THE LONG BOW SIR,—In reply to the article 'The Long
Bow' by Strix in the issue of the Spectator of July 13, I emphatically state that all I have said in my book The Long Walk is true, and I do not re- tract one word of it. I have never anywhere stated that I know exactly where we were, or which exact route we took. I tried with Ronald Downing to re-plot my journey, but I could not then and I cannot now state precisely where we went. I would remind everyone that we were not an expedition of exploration : we were starved fugitives fleeing from a terror that only those who have suffered under Commun- ism can understand. I do not remember what roads or mountains we crossed—we never knew the names of most of them and had no maps or previous knowledge.
I do not know how the information about my entry into the Polish Army records has been obtained, but / was not in Iraq on April 10, 1942. 1 was there in the middle of June. I crossed from India to the Middle East in an ex-German boat from the First World War, converted into a carrier for British troops. No Polish office or any other records office took particulars from me then. I re-entered Russia for reasons of my own at the end of June. When the right time comes I will tell that story and explain my actions. I have in my possession an identity card in three languages stating that I rejoined the Polish Army on July 24 at Kermini in the USSR. From Kermini I eventu- ally came back to Iraq with the Polish troops.
Strix suggests that I am suffering from an hallucination. Fourteen years is a hell of a long time in which to harbour an hallucina- tion, of which I bear the scars both physically and mentally.—Yours faithfully, 10 Orange Street, WC2
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