Invariably for many years, memoirs have had a largegroup of devoted readers. Thanks to reading memoriesof people who were active participants or simplyobservers of great historic events allows us to maintaincontact with the past, which usually fades under thepressure of everyday business.

A reader who should pick the self-account by JanKobylarz, a signaler of the 7th Regiment of the 3rdDivision, will take a fascinating journey into the pastmarked by some of the most tragic events in history;World War II.

The writer took active part in the war. It engulfedhis youthful years and proved to be a tough school oflife. As a direct witness of the described events he wentin his Polish Army uniform along the great combatroute from the right bank Warsaw through Pomeraniafortifi ed region, foregrounds of Berlin towards theLaba where he celebrated the end of war.

This frank, simply written soldiers account isimpressive for the detail in which the events werememorized. It gives description of dramatic strugglefor the east-bank Warsaw borough of Praga, the dearlypaid attempt to help the insurgents fi ghting in the westbankpart of Warsaw, ferocious fi ght for the town ofKolobrzeg and the region of Pomerania fortifi ed bythe nazis. The author takes us along to relive the mostdiffi cult moments, the happiness for successful actionsor the bitter disappointment when He was deprived ofmeeting the allied brothers in arms on the Laba River.

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

The author, Jan Kobylarz, has remained in thebusiness of connecting people. Just as 55 years agowhen he was using telephone lines to connect unitswith the command centers, he now makes a connectionbetween the reader and the Great History. His colorfulstory could became a valuable addition to textbook,academic descriptions of our war time history.

Wladyslaw Sobecki