“The training we had in England was for Commandos. We were trained in how to kill with a knife. They had a plan to drop us over France and let us fight in the mainland. Then they abandoned this plan and used us during the invasion of France.”
“None of us were injured but there was a girl passing by the church who was blown up by a mine. The mine made a hole in the tank at the place where the driver was. He was not hurt but the tank could not go on so they had to tow us to Dunkerque.”
“The French who were there with us ran away.” Mr Šlosarčík’s wife: “But it was not a fully trained army. Those were members of the French resistance. They were singing there and the Germans must have heard that. One of my commanders said that if he got one of them, he would shoot him. And when the shooting began. Those French ran away and there were only Czechs and Canadians left to fight.” E.Š. “They ran away like rabbits.”
“During the siege of Dunkerque we couldn’t use the tanks. It was flooded all around the fortress so we had to go on small boats in the night. In the fights you are not afraid. There is no time for fear and one gets used to it that there is no fear.”
Emil Šlosarčík was born on 25th September 1916 in Ostrava-Heřmanice. Before the beginning of the second world war and the demobilisation, he joined the Czechoslovak army to serve his army duty. After the proclamation of the Protectorate in July 1939, he crossed the borders to Poland and joined the newly formed Czechoslovak army units. He was admitted in by Ludvik Svoboda who later became the general of the Czechoslovak army. He was transferred to Africa, where he was trained and fought at the French front shortly before the capitulation of France. He was then sent to England on a boat and joined the infantry. He took part in the siege of Dunkerque and stayed in the area as a tank commander until the end of the war. In 1957 he was seriously injured during work in coal mines. After 1989 he was promoted to major. He died on January 9, 2008.
