Communists: Roses for the West Germans

All day long a light mist fell on Warsaw, forcing a cancellation of a flyover by Polish air force jet fighters. The bad weather did not, however, inhibit the inevitable big parade. Down the broad Marzalkowska Street rumbled row after row of Soviet-made T-54 and T-55 tanks, followed by self-propelled artillery and mobile missiles. Next came squads of young Polish athletes marching in tight formations that spelled the Roman numerals XXV. The occasion was the 25th anniversary of the establishment of Poland's Communist government.

On the reviewing stand stood Party Leader Wladyslaw Gomulka, who in July 1944 as chief of...

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