František Konečný

"It was a tough march and we were fully armed. So I was thinking what I could do to make it easier for me. The sun was very shining so I fell down on the ground. The other soldiers were shouting: ´Konečný has fallen down! I didn’t move and when the doctor came I popped out my eyes. He shouted: ´Water, water! ´ I was afraid that he might pour the water on me, but he let me smell something spicy. And then he gave me some alcohol. I liked that. Then he asked me if I’m able to walk again. I said no, so he put me on the trap and I rode on it behind the regiment."

"Then, as the front approached, this Austrian got up and ran out of the ditch. I was dressing up slowly, I couldn’t use my gun anymore and so I crawled out of the ditch like a snake. As I tried to jump a little the Russians started to fire at me. One step forward, two trees, to the right to the left and then I had to hide again. This way I have managed to escape from the hill. I did throw away my gun, but I forgot the bayonet with me. I saw this German 2nd Lt. and told myself that if I would have had the gun I would have shot him. He ran down the hill but up there on top of the hill was a grain field. So I walked through the field all the way on top of the hill. The Russians were firing at me and I could go any further so I got down to my knees and started to crawl. When I reached the top I heard the bang and the scream. That meant that somebody, some Pole who walked behind me got shot. At this very minute I started to think about my life. I used to go to this club and I also visited the Sunday school. Now as my memories flew through my head I told to myself: Oh, God, if I live thru this I will be serving you. And then I heard the Russians coming closer. I thought to myself that it’s good if they come now. Then I heard them leaving again. So I got up again and just as I gut up I saw about five Russians around me saying :´Hands up!´ And I told them:´I’m Czech, I’m not a German. ´ ´How come you are the Czech in German uniform?´ And there was also one old soldier and he said :´All right, all right, you will survive this."

"I was standing in a ditch together with one Austrian. He wasn’t a Fascist, he was a farmer. At home he had a big farm land. Then the firing began. I have opened the gun lid so the dust could fall in it. All of a sudden one Lt. jumped out asking me:´Why aren’t you shooting, you bloody dog? And I told him I couldn’t because I wasn’t able to close the lid on my gun. He turned around and walked away."

"It was very difficult. The hardest part took the infantry troop, because they had to obtain the hills. The Dukla Pass is rich in hills and the mountain tops, so when the infantry won one hill, they had to go all the way down and then up again on another hill. A lot of people got killed or hurt there. But Germans suffered worse loss than we did. We have been armed pretty well. It was impossible for the planes to operate there because of the hills, so the Soviet planes were not there. Not even the artillery could help much, so all the hard work left for the infantry. The main task of the searchers and spies was to locate the enemy and aim our fire at them."

"Well we existed somehow in the camp. I was hungry, starving. I was sent to work with the horses. They just brought the potatoes for the horses and because I was so hungry I ate few too. My I didn’t keep it in and on the way out I threw up. Next time I was helping to carry in the cabbage, so I also ate some. This time it was OK. Or some other time I stole the grouts from the horses. I used to soak it in hot water and then I ate it."

"We have reached the village and went to talk to the mayor. We told him that we are from the eastern army and that we don’t have anything to eat. And he told us we better help ourselves. We met some Poles and some Polish girls, but they didn’t want to give us anything. They didn’t have much of their own. So we have set up a trap. There was a farmer living near by who apparently had a son in England. And because I knew some English from the school we decided to pretend we were Englishmen. I would be talking and the rest of the boys would only nod yes, yes. And so we went to this farmer and told him we are from England and the Poles don’t want to give us anything to eat and asked him for some food, some potatoes perhaps. And he said: ´Well, if you are from England here is a bottle of something good prepared for when my son will come back. So we will drink it together.´ We wanted him to drink more than we did so he would get drunk. Then he gave us potatoes and something else and we made the Polish girls cook for us."