Slovakia, Autumn 1944 - p.3: Downhill
October 5, 1944 Thursday
Lack of proper sleep, overcrowding, hunger, boredom and tension. Some of the guys, even the youngest boys, were puffing on cigarettes to quiet their gnawing empty stomachs. I did not smoke at that time. There was no food except our dwindling supply of bread. We had drinking water but I don't remember from where, perhaps it came from a cistern. The latrine was in an unspeakable condition. --- Another long day and night in stench.
October 6, 1944 Friday
The clouds and fog started to lift by mid-morning. We left the hut and began a slow walk over flat terrain, what appeared to be the ridge of a high mountain. After a while we moved, slipped and skidded down steep slopes, down on the northwestern side of the mountain range. We were stretched out in a long, mostly single-file line. A few of the guys struggled with extra loads and had to be relieved. I had on a heavy army coat and carried a knapsack, rucksack, rifle cartridges, a few handgranades and my rifle. That was my standard load. For a while I also carried a CZ Brno light machine gun. It belonged to another Ivan, a student from the town Vrutky whom I have befriended a few days earlier. We lived together through dangerous moments later in the month. I will refer to him as Ivan-Vrutky in the further pages of this narrative.
We descended into a narrow valley in full sunshine and after some more marching the Velka Fatra mountains were left behind us. The valley broadened, opened up and in the early afternoon we came to an orchard. There was chaos. We threw all our gear on the ground and climbed on the apple and pear trees like a swarm of locusts.
Our final stop was reached before evening. It was an abandoned small sawmill, the long main building open on two sides was to be our new base camp. --- Ivan-Vrutky and I volunteered for sentry duty from midnight to daybreak. That is how started our real partisan life.
Lack of proper sleep, overcrowding, hunger, boredom and tension. Some of the guys, even the youngest boys, were puffing on cigarettes to quiet their gnawing empty stomachs. I did not smoke at that time. There was no food except our dwindling supply of bread. We had drinking water but I don't remember from where, perhaps it came from a cistern. The latrine was in an unspeakable condition. --- Another long day and night in stench.
October 6, 1944 Friday
The clouds and fog started to lift by mid-morning. We left the hut and began a slow walk over flat terrain, what appeared to be the ridge of a high mountain. After a while we moved, slipped and skidded down steep slopes, down on the northwestern side of the mountain range. We were stretched out in a long, mostly single-file line. A few of the guys struggled with extra loads and had to be relieved. I had on a heavy army coat and carried a knapsack, rucksack, rifle cartridges, a few handgranades and my rifle. That was my standard load. For a while I also carried a CZ Brno light machine gun. It belonged to another Ivan, a student from the town Vrutky whom I have befriended a few days earlier. We lived together through dangerous moments later in the month. I will refer to him as Ivan-Vrutky in the further pages of this narrative.
We descended into a narrow valley in full sunshine and after some more marching the Velka Fatra mountains were left behind us. The valley broadened, opened up and in the early afternoon we came to an orchard. There was chaos. We threw all our gear on the ground and climbed on the apple and pear trees like a swarm of locusts.
Our final stop was reached before evening. It was an abandoned small sawmill, the long main building open on two sides was to be our new base camp. --- Ivan-Vrutky and I volunteered for sentry duty from midnight to daybreak. That is how started our real partisan life.
posted by Observer at 9:23 PM
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