Some help from Mother Russia....

[r.morrison]

Gentlemen....I just received a book this week entitled "The Girl In Blue" War Stories From Russia, written by Alex Prokich. Mr. Prokich was a math teacher back in my high school years of the late 60's. There were rumours of his experiences during WW11, but they turned out just be that. This book however reveals his real experiences during the war. After fighting for the Romanian Army, under German command, he and 32 others escaped to the Russian Army while fighting on the Russian Front. Mr. Prokich was shortly promoted to major and was placed in command of a most unusual formation: The 2nd Independent Student Rifle Brigade directly attached to "Stavka", the Supreme High Command.
His command contained approximately 4500 troops, approx. 10 American M4 Shermans, 2 Valentine Tanks manufactured in Canada and 8 excellent T34 Soviet Tanks.
A number of my former high school buddies are trying to get some more insite into "The 2nd Independent Student Rifle Brigade" and hopefully Mr. Prokich's involvement.
I know from my experience on this forum, there are a couple of Russian members and hopefully they could shed some light on this little bit of history. And if there are any Yugoslavian Members here, perhaps they could shed some light on their involvement in the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, as Mr Prokich was involved in track and field, according to a photo provided to me.

Alex is currently still alive at 95 and lives in southern Ontario. Your help would be appreciated......Robert