http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... ed-91.htmlA Polish war hero with an incredible story of survival during World War Two has died aged 91.
The German Luftwaffe decimated the Polish air fleet and pilots like Lt Rogers were handed machine guns and told to fight on the ground - against German forces invading from the west and Russian soldiers from the east.
He was later arrested by the NKVD secret police and sentenced to 25 years imprisonment, deported in a cattle truck which took three days to reach a prison camp in Siberia. 'There were women and children in the trucks and whenever a child died en-route they just had to throw their body out into the snow.'
Following Hitler's invasion of Russia in 1941, Stalin allied with Britain and America against the Germans. Prime Minister Winston Churchill requested the release of Polish nationals from Siberia - and Lt Rogers was one of them.
Flight Lieutenant Czeslaw 'Tony' Rogers braved a 830-mile trek on foot across the Soviet Union's frozen wastes to India after being freed from a Gulag in 1942 .
He joined the RAF in 1942 and was first assigned to 303 Sqn with whom he completed over 50 fighter sweeps. He then transferred to 300 Polish Sqn as a pilot on Wellingtons and Lancasters before time with 315 Sqn on Mosquitos. For his distinguished service he was awarded the Polish equivalent to the VC, the Virtute Militare.
Tom
