Battle of the Dukla Pass

“In the rear of our battalion, on the left, there was a huge ravine which stretched downward, and the terrain was sloping like this. A very wide ravine. There was the town of Dukla, a Polish town, and the night before the Germans had advanced through this ravine and approached our defence, and they emerged about fifty metres from there, we were greatly outnumbered, and I was sent there to find out what the situation was. It was about two kilometres. As I was passing along this trench, the Germans accompanied me by mortar fire. One mine on the right, on the left, I dived to the ground and then I was jumping forward, and the next one, and another one, about four times, and then they stopped. And I got to the line of the defence, it was just some trenches, and the terrain was rising and I saw a potato field. And now there are German helmets. By my side there was an elite sniper, and I’m telling him: ´Look, don’t you see they are Germans?´ Jesus Christ! He started shooting and killed about two of them. The Germans stayed there and in no time, they launched a mighty attack against our defense. They took us by surprise, we could not even shoot. And two of them were after me. Any we were retreating to a forest. There was another potato field, so I lay down and fired a burst at the two of them. Both of them returned and remained in the defence. And I ran through a village at the edge of the forest, and there was an antitank gun. One artillery man. And he says: ´You will stay here with me, we need to shoot.´ I replied: ´I have a more important task. Where is your crew? I need to inform our staff about what had happened.´ So I ran to the staff and when I got there, there was an intense fire going on. A big mortar shell fell nearby. I was lucky I was in the trench, it dropped on a tree. Luckily I was inside the trench. And in the staff, I immediately reported to the intelligence officer that the Germans had taken us by surprise, that we had retreated and asked him to order fire there. And the mortar gunners started firing so precisely that the Germans retreated and withdrew to the gorge and they formed their defence. Our task was thus completed. And several days after, it was around the 28th I think, we liberated Dukla. And the Germans opened strong fire at us from the six-barrel mine-throwers. This is like a Katyusha. It was a terrible weapon.”

• his father defends Carpathian Ruthenia
• first attempt at escape over the border
• second attempt at illegal crossing and his arrest
• 1943 joins the Czechoslovak army
• Sokolovo, Buzuluk, Dukla
• after the war as an inspector at the Ministry of National Defence