Ch11: Emigration or deportation ?

We knew quite well that the German Landratsamt sometimes did deport people. Just a few weeks earlier three Yugoslavs from our unit were drinking and got into a fight with some Germans. They were arrested by the police and later released. Then one day the police came to the barracks and picked them up. We never saw them again, and their friends told us they had been deported back to Yugoslavia.

Well, we were a different case, the British army would help us. After all- hadn’t we sworn allegiance to the British Queen? We decided to see our Commanding Officer.  After polishing our boots and practising the salute we applied for a meeting.

After hearing our case he told us,” I am sorry but I can’t help you. You are with the British Army, not in it”. There was no sense to argue with him. We were three Czechs, speaking in German, to a Polish officer serving in the British Army stationed in Germany. We had not read the fine print when we signed up.

Wehrmacht barracks in WW II. Where 617 was stationed.

George was playing the ponies with two Germans mechanics working in the 617 unit and they gave him some insight into its history. 

After Poland was defeated by the German army in 1939, many Polish soldiers escaped to France and eventually ended up in Great Britain. They formed a Polish Army fighting under the British command. After the end of the war some Polish units became part of the British Army of Rhine -BAOR occupying the British sector of Germany. 

Ten years later Germany became the “wirtschaftswunder” or economic miracle. The “poor” British army could not compete with wages in German industries and many Polish soldiers left. Some Polish units were demobilized, while others ”morphed” into the predecessor of the 617. The Polish unit slowly lost its identity and became a “place of last resort” for refugees, stateless people and emigrants. 

Only officers, NCO’s, clerks and cooks were Polish. Some were still basking in previous glory: when a British general came to inspect the 617 around 1960, he discovered to his horror of horrors a big Polish flag flying on a tall mast above the headquarters and beside it, on a smaller mast, was a smaller British flag! 

The unit was reorganized and the 617 now has one British squadron and one Polish squadron under the British command. After the war the Polish soldiers had a score to settle with Germany and behaved like occupiers. When a German met a Polish soldier he had to take off his hat! These times were by now long gone and the British army was stationed [and tolerated] in Germany as part of NATO. But some Germans had long memories and perhaps the Landratsamt clerk was one of them.

If the Queen would not help us maybe the UN would.  We sent letters to the UN Commissioner for Refugees, the Red Cross and Radio Free Europe. “Sorry, the UN can’t help you, you are not classified as a refugee.”  A similar answer came from the Red Cross.  Radio Free Europe never bothered to answer our letter.

Then Luboš received shocking news. His application for emigration to the USA was rejected. When he served in the Czech army, he was assigned to the army headquarters and had access to many military secrets. In the refugee camp he spent twenty days being interviewed by the CIA. He used to brag “My CIA  man told me…. ” and was the envy of other refugees for the money he received for spilling the beans. The CIA man assured him that he would have no trouble emigrating to the USA. His interview at the American embassy went quite well. But thinking back about the questions he was asked at the embassy, Luboš believed the CIA had double-crossed him. The friendliness was pretext to get more information. They suspected he was (or maybe branded him) a Communist or even worse, a Czech spy. For that type of people emigration to the USA, Canada or Australia was out of question. He had also applied for emigration to South Africa and Brazil but time was running short. 

 If he was really deported to Czechoslovakia he would be in deep trouble, jailed for many years for betraying his country. George and I could expect maybe two or three years in jail. So it was primarily Luboš making plans to avoid deportation and we went along because we were his friends.

“Look at this” he showed us an article in a newspaper. “The Congolese government is hiring mercenaries to fight the rebel army in Katanga. They are looking for former soldiers. We should apply.” We sent a letter to the Congolese embassy in Belgium. Some days later the British army went on manoeuvres and our unit transported their tanks to the military area. When we returned the guard at the gate told us “Two guys were looking for you yesterday. They came in a black Mercedes with a Belgian licence plate. They waited the whole day for you because you were supposed to return the same day. ” We were probably very lucky that we missed them, who knows where our lives would have ended up.

Other plans were discarded because they were impossible, impractical or just stupid. But the wildest plan came after we received letters from the Landratsamt, advising us that we had thirty days to leave Germany. 

"Open the gate! Test drive."

Rather then being deported we would return or rather escape back to Czechoslovakia. We would bring a prize with us, a British Centurion tank.  Gate security at the barracks was very lax, especially before the manoeuvres when everything had to be checked to prevent any failures.   It was easy to drive the big ANTAR truck with a trailer, even loaded with a tank, out of the barracks for a test drive. Usually a mechanic would be in the cabin with the driver and with the words “Test drive” the gate would open. 

Was there any chance we could pull it off? Well, desperate people act desperately and we were lucky that this plan never went past the talking stage.  What saved us from taking desperate measures was none other than General de Gaulle, the president of France…

Next chapter 12:  To Canada

On to maneveures!

Guess who got the right of way.

Caution ! Don't drive on shoulders.