Czesław Kulik
Class 7
Wisznice, 19 June 1946
My most important wartime experience
It was [in] 1944. One day, when I was taking my horses to a pasture, I noticed some noise near the forest. I decided to look around, and I saw Germans cutting down birches, digging holes and setting up cannons. When I got the horses to the ford, I abandoned the old mare, and rode the young one back home. When I arrived, I told my parents that the Germans were getting ready for battle. Father said: “Get all the livestock to the other bank”. I barely managed to do that, and they already started firing their cannons, it was [so] loud that my ears were ringing. I came home to the sight of my father digging out a shelter. I yelled: “Let’s run into the woods, there is going to be a battle!” Suddenly, I noticed the sound of projectiles flying. I hid with my parents, and people were walking around. When one projectile fell, it wounded my neighbor and many, many people. Then came down another one, then [another], and suddenly I didn’t know where I was. And here I heard: “ Vperiod, boytsy, zdobyvaymy!” [“Forward, soldiers, let’s get them!”] and finally the Russians drove the Germans away.