Dug-outs at Stalingrad

"The layer of frozen ground varied according to the weather and stretched down to as much as sixty or seventy centimetres. So we had to drill that and blast it with explosives. The frozen ground would crack, that was the only way to make it reachable. We pushed that away and of course we had to dig down into the warm layer straight away, so that it wouldn't freeze up as well. We had to dig down night or day no matter the weather, had to keep digging. After completing the pit we had to see to the bunk beds, or whatever the technical term is, I dunno. And there was a problem with roofing, as their wasn't any hard material, it was hard to get, so we just used canvas, tent sheets. We were happy when they brought in any materials, some logs so that we could insulate and cover the dug-out up. When we got that done, we had trouble with heating. We had a small camp stove, but nothing to put in it. So we collected dry grass and used that for heating. One screamed to stop it immediately, that it was impossible to breath, another wanted to keep on heating as he was cold."

• born in Pilsen in 1923
• fought at Stalingrad as a member of the Red Army
• 1944, joined the Czechoslovak army
• fought at Dukla, also at Branisko, Liptovský Mikuláš, Malá Fatra, Fryšták, Pivín u Prostějova
• remained in the army after the war
• studied at a topography school and artillery training centre
• after serving in various crews he retired in 1978