Eve-Marie,
Krasnovodsk was a Soviet port on the Caspian Sea, a regular supply route for oil and other war materiels, including from the USA, via Iran. Ships would arrive in Krasnovodsk full, and depart empty. These were?the best solution for evacuating tens of thousands of military and civilians out of the USSR and?into the British sphere of support and control,?where the Polish Army was to defend the Middle Eastern oil fields from possible Nazi German attack. The ships would take a couple of days to cross the?the Caspian Sea and?anchor off the?port of Pahlevi, Iran. which was?then under joint Soviet and British occupation.
The evacuations from Krasnovodsk were organized by the Polish military with the cooperation of the Soviet military. If your uncle Bolek enlisted in the Polish Army in the USSR, he would have crossed en masse by ship from Krasnovodsk in April or August 1942. The land crossing only consisted of a couple of thousand civilians by truck, I believe from orphanages in the USSR. Someone can provide those exact details, which I do no have at hand.?
Of course, intrepid travellers may also have made their own way to Krasnovodsk or escaped from the USSR by various other routes, though this would have been arduous and rare.
I hope this sheds a bit of light...
Regards
Stefan Wisniowski
SYDNEY
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