines for me: “Accept, but not to show interest and kindness.” Are you imagining the absurdity of this order?

Of course, it was above all contrary to the proverbial Polish hospitality!

Exactly. According to the plan, I flew with a group of British officers to Warsaw. In the capital, in Hotel Mazowiecki, our delegation was accepted by the Deputy Minister of National Defence. It is worth adding that the head of the British delegation was Commander Michael Parker. After the ceremony, we head back to the airport, and it turns out that the plane we flew down failed. I am calling the General Staff to ask what to do, and I hear the answer: “We do not have a second plane, look for the solution.” I reply: “How am I expected to find a solution? I'm an escort from the Navy. Commander Parker requests the chance to meet with the commander of the Polish Navy and declares that he has the chance to go to him by his own helicopter, which he has on board his HMS “Ashanti”... Does that name ringing a bell?

“Ashanti” together with our ‘The lightning’ On the night of 13 to 14 June 1943, close Jersey Island, they fought a victorious conflict against German trawlers.

That's right! So it was no accident that “Ashanti” [it was a corvette that in 1959, after the scraped destroyer “Ashanti” took over its name and traditions – P.K.] wrapped it in Szczecin, it could be said that it was a brother ship, truly a brother... And delight put yourself in my position, between the “mold” of your own sovereignty and the British “vil”. Of course there could not be a speech about the passage of a British chopper from Szczecin to Warsaw and back, but I did not want to offend the British in any way. I stand on the Okęcie with increasingly impatient officers, I tell them about bad weather, which causes delays in flights, erstwhile at the same time there are announcements of departures of civilian aircraft... So I'm calling the General Staff again, and in consequence from 1 of the colonels, I hear, "Make certain they don't announce departures in English." He's just kidding!

Stanislaw Bareja wouldn't make that up...

Finally, after 4 hours, I admitted that the plane had crashed and started my own connections. This gave us 5 cars of the Volga brand, which our delegation reached Szczecin from Warsaw. In this way, the visit, which was to have a rigid course, turned into a sightseeing tour. It was fun for those British! We had, among others, accommodation in Poznań, in Hotel Mercury – of course dancing, alcohols, beautiful women... Sailors, as you know, just play it! So the full communicative ended in contrariness with instructions recommending a far-reaching distance, which personally did not bother me at all, on the contrary.

You proved your talent for improvisation and cold blood in unpredictable situations – very crucial aspects on military missions.

Certainly, but first of all, the above mentioned cognition of English and Russian has decided. In 1965, I arrived in the Korean Peninsula, where I spent a year and a half. I was 31 years old at the time and was the alleged analytical-connection officer of the Polish mission in the Supervisory Commission of Neutral States – NNSC. I found myself in a alternatively circumstantial reality, virtually at the interface of 2 competing zones into which the planet was then divided. And despite so many geopolitical changes demarcation line on the 38th parallel, meaning the demilitarized region between South and North Korea, is inactive 1 of the most inflamed places.

Let's add that the N.N.S.C. has been conducting its mission since August 1, 1953 Until today.

Yeah. In addition to the NNSC, there was besides a Military Commission for Discussing, in which English was in force, but only erstwhile speaking on business matters. In the Chamber of the Committee, the debates were held in this language. In the Kuluaras, especially with representatives of North Korea, we spoke Russian. Bilingualism was so essential, especially in the position of an analyst-connector officer. Here, it should be said that the truce committee was represented by 2 sides: Korean-Chinese, or North, and Oenzetowska, which is primarily the United States and 18 Western countries. And this committee was under the control of the NSSC. It was affected by complaints against a non-community arrangement by the conduct of 1 of the parties. The NNSC for the Korean-Chinese side, in addition to Poland, included Czechoslovakia, while Oenzetowska was represented by Sweden and Switzerland. erstwhile the complaint came in, the four-sided NNSC was gathering and considering solving the problem. Most of the time it was that we and the Czechoslovaks acknowledged the North and the Swedes and Swiss – the South.

And how did you find a consensus?

In truth, it seldom happened and ended with separate positions being sent by the parties to the UN General Assembly. And it was my work as an analyst-connector officer to prepare specified a position from the alleged method side. Apart from me, there were 3 more analyst-connection officers in the NNSC – from each neutral country 1 at a time. We were on work in a common safety region in Panmund. This region included a ellipse with a diameter of 800 m, in which the parties could meet without fear of initiating any fight.

That is the equivalent of the alleged holy land on which a duel was not allowed.

Yeah. but this region was lying on the 38th parallel, so it was half-fished. So North Korean soldiers had no right to cross this line to the south and identical soldiers The south couldn't set ft on North soil. The conference table in the gathering area was besides divided by a line in half. The parties, erstwhile entering the meeting, did not greet and greet. The confederate delegation was chaired by Americans, and the northern mostly Chinese. Me and my 3 colleagues had a work to service in the region for 1 week a month, which is how easy it was to figure out how to rotate for 4 weeks. specified a function was called ‘a joint service officer’. In this position, it was my work to receive reports on the introduction and exit of military equipment and soldiers from the militarised zone, due to the fact that apart from the safety zone, there was inactive a alleged free region – a four-kilometre-long belt of land, on which no fresh military forces could be introduced. This was of course a theory, due to the fact that in practice there were inactive noises from the armored car engines. Each morning, at 8.00 p.m., representatives of the North and South reported to the Joint Service Officer and submitted written reports to him: how much equipment was introduced, how much equipment was carried out, what changes were made in the border station units, etc. A service officer, i.e. myself, had to collect it, duplicate it in 7 copies, and send it to: the UN General Assembly, to 2 sides of the truce committee, and after 1 copy to each of the NNSC missions, together came seven. If there was an extraordinary gathering of the parties during the week shift, the officer was informed and he was liable for preparing the alleged order of the day. We besides watched the NNSC's deliberations, and after the gathering ended, we had to collect their messages, replicate them again in 7 copies and send them to these addresses. specified a weekly work in the safety region each day lasted from 7.30 to 1.30. From that hour, there was a lunch break, after which I returned to work at 2:00 p.m. and served it until 6:00 p.m.

An analytical-connection officer, Captain Pius Kacprzak, along with his counterpart from Czechoslovakia, Emil Zaoral. Archive of kmdr. Pius Kacprzak

Contrary to appearances, this must have been a alternatively stressful service, given the constant tension between the 2 Korean states, and there was besides this circumstantial “label” to prevent the spark from reaching the powder keg...

We were not in danger, but for the many vipers who liked the area. However, I agree with your message that war tension was inactive felt in the air. besides from time to time, North Koreans warned us not to go out at night, “because Americans will throw down a stone”... And in the night that "stink" thundered like a herd of bison... In the morning, the Koreans, pointing to the entrenched caterpillars of the tanks, made us crazy without blinking, claiming that they were traces of moving this "stink" in the free zone. We accepted it due to the fact that we couldn't truly do anything else. This label, as you said, sometimes caused absurd situations. For example, let us return here to this table of meetings divided by a line in half. Each half of this table was marked as a proponent: the half of the North was North Korean; the Oenzetowska – American. 1 day, there was an incidental with these reporters. Namely, a cleaner cleaning the Oenzet side of the table, or he changed the bar of the counter with the American flag, or extended it. Anyway, the next day it turned out that the American prophecy was taller than the North Korean... As the North delegation saw this, she immediately changed the rod of her partner to be taller than the American one. So the Americans raised the bar of their partner again. In order to prevent the “war on the proponent”, a peculiar gathering of the Military Truce Commission had to be held, which had determined the size of the latter. An event seemingly trivial, but sometimes specified a pretext was adequate to start a bloody war again... As I mentioned, the parties did not greet each another in any way, but this is not the end. If during the session of the Military Truce Commission to the president of 1 of the parties wanted to go to the toilet, he could not ask for a break in the deliberations. And in this area besides there was competition. The American press even published an article on this subject under the notable title “Fighting the bladders” ... For the presidents of both parties, it would be a relief to ask for a break even in specified a "dramatic" situation.

So Stanislaw Bareja would besides have quite a few inspiring topics here... What about cooperation with representatives of Czechoslovakia, as well as with Swedes and Swiss?

Paradoxically, the Czechs were the most problematic due to the fact that they kind of envied us for being favored by the Americans. Although we were on different sides of the iron curtain, this thread of Polish-American sympathy was palpable. Anyway, 1 of the United States representatives, Philip Bars, was besides wearing a naval uniform... In addition, many Americans of Polish origin served on the American mission. Apart from all the above stories, it should be stressed that this longest military mission has fulfilled and continues to fulfil its function – despite tensions, fortunately no of the parties after the bloody Korean War in the 1950s resumed military action. This should be remembered. That's what's important!

Commander Pius Kacprzak – Born 5 May 1934 in Żychlin, Officer of the Polish Navy. In 1965–1966, he served as an analytical and liaison officer on the Supervisory Commission of Neutral States in Korea. He then served in the 4th Amendment (1975– 1976) of the Distributed Group of the Polish Military peculiar Unit in Syria, as part of the United Nations Military divided Supervisory Force (UNDOF). Upon his return from the mission, he was, among others, a lecturer in global conflict law at the Naval Higher School. Author of many articles and books on WP participation in UN peacekeeping missions. 1 of the co-founders of the Gdynia UN Peacekeeping Missions Association.