Rudolf Krauspe

"After the liberation [of Carpathian Ruthenia] by the Soviet army – sometime in the beginning of October – recruitment into the army was organized. My cousin was a former officer of the Czechoslovak army. Thanks to him I applied for the Czechoslovak army. In a village somewhere in Poland, they simply dressed us up and sent us to a short-term training straight away as preparation for the front."

"Out from nowhere, I have gotten into a huge artillery fire. It was so huge, the horse was shot so I immediately jumped down from it and laid down. The horse was unfortunately killed. And then, I experienced – although as I said, I didn’t use to fear much – a half of an hour of such fear – I felt like a small mouse running to the right, to the left. I didn’t know which way to go, once it fell down at the right, than in front of me, than behind me. Supposedly, the horse was visible, it was in winter, there was snow. So at that time I really hugely afraid of losing my life."

"The first wounded and dead soldier was unfortunately self-inflicted. Near Stropkov, he was repairing a Russian cylinder automatic and the weapon misfired and he was shot twice in the lungs. And I remember even today that he wore a leather vest and there was a hole from the bullet in it. Superstition ordered – take from the dead, you will be protected. It probably helped me, I often got into a heavy mortar and artillery fire and presumably, the vest saved me."

"As a medic, several times I had to insert a small hose into someone’s throat to enable breathing. I remember one case when they brought a wounded man, who normally passed shells and by accident got in front of the snout of an anti-tank cannon just when it was shooting. Yet he got to us by himself. I could see right through his right lung – nothing left, so it missed the heart – but of course he died after a very short time."