SERVICE IN THE 4TH KBW REGIMENT, RZESZOW;ASSIGNMENT/TRAINING/CONTROL OF RESISTANCE/POLITICAL, AGRICULTURAL MISSIONS/RELATIONS WITH THE UB
Document Type:
Collection:
Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST):
CIA-RDP80-00809A000500490180-6
Release Decision:
RIPPUB
Original Classification:
C
Document Page Count:
11
Document Creation Date:
December 14, 2016
Document Release Date:
June 16, 2003
Sequence Number:
180
Case Number:
Publication Date:
May 13, 1954
Content Type:
REPORT
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CONFIDENTIAL
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CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
INFORMATION REPORT
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COUNTRY Poland
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SUBJECT service in the 4th IW Regiment, Rzeszaw:Assigement/
Training/Control of Resistance/Political, Ai=icultural
Missions/1:e1ations with the UB
PLACE ACQUIRED
DATE
ACQUIRED
DATE
(OF INFO.)
DATE DISTR. /3
NO. OF PAGES 11
NO. OF ENCLS.
SUPP. TO
REPORT NO.
May 54
THIS00CoNENT CONTAINS INEORMATI ON AflECTINO TIED N...TI00,1- Oar.
0, TNT UN I TEO TTTTTT . NITNiN YH CIDDANINC Or TI TLE IL.
AND 764 OF TNI U.S. COOS. .AS ?IACNOLD. ITS TTTTTT s
LOTION OF ITS CONTENTS YO 0/1 NECK I Tat AN oN?LITNCIA ZED PERSON
NON 011/ LAD. TNT ?I?NODUCT I oN Of T4I5 fILPG*, ?00"1.,
791
IS
THIS IS UNEVALUATED INFORMATION
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the ......4E3raftroterahniczne (Electroteohnical rector on
p Krakow.
s ao ory unalFga about 150 workers.
1 As everywhere, so here the MR (Poliah United Workers'
Party - the CP) had its cell or primary organization. The Party cell at
factory waa particularly interested in the youth. It organized1--Inuatings
with an amusement programosseuraione in oars and lorrios on and lieu-
'e arty
cell also organiztd anti -relfaious
? COXF IDENTIAL
ANEW. FoOt4;,.
DISTRIOUTICN * STATE .
t4AVY
AIR Fel
This report la for the use within the USA of the Intelligence componenta of the Departments or
'Agencies indicated above. It la not to be transmitted overaeaa without the concurrence of the
orifenating office through the Malatant Director o the Office of Collection tend Diaaemlnntion, CIA.
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COWIDENTIA1.1
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Draft
prevent simaating any -ik seasca
Iatatorieni about t eaay and happy life in the army. 1 one of
n aaid: 'Zyc nie umierec'- Life is fine in the army. One is on the poet -
and the other aleepel. =any boa were impreesed by these talks
and cheered up."
r.
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KW Aapignment
5. "A booklet on the IW states: 'The kW ie the armed arm of the Poliah nation.
It haa to fight the remnants of reaction with arms in their hande, and guard
the industry and the atate agencies.' ActuS.11y, the fore=aet tank of the KBW
ie to fight 'banditti' - whom the non-Communista call the lpatriotal. Members
of the KBW raceivc,in addition to the normal army traiaing, Special training,
to fight the partiadne. Thin is why the ilLeW training campa are alvaya in thb
torrents.
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"Most of the KBW ?oldie:a come,froM.the:naWPolteh tereitoriee in the Went.'
It is probably thought that hoYa'from thbra are rootiese, ap no etrong tradi-
tiona have been establiahed among the varied pibple there. .The authorities
think probably that it would be eaaier to turn young people from.thoae parts
into obedientserVante of Cbmmuniem./
in considered very reactionary.
7. thorOUghlyinvestigated1
tonacri tion card,' aaked variaua questione, including
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G0NFIDENTIA4
10. "In 1950 the commender of--the Adlti4SINPEegamentl-Rzeszow,.was a boviet e Mr.
Li7nE7 Pliskin. Be is now a LieulantColdnel: -Hie satecessor was Maor ? 2%12
KowaleiTar=probably a Soviet?also, as he spokaPellsh wit a Ran eccent.
. ?abe chief?political officer of the regiment was- Lt. zwRzeilka. Thacommander
?. of the 3rd Company, let Battalion, we!: It. Jozef?Pawelek, later replaced. by Lt..
?s .
givg.Krz zanawskl. ThapolLical.officer?of. the let Battalion was
OzerniTaW 5ny7
POP secretary (secretary of the PZPR 'organization' of the let
Battalion was 2nd Lt../Fnq: Lopatkai Lt..- Jezierski was ?deputy ccmmander.
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of. the 2nd battery in. th Regiment;
"There were about 90-100 soldiers in the 3rd Company or the 4th Regiment.. The
average age was 21, wlth the.youngestsoldiere being 19 Pnn the oldest 23.
About 15-20 were a- members.
12.
"To avoid insubordination and opposition, the regime-sees-that officersand
men do not remain in one unit too long This ? is, to. prevent the growth of
comradeship. Officers astially remain in a regiment only two years. Soldiers
.are shuffled from platOon to platoon and from 'company to. Companya
Training,
13. "The training in the KBW is much harder than in the regular army. Many soldiers
leave the KBW with poor health. Yet the State economises on the KBW.. It
Sets un:at''orma and equipment of poorer quality than the regular army. It is
not a Pollshammy. It is a sort of NOD. Even the barracks have no inscription
'Polish Army, - simply. 1KB10.
14. "The KBW haaSoviet-type arms, though the production of arms in Poland has in-
creased considerably. Poland now produees aritilank.grenades (Rienci Erzeciv:
25X1 paneerne) of the German type. I Itharraand was
to start production ofa new type of CKM kheavy machino gun) of. large 'caliber.
25X1 I lueed pentotypee of this UKM, weighing 120 kg. Poland also
produces platola of the Soviet 1943 model (Zelezne, kolba ekladana,..n&ssa 2.5 kg).
?The KBW soldiers learn ..o shoot well. Though it is forbidden to have ammuni-
tion when oft the shooting rangel most soldiers have some 1rnlaeta in their
pockets. During training with blind ammunition the eoldlerw sometimes pur-
posely load their guns with sharp. bullets. tasualtiee cocur, and a hated
superior may dia. In 1951 or 1952 a ocIdlor killed A lieutenant that wre4 tn
Rzeezow. Itwas neid to b4' an accident, tut nobody knew what really happened.
The soldier was put under arreat?for,aeveral menthe.
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Political Education
'Each KBW battalion and company has a political officer. Each battalion also
has a POP secretary. The political officer of a company is also its deputy
commander. Re arranges political lectures and-etudiea the political opinions
of the soldiers. He has spies within the oompany. The POP secretary is sup-
posed to hold two Party meetings a month.
17. "The political lectures' of the politrdk as well as party meetings were generally
hated by theacildie.i,Mdch more hated.thanthe military training. Most soldiers.
at..P.zaszow were youths of rather low intelligenoe who had to make_ great efeforts to learn these political lessons by heart to reply to the questiona.of
the politrUk or the-POP secretary. Ii?
Only a few. agitator. and come others, about 10-1> In
all, could be regarded as active OCtminiets. It often happened that somebody
outside of the Party was devoted to the regime and served the politruk or JIB
as a spy: on the other hand, many ..C.P metberscodld in fact be against the
regime. CP membership is not always an index of political behaviour in the.
KBW. The spies in the company have had not only to report on the political
attitude of their comrades but also of military discipline.
Every CP.member, too, was told to supervise all other CP members as well as
the rest of the soldiers in military performance. They seemed to think that
CP membership liberated them from their military-obligations. Two thirds of
the soldiens who joined the CP while in the army did it only to make life
in the military service more comfovtable.
CONFIDENTIA)
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CONtIDENTL4
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.?i8, ".0 t,ie regu1ar.C1?jmeetings..the;AA1S1 members- vas di:,,cusea..
ported?cases of infringements of military d 1piLe drinking, etc.. vere
discussed in public. The acCused was obliged: to explain publicly, in front .
of the other mpmbers , hie behaviour and promise rep.tentarice. Them the cUlpT"it
got a warning.
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19. "Once a month battalion Party Meeting.7., were organiZed, attended by elL CP
members in the three nompanies? of each battalion. Theze meetings took place
in the.mesnroom of the battalion. On theze occasion table :in the mese:roam
was covered with rad Cloth. The meeting was thLrected by the POP secretary,
asefted by the battalion Orr?mander, some.Cnrpany..00raaodem and the politruk.
The prtodownley szkolenlowi (Sta'ahanovite soldiers) were usually honored by an
invitation -to inc bn.e..7 The meeting was al-4sys otened by tL' PO2 :,:ecretary.
He read the agenda. .5t.!ter ?every lecture a disoussion.tok place. Moet time ?
during the meeting was.snent disounsing tne-tehavir of various Party members.
Lectures were also read on .suhjects of international ybilloy, suotas the wars?
in Korea and Indochina, the situation in thaPhilippines, the freedom movements
of colonial nations.. an suCh lectures .the. al;.,.ay depicted the enemy
No. 1... The fighting tcticz of theL7..7. Army were.disnusec. here, praise Wes.
rare...;. Once a year the battalions of the. .4th .KBW Pegiment each had ele-ctions
to the CP board. The meeting cpenedwith a Lectre on the merits, of the C2
leader.shio. Thr-n the deputy battalion commender (the politrik) propozed
some office= to, the post of ?POP secretamy.for? the battalion and each company.
Before 'national or tcocccccct htltnay::. we-re obliged to attend
meetings. At thee meetings topical lectUre wereread on.. the noliday, e.g.
on Lenin's death, the 1--olish Army, the Dey ?:,f the hed Army. At any time a
?company .or battalion POP secretory oulci utmcn the CP members of his unit
; -tO a meeting.
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i.ach time before a eompany vent to trsininw. .1]a=: or .x.14,: .job in the country,
:the Cr members are cal lad to a meeting. i-ne.:?,CY' era.y .itru? re-
minded. them .of Cr and military disciplih. Li eaor. p:.al:oon there was at
least one .Cm=unist, who was made responl-iolz: for tLo discipline in the platoon:
to oea that; the order ci toe r. non oomnnier were cc oat yr-operly and.
? to report all oencet, committed .:.Jy members among
the solniers. (tr.we who were not C.4mministv, 'oy con9.1..1) aorcl disdovered. that ?
it -wee best not to report anytning at al:? Tnert way they did not make enemies
err:Ong the soldiers end had ies work. tc.t ccc uooh icty cv.ild bring ?
trouble (kumotorst. If the. Party got no reports at all. from a platoon
during a long period, it grew anxicris ict ct. pcLitiial morale. Tae Farty
to know everything going on in a tlatc,;h:. to te-inforoea of the private...
late of. every soidier. A nlatoon which ic,ck for the ?arty
will coon ? get new:ZP representatives..
k. ? In eachpiatoonthere was alab a Communit. anitator who received leaflets from
.the company i'OE? secretary to ditribute among the soldiers. His assignment was
to make .propageada for the ZMP and the :;? The idea is to recruit aro many CP
members az possible from among. the. Lcidierz, At.the end of the military cc:-
vice, about O-O% or even a little more:belong to the C!?. The leaflets ex-
plained
tc the soldisr.,i, in slogans the elroeriorty of the Soviet etate end
the.help.tne us5a.?was giving to Poland., 'the iMDrovea standard cf living sinue ?
-World War l/, toe- new inctistrial.enteroriees. They extolled the Chinese and
Korean heroes .who? het died rather than lot toam,.isives te :4167.? prisoners.
22. .1heeoldier_s were surfeited With lectures on.p:;,cal theory. Many of them,
beCauc,e Of poor intelligence, had difficulties in fclaoving these lectures.
Once a. week there Was the so-called political training (szkolenla zziarsaas
progrwmowe)"; twice a week there were lectures by the politruk;..two hours daily
tne oo17417rs spent learning the Iscripti,(wlaena nauka radlaknospektu;.
Three times per week there was?seminar.,'?,'ing which the soldiers were taught
no-.4 to. reply to political questiona in an examination; such questions as:
!Tell haw the Polish eoldlera fought aide by side with the Soviets. Tell
how the Scviat soldiers in action divided their bread with the Polish soldiers.
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'The MBW Special Brigade in Wettikia'9iphde-the programs for political training
and all the scripts and pamphleta tOevary regiment. The regiment distributes
them among the battelioneabattalione to the companiea,acompanies to the
platoona. At Rzeszow there -were sixeolitical?leCtUrCePer adelif,4pIt2i4MXit
a., minutes per day of neespaper reading (nresawka).
24. "Teachthgthe aoldiers so much pp)citice, can.have-a double-edge result.
The 'soldiers get clever and try/Ne-polas to turn the lessor.: learned
against the Communists theneelves. Most of the EBW soldiers are sons of
the agriCultural proletariat or anallhOlders (farms under six hectares).
In the beginning these boys represent an 'Unenlightened* element. But they
learn something and get their own ideas at the ends, often with culte different
results .':om these expected by their Communist teachers.
NCO School
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Inc Pest company commas:mere
25X1 are aelected to attend. the N.C.F. uchool of tice.regiment. the com-
mander of the school was Lieutenant gnaje-rZlotnik. He was later traneferred
to the XBW staff in Warsaw. One hundred a 20 soldiers attend the school
at a time. About 00 finish as corporals about 20 as utarazx strzelec; the
rest are dropped and sent back to their companies. ThraMiptiNF11777
stricter at a N.C.O. school, and the etude:It's had to work harder than aoldiera
in the regular companies. There was much more training, instruction in mili-
tary tactics and the special tactics used for fighting the partisans (imagined
pursuit of- partisans, ambush, convoy, geard of state property, fight with a
band, bow to extricate oneself from an ambueh, etc.). An important branch of
training was the so-called. roa =anis'. In this the soldiers were taught how
to spy upon the population, how to (jig:I/Lica-them for information. They were
taught to pay meth attention to children, to noke friends with them, give them
sweets and. then sok: 'What is your daddy doing? Are -you getting visitors?
In somebody apending the night at your hems?' .The eoldiere soar, also taught
to keep clone nortact with party leadere apd aetive Comma:1sta, with the
militia and GEM - to Wupport and cooperate with these oreapizatione. The
ORMO (Voluntary Reserve of the Citizete' Militia) consists of the worst
youngsters in a village. Usually they operate also as UB informants. The NCO
school had less free hours thah the rest of the XBW eoldierea. When other come
panics went to the cinema in a closed formation, the school usaielly had some
training to do.
Leave
26. 'Turing their 27 months of service the XBW soldiers do not get any leave as a
rule. However,--to stimulate a soldier to' better serviae, he is indiVidually
promised leave for especially good training or Work on duty. Thus, the Com-
munist propagandists in the 103W do get leave nearly every month.1
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I:ipecac:a events, sucn as metier' or marrlage
in tne ianuly,may aux? constitute a valid reason for leave. Older company
commanders voluntarily submit the names of their soldiers for leave, trying to
arrange it. least one leave for every soldier as this would maintain training
Morale.. However, the regimental staff usually rejects the proposals' of the
company commanders, being convinced that during holidays at home the soldiers
are .'under the influence Of hostile propaganda".
Health
the eolaiers had. miserable shoes With holes in their soles; some ehoea had no
sole, at all: Most soldiers caught cold as a result. When the regimental com-
mander arrived for an inspection, he sew the poor state of the equiptent of hib'
soldiers and made an issue of it. The soldiers got better shoes. This was in
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CONF/DENTIALLTh
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28, "From :time ,to time soldier opmmirttekaMi44e... Others injured themseIyes in
-.9rdereto get exempted from service:1 'there were
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two caaes of seltinflieted'wounds in 4th KBW,Regimeet. In one case the
soldier waa to remain an invalid a...]. his lite; Tip*sisjdq,p104Rbedr,, T
other Oo14ier,drove a needle into his knee. This Was diecOvered Wan -ray
examination, and he got 1:5 yearn of imprisonment. There were several other
4A41011140.0h Were. regarded. as.aceidente pure a4daiMP4me .But-you never knew.
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29.
there 'were few departioes from the /OW.
There was one in the recruit camp The soldier was caught and trans-
ferred to another regiment. Officielly Jae got one. year of prison as a warning
to the rest ot us, I lActuellY bbt boy lended in another regi-
ment atter the period of arreet. Aluol Ian loldi soldier', who was al-
i.esSoly near the end of his military service, had a nervem breakdown and ran
away. He was caught and sentenced to three years. Actually that would mean
145-two yearn in prison, depending on his behaviour. In all such cases the
trial is public. It is a show for the entire regiment or camp..
rTih-3-760-52Pferreri7.5M7777293ETmereir:erewere,.z The treae
took place on a meadow in the forest. On a sort of platform were the prosecutor,
the counsel for the defendant, the judge - all in civilian clothes. The
eoldier explained that he had been persecuted by hia 'commander. Once when he
went to town without permit, he was told by the commander that he would, be
killed. Be had got a shock and run away. The doUneel said that the boy was
young en& inexperienced. The prosecutor:did not want to admit any extenuating
circumstances. ,The boy got three years.' Usually after such a public trial a
second,, real trial is held by military judges end the eulprits gat less severe
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KU Control .ot.Resistanee
30. "The main.iask or the 4th KBW Regiment Wee to fight armed patriots and. remnants
of the Zeramlan UPA group o Who were also active in She Rzeszow.,voievodehip.
All these resistance groups censiet of very few memleers enly; they usually
operate. in groups of two men. They hide in ,the forest:a. KBW soldiers are used
inaction against partisans after they have had a year's service and training.
31. I Ia peasant was arrented in the province of Rzeszow, village of Lezejsk,
district of Jaroslawe lie was accused of being a member of an Underground
organization. This was a typical case of how actions Were carried out. The
UB official from Lezajsk called upon the staff of the 4th Regiment. He re-
ported the man and asked for the help Of the KBW to arrest him. The UB offi-
cial was then given a platoon. Headed by the platoon commander, the platoon
started at night for Lezajsk. It marched tawardathe peasant's home, gulded
by the UB man....The KBW soldiers surrounded the building. At daybreak (ar-
rests ere always carried out. in the early morning) the UB man entered the
house in company of the platoon commander,. The peasant was put in a lorry
and driven to prison, esCorted by armed soldiers, No reprisals were taken
against hie family, but the peasant bee noe'been Seen since.
the KBW got orders to find three paraehutists in the district of
Labaczow. The men were armed with Sten gUns'and had a"radio.station. They
wereedisgovered when some shepherd boys discovered hidden parts of a radio
station and reported to the village authorities; the latter informed the
police who understood that it was parachutists. The UB and KBW were in-
formed. Two KBW regiments were engaged in the round-up - the Rzeszow and
Lublin KBW. For a month all the forests, villages and private farms were
carefully searched. The task of one regiment was to surround the entire
district and that of the other to search it. However, the parachutists were
not discovered and the regementel,1 yith the exception of two battalions, were
sent home. Later, when a ifiltAi iiisAedh'forest, the patriots awekened
their hide-out, thought they were surrounded and started to shoot. Both
battalions surrounded the forest meadow. The three patriots defended them-
selves from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. They even had hand grenades, 'Communists, let
us gois shouted the men. The company Lied platoon commanders asked the KBW
soldiers to take the men by stormwhichethe .oldiers refused .to do.Finally One of
the menagUao *hen his hand grenade was hit by a bullet ac he was about to
throw it. Finally all the three men were killed. No KBW men were killed.
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a apecial eempany of the 4th KBW Regiment made raids
after arts in the villages of tEesi,izeszowlaroyince. Theyeeeerched the housee,
the sheds, under the floors, etc. The raidseaused-great excitement and re-
belliew feeling among the peasantp. Some -peasants! abased,theaaoldiercaand
were arrested. About .20 guns were found In this action. Their ownern were
arrested and sentenced to imprisonment; the mildest punishment was uix years.
Semeeplatoonc carried out the search with exactitudea other's were careless,
depending on their morals.
'three patriots (two men and one woman) were hunted in the district
of Pebica. This group had met a staff officer and tried to disarm him. He aad
succeeded in escaping and alarmed the regiment. The petriote were found and
a fight ensued,. Four soldiers wer^ killed and eight wounded. Finally the
patriots, were captua-J. The woman was pregnant.ana got 1.5 years; the men got
two years each. The sentence W151,23 so mild because.theIr resistance was con-
sidered,a regular fight. But the result of tble.Mdli sentence was an accuca-
tion against the Bzeiszow military prosecuting agenexaaIt was said that the
prosecutor himself was in the service of the ,resiatanae.. The prosecutor wan
removed from his post in Rzeszow and later proedbly arrested.
Ozeration Narew
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a large raid was carried out in the forests of the
Bialystok province. This was a common action of all the KBW regiments to clean
up the forests. Each regiment had to send an expeditionary battalion to
Walystok. As the KBW has 15 regiments, 14 expeditionary battalions partici-
pated in this, probably the greatest raid of its kind @ince World War II. The
raid wan officially called 'Operation NareW' (after a river in Poland). Of-
ficially the assignment wan 'to strengthen .the people's regime in the province
Of Blayestok' wowodztwie Before
the soldiers le-fi?eiii?.2?al-Wialikiiii-felit-iSlinTa?z?gren7ged-meetings in
each battalion. They expleined that the peoples eegime aa fighting great
difficulties in the Bialyetok province; the asoale there did .not pay any talem
'armed simple' were opereting, hostile eleinent47 (wearrotowe element) were li-
quidating loyal aad active Commentate,
36. "The soldiers chosen for each expeationary battalion were divided into come
panics, the companies into platoons. Each village in the Bialystok province
got a platoon; large villages got a company. Ae, staffs were stationed in the
? district towns, the general staff in the town Of Bialyatok opecial
plans and maps drown up in advance, the plateano and companies searched care-
fully the forests, villages, all houses - przetrzasnac,-As the KBW aoldierc
? say. The patriots did not know where to hide. They ran from district to
district, and their situation grew more and more hopeless. The KBW organiced
ambushes. Shootings were frequent. Sometimes completely innocent people got
killed. The soldiers met .somebody in the. forest; that person did not hear the
order to stop or panicked and ran away, or else the soldiers got into a state
of panic and started shooting at something moving in the darkness. In one
barn the Deska group, consisting of six men, was, discovered. As they refused
to surrender, all were killed: In one village some patriots were discovered
and killed. The UB chief for the district.of Kolno, where this happened,
ordered the bodies to be thrown on the road as a warning to thelocal people.
37. 'About some resistance group leaders legends" were circulating. They were
regarded as. extremely clever, of fabulous gallantry and in possession of some
miraculous power which made them safe from bulleta. It order to destroy Ouch
glorification and to prove to the people that patriots could escape his fate -
death - the KBW started to put the bodies of dead patriots / i roads or in
villages, where they could be seen by everybody.
ljust before the end of the action, all peasants
who were suspected of helping the partisanp, were arrested. .Altogeaher about
40 partisans were killed. The KBW estimated that altogether about 100 people
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belonged to the various small resistance groups operating in the Bialyetok
province. The exietence of a few ouch groups in a-district or province had
great influence, quite out of proportion with the small number of the active
grcup. Their mere preeence paralyzed the activity of the militia and increased
25X1 the passive resistance of the population. A militiaman or UB functionary
felt insecure, with the remelt that he did not interfere too much with the
Afg'aireof the population. rumoured
25X1 that before the large-scale KSW Bialystok operation, some UB men and active
Communists, who had harmed the population with their activities, had been
liquidated.
39. "Some KBW soldiers, who were present at UB investigation of the arrested
farmers during the Bialystok raid reported that old, well-proved methods
had been used as well as new ones of terror and torture. The old methods
included interrogations lasting 24 hours without a break. The culprits were
alternately tempted with vodka and cigarettes and threatened by shouts or with
torture. The new methods included starvation for several days; then a meal of
salt herring but no water, in an overheated cell. The victim had to stand with
his face towards the wall for hours. Mechanisms specially constructed to in-
flict torture were us. e g tools driving needles under fingernails. The
UB had special experts who interrogated people by applying every method
imaginable, including torture. As a matter of fact, those who proved brave
and endured torture were better treated at the last. When the torture had no
results, the UB gave it up.
40. "The peasants suffered greatly from the Bialyetoe raid. They were never cafe
from sudden raids. Their houses and property were searched and turned topsy-
turvy in a most ruthless manner. Documents of an. passengers and passers-by
in the streets and on the roads were inspected. The entire district was like
a besieged country during war. The population was neared end started to panic.
If aemebody protested and tried to prevent the soldiers from searching hie
house, he was erreeted immediately.
41. "The commander of OperetioneNarew was Lt. Col. 152teki, former commander of the
4th OW Regiment In Rzeezow. At that time ha ees already regimental commander
of the 2nd Bialystok Regiment.
42 "The Bielyetok action was not popular among the Majority of the-eoldiere.
Despite the fact that the best and most reliable aoldiert were selected for
the task, they behaved insubordinately at every opportunity. Conflicte with
the UB were frequent.
The Specbryeada"
43. "Some aoldiere from the Specbrygada received decorations after the Bialyntek
province. No officer remains in the Specbrygada longer than three years.
The government would lose its trust in the Speebrygmia if the officers re-
mained long in one place and were able to form close relationships among
themselves. Soldiers Of the regular service remain in the Specbrygada for
one year only. They are chosen from the various EBW regiments after recruit
training. After a.year of service in the Specbrygada they are sent back to
their regiments.
Agricultural Mission
44. "The KBWL'aeticipated also in a 'harvest action' .(!_ilsila zbozowa) gear not
indicated in dintricts which lagged most in the fulfilment of delivery
plans. The action was, as follows: a village get a KBW platoon stationed
there with orders just to stay there. .The men were billeted in private
houses and carried on their normal life and training just as in the barracks.
The villagers had no idea why the paatoon.had.arrivede They discussed the
presence of the soldiers, searched for reasons, grew nervous. Everybody has
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something to be.nervout about. .:Tbe result was as expected. The farmers got
frightened and.steeted working andedeltvering.bettertban'before. At the
-same time the CB: and Harty officiele"could-move about more freely,. eithout.
fear', of' reprisals from active-antd=Coanmnists: .But the presence of a KBW
.unit turns an. entire village against the soldiers.: They are' boycotted by
everybody in. the village. They are regarded-as enemies, as foreign occupants.
45. :"The'pace of creating.kolkhozes in the Rzeszow voievodship is extremely slow.
The farmers are forced to jointne collective farms through ruinous taxes and
large delivery quotas:Thisecznuetilult,endievreof,:delivery quotas for the kulake
zeduces them to a state in which they are unable to execute their obligatione.
During the KBW's akcja zboza many kulaks were-arrested. The same happened
in the Bielystok voievodship;.in some villaget most of the farmers werear-
rested and only yeeen remained at home.. Tteeromen were unable to carry on
the farm work, and the fame were finally taken over by.the kolkhozed. In
order to stop the kulake 'bad influence''on-Other:lolkhoz members, the ?
25X1 kulaks.areenot admitted to the collective fares. ::They have .to leave their
villages,- to look for work in:theetowns'e In- come cueee farms lie fallow -:
as there are no people who will agree to. stsblish a kolkhoz: I
25X1 two yillagee in the. Bialystok voievodship where most of ,the farmers hal
.Q1 arrested and women left alone: Rydzewo SzIacheckle and ,Bydzewo Wlos-
cianskie. The fields lay fallow.
46. "Sometimes a EL. platoon acted carelessly on purpoae, so that a person about
to be arrested had time to escape. I Isent to arrest a peasant
25X1 . in a village near Lezajsk. I Woes all outlets from
the farm but did this so careleusly that the :Aster of the peasant discovered
25X1 the soldiers and warned her brother who eoceped. During the Bialystok raid
a platoon was acoueed-of having allowed tOte patreote to slip through.
Military-intelligence officers from Warsaw (the Informacja) arrived on the
spot to investigate. A soldier was sentenced to seven months of imprieon
merit aeo. result.
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47.
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Political Mdemicn
"The KBW was used during the electoral campaignI I KRW platoons were
sent to various villages. I ILezajek, province Rzeszow. I I
jthe 'band' a, . UELGQICUJI ?:iesla? was operating in the neig1i-
bor1100:1 of that village. The presence of the. soldiers makes it possible for.
Communist agitators and village officials- to act with more confidence. Each
time a political agitation meeting took place somewhere, the platoon was sent
to reinforce the milita section (potterunek milicji) in giving protection to
'the agitators and Harty leaders ofe district. Otherwise theComnuniet
officials would have been afraid to put their noses into the village and make
propaganda there.: During the elections the KBW had to guard the-electoral --
committees.
48. "KBW soldiers had also the task of persuading the peasants to vote 'publicly',
in other words, not to put their voting papers into the envelope behind the
curtain. If somebody did so he was already suspected of having voted against
the regime.
Religious Miesion
49: "the KBW has of 'course no priests. The soldiers are told officially not to
go to church. Sometimec some soldiers went. to 'church secretly. et RZeleza:0..
Amtdevellogionaparepegandsweighedleige in the political lessons. During the
action in the Bialystok province, even theehurches were raided, despite "
protests from the priests. Some soldiers who wanted to please the Communist
bosses, addressed the priests with .!Ty' and 'Wy' or 'Pan', instead of using
the reverent form. Officially the KBW soldiers ought to carry out actions
against churches only on special orders- The priests knew this,- But some
platoons, in order to demonstrate their zeal, did so without any permit,
knowing in advance that they would -not be punished- Other platoons purposely
omitted churches. All depends on the spirit of the platoon and the comrade-
ship between the platoon commander and his soldiers.
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Relations with the UB
50. "Although the KBW has somewhat the same task as the UB, there is no frater-
n1.%ation between them. Those KBW soldiers who are not active Communists hate
the UB as much ars does the general population. The Rzestaw Regiment often
had conflicts with the local 'UB fights between soldiers and UB function-
aries in restaurants etc. The regiment often got complaints from the UP
about the behaviour Of its 'soldiers. that the morale was not the best at '
Bialystok, was proved byrthe:faotnthotratter the raid various regiments had, to
diseolve:some companies and reorganize them anew. The 4th KBW Regiment of
Rzaszow also had proof of-insubordinetion. Older soldiers (e.g, those who
had already two years of service behind them) refused to go to gymnastics.
It was also nearly impossible to organize a call-up:(tblorka)for lunch.
25X1 51.
some soldiers of the lith KBW Regthent met a UB official at
a village dance in Jawidze, district of teblin, :This Man was hated by
everybody in his village,, as he terrorleed thepdasants... The KBW soldiers
started a quarrel with him. It developed 'into: a, fightvand the UB man beaten
so thoroughly that he died after a week id hospital The KBW patrol which
arrived at the place of the fight did not report' who woo responsible for the
beating, pretending that it had not got no evidence. The result was that all
the aoldiera preeont at the dance were punished with only 10-15 days of arrest
for having left the barracks without a special permit on a Sunday. There are
eome KBW soldiers who take every opportunity that -offers to beat UB men.
52. "It it wreng,however, to consider all UP ch.Lefs as pure Communists. Some of
them actually collaborate with the patriots and work secretly against' the I
COmmuniete.. Thin wae true, of the local OB ohief of the Jaroslaw district.
I heard:that he punished UB functionairiee and KEIWeeldiere heavily for the
nmalleat offences though it was imponsitlo to liquidate the 'bands' in the
district. They were always learned in time. The autheeities concluded that
25X1 the banda had come collal,erstors within the loeal administration. Finally
the UB chief was arrested.
53. "The UB has at least one secret agent among the officials of every comae,
(01420. Within the UB these agents are called trzeci referent. They are
cKaiiii from among the workers of the commune and have to apply for the4ob in
25X1 writing. During the harvest action]
and billeted in the building of the local militia,' lat Jaroolaw
[candidates
were appointed. They got the regulations to read. andthen signed their 'obli,
25X1 gatics,?.
Relations with the Local People
54. "KBW soldiers r' hated. by the population. They are regarded as outcasts and
cut off from every personal contact. No girl wants to dance with a KBW
soldier. It is dangerous for a KBW man to walk about alone at night as he
may get a thrashing from the town or village boys. The attitude of the popu-
latien?towards the regular army is completely different; it is not hated
at all.
?
55. "The 1CB1 is probably hated most in Rzeszow province. People remember well
the reprisals the' EBW took against the villages just after World War 11.
Fighting Polish partisans and UPA soldiers, the KBW burnt down all villages
where hidden arms were discovered: Armoured tanks and cars destroyed village
housee by simply driving through them. This was the case with some villages
near Unicut. Among the villages burned dawn isas Cieplicein the Jaroelaw dis-
trict. Of the 400 odd houses in that village, only 50 remained. The fields
lie fallow to this day. Nobody wants to carry on. As soon as they started
to aultieate the fields again, a kolkhoz would be established and nobody wants
that.
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56. Not only peasants but also urban workers in the Rzeszow province hate the
11BW soldiers. "EBW officers and professional NCO's are nrohibited to marry
without permission from the KBW corps staff,. which has t investigate the
reliability of the woman: If she s the daughter of a peasant, pertissical '
is usually given but never when the Pallidly has 10. or store 'hectares of land..
Lieutenant fnU7 Stachura froth', the th EBW Regiment: married in secret the
daughter of a peasant who had 10 ha. He had a religious as well as a civil
wedding. This pane out. He had to give 'an account of 'his act at a Party
meeting. The Party is always the lixiet instance. It is a rule that no
member of he DP maybe sentenced hYla-cOurt'of law. He must 'first be kicked
out of the Party if the offence is of such naturethatiMprisonment might be
the result. After that the ordinary court 'takes care of the case. When
Stachura appeared before the Party he was asked why he had married the woman
without permission. He said the girl was with child from him, that he loved '
her but knew that he would never get permission to marry her because she
was the daughter of a kulak. He got a warning from the' Party and. then was ?
put on trial by .the ordinary court, where he g6t :some disciplinary punishment.
As a result of this trouble he started to drink and.One'yearlater, 1952,' he
was expelled first from the Party and later freMEBW: The sports instructor
of the regiment' started a liaison with a Woman of' good pre-World War II
family. He got a warning. 1. third officer 10 his gun, and being afraid
to tell it to 'Wiz regiment, bought a new one. This, ended with some disci-
olinarv iunjshment. Al]. these officers were' first tried. by the Party.'
Soviets in Rzeszow Province
57. In the Rzeszow province there are no Soviet military bases Or units, but there
.are some Soviet communications troops (oddzialy lacz nesci) dealing with the
25X1 repairs of telephone lines, etc.I
1
58. "A Soviet staff is billeted in Krakow neat Wawel Cectle.
25X1 59'
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"When an exchange of some frontier see:rlons took plate between Pgland
and the UR, inhabitants did not want leave their homes in the Lublin
province and settle down at frontier of the Rzeezbwprovince ceded t8 Po-
land by the Soviets. KBW soldiers had to take the people by force, mutthem
on lorries and trains and traneport them tOtheir new homes. The 4th KBit
Regiment participated in guarding the holi'ses:left by the Soviets, in return
for those taken in the Lublin provinae. When thetransferred people arrived
at their new homes our regiment welcomed them with music. But the people did
not want to leave the wagons or take possession of their new homes. They only
Wept. 'All soldiers felt terribly ashamed but were forced to carry out their
orders. When the people were taken awayrby force, they left all they had
behind them, even the cattle. Upon leaving, the People told soldiers with
hate in their voices: 'You have taken so much already, take the rest too.'
60. "Along the Polish-Soviet frontier, there is a frontier belt about one kilometer
wide. Every morning this belt is ploughed in Order that escapees Will leave
tracks on the ground. For a breadth of several kilometers along the entire
frontier the villages are empty.. On the Oder frontier there are no such
precautiOns."
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