He was 15 years old erstwhile he joined the youth paramilitary organization “Orlatte”. As a 24-year-old, he fought in the Warsaw Uprising. The Kombatant, Colonel Henry Kokosha, celebrated his 105th birthday in January! On the occasion of the Jubilee, he was visited by territorialists from the 16th Lower Silesian OT Brigade to personally want him another 105 years. “Army Poland” joins wishes!
Henryk Kokosha was born in Warsaw, but he lives in Wałbrzych today. In his biography as in lens 1 can see the complicated past of modern Poland. Youthful engagement in pro-defence activities, fighting in the Warsaw Uprising, yet becoming part of the Polish People's Army, and after the war surveillance of security.
A combatant who turned 105 on 3 January visited the territory of the 16th Lower Silesian Territorial Defence Brigade. “When our soldiers entered the apartment, the birthday boy stood on defender and greeted them in soldierish with a flash in his eye,” said Captain Marcin Pochodaj, press officer of the 16th OT Brigade.
During the gathering there were many long stories. There were besides flowers, greetings, and congratulations, and the birthday boy said that despite his old age, he inactive had many plans for the future. He has already achieved 1 of his dreams, namely: riding a motorcycle. He would besides like to effort horseback riding, he besides dreams of a journey to sunny Italy.
While telling soldiers about the hard railways of his fate, the veteran frequently emphasized: “I am arrogant to be Polish and surviving in Poland”.
In defence of the Motherland
The thought of patriotism and military service was conveyed to him by his father, who was a lieutenant in the Association for the defence of the East Edges. Thus, before the war, 15-year-old Henry joined the “Orlath”, a youth paramilitary organization operating in the firearm Union. As he grew up, war broke out. He remembered the shocking paintings from the business in Warsaw. "Bombards were very large, many people died. The first thing is not to supply kitchen articles. They were, they were, but then there was a hunger. The horses that fell killed, the people shot them in the streets. They took pieces of meat home... Later, erstwhile the Germans entered, it was even worse. The abuse started, literally. The first were for show, in Wawra they hanged [people], later grabs, shoots" – he recalled years later in a conversation registered by the Archives of spoken history.
In 1942, he joined the Home Army with inspiration from the officers who trained him in the “Orletetes”. Among another things, he was celebrated for his participation in the action to get approval from the Germans to drive through Warsaw by car, in which there was hidden underground radio station and weaponry. He convinced the MPs that the car was carrying... German military mail. Then he obtained the conspiracy nickname “As”. During the occupation, he besides identified false papers under the name Zawadzki.
When the Warsaw Uprising broke out, Henryk Kokosha went into conflict with a parabellum weapon and respective pieces of ammunition. He participated in winning the PAST branch in Prague, 24 Brzeska Street. Then he shot a German soldier and took over his gun: grenades, ammunition and device gun. Both good and shocking memories have been preserved in the veteran's memory. 1 of the most beautiful moments of the fight for Warsaw was erstwhile he saved the life of a girl, carrying her out of a bombed and sharp building. ‘It was the Frog. She had her buttocks ripped from the bullet. At the time of the bombing, who could have? He was coming down. any of them abolished, and the Frog on the first level forgot. We looked after her, she was on her stomach, she was pregnant. [I ask Mietka]: ‘Where is the Frog?’. – “We forgot”. I took a run. She was lying there on a stretcher, so I can't take a stretcher. I put my hands under the bottom and down with her. At this point [in] the magazine where we had the medicaments, the alcohol for decontamination, the meat, [he hit] the bullet, he smashed everything. erstwhile I was at the stairs, erstwhile the blow hit me, I drove down on my back with her. My skin was torn, but I saved her, she was alive. The parent brought back the rinds from the fat cooked, [squeezed up like] salceson. We [all] gave ourselves. This happened during the attack [of Polish and Russian troops on Germans] – he recalled.
Another time, he and his friend tried to save an 11-year-old boy who had been given bullet fragments falling on an insurgent barricade. "The barricade was made at the corner of Kowelska and Kowieńska. The barricades started undressing. At this point, it is not known whether the Russians or Germans, from where the missiles fell into the barricade, is unknown. Lots of wounded. We started to endure the wounded. We're flying there with the Mietka, we're taking a kid at eleven, possibly twelve, to get on a stretcher. I take my arms, Mietek by the legs. We want to carry, and I only had a torso, and Mietek's legs with the rest, [inside] flew down. It was the worst experience for us," he said after the war.
A hard Postwar Reality
After the fall of the uprising, Henry Kokoszy managed to avoid the transport to the camp. First he was in a military hospital, then he hid in 1 of the houses. Then he joined the Polish People's Army. As he says, he did so for the encouragement of another soldiers and “for no better way”. Otherwise, they'd should be transported, robots, or killed. "They started exporting, arresting," he said, "a liaison came in to study that I should check in with Colonel "Jarema". “Jarema” says, “We have a way out, that we either let ourselves die, or a partisan, where we now do not know how and where to get through, or to the front.” We went to the front together."
He fought as a tanker. The conflict way led through Toruń, Wal Pomorski, Kołobrzeg, Bernau – in Berlin. Although he mentions the brotherhood of weapons, he besides remembers the distrust and suspicious attitude of any of the officers of the communist army. "Some of the Poles from Siberia were. There was a broken Pole from Siberia on the radio station, after brainwashing, to tell you the truth, due to the fact that later I found out why I was being watched. I felt I was being watched all the time. [...] In my names, the 1 who was on the radio station drank some. He takes my hand by the neck and says to me in Russian: “What do they want from you? specified a decent man you are, but if I announcement something, I'm expected to shoot you like a dog in the head," he said.
After the war Henry Kokosha was demobilized. As a erstwhile AK-owiec, he had problem uncovering a job. due to the request to aid his family, especially his sick mother, he did not proceed to fight underground. He worked as a taxi driver. He carried, among others, Colonel Jan Mazurkiewicz ‘Radosław’ (since 1980 general of the Polish People's Army brigade at rest). For this reason, among others, he was eavesdropped, repeatedly called by the safety guard, where the beating tried to force on him relations about private life and connections of Mazurkiewicz. "Radoslava" drove a taxi for the remainder of his life in 1988. "Until his death he did not cooperate. Thanks to him, the arks received large reliefs, pensions, prizes. It's only due to him. He walked and fought. By knowing Moczar, it was through this way that he walked and won it for all people. He let quite a few people go. erstwhile Gomulka took power, it was those people who were allowed to go free, only thanks to “Radosław” – said the Kombatant about the general.
Memoirs of Henryk Kokosz come from the Archive of past of the Spoken Museum of the Warsaw Uprising
