Capt. (2019) Władysław Dąbrowski, born 1924. In April 1940, he was arrested by the NKVD and deported with his family from the Novogrudok region to Kazakhstan. He was sent to Aktobe Region, where he worked as a forced labourer at the Kirov kolkhoz in the village of Sorsayskiy. In April 1942, in the village of Yangiyoʻl in Uzbekistan, he volunteered to join the forming Polish Army in the USSR, and later in the 2nd Polish Corps. In Tashkent, he was assigned to the “S” assault battalion under the command of Capt. Zbigniew Kiedacz, in the ranks of the 5th Borderlands Infantry Division. After receiving military training, from December 1943, he served in the 15th Poznań Uhlan Regiment in the position of a tank driver. As part of his parent regiment, he left the USSR and went to Iraq, Palestine, Lebanon and Egypt. In late February/early March 1944, he was transported to Italy, where he then followed the combat route of the 5th Borderland Infantry Division of the 2nd Polish Corps on the Apennine Peninsula. Among other things, he participated in the frontline battles against the Germans at Capracotta and Genoa, and later in the Battle of Monte Cassino and the battles to liberate Ancona and Bologna. He returned to Poland in February 1948.

Recording: Paweł Kęska