Introduction
It's a life inspiring journey of 7 men namely Slavomir, Kolemenos, Mister Smith, Eugene Zaro, Makowski, Anton Paluchowicz, Anastazi, who escaped from the Gulag Camp 303, Siberia on 16th April 1941, to their freedom, on foot.
This is the possible route from where they could have travelled to freedom.
slowly scroll through the story to explore their journey
Gulag Camp 303, Siberia
River Lena was their first water crossing journey. On 27th April, 1941, in the half-light of the day's beginning they silently crossed the Lena, mightiest river in that country of many great rivers, and came to the steep bank on the far side.
Crossing River Lena
River Lena was their first water crossing journey. On 27th April, 1941, in the half-light of the day's beginning they silently crossed the Lena, mightiest river in that country of many great rivers, and came to the steep bank on the far side.
Lake Baikal & Kristina
The party of 7 crossed the way till Baikal within a fortnight. It was the bigger water hurdle in their Siberian Escape. Soon after they realized that they are being followed by someone. They chalked out a plan to kill that man and throw him in Baikal, for safety.And as they proceeded to kill him, realization occured on them that the 'him' was actually a 'her', a girl, escaped, hungry and shelter less. Kristina was her name."
River Barguzin
The Bargusin crossing took place at the end of May and was the last of the major water hazards.
Crossing Trans-Siberian Railway
From high ground they saw the Trans-Siberian Railway through the clear air of a June morning five miles distant from them. The advance towards the railway was made by them immediately after dark and carefully crossing it entered the country on the south side.
Meeting Buryat Mongols
They were very near the border when they ran into the two Buryat Mongols. The conversation was embroidered and ornamented with politenesses and I took the pattern from them. They were informed that our party of 8 was headed for lhasa. A bit of quick thinking there when asked about the girl they replied she was supoosed to be dropped at her relatives place, who lived on their way. The two Mongols exchanged smiling glances as though approving of our protection for the girl on her journey.
Entering Mongolia
Phase one of the escape ended with the crossing of the RussoMongolian border at the end of the second week in June.
Where Did We Land?
They had no maps and there was no one to tell them. Slavomir have tried in recent years by reference to maps to plot their probable course, but the probable could err from the actual by as much as a hundred miles. He said, then, that he thought they have entered Outer Mongolia at a point which led them straight into the Kentei Shan mountains, that in traversing the range they must have borne west of due south to pass to the west of the only big city of the area, Urga, or, as it is now known, Ulan Bator.
Gobi Desert
They reached Gobi Desert in August, only after two days the furnace of the desert made them feel the first flutterings of fear. They knew thirst, hunger and fears awaited them.
Oasis in Gobi
On the seventh day, in Gobi, without much hope we watched Kolemenos climb laboriously to the top of a high mound. He was staring at a distance without moving, Slav reached followed by others. He Just touched Slav's shoulder and pointed at a distance of about 5 miles, it was a patch against the light. Paulowicz said it could be an animal. They walked 2 hours to investigate it. Someone said there were trees that meant OASIS, a blessing in desert. They toiled that last half-mile as fast as they could flog their legs along. Zaro had the mug but we could not wait for him to fill it and hand it round. We lay over the water lapping at it and sucking it in like animals. They let the water all over their faces and neck.
Kristina Passes Away
After two weeks or so, Kristina started swelling due to lack of water, hunger and endless walking in that furnance. Just on the 6th day after leaving an Oasis in Gobi, she started stumbling on her way. Kolemenos lifted her and walked for 4 hours. She demaded to be put on ground, where after exchanging affectionate look with all, she passed away. They stood besides her body like half crazy 7 men.
Makowaski Passes Away
On the eighth day from the Oasis, just two days after Kristina's death, Marchinkovas too started falling on his knees frequently, Slavomir and Kolemenos gave him shoulder and were careful that they musn't let him fall. That night he seemed to sleep peacefully and in the morning of the tenth day he was not only alive but appeared to have regained some strength. But as the day moved he pitched over repeatedly until Kolemenos and Slav again went to his rescue. At the time of their noon-day halt he was draped about our shoulders like a sack and his legs had all but ceased to move. Smith and Paluchowicz gently laid him down on his back. Then they put up the shelter and squatted down around him. He lay quite still and only his eyes seemed to be alive. After a while he closed his eyes but was still breathing quietly. He opened his eyes again & lids came down and this time he was dead. There was no spasm, no tremor, no outward sign to show that life had departed the body. They buried him in Gobi Desert and continued their journey further.
Feasting on Snakes
Further the party reached a creek. The creek narrowed until it was a mere crack in the ground and here we found water collected in tiny pools in the mud. They put their cracked feet in wet mud. It was a soothing effect to the cracked feet, which had walked miles through the furnace of Gobi.
Kolemenos remarked that only they and snakes can enjoy Gobi and that neither of them can eat eachother. Smith doubted the statement saying he did know about humans feasting on snakes. And on their feet was everyone ready for hunting.
Smith and Slav got down to the job of preparing a fire while the others went off with the two forked sticks. They scratched down through the powdery top sand to the layer of bigger grains below and through that to the bed of small stones beneath. They were looking for a thin flat stone on which to cook our snake. It was fully an hour before they found one. The sat around the unlighted fire in silence for about another half-an-hour. Zaro suddenly yelled. No one could not see him but they saw Kolemenos and Paluchowicz running in the direction of the sound. They got up and ran, too. About fifty yards away Zaro had his snake.
Slav skinned the snake and they slit it lengthwise to clean it. The meat sizzled pleasantly. They cooled it down on sand. Kolemenos was hungry, he reached forward. They all went for it at the same time. The flesh was close-packed and filling. It was in fact mild, almost tasteless and odourless.
And hence snakes were hunted down for the rest of the time span of Gobi.
Crossing Gobi Desesrt
Two days after leaving the creek, they were visited by ravens and a pair of eagle who locked eyes on them sitting at the hillock, for obvious reasons. A day after that they all faced acute stomach ache and diarrhea, it must have been either the snake meat or muddy water, they thought. There pace slowed down. There was no end to the spread of sand. Hunting was almost nil as there were no snakes seen. The sleep at nights had dreams of reptiles crawling over. They lost count of the days.
But as days went by they could see the change in terrian. The colour of sand deepened, grains were coarse.
One morning to their amazement they saw, far over to the east, perhaps fifty miles away, shrouded in a blue haze like lingering tobacco smoke, a mountain range towered. Directly ahead there were also heights but they were mere foothills compared with the eastward eminences. So uninformed were they of Central Asian geography that they speculated on the possibility that the tall eastern barrier could be the Himalayas.
They plodded on for two more exhausting, heartbreaking days before they reached firm ground, a waste of lightly sanded rocks.
Meeting the Generous Man
On one day when they breasted the top of a long rise and looked unbelievingly down into a wide spreading valley which showed far below the lush vegetation. They came across a herd of sheep and Zaro thought of taking one down for food. But the herd was guarded by dogs that approached the strangers. These dogs led them to their master.
Seated there was an old man. He spoke to his dogs as we his broad, square face showed a skin which had been weathered to the color of old rosewood. He wore a warm goatskin cap with ear-flaps turned up over the crown in the fashion of the Mongols. His felt boots were well made and had stout leather soles. His unfastened three quarter-length sheepskin coat was held to the body by a woven wool girdle and his trousers were bulkily padded, probably with lamb's wool. He leaned his weight on a five-feet-tall wooden staff, the lower end of which was iron-spiked and the upper part terminating in a flattened "V" crutch formed by the bifurcation of the original branch. In a leather-bound wooden sheath he carried a bone-handled knife which was double-edged and of good workmanship.
Smith went upto him and they both greeted eachother by exchanging smiles & bowing. He was friendly and much pleasured to have visitors. He tried talking eagerly to them but due to language barrier, he resumed cooking and motioned them to sit near fire. The party informed him that they were headed for Lhasa. He acknowledged the information and signed them about the route.
Meanwhile after completing cooking by adding salt to it, he served gruel to them in a walnut colored wooden bowl which he had taken out of a linen cloth from his bag. All of them were tasting salt after days. Each one of them was smacking lips and having the gruel with great pleasure.
To show their gratitude they made a handle for the cooking pot out of spare wire hoops and gathered wood for the fire. When they came back, the old man had got a ram, followed by his two dogs. The ram lay dead in next five minutes. Its head and other oddments were given to dogs and the old man cleaned the meat applying salt to it. Half of it was roasted and eaten to heart’s content. They slept there next to the fire and old man rested in his shelter.
The party left early in the afternoon. While leaving, the old man got them barley cakes, three each. The men couldn’t thank him enough & left with hearts filled with gratitude.
Zacharius Marchinkovas passes away
Three to four days after they passed through one of the biggest lakes they encountered in Tibet, they camped in a valley strewn with gaunt rocks where the thin vegetation struggled to exist. It was raining and the land was wet, they settled down in a small cave and ate what remained of their flat cakes of coarse-milled flour. They woke up each other in half sleep to tend the fire. Zaro woke up and discussed the weather conditions to be cold and misty and they had get going. He stepped over the others, rousing them one by one. Paluchowicz lay next to Slav; Marchinkovas was huddled between Smith and Kolemenos. I stood up and stretched, rubbed my stiff legs, flapped my arms about. There was a general stirring. Kolemenos pushed me with elephantine playfulness as I limbered up.Zaro tried to wake up Markinovas, he was bending over Marchinkovas, gently shaking his shoulder. Slavomir heard the note of panic. I dropped on my knees beside Marchinkovas. He lay in an attitude of complete relaxation, one arm thrown up above his head. Slav took the outstretched arm and shook it. He lay unmoving, eyes closed. Slav felt for the pulse; laid his ear to his chest, lifted the eyelids. He went through all the tests again, fearful of believing their shocking message. The body was still warm. Slav said in low voice , "Marchinovas is dead". In the rocky ground we could find no place to dig a grave for him. His resting place was a deep cleft between rocks and we filled up the space above him with pebbles and small stones. Kolemenos carried out his last duty of making a small cross which he wedged into the rubble. They said their farewells, each in his own fashion. Silently, Slav commended his soul to God. The five of them went heavyfooted on our way.
Glimpse of Lhasa
After Marchinkovas death, they moved further and as they moved further the country changed yet again with new challendes of survival. Once from the heights we saw, many miles off, the flashing reflection of the sun from the shining roofs of a distant, high-sited city, and it pleased them to believe that at least they had seen the holy city of Lhasa. What they saw may have been one of the greater monasteries of Tibet, but the direction was right for Lhasa and the idea of having seen it after using its name like a talisman all the way from the borders of Siberia appealed to them.
Mountain Creatures
In all their wanderings through the Himalayan region they had encountered no other creatures than man, dogs and sheep. It was with quickening interest, therefore, that in the early stages of theirr descent of this last mountain in Himalayas, Kolemenos drew their attention to two moving black specks against the snow about a quarter of a mile below them. They thought of animals and immediately of food, but as they set off down to investigate they had no great hopes that they would await our arrival. The contours of the mountain temporarily hid them from view as the party approached nearer, but when all of them halted on the edge of a bluff they found they were still there, twelve feet or so below us and about a hundred yards away. Two points struck all immediately. They were enormous and they walked on their hind legs. The picture is clear in Slav's mind, fixed there indelibly by a solid two hours of observation. They just could not believe what they saw at first, so they stayed to watch. Somebody talked about dropping down to their level to get a closeup view. One was a few inches taller than the other, in the relation of the average man to the average woman. They were shuffling quietly round on a flattish shelf which formed part of the obvious route for us to continue our descent.
Smith said that eventually he was sure we should see them drop on all fours like bears. But they never did.
Their faces I could not see in detail, but the heads were squarish and the ears must lie close to the skull because there was no projection from the silhouette against the snow. The shoulders sloped sharply down to a powerful chest. The arms were long and the wrists reached the level of the knees. Seen in profile, the back of the head was a straight line from the crown into the shoulders-"like a damned Prussian," as Paluchowicz put it.
The party decided unanimously that they were examining a type of creature of which we had no previous experience in the wild, in zoos or in literature.
Zaro went into a pantomime of arm waving, war dancing, bawling and shrieking. The things did not even turn. Zaro scratched around and came up with half-a-dozen pieces of ice about a quarter-inch thick. One after another he pitched them down towards the pair, but they skimmed erratically and lost direction. One missile kicked up a little powder of snow about twenty yards from them, but if they saw it they gave no sign. Zaro sat down again, panting.
Mister Smith stood up & said they might take it into their heads to come up and investigate us. As it was obvious they are not afraid of the party. And that they had better go while they were safe." The party pushed off around the rock and directly away from them.
Old Sergeant Paluchowicz Vanishes
In causing a deviation of route, those creatures brought them to their final disaster Two hours later it happened. The party was climbing a slope. Zaro and Slav had the rope's end belayed around our two stout sticks at the crest of a slope. They were laughing at something Zaro had said about those strange creatures they saw. The slope was short and hardly steep enough to warrant the use of the rope, which lay loosely thrown out as a safety line in case Paluchowicz, crawling down backwards on all fours, should slip into an unseen crevice. Behind him were Smith and Kolemenos, well spaced out. Slav saw Paluchowicz reach the end of the slope & turned to Zaro and in that instant saw the rope jerk about the sticks and become slack again.
Simultaneously there was a brief, sharp cry, such as a man will make when he is suddenly surprised. Zaro and Slav swung together. It was a second or two before the awful truth struck them. Smith & Kolemenos was there. But Paluchowicz had vanished. They reached the point where, from above, the slope appeared to fall gently away. Zaro took in the slack of the rope and I turned around as Slav had seen Paluchowicz do. The sight made me catch my breath. The mountain yawned open as though it had been split clean open with a giant axe blow. They was looking across a twenty-yard gap, the narrowest part of the chasm which dropped sickeningly below them. They could not see the bottom. They called out to him, ried putting stones hopin to hear the echo of its strike, but in vain. It was unbelievable for all that he came all this way to die this way.
Kolemenos took his sack from his back and very deliberately tore it down the seams. He put a stone in the corner and threw it out into space. The stone fell out and the sack floated away, a symbolic shroud for Paluchowicz. He took his stick and with the blunted axe chopped an end off and made a cross and stuck it there, on the edge.
Reaching India
There were some quite warm days after Paluchowicz's disappearance and they looked back and saw the majesty of the mountains they had crossed. In terrible need of food and now the supreme effort to them was to keep moving. One day they saw a couple of longhaired wild goats, which bounded off like the wind. They hardly had the strength to kill anything bigger than a beetle. The country was still hilly, but there were rivers and streams and birds in trees.
It had been about eight days without food when they saw far off to the east on a sunny morning a flock of sheep with men and dogs in charge. They were too far off to be of any help to them and were moving away, but hopes rose at the sight of them. They pulled some green-stuff growing at the edge of a stream and tried to eat it, but it was very bitter and our stomachs would not take it. Exhausted, walking skeletons of men that they were, they knew now for the first time peace of mind. It was now that they lost, at last, the fear of recapture. Some men came from the west, a little knot of marching men, and as they came closer, they were six native soldiers with an N.C.O. in charge. They were very smart, very clean, very fit, very military. My eyes began to fill and the tears brimmed over. Smith stepped forward and stuck out his hand. "We are very glad to see you," he said.
Medication & Recovery in Calcutta
The journey to Calcutta was a long and tiring one. They were taken to a hospital as there were many after math of the journey on their bodies. They all went through prelimnary treatment and then were sedatives and kept under observation. Many a times they were close to death and came back. This went on for ten days before Slavomir bid farewell to Zaro and Kolemenos and Smith and left for a transit camp where he was to await troopship for MiddleEast.
From the Author
"From the moment of my birth, luck with angel wings has been my constant companion, and, with deep faith embedded in me, I started my new life. Luck gave me the happy opportunity to meet an English lady who became my wife, my mother, and my counselor in my daily life. She is the mother of my two sons and three daughters, and the grandmother of my eleven grandchildren. They have replaced for me all that I had loved and lost, and have filled my loneliness and longing for the Land of my Fathers.
The Long Walk was dictated by me to Ronald Downing with the help of my wife, and published in England by Constables in 1956. In these, friends share with me the tears for Kristina and the others who are left in unmarked graves scattered across inhuman lands. For some reason, my words have been a help in their own uncertainties, pain, misadventures, and lack of confidence. I have cried reading of their joys and their sorrows. Some letters from students young and old, often written on exercise paper, show real capability of reading between the lines. What is most important is the deeply felt conviction that freedom is like oxygen, and I hope The Long Walk is a reminder that when lost, freedom is difficult to regain."
- Slavomir Rawicz
Bibliography: The Long Walk
Movie: The Way Back