The
Long Walk by Slavomir Rawicz
Review
by - Roberta Draper, Pro Staff - Trail Master Outdoors
THE LONG WALK
THE TRUE STORY OF A TREK TO FREEDOM
A NOVEL BY SLAVOMIR RAWICZ
There have been many books written about the persecution and hardships
of people displaced by the supposed cleansing of different races. In
this case it has to do with the Polish people.
I found this book a refreshing change from those of entire groups of
people. This is written by a single individual about the hardships
he suffered while in captivity. The amazing part of this tale is
that he lived through all this travail and was then able to write about
it. A very interesting and heart warming tale.
This tale begins with thousands of men being transported 3000 miles
by train, then being shackled to a chain to walk behind lorries over
800 miles with only bread and coffee to sustain them. After this
walk they were then forced to build barracks in which they were housed.
The author and six other prisoners escaped this encampment in Upper
Siberia with nothing more than some bread that had been hoarded from
the meager rations given to them. This along with a hand made axe
and a very few other tools were what these seven used to travel over
4000 miles through Mongolia, across the Gobi Desert, through Tibet, to
the foothills of the Himalayans and finally reaching India. It
teaches about how to survive with nothing but skill and guts. There
are many days or weeks with no food or water. When they do encounter
these necessities the need to hoard is uppermost in their minds. They
are not sure when the next opportunity to eat or drink may come so what
would normally be consumed at one time is meted out over three or four
days. This is done in order to survive the next period without
food or water.
It teaches us how to survive the harshest conditions possible, with
the only help coming from an occasional encounter with total strangers
late in their journey. They travel both without any resources of
clothing or food and water. This is a testament to the will of mankind
to survive no matter what conditions they are in.
An incredible journey in which seven started out, they picked up one
on the way but only five made it through. It is a very sad story
but such a story of survival in some of the most unhospitable landscape
you could possibly imagine. It shows just what man can do when
faced with living off the land during the cold winter of Siberia and
also the hot Gobi Desert.
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