Brief Sun

Andrzej was only sixteen when he was deported from his home in eastern Poland and sent to a Siberian labor camp during World War II. The Soviets planned to work him to death, but all that changed when the Nazis invaded the Soviet Union. Stalin was stunned and reluctantly agreed to the formation of a Polish army in exile. Andrzej had only one chance for survival: travel thousands of miles through the Siberian wastelands to find this new army, known as Anders Army. This is the true story of men who left Siberian labor camps half-starved, and trained with rags on their feet and wooden guns on their shoulders to win back their homeland. They developed into what British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan referred to as one of the greatest fighting units in World War II, winning battle after battle against Germanys finest soldiers and opening up the road to Rome for the Allies. An undefeated army in exile, they were betrayed when within reach of their homeland. Swept under the rugs during the Cold War, The Brief Sun describes the incredible true story of a struggle first to survive and then to triumph. British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan compared the story of Anders and his men to the march of the Greeks under Xenophon. 'Alas, though the Greeks at last saw the sea, which meant for them the final stage in the journey,' wrote Macmillan, 'this Polish force, starting from the prison camps of Eastern Europe, traversed Asia, Africa, and Western Europe, only to find, at the end of so much heroism, disillusion, and despair.' From struggles to survive in Siberian labor camps to triumphs on the battlefields of Italy, The Brief Sun is an extraordinary story of courage, heroism, and in the end, betrayal. For more information, see the web site dedicated to this novel at: www.thebriefsun.com.