In view of all this luxury in which the Fascists criminals lived, I had to think of the sea of blood and tears that had accompanied their rule. I instinctively thought of the many death camps that we were liberating every day.
Imprisoned in the Sachsenhausen Camp near Oranienburg were people from various European countries and German Anti-Fascists. There were many Polish girls among the prisoners. The Fascists had carried them off as forced labourers in the armaments industry, putting them behind barbed wire for the slightest offence.
In one barrack block languished a Spaniard who had been incarcerated in Fascist torture chambers for almost five years. He looked as if he was over seventy, and was so weak that he could not even speak. Fellow sufferers gave his name: Largo Caballero, former prime minister of Republican Spain. Largo Caballero was immediately taken to the medical battalion of the Kosciuszko Division, where doctors and nurses tended him day and night. When I was able to get away from my work for a little I went to see him. Caballero was already getting better and he told me about the last days of the fighting against Franco, how he had fallen into the hands of his enemies in France and how the Fascists had mocked and abused him. Once restored to health, Largo Caballero was flown to Moscow.
On the 23rd April a group of political workers who had visited Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp sent me a written report. Although this was not the first statistical report about cruelty and death that I got to read, it made my blood cold. There had been about 200,000 prisoners in the camp. They were weak from hunger and exhausted by sickness, having been forced to work fifteen hours a day, beaten with whips and kicks. Dogs were set on them, and they were shot and hanged. The army’s political apparatus saw to it that these deeds, these bestial acts of Fascism, were brought to the attention of all elements of the troops.
On the 27th April the 1st Polish Army and its neighbour took part in the war for the last time along the Rhin Canal. The heavy fighting lasted until the 30th April.
The XXXXII Panzer Corps tried to assert itself against all logic and reason. Prisoners said that the losses in men and equipment in the units amounted to 70 per cent. One German officer declared despondently: ‘This counterattack was the last. There are no longer sufficient forces to hold out.’
And in reality the Fascists withered away. Our divisions conquered Fehrbellin, Hern, Landin, Strohdene and many other places. The last enemy troops withdrawing towards the Elbe River in our sector were defeated.
The following episode is reported here. On their retreat the Fascists had blown the bridge west of Rhinow. Tanks and guns were jammed together [waiting to cross]. The sappers had not arrived in time on this occasion.
I climbed into my car and went to the bridge. Its metal girders had been thrown from the central pillars by the explosion, but their ends were still fast in the embankment, forming a deep saddle, whose lower part hung in the water. How could one sort this out? I looked around. Wooden beams were stacked on the river bank. The thought hit me: fill the saddle with the beams! With the help of some soldiers I carried the first beam across. The tank soldiers assembled on the bank understood me without a word. They immediately joined in and soon the crossing point was ready. The convoy of vehicles moved off.
Meanwhile the Fascist command hastened to get the remainder of their troops across the Elbe. They stuck to their intention of rather being prisoners of the Americans or British than the Russians, but we got ahead of them first and pushed them out of the way.
The 1st May had arrived with a clear, sunny morning. There were no clouds to be seen. As usual, I was up very early. Suddenly my adjutant, Captain Huszcza, entered the room. ‘General Zymierski has arrived.’
Buckling my belt, I hastened to meet him.
The commander-in-chief listened attentively to my report on the fighting by the 1st Polish Army, checking with his hand on the map the situation of every formation and unit. Afterwards he summoned the divisional commanders and wished them well on the 1st May. He had them pass on to the regiments his thanks for having conducted their military duties so selflessly. Then we drove to the 4th Infantry Division, whose allocated tanks were already over the canal.
The commander-in-chief stopped at the front line in the soldiers’ trenches, at the battalion command posts and the artillery’s firing positions. Everywhere he spoke to the soldiers and officers about the fighting and the future of Poland. It was the 2nd May by the time we returned to army headquarters. Captain Huszcza was waiting for me on the doorstep. He gave me a radio message. I looked at him and my breath stopped. Rola-Zymierski noticed this and asked me with a concerned voice: ‘Has something happened?’
‘Berlin has capitulated!’ I said, inwardly excited.
Officially the surrender of Berlin had yet to be confirmed, but the historically important event was already being discussed by the troops. Everyone was certain that the war could end any day. And we were proud that Polish soldiers had participated in the defeat of the enemy’s Berlin group.
The 1st Infantry Division ‘Tadeusz Kosciuszko’ – pride and ornament of the Polish armed forces – fought in Berlin during the last days of the war. Already on the 29th April the Front commander-in-chief had called me at an unusual hour, about 1500 hours, and asked for a situation report. I usually reported to him at 1800 hours. As I reported to Zhukov what positions the troops had taken at 1300 hours, he interrupted me with the question: ‘How is that, Stanislav Hilarovicz? Don’t you still want to partake in the storming of Berlin?’
‘We having been waiting impatiently for such an order to arrive from you, Georgi Konstantinovitch. We are ready to undertake this honourable task,’ I replied, moved and hopeful.
‘Which division would you deploy?’
‘The 1st Infantry Division, the Kosciuszko Division!’
‘I approve your choice’, the Marshal said, ‘See to it that a regiment of this division is moved immediately to the Reinickendorf area, where it is to be at the disposal of the commander-in-chief of the 2nd Guards Tank Army. The remaining elements must be there by 1800 hours on the 30th April. The Kosciuszko Division’s sector will be taken over by the 61st Army. General Belov has already been informed.’
From these words I gathered that the participation of the Polish division in the assault on Berlin was already decided. Yes, we ourselves had already more than once disturbed the Front commander and his member of the war council, Lieutenant-General Telegin, with this matter. Thus had our request been met.
Rotkiewicz then set to preparing the appropriate orders, whilst I discussed with Jaroszewicz the significance of this event to our army. We were agreed that the participation of the Kosciuszko Division in the storming of the Fascist capital was a perfect example of the brotherhood in arms of the Polish and Soviet peoples and their armed forces that must be valued.
‘Should one not prepare and distribute a pamphlet appealing to the soldiers of the 1st Division?’ suggested Jaroszewicz.
‘Not a bad idea,’ I agreed. ‘The division’s political department can deal with it.’
Early next morning I drove to the 1st Infantry Division to assist with the move of the regiment and wish the soldiers and officers success in the forthcoming operation. The units were already in the trucks provided by Zukanov’s soldiers, and the political department’s assistants were bringing them what they had printed on freshly coloured leaflets. I still have a sample today as a valuable momento. The text read:
Kosciuszkovcy!
You are setting off to take part in the storming of the Fascist beast’s cave. You have been entrusted with the great task of planting the red-white banner, your country’s symbol, that has never gone under and never will go under!