Zuzanna Sokołowska
Class 7
Wisznice, 19 June 1946
My most important wartime experience
It was a sad day at the end of July 1944, since we could hear gunfire and explosions everywhere from the morning. There was a commotion in the village. Everyone was preparing for the front line battle that was about to happen. People buried their belongings in the ground or took them from buildings to orchards and gardens in fear of fire. They were hiding in the woods with their possessions. I drove the pigs out into an alder tree grove.
The shooting came closer and closer. Some people fled to the forest and the rest stayed near the houses. Mum and I started to take the equipment from the house to the garden, and the bullets flew right past us – one, two, three. I yelled to my mother and we ran to the trench. The Germans, seeing the Russian army approaching, started to set fire to the houses and barns, to get their final revenge. We watched from the trench – the whole village was ablaze.
It was stuffy in the trench, children were crying, bullets flew over our heads, and grenades fell right behind us. Soil was getting into the trench. No one thought they would come out of the trench alive. Meanwhile, the Russian army started to move closer to the village, a fierce fight on both sides began. Seeing the danger, we ran into the woods. We kept strafing, and bullets flew past, and shells fell. With great fear, we reached the forest and hid in the trees there. But soon there was a fierce battle. The Germans began to withdraw from the village, and the Russian troops entered the village boldly and bravely, very cheerful that they had conquered the terrible enemy of all Europe.