The Children’s Nurse: A WWII Historical Survival Novel Based on a True Story by Ehud Regev

Author:Ehud Regev [Regev, Ehud]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-10-21T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seventeen:

The Union Of Polish Patriots

Day after day, month after month, Merie was busy at the orphanage, looking after Alec, and doing her shifts at the hospital. Rafal was occupied with the National Archives of the Uzbekistan nation and with the ZPP – the Union of Polish Patriots that struggled against the Polish government-in-exile seated in London, being the kernel of a new to be-established Polish government, backed by the Communist Soviet Union.

As July drew to a close, the wounded soldiers from Stalingrad in the field hospital were replaced with the wounded from the Battle of Kursk. Then, in the early months of 1944, these were replaced with the wounded from the battles in the Ukraine. In February, Rovno was liberated and four months later, the hospital once again received the wounded from that battle too.

One morning, there was a knock on the infirmary door and there stood Etka, with two men by her side. Two years had passed since she and Merie parted ways at the train station.

“Etka!” Merie cried. “I didn’t know you’re back in Tashkent.” The two women hugged for a long moment.

“I came back with Yisrael and Shlomo. They’re leaders of the Movement in the east and they wanted me to set up a meeting with Rafal.”

“With Rafal!” Merie has asked surprised.

“Yes, we’re interested in joining the Vanda Army,” Yisrael said.

“The Vanda Army is a division organized by the Union of Polish Patriots in Lublin, headed by Wanda Wasilewska. They want to fight alongside the Russian army,” Shlomo explained. “And Rafal is one of the leaders here of the Union of Polish Patriots.”

“You want to fight the Nazis, after the Russians rejected your request to enlist in the Red Army?”

“First of all, we want to find out who of our friends from Hashomer Hatzair in Vilna, Pinsk, Bialystok and Rovno are still alive. Then we can pursue the options for making aliyah to Eretz Yisrael. So far, we’ve learned that will be very difficult.”

“I will talk to him this evening,” she said. “As to making aliyah, I’ll spare him that part. I’ll tell him you’re interested in joining the Vanda Army and meeting up with whoever of our friends survived the war. Etka, call Ella’s office tomorrow and I’ll have an answer for you.”

In the evening, Rafal returned to their room and picked up Alec. Like all the children at the orphanage, Alec too was very thin, for lack of nourishment. Although food rations have increased in the past few months, thanks to the Americans, everyone suffered from malnutrition and weight loss, including Rafal.

Merie poured Rafal a bowl of steaming soup from the pot standing on a kerosene burner in the corner. “I found some cabbage in the market right near the orphanage,” Merie said. “We’re celebrating.”

They sat at the table to eat the soup, along with the three slices of bread rationed to them. When they finished, Merie said, “Today, I had a visitor. Etka came to see me, and with her were two Movement activists.

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