Frag Out! Magazine
Issue link: https://fragout.uberflip.com/i/1115818
shine that he got from Soviet comrades in ex- change for German canned food he had found in the ruins. He could not know that in several months, Litewska street would become the scene of the great sapper battle for moon- shine. The last Warsaw battle in the twentieth century. Battle for Moonshine Six months later, Litewska 14 and Litewska 16 (that was cleared by Borowicz) were used as the well-organized headquarters of the 24th Battalion of the 2nd Warsaw Sapper Brigade. The battalion was commanded by Grzegorz Michalewski, a perfect soldier who was known as a huge enthusiast of spirits and strong brawler. Across the street, at Litewska 15, there was an illegal tavern ran by its stout owner, Mrs. Bożena, who stayed in perfect relations with her neighbor sappers. In the ruins of the liberated capital, such es- tablishments would spring up like mushrooms. As we may read in a report by a clerk of the Treasury Guard dated 1945 "almost every cafe or similar gastronomic undertaking, as well as many grocery stores, conduct illegal sales of alcoholic beverages, both in form of closed vessels as well as to be drunk on site. Anoth- er frequent phenomenon is the illegal sales of alcoholic beverages at stalls and booths at market squares or even directly on the street". On 3 November 1945, Warsaw was an unusu- ally dark city. There were still no street lamps back then and even the new moon would not cast enough light to brighten up the autumn darkness. Far away, in the distant Leningrad, the premiere of the 9th Symphony of Dmitri Shostakovich was taking place while the ma- jor Michalewski's sappers celebrated the name day of 2Lt Huber Krzakowski – a young officer popular among his subordinates; he had lost his left eye and a part of the jaw during the de- mining operations. They drank large amounts of moonshine they bought across the street and wanted to release the tension of the dead- ly dangerous work that had lasted for several months. On that particular day, the commission that consisted of Civic Militia, Secret Political Po- lice and Treasury Guard officers decided to in- spect the premises being the property of Mrs. Bożena. "I ordered the investigation office to shut down one of the illegal restaurants at ul. Litewska 15, which sold moonshine" – a GIOS officer would write later on – "and leave if for the decision of the then Prime Minister". The clerk did not know how grave his mistake was. The mistake was as if playing with a grenade without a safety pin or leaving doc- uments of the pre-war Second Department of Polish General Staff at Fort "Legionów". A rep- rehensible mistake which will be followed by huge consequences. "During the inspection, the owner caused an ambush of a Polish Army unit stationing at Litewska 14 against the Civic Militia. As a re- sult, there was a gunfight and several militia officers got beaten and disarmed by the com- pletely drunk unit mentioned above" [original wording kept] – we read further in the GIOS report. How did the whole event look like? We can only imagine. Both the then as well as future au- thorities tried to keep the information on that incident in greatest confidentiality. We know one thing for sure – in the post-war Warsaw, good moonshine was sometimes more expen- sive than human life. However, we can ask ourselves: why was hooch so important for Warsaw sappers? The answer can be unambiguous. Let us now analyze the actual nature of etha- nol. It is a colorless, flammable liquid of pecu- liar smell and burning taste. When exposed to air, it burns with a poorly visible bluish flame. Such a phenomenon occurs at room tempera- ture, but what happens to ethanol in case of war? Winston Churchill observed that in areas of conflict or regions involved in other critical sit- uations, spirits immediately became a tender and could easily replace cash. It is a perfect currency in the case of barter. Moonshine can be easily traded for gasoline, ammunition, or workforce for hire. The calorific value of ethanol is important. For example, pure sugar releases about 3.95 kcal of total energy per one gram. Pure alcohol – 7 kcal. Moonshine can be then used as fuel. The idea to use moonshine as an alternative type of fuel on a massive scale was started by American farmers at the turn of the 1970s and 1980s. During the Jom Kipur war and the subsequent Arabian embargo, prices of fuel in the States and in whole Europe became insane. So, a group of farmers and engineers constructed a perfect fuel column and a distil- late engine. Unfortunately – due to scheme of the authorities, their invention was destroyed. On the other hand, Soviet engineers mastered the construction of field spirit burners thanks to which we are able to heat up a meal or boil water in several minutes. You can build such a burner easily on your own by using, for exam- ple, a tin can. Pure spirit can disinfect wounds and can be used as a cleaning agent or solvent. The ex- perience of post-war Europe shows that when drunk, it is the cheapest and simplest antide- pressant, if used moderately. The most important aspect of moonshine is that German rocket scientists who conduct- ed research under the supervision of Werner von Braun, discovered that thanks to hydrogen bonds, moonshine will practically always stay fresh and it can be stored for an indefinite pe- riod, just like indefinite was the love of sappers for moonshine. The question is then what happened to sap- pers from Litewska street who defended the moonshine bar with such stoutness and cour- age. We do not know. However, we know that in 1946 the 2nd Sapper Brigade, which includ- ed the 24th battalion of major Michalewski, was awarded with 3rd class Order of the Cross of Grunwald for their service in Warsaw and participation in the fights. It also received a distinctive name: the 2nd Warsaw Sapper Brigade. Let us honor their memory! www.fragoutmag.com