“Poles to arms!” was appealed on 7 June 1944 by the War Council of the Polish Army in the USSR. Although Stalin could not number on his military call in the occupied country, the paper itself was besides crucial for another reasons. He was an effort to warm the image of Berliners and Soviets, and at the same time discredit the Polish underground.
Sigismund Berling – an agent of russian services among the “Catholic” prisoners in Ostashkov, a degraded deserter from Anders' army – became commander of a unit made up of Poles serving Stalin's purposes
“Brothers! All emergence to conflict with the Nazi occupier! Do not perceive to the lies of the Germans, or their conscious and unaware agents, about the russian Union and our Polish Army [...]. Prepare to emergence with weapons in your hand against the German invaders! To arms, Poles!’ A twelve sentences in the form of an emotional response. Under the signatures of 3 generals – members of the Polish Army War Council in ZSRS: Zygmunt Berling, Karol Świerczewski and Alexander Zawadzki. Each of them went a different way. The first started his career in the pre-war Polish Army, the second inactive late served in the Red Army, the 3rd being simply a communist activist who was disguised as a uniform for immediate needs. But they all became pawns in Joseph Stalin's large game. In the gameplay, which was besides marked by the "Call".
‘Patrioci’ from Stalin
It was June 7, 1944. A day earlier, Western Allied troops began landing in Normandy. Meanwhile, in the east, the Red Army was willing to operate “Bagration”. According to her assumptions, she was to displace the Germans from Lithuania and Belarus, then enter the prefield of Warsaw. She was preparing to fight with her late formed 1 Army of the Polish Army. Hitler's days seemed numbered, while the leaders of the anti-German coalition were increasingly reasoning about the form of post-war Europe.
"Stalin planned large offensive operations of the Red Army to service as far-reaching political goals as possible," stressed historian Antoni Przygoński in 1 of his publications. At stake was the control of Central-Eastern Europe, including, of course, Poland. but the Soviets didn't talk about it openly. Imperial ambition was hidden under the facade of high-flying statements about the brotherhood of weapons and national free fighting. At the same time, they were building institutions that were to become the nucleus of their power in the territories of the Germans.
The Association of Polish Patriots was founded in Moscow. It was headed by Wanda Vasilewska, daughter of Leon Vasilewski, legionary, close associate Piłsudski, the first abroad minister of the Second Republic. After the outbreak of the war, it entered the areas controlled by the ZSRS. In a fewer months she was admitted to the Bolshevik organization and managed to get closer to Stalin himself.
The ZPP's seeds were created in March 1943, but work on the formation of the organization accelerated after April 25, erstwhile the ZSRS yet broke diplomatic relations with the emigration government of the Polish Republic in London. The beginning of the conflict became discovery of mass graves in Katyn and the request of Poles to the global Red Cross to conduct an independent investigation.
Meanwhile, Stalin did not intend to limit himself to the creation of Polish political institutions. He besides wanted the ZSRS to be created The Polish army obeying him. The thought wasn't new. In 1940, specified plans were to be made by Lavrientij Beria, the head of the NKVD. The Soviets had advanced hopes for Sigismund Berling. "As a lieutenant colonel officer ... spent respective months in a camp in Starobielsk among comrades whose massacred bodies were to be found later. He belonged to a very tiny group of Polish officers saved alive erstwhile the remainder of Stalin ordered him to shoot," wrote British historian Norman Davies about him. Berling survived due to the fact that he went to work with the Soviets. He was shortly transported to a villa in Małachówka close Moscow, where he was waiting for further arrangements.
For the following months, the thought of Beria remained suspended. In the summertime after the attack on the ZSRS, he returned due to Berling himself, who together with a group of Polish comrades declared his willingness to fight Hitler alongside the Red Army. But Stalin had to bet on another horse. In the name of bonding with the Western Allies, agreed to build the Polish army in the USSR, Only under command General Władysław Anders. But specified a matrimony could not last long. The expanding friction made it as early as 1942 Anders' troops marched to Iran. Berling is back in the game. Years later, he recalled how a telephone rang 1 April night 1943 in his Moscow apartment. “I picked up the telephone while I was asleep, but erstwhile the alien answered my call and introduced himself to me, but as if I had heard a voice before, I was conscious in 1 moment. Mr Mierkulov [people's safety commissioner, 1 of the liable for the Katyn crime – ed.] said, congratulating the perseverance and accomplishment of the goal. “At last, your wait is over. Today, a decision was made by the Political Bureau to start organizing your military. I warmly congratulate you," Berling wrote.
Soon the formation began in Sielce nad Oka 1st Tadeusz Kościuszko Infantry Division, which after respective months was converted into a corps, then into 1st Army of the Polish Army.
Fresh Memory
"Stalin's decision to make the Polish division has undermined the hopes of those communists who hoped that Poland would become 1 of the russian republics", says Tadeusz A. Kisielewski, author of the book on Berliners. The fresh military, though full controlled by the Soviets, fought under the white-red banner. Soldiers had Polish grades, with eagle on their hats (although without a crown). Their ears echoed patriotic slogans repeated by polytruds, and occasionally besides the words of prayer. Berling's army had a place even for chaplains. All to talk not only to volunteers who usually had their stay in russian camps or exiles, but besides to residents of inactive occupied Poland. Stalin knew that he had to fight for a government of souls against the London government and the powerful Polish underground.
National Army She spent years preparing for a national uprising. In mid-January 1944 she began “Burza” action. Its main nonsubjective was to fight the German troops and to release further areas before the Red Army appeared there. The underground leaders intended to act as legitimate hosts of Polish lands to the Soviets. Inspired by russian communists, the "Call" to take up the fight against Germany was expected to be a test of strength. It was an appeal to instigate an uprising behind the AK's back, which in its very appeal was veiledly discredited.
Stalin, however, was a realist. He knew that communists in Poland were weak and that it would be hard for them to convince themselves of society. besides fresh was the memory of September 17, 1939When the Red Army acted as an aggressor, and even about 1920, as the Bolshevik hordes dragged to Warsaw. Generalissimos himself said that the introduction of communism in Poland was an act resembling the saddle of a cow.
Berling's ‘call’ and the company remained unanswered. Stalin, however, did not gotta worry besides much. The position of the ZSRS in the global arena was in his favour. He could besides trust on the strength of his own army and service. All of this was a strong adequate foundation for the power he intended to install in Poland. And that's where past went.
During writing I used: Norman Davies, Rising '44, Kraków 20024; Edward Kospath-Pawłowski, Glory and Betrayal. Polish Army in the East 1943-45, Warsaw 2010; Antoni Przygoński, Stalin and Warsaw Uprising, Warsaw 1994; Tadeusz A. Kisielewski, Janczarzy Berlinga. 1 Army of the Polish Army 1943-1945, Poznań 2014; Zygmunt Berling, Memoirs. Against the 17th Republic, Warsaw 1991.
