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but unlike them, they received their directives from the exiled
Polish government. e majority of their time had been spent
on horse riding and in endless parades and marches. Leiby saw
them sitting for hours on end in the shade of the pine trees,
reading and listening to the British BBC broadcasts on their
radio. e clerks in the partisan general headquarters harbored
some serious doubts about the loyalty of these Poles and were
reluctant to let them join any signi cant assignments.

But Alexander was di erent. He was an authentic, patriotic
Pole, who really and truly desired to ght back at the Germans.
He always tried to merge with the other units who went out on
sabotage missions and proved himself to be alert and e ective.
His positive qualities were particularly patent when compared
to the infuriating apathy of the other members of his troop.

Facing the Red Army invasion of east Poland, the A.K.
underground movement began open warfare against the Soviet
partisans on the eastern front and in response, the Soviet
headquarters sent orders to liquidate the Polish troop who
received instructions from the Polish government-in-exile in
London.

Every detachment had to allocate men to carry out the mission,
the Bielski troop included. Leiby was upset that the troop who
had been their neighbors were about to be attacked: from time
to time they had lent him some interesting books and had also
allowed him to ride on their horses, which were far superior
to the horses that the other partisan groups had to boast of.
Michael, his fellow partisan, objected to Leiby’s attitude. “ e
hands of the A.K. members are lthy with Jewish blood,” he
reproached Leiby. “Just ask Akiva, who ed by the skin of his
teeth from Warsaw, while his friends, Jewish men who served
in the A.K. were murdered by their very own combat partners.