Colonel Urban Ocilka

„There was a tough river-crossing – the river was deep with high shores and rocks and it was impossible to put a pontoon there. The infantry crossed the river and attacked. But the artillerists couldn’t cross the river. The Germans routed our artillery. We set up the cannons on the other side of the river. All of a sudden I saw a tank approaching us. We fired at it but the first shot was too short. The second shot was too long again. I grew tired of it. Only the third shot hit the tank. But there was already another tank approaching our left flank. The tank stopped and the crew climbed out. We started to shell them with grenades. We destroyed the second tank as well. It was a great success – we destroyed two German tanks. The whole crew of our cannon was decorated.”

“What was your hardest assignment on the Czechoslovak territory?” „Dukla! The fiercest fighting took place at Dukla. The Germans hanged on there. They wouldn’t let us through that pass because they knew very well that as soon as we pass we would drive them out of Slovakia. They apportioned further army units. There were so many casualties in the Dukla battles! The Soviets lost 80 thousand men there, the Germans 52 thousand Němci and the Czechoslovak army corps 6,500 men. All in all, Dukla cost 138 000 human lives. The price for Dukla was very high indeed.”

„I became a rheumatic from it. I was treated in a hospital in Rožumberok. From there I got back to the school in Liptovský Mikuláš. The doctor told me: “You need to undergo treatment, I’ll send you to the spa in Piešťany.” So I went to Piešťany. By that time the Germans attacked the Soviet Union. In the spa we listened to the radio and learned that the German armies were 192 divisions strong and that the attack was divided into several directions: One group was north-bound heading to Leningrad, the central group headed to Moscow and the southern group marched to Rostov. As we were sitting around that radio set I said that I was persuaded that the Germans are going to loose the war with Russia. Then I got afraid, however, because there was among us one German Slovak who came from the garrison in Rožumberok. I told him that one professor from Vienna wrote a newspaper article in which he claimed that the Germans were proceeding like a blind elephant and that they would throw themselves into catastrophe and that Germany would be divided into four parts. This German couldn’t stand me – he threatened to report me to the chief for subverting the moral of the troop.”

„We transferred to Jaslo on November 19, 1944. We showed them a perfectly prepared and coordinated attack. Under the cover of the night we occupied our firing positions, dug the trenches, brought in ammunition etc. On January 15, 1945 we started a massive offensive on a huge strip of the battlefront. The Germans got a monumental beating there and our artillery unit was part of this. We participated in a glorious victory! I was so proud that everything worked out so well for us.”

„My mother and I were against the Slovak state. The more states separate, the worse. I personally was for the Czechoslovak Republic. We were against the Germans already by the time they annexed the Sudetenland. I always knew that if I get into the army and they send me to fight against the Soviet Union, I’ll run away. And I did it and got to the Czechoslovak army.”