Two things happened to me, years ago. One was that an older friend related to me how his brother in law had been a soldier detailed to guard " White Russians " and their families as they awaited transportation back to Russia on board trains. (were 'Cattle Trucks' mentioned ~ or is that just my memory adding detail?) Anyway, what certainly is an accurate recall is the reported behaviour of these people ..... I freely admit, I really had no idea what " White Russians " were, at that time. In fact, I knew nothing about what he was describing. Next thing that happened, few years later, is that I read a book by N. Tolstoy (Jr). Something based on the Arthurian Legends. It was entitled '(Something or other) Book One' and I enjoyed it immensely. So much so that I asked the shop owner to order me 'the other book'. But all his lists came up with was " Victims of Yalta ". Fair enough, I thought. Odd title, but that must be it. I ordered it. It arrived. I glanced at the horse mounted 'Nazi Soldiers' on the cover and tried to back peddle. Shop owner insisted that I Had specifically ordered the damn book ..... Fair play. I coughed up. And so came to read one of the most perception altering books I've ever picked up. Picked up? I couldn't put it down! It explained the behaviour of those poor, wretched men on that railway siding, that's for sure. God help them ~ and their wives and children with them. Yet no discussion of it on here, apparently? I'd gladly buy and read it again, just to refresh my head for a good chat about it. Meanwhile, has no one else an opinion?
Steve - "Victims of Yalta" of course refers to the "suggestion" of Stalin's at Yalta - that both the British and American's return any Soviet citizens in their areas - and he would do the same, knowing full well that he didnt have any to return. This went through "on the nod" and so we were committed. So it was in the spring of 1946 while stationed in Knittelfeld in Carinthia, 'B" squadron of the 16/5th Lancers of the 26th Armoured bde and 6th Armoured Div. were ordered to advance with our Sherman Tanks to the neighbouring town of Judenberg - where we mounted guard on a camp of what we thought were Jewish people making their way to Israel - at that time still illegal but they were going anyway. We were then ordered to turn our guns INTO the camp as opposed to any other guard where we adopted the hedgehog position to prevent any attack ON the camps - we felt this was unusual and tried to complain but strangely all officers over the rank of Captain had been called to a big meeting at Div H.Q. - but it was only a 36 hour guard and all other squadrons in the bde would be doing the same ! It was much later in the year when we made friends with many of the civilians in Judenburg as they had the only cinema in the area,that we learned that the people we had been guarding had been taken away in British Bedford 3 Tonners by Russian Soldiers - driven five miles into the Russian sector - shot and buried in mass graves. In 1976 after the 30 year release of records that we learned that this massacre had in fact taken place and the BBc reported that "elements" of the 8th army had rounded up these Russian deserters and had them handed over at Judenburg. At the same time the Cossacks Division who had arrived in Austria from Yugoslavia had suffered the same fate. WE were not happy to have that memory of those poor people confirmed, as some 50,000 were massacred Cheers
Steve - got carried away there - forgot that you were referring to two things - one a more recent occurence of the Yalta Victims which your friend was probably as involved as I was at the end of WW2 - and the older version written by Tolstoy - sorry about that equally the Polish people were also victims of Yalta as they then had confirmation of the partition of their homeland.. Cheers
Unfortunately the agreement to return these people into the hands of Stalin had two dimensions.There were those who were who had fled the oppression of the Stalin regime and its prewar purges and policy.Then there were those who fully collaborated with Nazism and were recruited from the occupied lands of the East.The latter were evident in France during its occupation and took park in the excesses on behalf of the master race.Here, they tended to be unchecked by their German officers and were allowed to rape and pillage as they saw fit.On the liberation,many, but not all found their fate sealed by the varous resistance movements in internal France at a time when De Gaulle had not imposed his civil government.No enough has been written about this period but it would be unwise to think that all the victims were innocent. There is still a lot to understand what went off during the chaos of war and its immediate post war period. Incidentally, I am not an apologist for the Stalin regime.Recently I found it incredible that there are some Russians of the present who apparently would wish for the type of authority that Stalin imposed.
Tom; My respect for ye input. I shouldn't for one moment imagine any British troops were ever 'happy' to discover what they'd been ordered to have been a part of. I know my friends brother didn't sleep the same after he found out what it had all been about. And that does seem to be an underlying fact of the whole matter; You guys were fed some story from Above and given orders accordingly. " The older version written by Tolstoy " ? Sorry, I don't quite understand. Granted, it's been almost twenty years since I read the book now but, I thought I remembered that he basically starts at 'the beginning', with an explanation of the wider, historical background, and then moves through the later sequence of events. It was probably for that reason that I stoically chewed my way through the first few chapters. (I was stuck in a box, on mind numbingly boring duty. It was read this damn book or else stare into space for twelve hours). Then, after the first few chapters, I suddenly found myself reading like the possessed. I must have ranted about that books contents for a good couple of years afterwards. It made That sort of impression on me. British Bedford 3 Toners? Would that be the trucks some of the poor guys threw themselves out of, trying to break their own necks? FGS! I really don't want to mention - because I try not to remember - what went on with the wives and daughters. Harry; I'm sure there were 'Collaborators' and such among them. Good for the French Resistance for sorting them out and giving them what they deserved. That's Justice. But old women. Wives. Young daughters? No. Sorry. That's just disgusting. As, I personally feel, was the behaviour and attitude of certain governments of the time, in relation to the situation. Definitely one of my all time Top Five reads. I can't honestly think of any other book which has effected me so strongly. Steve.
Steve - sorry I was a bit mixed up with the two Tolstoys - Snr & Jnr - I thought there might have been another episode in Yalta in Leo's Time - I had written about the Judenburg episode for the BBc series when I got into a big arguement with Peter G at the time - we have since become firm friends. The three ton Bedfords were the ones we sent through Murmansk at a tremendous cost - we often found them abandoned in the streets of Vienna - just out of petrol - Some vistims probably jumped out of them as they were allegedly being driven to the Station to take a train back to Russia - but others were smart enough to know that this was not the route to the Station ! A very sad episode to what should have been a happy time of re construction Cheers
