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p The growth of fascism in Europe in the thirties reflected the desire of the bourgeoisie in most of the European states to weaken the democratic forces, crush the revolutionary working-class movement, and launch a “crusade” against the USSR. Fascism, particularly after the coming to power of Hitler’s party in Germany in 1933, set up hotbeds of aggression and war, threatening the sovereignty and independence of other peoples, particularly the smaller states including Poland.

p The ruling circles in Poland could not or would not recognise this threat. On the contrary, the class interests of the Polish ruling classes and their fear of socialism and the working masses determined the rapid evolution of the "cordon sanitaire" regime bequeathed by Pilsudski towards fascist totalitarianism. In the sphere of foreign policy the Polish Government began to seek for close collaboration with fascist Germany from 1934 onwards, closing its eyes to the threat which fascism posed to the national interests and the very existence of the Polish people.

p This line in domestic and foreign policy met with growing opposition from the broad masses of the people, particularly the working class. In the mid-thirties Poland was the scene of stormy working-class protest and was one of the countries with the highest number of strikes and strikers. A profound impression on the public consciousness was made by the "Bloody Spring" of 1936 when bitter class collisions took place in Cracow, Lvov and Czestochowa and the blood of workers was shed. In the rural areas, which suffered particularly as a result of the agricultural crisis, unrest swelled into a massive peasant strike in August 1937. Public opinion was overwhelmingly in favour of political changes, the establishment of a democratic regime in the country and the introduction of extensive social reforms. Even the ruling clique went through a profound internal crisis during this period, particularly from 1935 to 1937.

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p The regime, weakened and having lost its authority in the eyes of the people, was able to remain in power only thanks to the lack of unity in the democratic opposition and the opportunist tactics of its leaders. Consequently the efforts of the Communist Party of Poland were directed towards uniting the various democratic forces attaining agreement and collaboration with the Polish Socialist Party and the Peasant Party (Stronnictwo Ludowe). The policy of the Popular Front, proclaimed by the Communist International and pursued by the Communist Party of Poland, had the support of Left-wing forces in the socialist and peasant movements, but met with stubborn opposition from the leaders of the two above-mentioned parties, who systematically rejected the agreement platform proposed by the Communists.

p As a result the Polish Communists did not succeed in setting up a Popular Front. Despite the illegal conditions and severe repression, however, they did manage during this period to attain certain partial successes, extending their influence on the working class and creating support in the countryside and among the democratic intelligentsia.

p In summer 1936 Polish political life was characterised by a fierce struggle between reaction and democracy, and within the latter between the supporters and opponents of a Popular Front. It is not surprising that in this situation the fascist revolt in Spain produced such strong repercussions in Poland, accelerating the polarisation of social and political standpoints. The Polish working masses welcomed the victory of the Popular Front in France and Spain and followed carefully the struggle of these countries’ progressive forces against fascism and reaction. When the Franco revolt against the Republic flared up in the sultry days of July 1936, Polish public opinion was practically unanimous in condemning it as an attempt by reaction to frustrate the successful development of democracy and deal a blow at the Popular Front, an attempt to restore a monarcho-fascist regime in that country.

p All the reactionary and pro-fascist forces, particularly the ruling circles, the Catholic Church and the chauvinist National Party, came out in support of the insurgents. A smear campaign against the Spanish Republic, which was accused of all manner of crimes and foul deeds, was begun in the press and continued throughout the war. Polish supporters of the Republic also became the victims of crude attacks and persecution; any action aimed at giving aid to the Spanish people was equated with anti-state activity. The clergy also carried on propaganda in support of the insurgents. The Polish Government officially announced its neutrality in relation to the Spanish events, but in fact all its actions were aimed at helping the insurgents and fascist invaders in Spain. Polish diplomats in the Non-intervention Committee and the League of Nations as a rule voted for anti-Republican resolutions 234 and maintained secret contacts with General Franco’s “junta”. For many months 140 monarchists and fascists and members of their families found refuge in the Polish Embassy in Madrid. A Francoist delegation carried on semi-official activities in Warsaw, run by the former Spanish envoy who betrayed the Republic, Francisco Serrata, and his son Juan. Moreover, the authorities allowed the insurgents to purchase Polish arms and took no measures to prevent the transit conveyance of foreign arms through the ports of Gdynia and Gdansk (Danzig).

p The attitude of democratic forces in Poland to the events in Spain was quite different. A solidarity movement with the heroic Spanish people of unprecedented scale for the period between the two wars developed in the masses under the slogans of internationalism and international anti-fascist solidarity.

p July and August 1936 saw a great wave of workers’ rallies, conferences and meetings throughout the country, which passed resolutions of solidarity with the Spanish working people. This movement was inspired and organised for the most part by the Communists who tirelessly informed people of the truth about the civil war in Spain, making extensive use of both legal and illegal forms of activity. The Polish Socialist Party and the largest association of trade unions, which it controlled, also came out in defence of the Spanish Republic. The fact that even the government-orientated trade unions expressed their support for the Spanish Republic is indicative of the mood of the working class.

p The wojewoda, or governors, frequently wrote of the vast scale of “Spanish” meetings and rallies in their monthly reports to the Ministry of Home Affairs.

p In August 1936, police dispersed over 100 young miners who had gathered outside the Spanish Consulate in Katowice and sent a delegation to the consul requesting him to furnish them with Spanish visas for the purpose of joining the Republican militia. In the same month reports began to appear in the press about young workers being arrested by the Polish border guards as they were trying to leave the country illegally for Spain.

p The movement of solidarity with the Republic, which expressed the internationalist and anti-fascist feelings of the working people, was furthered by a growing anxiety in the masses over the fate of their native land before the threat of an attack by German fascism.

The Polish Communist Party organ Wiadomosci wrote in August 1936 that "the triumph of Hitler’s Spanish mercenaries would mean a considerable strengthening of nazi positions in Europe and, consequently, a growth in the threat to Poland’s independence”. Many Socialists and members of the radical wing of the Peasant Party and even some conservative, liberal and Catholic circles took the same view of the war unleashed by the fascists in Spain.

235 W1ADOMOSCI UTERACK1E USTY I MISZtANIt CZEJRWONY «**muuan MMUM M DZIENNI MANIFEST D4BROWSZCZAKOwi POPULA 00 LUDU POl ’ Madryt broni sic * *#»*eirf r as™â€™ rt t Scwiilt >«»>» H«*x»« 1 * *" ’<’

Progressive Polish newspapers which supported Republican Spain

p One of the important activities of the solidarity movement was the raising of funds to help the Republic by progressive trade unions throughout the war. The fund-raising campaign was carried on in exceptionally difficult circumstances, in view of the various obstacles created by the authorities, the frequent arrests of fund-raisers and the confiscation of donations. Alongside the semilegal raising of funds which was actively supported by Communists, the Polish Communist Party organised its own illegal 236 fund of aid to the Spanish people, which included donations not only from workers and other sections of the urban population, but also from peasants. Due to the extremely difficult material circumstances of the working people the contributions were usually modest ones. Nevertheless by the end of 1938 the tradeunion “Spanish” fund had raised 80,000 zlotys and the Polish Communist Party fund, according to incomplete information, even more.

p It was the propaganda campaign around the Spanish question in 1936-39 that helped the Polish Communist Party to attain considerable success in its policy of uniting the working people and setting up a Popular Front. In factories and trade unions Communists and Socialists organised “Spanish” rallies, meetings and evenings together, and collected money for the Republic jointly. In the countryside members of the Communist Party could generally rely on the assistance of many local members of the Peasant Party in their “Spanish” enterprises, and within the intelligentsia they received active help from people of varying political beliefs and philosophies of life.

p One must mention the great role in this broad campaign of solidarity of the Polish working masses with the Spanish Republic that was played by Polish emigrants in various parts of the globe, particularly in France and Belgium.

Most of them were miners and metalworkers, mainly Communists, and people who were active members of the Polish colony and trade-union organisations. The Polish emigrants in France and Belgium together with other workers played an active part in all the demonstrations of solidarity with the fighting Spanish Republic. They paid for the upkeep of Spanish children, organised fundraising for the population of Republican Spain, cared for the families of volunteers in the International Brigades, giving them constant financial assistance, and looked after wounded and sick volunteers who arrived in France for treatment and rest.

p One of the finest pages in the history of the Polish mass movement in defence of the Spanish Republic is the participation of international volunteers in the military operations of the Republican Army.

p From the very first days of the uprising the Polish friends of the Spanish people sought to aid them by personal participation in the struggle.

p Thanks to the efforts of the Communist Party of Poland, and also of the Western Ukraine and Western Byelorussia, and the Polish Section of the French Communist Party, Polish volunteer units were set up and later traversed the glorious path of battle shoulder to shoulder with their Spanish brothers.

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p The Polish Communist Party set about recruiting in autumn 1936; there were thousands of volunteers. As well as Communists Socialists, members of the Peasant Party and others without political affiliations expressed the wish to go to Spain. But only a small proportion of them managed to get there, for the journey was fraught with great difficulties. The conspiratorial conditions and the illegal crossing of several frontiers called for exceptional tenacity, stamina and self-sacrifice. With the help of the Communist parties of Czechoslovakia, Austria and Switzerland transport routes were organised across the Polish-Czech frontier, then (more often than not illegally) across the frontiers of Austria, Switzerland and France. On arrival in Paris the anti-fascists made contact with French and Polish Communists and were then taken in groups across the Pyrenees into Spain. Occasionally the final stage of the journey was made by sea.

p Many Polish anti-fascists who did not manage to contact the recruiting organisers or did not want to wait made their own way to Spain. Volunteers often travelled across Czechoslovakia hiding in the pneumatic equipment under railway carriages. Sometimes with help from dockers and sailors in Gdynia they managed to get over to a French port by concealing themselves in a ship’s hold. They were often arrested by the police of the country through which they were passing. Nevertheless about 800 anti-fascists from Poland fought in the ranks of the Republican Army. They were only a small part of the Polish volunteers in Spain, however, the majority consisting of Polish emigres.

p The exact number of Polish volunteers is difficult to establish but it was certainly not less than 5,000, including several hundred volunteers who arrived in Spain from the United States, Canada, South America and other countries.

p The emigre volunteers were mainly heavy industrial workers, particularly miners and metalworkers. The group from Poland consisted primarily of workers who were active members of the Polish Communist Party and the Communist Union of Polish Young People. About 25 per cent of the emigres from France and Belgium were Communists, the rest being politically unaffiliated, with the exception of a small number of members of Socialist and other parties.

p The first groups of Polish volunteers (predominantly miners) arrived in Barcelona from France in August 1936. One of these groups fought on the Aragon Front in the Thaelmann Centuria. The second—nine men led by Franciszek Palka—took part in the heroic defence of Iriin near the French border. Yet another group consisting of 36 men formed the Dabrowski machine-gun unit under the command of Stanislaw Ulanowski in the Libertad Column of the Catalan People’s Militia. At the beginning of September the Libertad Column was engaged in heavy fighting at 238 the approaches to Madrid. The volunteers in this unit, Stanislaw Ulanowski (Bolek) and Stanislaw Matuszczak (Henri), who were members of the leadership of the Polish groups of the French Communist Party, the metalworker Antoni Kochanek, and the political activist in these groups, Viktor Kuznicki (Pawel Szkliniarz), an emigre miner, played an outstanding role in the organisation and fighting of the Polish international formations.

p In October 1936, when larger groups of volunteers arrived at the International Brigades’ base in Albacete, the first Polish battalion was formed, known as the Dabrowski Battalion, which formed part of the llth and later the 12th International Brigade. After some brief military training this battalion of about 750 men was sent to the front at the beginning of November under S. Ulanowski. When he was wounded command of the battalion went to a Bulgarian volunteer, Major Ferdinand Kozovsky (Petrov).

p At the same time the Dabrowski cavalry squadron consisting of Poles and other Slavs appeared on the front. In December 1936, a Polish regiment named after Adam Mickiewicz went to the Teruel Front as a unit of the multinational Chapayev Battalion of the 13th International Brigade. The regiment was commanded by the emigre Stefan Niewiadomski.

p With the arrival of new volunteers and the growth of the Republican Army, new formations of Polish men and officers were gradually set up.

p Between April and June 1937, the 12th International Brigade under the Hungarian General Lukacs (Mate Zalka) was reformed into the 45th Division. The Polish and Hungarian battalions became the core of the Dabrowski Brigade known first as the 150th and later, in September 1937, as the 13th. The brigade’s first commander was the Spanish anti-fascist Fernando Gerasi, and its commissar, S. Matuszczak.

p In July 1937, Polish volunteers and Spanish fighters were formed into an international battalion named after Jose Palafox, hero of the Spanish people’s war of liberation against Napoleon. The commander of the new battalion was Jan Tkaczow, a captain in the Polish Army Reserve and an active member of the Polish Communist Party who was popular among the peasants. Its commissar was Nikolaj Dwornikow (Stanislaw Tomaszewicz), secretary of the Young Communist League in West Byelorussia.

p The third battalion of the Dabrowski Brigade was the Matyas Rakosi Battalion composed of Hungarians and Spaniards ( Commander Akos Hevesi [Pal Niebuhr], Commissar Imre Tarr). Up to October 1937 the Brigade also had a Franco-Belgian battalion led by Emile Boursier (commander) and Armand Maniou ( commissar). After the formation of the third Polish-Spanish battalion named after Adam Mickiewicz (first Commander Boleslaw Molojec, Commissar Wasyl Lazowy) in November 1937, these four 239

The banner of the Dabrowski Battalion
battalions remained in the 13th Brigade until the end of the war.

p The friendship that grew up between the Poles, Spaniards, Hungarians and French excluded any friction on national grounds.

p Ties of warm friendship also linked the Poles with representatives of other nationalities in the Polish state. The Palafox Battalion included a Ukrainian-Byelorussian company named in honour of Taras Shevchenko, the great Ukrainian poet and revolutionary democrat. Another company in this battalion was predominantly Jewish and bore the name of Naftali Botwin, a young revolutionary sentenced to death by a bourgeois Polish court for killing a provocateur.

p Apart from the Dabrowski Brigade and its above-mentioned units, a considerable number of Polish volunteers fought in the batteries named after Bartosz Glowacki, a hero of the Kosciuszko rising of 1794 and W. Wroblewski, a general of the Paris Commune.

p At various times there were other Polish units in certain international and Spanish formations, such as the Thaelmann Battalion, the staff company of the 14th Brigade, and a battalion of the 86th (mixed) Brigade. The volunteer Tadeusz Cwik (Wladyslaw Stopczyk) was commissar of the 45th Division and deputy corps commissar. Waclaw Komar commanded the 129th International Brigade set up in early 1938.

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p In addition Poles formed a considerable group in the medical corps attached to the International Brigades, in which more than twenty Polish nurses and pharmaceutists gave devoted service. Out of a total of 250 doctors 41 were Polish, including 20 battalion doctors and 4 head doctors of brigades. The head doctor of the 35th Division was Mieczyslaw Domanski-Dubois, a Communist who was active in the anti-fascist movement and popular among the French intelligentsia. He died on the Aragon Front during the storming of Quinto. Sigfrid Beer, Leon Samet and Andrzej Lorski also worked in the medical service.

Gustaw Reicher (Rwal), member of the Central Committee of the Polish Communist Party and its representative on the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Spain in 1937, enjoyed considerable influence among the Polish volunteers. With his help Polish officers and commissars managed to solve political and organisational problems which arose in the Dabrowsfci Brigade.

p Polish volunteers took part in almost all the major military operations. In victories and defeats, in the most difficult of conditions, the ranks of steeled anti-fascist troops, internationalists and patriots, were formed and their political and military experience grew. On November 9, 1936, at the beginning of the decisive battle for Madrid, the Dabrowski Battalion and the other divisions of the llth Brigade marched into battle in the area of the University City and the Casa de Campo, drove the insurgents back over the Manzanares in a decisive counter-attack and withstood heavy fascist offensives for several days. The heroic defence of the Casa de Velasquez brought glory to the 3rd company which bravely defended its positions and lost a great number of men. The battalion also took part in offensive actions at Humera and Aravaca and then again in the Casa de Campo and Boadilla del Monte. By the end of December it had only 300 of its 600 troops left.

p From November 1936 to January 1937 the battalion command changed several times. When S. Ulanowski and Antoni Kochanek were wounded it went to Viktor Kuznicki, but he was soon replaced by Kochanek who was discharged from hospital urgently at his own request. Less than a fortnight later Kochanek was killed in action at Almadrones and Kuznicki again took command.

p The Polish Mickiewicz Company, which distinguished itself in the storming of the fortified town cemetery in Teruel during the December offensive of Republican troops on this front, also suffered heavy losses (about 100 killed and wounded).

p The reason for these heavy casualties was not only the vast technical superiority of the insurgent troops, but also the lack of military experience of the volunteers and their officers. In this 241

The Dabrowski Battalion at the Madrid Front. December 1936
situation the morale of the internationalists assumed even greater importance. The group of volunteers who on November 21, finding themselves surrounded by the enemy in a small house in the Casa de Campo, fought to the last bullet under a hurricane of fire from enemy tanks and flame throwers and were nearly all killed, will remain forever a symbol of selfless heroism. Deputy Battalion Commander Andre, a Frenchman, Stanislaw Wroclawski, a machine-gun company commander, and Leon Inzelsztein, a company commissar, lost their lives and S. Ulanowski and Piotr Wasiluk were heavily wounded.

p In the middle of December 1936, the Polish Battalion, now consisting of only about 300 troops but still combat-worthy, was withdrawn into the reserve of the Madrid Front. This gave it an opportunity to partially replenish its numbers with newly-arrived Polish volunteers from Albacete, and also with a Balkan company under the command of the Bulgarian volunteer Nikola Marinov (Khristov). The respite did not last for long, however, and at the end of the month the battalion was dispatched to the Guadalajara Front to launch a local offensive operation. On January 3 the Dabrowskis, supported by the Garibaldi Battalion, attacked enemy positions at Almadrones and took the town, capturing prisoners, arms and other trophies. The joy of victory was clouded by grief: the battalion commander A. Kochanek died a hero’s death in action.

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p In February 1937, the battalion took part in the battle of the Jarama lasting for several days, in the course of which the fate of Madrid was again decided. There was particularly heavy fighting on February 13 when the enemy mounted a fierce assault strongly supported by artillery and tanks. A critical situation arose for the Dabrowskis when the defence in the neighbouring sector was broken and part of their battalion found itself attacked simultaneously by Moroccan cavalry in the rear and by tanks and infantry in front. The surrounded volunteers resisted to the last grenade and then engaged in hand-to-hand combat. One of the heroes of the day was Tomasz Stelmach; severely wounded, he summoned up the strength to throw a grenade which blew him and the approaching fascists.

p Towards the end of the battle, in which Kuznicki was wounded, command of the battalion was assumed by Jozef Strzelczyk (Jan Barwinski), a Lodz metalworker and active member of the Polish Communist Party. The reinforcements which arrived at this time made good the casualties. The battalion, which had previously consisted exclusively of Polish volunteers, was reinforced with troops of other nationalities. It received the Ambiente Company of the People’s Militia, which had been through some very heavy fighting and was composed of volunteers (Commander Bernabe Vera, Commissar Jose Lacierra).

p In the March fighting on the Guadalajara line the battalion carried out the important mission of covering the right flank of the 12th Brigade and the entire main group of Republican forces, which was commanded by Enrique Lister. The volunteers went into battle without having time to rest after three weeks of fighting on the Jarama. Guadalajara is remembered by those who took part in it not only for the courageous fighting of the Republicans against vastly superior enemy forces, but also for the exceptionally bad weather. The constant rain, sleet, strong wind and freezing cold were the cause of widespread sickness among troops who lacked warm underclothes and the requisite clothing and were lying in shallow, boggy trenches. More than half of them caught colds and 20 per cent got frostbite in their arms or legs. Nevertheless, when the Republican forces launched a counteroffensive on March 18, which resulted in the total defeat of the Italian interventionists, the Polish Battalion mounted a frontal attack and seized the enemy positions, being among the first to enter the town of Brihuega, which was a key point for the whole front. By the end of the day the Dabrowskis had captured several dozen prisoners, and a great deal of arms and military equipment. Their own losses on this occasion were insignificant.

p The next month brought fresh success to the Republicans—this time on the Southern Front. The Polish Mickiewicz Company and the Chapayev Battalion took part in an offensive in the Pozoblanco 243 area, where they distinguished themselves in a victorious attack on the towns of Valsequillo and Granjuela.

p After Guadalajara the Polish volunteers and the whole 12th Brigade enjoyed a lull of about two months, broken occasionally by operations of localised importance on the Jarama and by the Casa de Campo. This period was given over to intense military, political-educational and organising work. The international units, including the Dabrowski Battalion, like the rest of the Republican Army, went through the stage of discarding their guerrilla-type habits of the early period and getting organised as regular army units. General Walter, who was particularly affectionate although exacting towards the Polish volunteers, described this process a year later as follows: "Last year on my first and only visit to what was still the Dabrowski Battalion the casual familiarity there was most perceptible, military discipline was not wholly satisfactory, and arms were kept in an appalling condition. Today it (the brigade.—Ed.) gives the impression of a closely-knit disciplined collective, with a highly developed sense of military comradeship and mutual confidence in action."  [243•1 

p Additional organisational problems arose in connection with the formation of the new Dabrowski International Brigade; the composition of the brigade’s staff and the operation of its services, the military and tactical training of its officers, unification of arms in all units and learning to use new types of weapons. Special care was taken to abolish inequality in the material well-being of the units, which had arisen during the period when the battalions enjoyed great autonomy and many questions were solved through the initiative and enterprise of their commanders.

p In these new conditions the role of the commissars and the system of political and educational work of which they were in charge became even more important.

p Generalising the political and military experience which they had acquired over the months of heavy armed combat with the fascists, the volunteers issued a manifesto to the Polish people, the text of which was discussed at meetings in all the units. In it they explained the aims of the Spanish people’s struggle, described the motives which had impelled them to join the Republican Army and urged Polish working-class and democratic organisations to unite in a Popular Front: "Tomorrow the fascist bands, encouraged by the impunity with which their foul deeds have been met, may raise their brown hand, in accordance with Hitler’s programme, against the independence of the Polish people .. . encroaching on our natural riches, on which German imperialism has long been sharpening its teeth.. . . Each man must remember that the cause of Spain is the cause of Poland."  [243•2 

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p At the beginning of June 1937, when the brigade was still in the process of being organised, it fought as part of General Lukacs’ division in an offensive against Huesca, the aim of which was to divert part of the enemy’s forces and ease the position in the Basque country. In spite of the heroism and self-sacrifice of the Republican troops, the offensive failed. The Dabrowski Brigade, which attacked enemy fortifications in the Cimillas sector, lost almost a third of its men, including company commander Karol Sznurawa, the brave medical orderly Josef Major, Dabrowski Battalion Adjutant Adam Dawidowicz, the volunteer Waclaw Gorecki, Sergeant Andrzej Kijak, Corporal Ignacy Wasiun, and Hungarian Battalion Commissar Imre Tarr. The death of General Lukacs, divisional commander and Hungarian internationalist, beloved by all, was a severe loss for the volunteers.

After Huesca the Dabrowski Brigade received reinforcements in the form of one thousand freshly mobilised Spanish troops. The volunteers were now in a minority in the brigade, and this posed new problems for the brigade command. Above all it was necessary to change over to Spanish for training, management and documentation, but this necessitated rapid mastery of the language, and the training and promotion of Spanish command personnel. Veterans of the former Ambiente Company were appointed to the posts of officers and commissars, and special training courses were set up. The volunteers gave the Spanish troops a warm welcome and took a brotherly interest in their welfare.

Volunteers of the Dabrowski Battalion after the victory at Guadalajara.
March 1937
245

At a meeting of the Dabrowski Brigade (left to right): Brigade Commander
Strzelczyk, Commissar Matuszczak, General Swierczewski and a representative
of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Poland, Rwal

p In July 1937, the brigade took part in a successful operation to capture Villanueva del Pardillo, and then withstood many days of heavy fighting in the La Mocha sector. It was here that the reformed Palafox Battalion received its baptism of fire. In the very first engagement it repulsed an attack by Moroccan infantry, inflicting heavy losses on it. During the operation there was a change of command in the brigade: the sick Gerasi was replaced by Strzelczyk (Barwinski), and W. Komar took command of the Dabrowski Battalion.

p At the end of August 1937, after a brief period on the positions of the second echelon, the brigade took part in the Republican offensive on the Aragon Front. The two Polish battalions—the Dabrowski and the Palafox—distinguished themselves by their great daring and valour in this operation. Under cover of night they advanced well behind the enemy’s lines, reaching the town of Villamayor de Gallego, a few kilometres off Zaragoza, overpowering several small units which they encountered on the way and capturing several dozen prisoners and military equipment. Both battalions lacked support from other units, however, and soon found themselves surrounded. They managed to fight their way 246 back to their initial positions, and their military exploit was praised in a special order of the day of the 45th Division.

p On this occasion too the brigade suffered heavy casualties, particularly the two battalions who had operated behind enemy lines. The Dabrowski Battalion lost Boleslaw Krzykalski (Stefan Wisniewski), commander of the first company, Stanislaw Bielecki, battalion adjutant, Josef Rubinsztein, active member of the Polish Communist Party, Stefan Kozlowski (“the Canadian”), commissar of the fourth company, Pawel Wisnia (Pol), G. Czyra, Adam Maksymiuk (“Junker”), Boruch Nysenbaum (Bobrus) and many others. These military operations by the brigade and the whole 45th Division tied part of the enemy’s forces and assisted Republican successes on other sectors of the Zaragoza Front, where Quinto, Codo and Mediana and the heavily fortified town of Belchite were liberated from the insurgents. The 35th Division under the Polish General Karol Swierczewski (Walter) played a major role in these victories.

p The brigade spent the autumn of 1937 in the front reserve and only once, in October, took part in an offensive of localised importance in the area of Fuentes de Ebro. Thus the Dabrowskis got their first long respite. These were months of intense studying, which included not only marching drill and exercises but also tactical field exercises, manoeuvres and classwork. The political commissars set in motion a great variety of activities, including the abolition of illiteracy among the Spanish recruits.

p During their stay in Aragon the brigade established close and friendly relations with the civilian population. In the various towns and villages—Samper de Calanda, Binefar and Vinaceite —where the battalions were stationed, special get-togethers were organised for the troops and the inhabitants nearly every day. At these meetings speeches were made by volunteers, Spanish troops, and representatives of the local authorities and various anti- fascist organisations, and at the end the children were given presents: condensed milk, underwear, toys, or sweets usually bought with money collected by the troops.

p The brigade’s commanders and commissars did all they could to ensure that the Spanish troops and the civilian population looked on the volunteers as their brothers who were serving the Republic for profoundly ideological, internationalist and patriotic considerations. This was particularly important in Aragon and Catalonia, where certain political circles, especially anarchist ones, were initially suspicious of the organisation of International Brigades in Spain. Anarchist extremists tried to present the International Brigades as an armed force seeking to win power for the Communists. But the brigade only had to spend even a short time in a place for prejudices of this kind to give way to strong affection.

p In December 1937, the Dabrowski Brigade took up positions on 247 EL V0LUNTARIO DE LA LIBERTAD POL*KI(ri.O(HOTdlKOW dEPOflLIKA^KIEJ Agt-Vll Brygada DabrowsMego znowwdoju

The Volunteer of Freedom, the newspaper of the Polish international brigade
248 the Tardienta-Suera sector of the Aragon Front. At the beginning of February 1938, it was transferred to the Southern Front and in the middle of the month as part of the 45th Division it took part in an offensive operation in the Estremadura province. The brigade launched a fierce attack and captured the enemy’s positions with 130 prisoners and trophies. The victory was shortlived however. On the same day the enemy concentrated a large number of forces, part of which managed to attack the Republican troops from the rear. Lacking any substantial reserves, the internationalists were forced to withdraw under cross fire. The Shevchenko Company and other units were cut off by Moroccan cavalry. Many volunteers lost their lives in the unequal battle, including the commander of the Palafox Battalion, Jan Tkaczow, Commissar N. Dwornikow (Tomaszewicz), and the commissar of the Mickiewicz Battalion, a Spaniard by the name of Llamas. The wounded included the Dabrowski Battalion Commander F. Ksiezarczyk and many other men, officers and commissars. (In all the brigade had 38 killed, 116 wounded and 174 missing as a result of this operation.)

p At the beginning of March 1938, without having time to make good the losses incurred in Estremadura, the brigade was again dispatched to the Aragon Front where the enemy had mounted a large offensive. For the whole of this month it fought rearguard actions as part of the 35th Division, in the general retreat on the Aragon Front. At Belchite, Alcaniz and Caspe, at Lerida and Balaguer, the brigade’s battalions frequently managed to break out of encirclement, inflicting heavy losses on the enemy. Although its own casualties were considerable, the brigade succeeded in retaining its organisation and most of its automatic arms and other military equipment right up to the end of the retreat.

p After the Aragon retreat the Dabrowskis spent over two months in the reserve of the newly formed Army of the Ebro, stationed in the village of Pradille and the surrounding area. The brigade’s commander was a Soviet volunteer by the name of Mikhail Khvatov (Kharchenko), and its commissar was L. Warela.

p The period from May to July was extremely important for the subsequent history of the brigade. In accordance with directives from the Republican Government and Army Command, which took into account the bitter experience of the Aragon retreat, the brigade turned itself into a kind of large military school, the staffs were reorganised, and the officer and sergeant personnel strengthened by the promotion of many internationalists and Spaniards who had distinguished themselves in the recent fighting.

p The military training, which was systematic and intensive, involved everyone without exception—officers, sergeants and men. As well as field exercises and manoeuvres, special courses in signals, reconnaissance, treatment of the sick, etc., were organised. 249 Three officer training schools were set up in the brigade, from which 540 troops graduated, and a school of surveillance and signalling with 55 pupils. Courses in specialised subjects were also organised in the battalions. Like the other units of the Army of the Ebro, the brigade was preparing itself for further fighting to liberate the territories captured by the enemy. Several times there were exercises in river-crossing.

p It was at this time that the "activists’ movement" began, led by the commissars. Troops undertook to master certain military subjects or weapons in a very short time and called on others to do the same. This movement involved more than 700 of the 2,400 troops and intensified the political and cultural life of the brigade. Meetings with the civilian population became more frequent. Workers’ delegations and representatives of young people’s and women’s organisations often visited Pradille. In their turn the volunteers sent representatives to the Barcelona factories who acted as their patrons.

p When the long-awaited Republican offensive eventually began on July 25, the volunteers, officers and men, were prepared for it, both militarily, politically and morally. The order to attack and cross the Ebro was greeted by the troops with real enthusiasm. The brigade took part in this operation as a unit of the 35th Division, which was commanded by Pedro Merino. It was in the advance units of the 15th Corps of the Ebro Army, which at 0.15 hours on July 25 began to force the river and advance along the main line of the Republican troops’ attack. Acting together with the llth International Brigade, the Dabrowskis crossed the river in small boats near the town of Asco. Quickly overcoming the resistance of the enemy, who had been caught unawares, they succeeded in capturing the village of Venta de Campo, the small town of Corbera and other points of enemy resistance in less than twenty-four hours.

p Approaching Gandesa, however, the units of the Republican Army came up against organised resistance from the enemy who had had time to summon reserves. Many days of heavy fighting followed, in which the 13th Brigade also took part. The first few days brought the brigade and the whole Army of the Ebro considerable success. The Dabrowskis advanced twenty kilometres into enemy territory, capturing about 2,000 men, 5 guns, 40 heavy machine-guns and many other weapons, 15 lorries, military depots, etc. Their losses were insignificant initially. During one week of fighting for Gandesa, however, i.e., by August 2, the brigade lost 220 dead and 429 wounded. Among those killed on the second day of the operation was the Communist Szymon Jaszunski, deputy commissar of the brigade, a scholar and well-known publicist.

p The brigade’s military qualities showed themselves even more clearly in the subsequent, defensive phase of the operation, when 250 the numerical and material superiority of Franco’s troops, supported by Italian divisions and the German Condor Legion, became overwhelming.

p In August and September 1938, the brigade, like the whole 35th Division, was engaged in extremely heavy fighting in the area of Gandesa and Corbera, on the Pandols and Caballs mountains. Throughout this period the fierce attacks of Franco’s troops, who were trying to recapture lost territories and drive the Republican units back across the Ebro, were thwarted by the heroic Republican resistance. Every inch of ground was fought for. There were sometimes several attacks and counter-attacks during the day and key positions were constantly changing hands. Evidence of the special bravery and military success of the Dabrowskis was the award on August 7 of the Medal of Valour to the Mickiewicz Battalion, which was commanded by Franciszek Ksiezarczyk and had the Spanish Communist Robles as its commissar.

p The first half of September was marked by particularly heavy fighting. On September 7 the enemy, supported by heavy artillery and aerial bombardment, repeatedly stormed the brigade’s positions on the Caballs Mts sector. The Hungarian Battalion distinguished itself by recapturing Hills 362 and 368 in the space of a few hours by daring counter-attacks. The next day the enemy renewed its attacks and occupied Hill 356, but the Hungarians again drove the enemy back with the support of the Dabrowski Battalion.

p On September 21 the enemy launched a general attack on the brigade’s positions. The small Hill 281 held by the Mickiewicz Battalion became the target of heavy artillery fire and constant aerial bombardment. Franco’s infantry launched a determined attack on the hill, but was forced to retreat with heavy losses. On the same day the Palafox Battalion, commanded by the Hungarian Istvan Molnar and the commissar Eugeniusz Szyr, found itself in an exceptionally difficult position. It was cut off by the enemy who had managed to capture part of a position in the neighbouring sector. This difficult day was marked by many acts of bravery. The men of the Botwin and Shevchenko companies distinguished themselves in particular by their heroic defence of every inch of ground. They resisted to the last grenade when the enemy broke into their trenches. Nearly all of them died in hand-to-hand fighting with the foe.

p For almost two months the brigade did not receive any reinforcements on the Ebro. By the latter half of September the battalion’s numbers only slightly exceeded the official strength of a company, and the companies in their turn were a fraction larger than a platoon. The dead included Josef Kolorz (Kostecki), a member of the Polish community in France, Jurko Welykanowicz, a Ukrainian poet, Antoni Pietrzak, a company commander, Captain 251 Adam Lewinski, active in the youth movement of the Socialist Party, company commanders Jan Kirchner and Jan Gacek, Company Commissar Franciszek Mrozinski and many others.

p The brigade’s military exploits were highly praised by the command. They were mentioned several times in the dispatches of the 35th Division and the 15th Corps; by governmental decree the brigade was awarded the highest military honour—the Medal of Valour.

p The operation on the Ebro marked the end of the Polish volunteers’ fighting in Spain. On September 23, during fierce fighting on the right bank of the Ebro, the Republican Government issued a decree on the withdrawal of foreign volunteers from Spain. With heavy hearts the Dabrowskis bade their Spanish comrades-in-arms farewell. At the parade of farewell, in which Dolores Ibarruri, Deputy Prime Minister of the Cortes, took part, the Polish volunteers swore a solemn oath that wherever they were they would always support the Spanish people and its just struggle.

p After they had been recalled from the front, the Polish volunteers who had fought in the People’s Army were put into repatriation camps in the vicinity of San Pedro de Torello. But weeks and months passed and still they were not able to leave Spain. The Polish Government, which had deprived the volunteers of Polish citizenship, would not even entertain the idea of their returning to Poland, and the governments of the West European countries refused to give them asylum. Up to the end of 1938 only France and, to a lesser extent, Belgium admitted small groups of Polish volunteers, mainly the sick and wounded. The rest were forced to await the results of the negotiations between the Republican authorities and the governments of other countries.

p Thus the volunteers were subjected to a new moral ordeal, all the harsher because the events on the fronts were developing in a most unfavourable way for the Republic. Yet they did not lose heart. On their own initiative they helped the local peasants in the fields, repaired roads, etc. Doing the little they could to ease the food shortage among the civilian population, the volunteers constantly gave up part of their meagre army rations of bread, rice and milk for children and badly wounded refugees.

p In the meantime the international situation was becoming increasingly tense. In September 1938 the Western powers signed the Munich agreement on the partition of Czechoslovakia. It was at this time that the volunteers at numerous meetings approved a Manifesto to the Polish People in which they expressed their profound concern at the mortal threat hanging over Poland, and their desire to return to their native land and take part in its defence.

p These were tragic days for the Spanish people. The Catalan Front collapsed under the heavy blows of superior insurgent and 252 German-Italian interventionist forces, and columns of Franco’s troops and Italian divisions marched into Barcelona and other Catalan towns. The position of the Republic was growing worse each day, that of Catalonia was hopeless.

p On January 23, 1939, three days before the fascists entered the capital of Catalonia, a general meeting of volunteers in the village of Palafrugell agreed unanimously to re-join the Republican Army. This voluntary return to the front by people who had already been demobilised and were waiting to leave the country, at a time when the Republic was suffering heavy military defeats, was yet further confirmation of the volunteers’ profound antifascism, their ardent internationalism and determination to remain true to the Spanish people’s struggle up to the very end.

p Shortly afterwards the volunteers received arms and advanced to meet the enemy. Together with the top Spanish units they managed to check the enemy’s advance and provide cover for the evacuation of civilians who were leaving their homes and flocking to the French border.

p The towns and villages of Granollers, Seva, Vich, Casa de la Selva, Gerona, and La Bisbal, the River Ter and, finally, the fortified border town of Figueras—these were the stages of the last march of the hastily re-created Dabrowski Brigade, under the command first of Henryk Torunczyk and then of Mihaly Szalvai. The last volunteers to perish on Spanish soil were those who lost their lives in the fighting by the border. They included Marian Kapitanski, a well-known member of the Polish Communist Party from Czestochowa, who had been wounded three times earlier.

p On February 9 the Polish volunteers crossed the French border in organised fashion in the ranks of the Republican detachments leaving Spain. There were about a thousand of them.

p Another few hundred Poles, consisting mainly of the sick and wounded who had been evacuated earlier, were already in the USSR, France, Belgium and other countries.

As many as 3,200 Polish volunteers, sons of the working class, representatives of the peasantry and intelligentsia, found their last resting place on Spanish soil. They gave their lives in the struggle for the ideals of freedom and democracy—"for your freedom and ours".

p From February to August 1939, i.e., up to the outbreak of the Second World War, the majority of Polish volunteers were in French internee camps, living in very bad conditions and subject to all manner of victimisation by the camp authorities. These conditions were partially eased by the fine solidarity campaign of the French people, organised by French Communists and volunteers 253

The badge of the 13th (Dabrowski) Brigade
who were still at liberty. The Poles were deeply concerned about the fate of their native land, now faced with the direct threat of German invasion. In a message to the Polish President Ignacy Moscicki, in numerous public speeches, and in letters addressed to the Polish Embassy in Paris, they demanded the restoration of their Polish citizenship, and the right to return to their country and defend it against the obvious threat of German invasion. All their efforts were in vain, however,—the government turned a deaf ear to their appeals. In the period 1941 to 1945 in almost all the occupied countries—from Denmark to Yugoslavia—the volunteers, either singly or in small groups, joined the Communist and antifascist underground organisations waging a merciless struggle 254 against the enemy. The largest groups of volunteers operated in France, of course, and also in Belgium. They were among the initiators and organisers of the Resistance movement and the partisan detachments. Those who played a particularly important role were Jan Rutkowski, Grzegorz Korczynski, Franciszek Ksiezarczyk, Jan Leszkiewicz, Wladyslaw Tylec, Pawel Balicki, Piotr Malec, Wladyslaw Omastka, Franciszek Mogilany, Boleslaw Jelen, Antoni Mrowiec, Henryk Sternhel (Gustaw), Jan Swit, Szymon Ciurlik and Leon Wachowiak. Stanislaw Kubacki, Leon Pakin, Stanislaw Toporowski, Feliks Zaluczkowski and Hersz Zimmerman (Henryk) died in action or in fascist prisons in the struggle for the freedom of France and Poland.

p A particularly outstanding role was played by the volunteers in developing the partisan movement in their occupied homeland. On the instructions of the Polish Workers’ Party a group of more than 60 Dabrowskis was dispatched from France and Germany to Poland in 1942. The instructor of the first detachment of the People’s Guard, named after Ludwik Warynski, was Josef Mrozek. Dabrowskis who commanded detachments and brigades, partisan regions and districts and held leading posts in the high command became the organisers of the People’s Guard and the People’s Army. They included Grzegorz Korczynski (later Poland’s Deputy Minister for Defence), Franciszek Ksiezarczyk, Stefan Andryjanczyk, Jakub Aleksandrowicz, Antoni Grabowski, Josef Dabrowski, Piotr Kartin (Andrzej Schmidt), Ludwik Katas, Ignacy Kubat, Stanislaw Lange, J. Jasinski, J. Loczynski, Wasyl Lazowy, Augustyn Michal, Jan Slawinski, Josef Spiro, Henryk Sternhel (Gustaw), and Henryk Wozniak. Unfortunately most of them did not live to see the free People’s Poland: more than 40 Dabrowskis lost their lives in action or in Gestapo prisons.

p Some were arrested on their way to Poland, in Germany, and tortured in the death camps. They included S. Ulanowski, first commander of the Dabrowski Battalion, and Josef Hruska. Dabrowskis who were in the Soviet Union joined in the struggle against the nazi invaders as early as 1941. About 100 of them were killed in action during 1941 and 1942, generally behind enemy lines, including the former commander of the 13th International Brigade, Josef Strzelczyk. This group included Ignacy Borkowski (Wicek), commander of a partisan brigade of the People’s Army, Josef Ziolkowski, who took part in organising the Union of Polish Patriots on behalf of the Dabrowskis and was one of the first political commissars of the Tadeusz Kosciuszko Infantry Division formed in the Soviet Union, and also a member of that division who took part in the Great October Socialist Revolution and the defence of Moscow in 1941, Stefan Konieczniak.

The Dabrowskis played an active part in re-establishing the Polish Armed Forces on the territory of the Soviet Union. They 255 then traversed the long and glorious path of the Polish People’s Army from Lenino to the Elbe. Among them were General Karol Swierczewski, organiser and commander of the 2nd Army of the Polish Armed Forces, later Deputy Minister of Defence in the Polish People’s Republic, Henryk Torunczyk, Eugeniusz Szyr, Mieczyslaw Szleyen, Jozef Welker, Stanislaw Broszko, Franciszek Gorski, Stanislaw Janik, Jan Perkowski, Jan Staszkowski, Platon Stroziuk, Josef Truszkowski, Antoni Dalecki, Waclaw Kubiak and others. Isak Bajlowicz, Wladyslaw Donajski, Hersz Rapaport and Michal Robak lost their lives fighting for the freedom of Poland in the ranks of the Polish Army.

p The participation of Polish volunteers in the national- revolutionary war of the Spanish people is a splendid page in the progressive traditions of the Polish people and the international contribution of the Polish working class to the anti-fascist Resistance. The selfless struggle of the Polish troops in the International Brigades helped broad circles of the Polish democratic public to understand the Spanish war and the criminal character of German fascism—the enemy of freedom and independence.

p For the Polish volunteers the struggle against fascism begun on the fronts of Spain in 1936-39, continued in the years of the war for the national liberation of their homeland from the German invaders and ended with the joint victory over the nazi Reich by the peoples of the anti-Hitler coalition.

In devoting their strength to building People’s Poland which is advancing along the socialist path, the internationalist veterans, like the whole Polish people, are inspired by feelings of patriotism and international solidarity with fraternal peoples. Their hearts and constant assistance are with their Spanish brothers who have not ceased the struggle for the freedom of their native land.