Czesław Karwacki
Class 5b
Wisznice, Włodawa district
19 June 1946
My wartime experience
When I was a little boy, the Russian-German war started. Planes were flying in the air, dropping bombs. There was fertilizer lying on the field, the plane started dropping bombs. Near the road three girls were grazing cows and when the pilot dropped a bomb, it killed [one] girl. When the girl was killed, people went to collect her brains and bones. In the meadow, people were raking hay, and the plane dropped leaflets saying: “Run away from the meadow, I’m going to bomb it.” My brother and I were plowing the field at the time, so we hid in the bush and prayed that the bomb would not kill [us].
When the front was passing, I was sitting in the shelter. In the village, there were cannons firing at the Russians, and I was in the forest with the cows. When I was grazing the cows, Ukrainians came and crossed the river.
The next day, there was no more army, there was just a single soldier walking. He came to us and asked for food. Then he ate and went on. In five minutes, a Russian reconnaissance force came in, followed by cars and cannons. They reached the forest, dug in there and started to shoot their PPShs, handguns and cannons. At some point, the Soviets came to the shelter, and I slept there – they put a rifle in and woke me up, and asked if there were any Germans [there]. The other one came in and asked for some bread. Then Russian soldiers passed through the village all day long.