night transfer

“When operating the radio device, you always had to watch your time. We were rotating after two hours of sleep – one was sleeping and the other one had watch. The time was passing by. It was hard. You had to move all of your gear and radio equipment – the radio set, the battery, your rifle, a shovel, it was 17 kilos altogether. You had to carry all of this with you at all times. I was very tired during the transfers. Once I wanted to rest for a while so put the radio set on a tree stump. This stump held for a while but as it was rotten inside it suddenly gave way and I rolled down a 15-20 meter slope with all of the radio equipment. They didn’t see me for a while as the slope was densely overgrown with shrubs. I had to climp all the way up again. It’s interesting, however, that although I was badly scratched and bruised, after we put in the battery back in the radio set it worked perfectly well. It survived the fall!”

• Born on September 28, 1921, in the village of Kupičov in Volhynia
• In the years 1943 to 1944 he helped to protect the village from Hitler’s army
• In April 1944 he was put to training in the town of Luck in the Ukraine and then in Bessarabia
• He was with the signalmen, then with the radio operators and eventually he became a member of the 2nd infantry battalion
• He took part in the battles for Dukla
• He served in the army till 1946
• After the war he worked in agriculture