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Aftermath
BOLESLAW STEPNIEWSKI
Osada Pruski, District Zdolbunow

From Ahvaz we moved to the Persian Gulf from where we embarked on a British ship sailing to Bombay where we stayed for about a week before going on by a modern passenger ship. On this were travelling British soldiers of various regiments as well as many wounded, both military and civilian. Half of the main deck was taken up with British families from Singapore, victims of the unexpected Japanese attack. The ship docked in Cape Town and we were moved to the troop carrier 'Empress of Russia'.

We were bound for Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone. During that voyage the escort had its work cut out for the many deep sea mines often caused much concern.

In Freetown we anchored about a mile from shore and no-one was allowed to disembark. On the other hand, scores of young Negroes clustered round the ship and dived like dolphins for every coin thrown into the water.

From Freetown the ÑEmpress of RussiaÖ sailed in convoy towards the shores of America and then, by a circuitous route through the Atlantic, to Liverpool. We landed there on 6th June 1942 and travelled on by train to the Scottish town of Cowdenbeath, Fife, where we were billeted in a big cinema on the main road.

Everything appeared strange, but one of the advantages of youth is an understanding that nothing lasts forever and so it doesn't dwell on the situation in which it finds itself. And as for us soldiers who had experienced the Soviet Union, we couldn't but be satisfied with any conditions that allowed us to start living again, so that summer we tried out everything that Scotland had to offer. Among other things I gained a lot of pleasure from the ice rink in Dunfermline because I'd done a lot of skating before the war. It was there I met a young beautiful Scottish girl who, to be honest, was for some reason afraid of me.