Polish Adventurer

Invariably for many years, memoirs have had a large
group of devoted readers. Thanks to reading memories
of people who were active participants or simply
observers of great historic events allows us to maintain
contact with the past, which usually fades under the
pressure of everyday business.

A reader who should pick the self-account by Jan
Kobylarz, a signaler of the 7th Regiment of the 3rd
Division, will take a fascinating journey into the past
marked by some of the most tragic events in history;
World War II.

The writer took active part in the war. It engulfed
his youthful years and proved to be a tough school of
life. As a direct witness of the described events he went
in his Polish Army uniform along the great combat
route from the right bank Warsaw through Pomerania
fortifi ed region, foregrounds of Berlin towards the
Laba where he celebrated the end of war.

This frank, simply written soldiers account is
impressive for the detail in which the events were
memorized. It gives description of dramatic struggle
for the east-bank Warsaw borough of Praga, the dearly
paid attempt to help the insurgents fi ghting in the westbank
part of Warsaw, ferocious fi ght for the town of
Kolobrzeg and the region of Pomerania fortifi ed by
the nazis. The author takes us along to relive the most
diffi cult moments, the happiness for successful actions
or the bitter disappointment when He was deprived of
meeting the allied brothers in arms on the Laba River.

Besides descriptions of the daredevil combat actions
the book is particularly interesting for accounts of work
of the so- called political offi cers, popularly called the
politruks. Frequent training sessions, chatty lectures,
and press briefi ngs were an important elements of
the ideological second front. The authors account
suggests those lectures, aimed at educating the soldiers,
often changed into heated political discussions in which
mature opinions mixed with somehow naive trust in
good fortune and good will of the politicians who then
were making decisions about Polands future.

The author, Jan Kobylarz, has remained in the
business of connecting people. Just as 55 years ago
when he was using telephone lines to connect units
with the command centers, he now makes a connection
between the reader and the Great History. His colorful
story could became a valuable addition to textbook,
academic descriptions of our war time history.


Wladyslaw Sobecki