František Netušil

“Military service was a haven for bullies. A young soldier didn’t have a moment’s rest the first half year. Especially in the afternoon, when the officers went home and only the unit’s supervisor remained, the rookies had to serve the older soldiers. Every old sweat had his ‘young one’. I got two. And because I had a golden tooth at the time, I got one old sweat with a golden tooth. When he came back from leave, usually after ten p.m. and somewhat tipsy, I had to go find him food and so on. I didn’t take it well, mentally, and I tried to show to myself that I’m a total foot rag. For example, we sometimes got processed cheese singles, and I saw that some of the soldiers would chuck them under the lockers that stood on the long stone corridors. When this drunk came home from his leave and started ordering me about, I took a loaf of bread out, cut a slice, used a broomstick to pull the cheeses out, and spread them on the bread. Of course, they were covered in dirt, hairs, etc. It looked awful. Seeing that he was tipsy, he started eating, crunching it with his teeth. He asked me what was in it. I promptly replied that it had cheese singles and mushrooms, but that the mushrooms are probably a bit old and brittle. Luckily, he believed me.”

“The weather was horrible during the transfer. It was freezing, 10 to 15 degrees below zero [Celsius]. I rode in a V3S, which only had canvas covering the hull. There was a little stove up front by the cabin, but it had no chance whatsoever to heat the place up. We couldn’t move, and we were all frozen stiff. I was terribly cold. I had a Panzerfaust with me, and I knew I mustn’t lose it, because otherwise they’d surely lock me up in Sabinov [a military prison - ed.]. We knew we were going at the Poles. The officers talked about it, they’d let something slip from time to time. They were also frightened. Suddenly, we weren’t idiots and imbeciles. I won’t forget my commander’s words: ‘You’ll be glad you’ve got those steel pots on your heads, in the end. They’ll come in handy now. You’re going up live now.’ Just the thought of shooting at someone made me feel all queasy. But on the other hand, there were also those among us who liked it, who were looking forward to getting a shot out. They wanted to be in the thick of it.”