Michal Fedorko

“The forest was ablaze from the Katyusha fire. There were many dead and wounded Germans and we were advancing. At the edge of the forest we stopped, and there was preparation for the attack on Kiev. An order came, and suddenly the Germans attacked a Soviet unit, and now we were also asked to sent our reconnoiters to help. There we saw five captives; they were from the place which had been taken. The Germans did not even let us talk, because they were taking them for interrogation. We prepared for this attack: a green signal rocket was fired and we launched the attack on Kiev. It was a flat land, and when we arrived there there was an antitank trench, and the tanks nor the infantry were able to cross it. It was too deep; the sappers quickly had to make some crossings. As we were advancing, all were rushing forward in the main direction. There were two battalions, and there were a few houses and strong resistance. This battalion stayed in the rear before they could put down the German resistance. We advanced towards Kiev. We saw the Germans getting onto a truck and retreating, and we were on the outskirts of Kiev and advancing to the city centre. By the evening, our task was completed. In this situation, we were afraid to get seriously wounded. We thought that if one were to lose his leg for instance, it would have been better to be shot. But we were successful, and in the battle for Kiev our losses were minimal. At dawn we moved to the other side of Kiev, and there at the gate we received food and pursued the Germans in the direction of Vasilkov. On the road, the Germans were already writing letters, parting with their families.They had little chance of getting home, so they were saying good-bye to their parents, and those of us who could speak German were translating it for us. When we arrived to Vasilkovo, there was a well, but it was poisoned, and there were about 19 soldiers who drank there and got poisoned. There was also Barachta, a sort of defense. So we moved into defense from Barachta, and there we selected a unit of honor for Kiev. President Beneš was to arrive to Kiev, that is why it was called the unit of honor. I was chosen, and we drove the 40 kilometers back to Kiev.”

“In the rear of our battalion, on the left, there was a huge ravine which stretched downward. The terrain was sloped like this. It was 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 defense. They emerged about fifty meters from there and we were greatly outnumbered, so I was sent to find out what the situation was. It was about two kilometers away. As I was passing along this trench, the Germans accompanied me by mortar fire. One mine on the right and on the left, so I dove to the ground and then I was jumping forward and avoiding the next one, and another one, about four times until they stopped. I got to the line of the defense and it was just some trenches. 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. We retreated 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 defense. I ran through a village at the edge of the forest, and there was an antitank gun with one artillery man. 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 has 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. 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. The mortar gunners started firing so precisely that the Germans retreated and withdrew to the gorge and they formed their defense. Our task was thus completed. Several days after, it was around the 28th I think, we liberated Dukla. The Germans opened strong fire at us from the six-barrel mine-throwers. This is like a Katyusha. It was a terrible weapon.”

“So I went with them to the Soviet Union. As soon as we crossed the border, they separated us, sent a Red Army guard there, and I was separated from them. There they assembled us (on the other side of the Beskydy Mountains) with forests all around, and there was a big house with a border guard. They brought us there, about fifty of us whom they captured, and said that they had to send us back. We started protesting, claiming that we came expecting their help, and now they were giving us over to the fascists? ´We ask your commander to explain this to us.´ They did not move. ´No, shoot us all, but we are not going anywhere!´ The older soldiers objected so fiercely. A colonel then came and began explaining that there were many spies and the situation was difficult to understand, so therefore they could not let us stay there. They would send guards with us who would take us back over the border, and that we should fight and organize the resistance activity there. They would then drop weapons for us and liberate us. This was his brief speech to us. They gave us food, and at night they sent guards with dogs with us in the front, in the middle, and in the rear. By coincidence some of my friends from grammar school were there, so we made a group and I told them I would run away. I said I wanted to go pee. It was all right, but I had to go with an armed guard. I did not want to, but he said, ´I will shoot!´ So I had to get up, and it took us a long time to catch up with them, the groups were stretched over a long distance. I found the boys, but they were guarding us, they did not let us walk in groups, and we did not even know where we were. Suddenly we see a steep slope and we look to the right and see a border stone: Polish-Czechoslovak Republic. We lay down and listened. There was nothing, only the steep downhill slope. There were hills around, and it was already night. All of a sudden we hear dogs barking. A guy was shepherding sheep and we approached him. And he immediately said, ´You are escaping to Russia?´ We said, ´No, we are looking for work.´ And he pointed to us the direction to Nižné Verecky. He pointed to the right, so we set out that way. At dawn, the secret police were already there intercepting those who were returning. They were shouting at us to surrender. We saw guns, so we turned left, and we passed by this town and arrived to a village. I don’t even remember its name now...”

“I was nominated into the command of the field army in Příbram. But I did not want to go there, because I had a nice flat in Prague. So I turned it down, but I had a friend who helped me. He was tough, a reconnoiter. He told them, ´He went through the entire front, and you will now claim that he is unreliable, and so on. I will show you!´ His name was Pavel Drbal. He pushed it through. Thus I got to the ministry, but I did not get into the school. When I was decorated, there was the Chief of Staff, and the political education officer, who had been an Interbrigade member, and who had been imprisoned. They made him a chief officer for the personal administration in the army. He asked us how we found our duty. We told him that we were good when it came to work, but when there were positions of command in the headquarters, they claimed we lacked military education. I thanked him, and he looked at me. I was standing in the back, and I said, ´Comrade deputy, this is what happened to me. I did apply to receive the education, but unfortunately the commander did not reply to my application neither in the positive nor negative way. He passed it on to the personal affairs officer, who told me to go to the Ministry...´ ´I will look into it. Write your application form for Brno, and you will go there for a year. You will get university education for higher commanders.´ So I went through it, and from there I got to the Ministry. This colleague of mine arranged it for me. Basically, I was a nonpartisan there. They were looking at me, because before I had to do everything, and now I was going on inspection visits, and I was in charge of the basic order organization. If I had given a unit an unsatisfactory classification, it could have been excellent in artillery or combat readiness, but it would still have been deemed unsatisfactory.”