Slovakia, Autumn 1944 - p.4: Our Platoon
About our platoon (čata):
We were a small part of the Jegorov Brigade (named after Soviet army captain and partisan leader Alexei Jegorov). Most of us wore a mix of new and old items of Slovak army uniforms given to us at our original training base in September. In the field we had two leaders or commanders. Neither did any outright leading or commanding though there was a measure of order and discipline when they divided us into squads. One was a former non-commissioned officer in the Tiso-era Slovak army. He now wore an officer's uniform with a diagonal Sam-Browne belt and captain's insignia on his shoulders. He was a pretend-officer, like many in those days. The other was a Ukrainian political commissar in civilian clothes. He was the only one in our group who had a "Pepesha" Soviet submachine gun.
There were three girls in their late teens or early twenties, also in civilian clothes (blouses, skirts, cardigans). They did some cooking and once I saw them at an open fire, over a steaming kettle, washing a pile of laundry.
Our medic happened to be a real medical doctor, a Jewish refugee from Austria. There was in our unit a boy about my age named Janko Burian. About two years earlier we two served on the garbage detail in the Sered concentration-labour camp. Ivan-Vrútky and two other guys were armed with light machine guns, similar to the Bren guns. The rest of us were equipped with CZ Brno (Mauser-type) rifles.
About our location:
Our new camp was at the end of a valley, at the base of a high hill. I was part of a squad that was detailed to spend much of the next three weeks up on the ridge. At the start we hacked and scratched shallow depressions in the rock-hard earth. While up there we were out in the open, exposed to the October weather night and day. For protection against the elements we had only our army coats,blankets and side caps (lodička). Drinking water and meager food (soup, bread) was brought up to us from the base camp. We washed or pretended to wash in a creek that passed near the sawmill, the base camp in the valley.
Looking north-west from our hill-top position one could see the village of Jaseno and the town of Martin. Its official or full name at that time was Turčiansky Sväty Martin. This town was in German hands. Occasionally German patrols came on trucks into Jaseno, on other days our people ambled down into the village, mostly in search of food. My turn came on October 16th.
We were a small part of the Jegorov Brigade (named after Soviet army captain and partisan leader Alexei Jegorov). Most of us wore a mix of new and old items of Slovak army uniforms given to us at our original training base in September. In the field we had two leaders or commanders. Neither did any outright leading or commanding though there was a measure of order and discipline when they divided us into squads. One was a former non-commissioned officer in the Tiso-era Slovak army. He now wore an officer's uniform with a diagonal Sam-Browne belt and captain's insignia on his shoulders. He was a pretend-officer, like many in those days. The other was a Ukrainian political commissar in civilian clothes. He was the only one in our group who had a "Pepesha" Soviet submachine gun.
There were three girls in their late teens or early twenties, also in civilian clothes (blouses, skirts, cardigans). They did some cooking and once I saw them at an open fire, over a steaming kettle, washing a pile of laundry.
Our medic happened to be a real medical doctor, a Jewish refugee from Austria. There was in our unit a boy about my age named Janko Burian. About two years earlier we two served on the garbage detail in the Sered concentration-labour camp. Ivan-Vrútky and two other guys were armed with light machine guns, similar to the Bren guns. The rest of us were equipped with CZ Brno (Mauser-type) rifles.
About our location:
Our new camp was at the end of a valley, at the base of a high hill. I was part of a squad that was detailed to spend much of the next three weeks up on the ridge. At the start we hacked and scratched shallow depressions in the rock-hard earth. While up there we were out in the open, exposed to the October weather night and day. For protection against the elements we had only our army coats,blankets and side caps (lodička). Drinking water and meager food (soup, bread) was brought up to us from the base camp. We washed or pretended to wash in a creek that passed near the sawmill, the base camp in the valley.
Looking north-west from our hill-top position one could see the village of Jaseno and the town of Martin. Its official or full name at that time was Turčiansky Sväty Martin. This town was in German hands. Occasionally German patrols came on trucks into Jaseno, on other days our people ambled down into the village, mostly in search of food. My turn came on October 16th.
posted by Observer at 10:15 PM
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