Vítězslav Velc

“In August 1968 we were visiting relatives, my granddad’s sisters, in Vienna. It wasn’t difficult to travel to Austria at the time; we didn’t get any foreign exchange, but that didn’t matter. When I woke up in the morning of 21 August, an eight-year-old boy, I found my parents and aunts glued to the television. I thought they were watching some war movie. I watched Wenceslas Square, tanks burning. Those are well-known pictures, how the Czechs set their fuel tanks on fire. And I just didn’t get why they shot at the museum on Wenceslas Square. There were shots of dead bodies covered by flags. My father decided we had to returned to Bohemia without a moment’s delay because we had relatives there, namely my grandparents. At first, my aunts took our car key, saying they wouldn’t let us go off into a war. But after my father insisted, they gave us back the key. It was interesting at the borders because we were the only ones to drive back from Austria. The Austrian customs officer even tried to persuade us that there was no use in going to Czechoslovakia, and he pointed out two tanks that were standing on the Czechoslovak side of the border with their guns aimed at Austria. They Czech customs officer also asked us if we’re serious about going back. When we nodded, he opened up the boom gate and let us through to where our customs officers were accompanied by Russian soldiers.”

“As the leader of OT-65 I was given the order to take command of three armoured transports of the reconnaissance platoon. The chemical OT-65 was not armed, but the recon OT-65s had machine guns in their turret. And also, unlike the chemists, the scouts were supposedly good shots. We were tasked with capturing a square in one Polish town, the name had Gora in it. The officers already had the maps and aerial shots ready. There were three streets leading into the square, which were to be taken up by one OT-65 each, with live bullets of course. When I asked if we were to shoot at the Poles, the officers replied: ‘Corporal, if they shoot at you, will you smile back at them, or what?’ To which I replied: ‘I don’t know, and why should they shoot at us?’ ‘The Poles are a warrior nation, they have shotguns in their homes. Do whatever you want to there, but if you let something get through that village, you’ll be the one in trouble.’ As a twenty-year-old, it gave me the chills to think that we should shot at people. I went to the recon boys to brief them about our mission. They stared at me just as surprised. Luckily, they revoked the order before we set off.”