Stanislav Bayer

“A barricade stood in front of Jedomělice. We saw a car coming from Libovice, and since at that time there were no other cars than German, we quickly disappeared into the forest. There were some birch trees, and we stopped there and waited. The Germans arrived to the barricade with a fully loaded car and looked around. They were two Gestapo men. When they saw us, one of them waited by their car, and the other headed toward us. We were almost unable to move, especially my uncle, the poor chap was all covered in sweat. The Gestapo man showed us a piece of paper with the name of their destination - Karlovy Vary. We advised him to drive towards Carda, then onto Hvězda, and the continue on the highway in the direction of Mšec. I was the only one to be able to speak German, because, as I said, we learnt German in school. I explained it to him. But he refused my advice, they intended to go down to Jedomělice instead, and then via Pozdeň, and Kalivody, in order to avoid the forests around Mšec, where partisans were already active. We suggested that they go in the direction of Carda and then take the road which would get them to the Jedomělice road behind the barricade. He ordered me to go with him and show him the direction. When he saw that I spoke the truth, he called the other man, they got into their car and left without even saying thank you. We didn’t wait to see what would happen to these Germans. Uncle and I hurried home. That day, German convoys were moving on the road from Slaný to Mšec, and they were escorted by an airplane, which was firing at the road to secure free passage for them. There was a partisan group in the forests near Mšec, and partisans were taking Germans prisoners. Some people managed to get hold of weapons. But few were able to handle them, and disasters thus often occurred. Mr. Pondělíček lost his life near the sheep-fold near Hvězda. He wanted to fire a bazooka at the Germans who were riding on the road towards Mšec, but the backblast tore his body apart. Some younger men in Libovice obtained firearms, they put on armbands and they set up partisan guards. There were guards standing at the crossroad, and other guards by the pond, and they opened fire at each other by mistake.”