Jan Nikerle

“What happened was that the army that stood on the ground simply fell apart. It totally disintegrated and whoever had the possibility to go back home did so. A lot of it's former members joined the partisans or Svoboda's army. Some were also caught and detained by the Germans. Our unit basically ceased to exist.”

“Our unit was called 'the skiing machine-gunners battalion'. However, gradually, we were fever and fever. The officers and the rank and file soldiers were being killed off on a daily basis and it became harder and harder to replace the dead with fresh reinforcements to keep this 150-men unit going. Eventually, we were barely able to fight and to hold the line. Then they sent in massive reinforcements – reservists from Turčanský Svätý Martin. They were some thirty or forty men strong and they spent two nights with us. Then, the first night of battle, when the artillery fire started, these freshmen were so scared they just fled head over heels. They retreated. Afterwards, our unit had to be discarded and I was assigned to one of the machine-gun companies of the 4th brigade.”

“We were more in jeopardy from the mortar and artillery fire. But as we were approaching the trenches, we also got under fire from the machine guns. We usually went to Liptovský Mikuláš in the night. It was practically impossible to get there during daytime as the Germans had the town in focus permanently.”