Destination England -
Czech Border Battle
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11. Czech Border Battle & Capture
On 11th June 1940, having made a tearful departure from my hosts and
the young ladies, we left Lwow and went train towards the Czechoslovak
border. On the way we stopped at Yusek's relations' farmhouse to
collect a service revolver and some ammunition which was hidden
there. Since there was only one gun between us, we agreed to
carry it in turns. We also devised a special code to be used
should the necessity arise. There were two separate codes.
The first was "Yusek Z 30" which meant "Shoot in the air
only". The second code was "Yusek Z 31" which meant "Shoot to
kill".
After spending a night on the farm, and because we were approaching the
'border belt', we decided to continue the rest of our journey on
foot. After walking a few miles we were stopped by two militia
men wearing rifles on their shoulders, who asked where we were going
and demanding to see our papers. Not being satisfied with our
answers, they ordered us to walk in front of them to the militia
headquarters. After walking a few hundred yards, they asked if we
were carrying any guns. Instead of answering them, we turned
round, Yusek pulling out the gun while at the same time I put my hand
into my chest pocket to fool them into thinking I had a gun
there. We told them to throw their rifles away and walk in front
of us, but in the opposite direction to the one we were going
previously. After half a mile we told them to go home and not to
bother us any more.
What we didn't anticipate however was that after returning to their
village, they mobilised many of the inhabitants, who began to follow
us. Being fully laden, we couldn't walk fast, especially now the
hills were becoming steeper and higher. Hearing the shouting and
whistling coming closer and closer, we decided to hide in the nearest
bushes. After a while, one of the searchers, a young girl,
discovered me and raised the alarm . This brought the rest of the
villagers, who dragged me out of my hiding place and, when they had me
surrounded, demanded me to tell them where my friend was hiding.
I told my captors that I didn't know but they insisted on me calling
out to him. So I started calling: "Yusek Z 31, come out!"
After a while, they all joined in and started yelling "Yusek Z 31, come
out!", and he did indeed come out, with his gun blazing! In my
whole life I never saw people disappear as quickly as they did then!
After our 'company' departed from us in such great haste, we continued
our journey for another two hours before retiring for the
night. The next morning, after our first breakfast during this
expedition, we began to climb the foothills, followed later on by the
actual mountains, reaching heights of 3000 feet and more. We
stayed under the cover of trees where possible, trying to avoid open
spaces in case we were spotted by border patrols. We were now
only approximately 5 miles from the Czech border. As I mentioned
earlier, we had agreed to take turns at carrying the gun which was on
alternate days. Today it was my turn, so I was carrying the gun
and some of the ammunition, about 200 rounds. Yusek was, for a
change, wearing the overcoat my father bought me. To make the
going more easy, and against our previous rules, we decided to make use
of a narrow path leading uphill. Approaching the top of this
path we noticed two bayonets, and then the rifles to which they were
attached, ascending from the other side of the hill. We soon
realised that it was a Russian patrol and immediately slid down the
slope into some bushes. Soon after that, two soldiers passed by
us, singing.
As a consequence of that scare, we decided to go into woods again,
following compass directions. We were prepared for anything, even
for dogs or local 'natives' (bears). We carried ground pepper to
put any dogs off our scent or with which to spray their eyes if
attacked. As we were walking, we suddenly heard a rifle shot,
which was echoed and magnified in the mountain terrain. This
first shot was soon followed by another and this time the bullet hit
the tree nearest to me, causing me to jump aside. As I had been
standing on a slope, I twisted my ankle. Being unable to carry
on, I called to Yusek to pass me the rest of ammunition that he was
carrying and to get away while I covered him with my gunfire. He
complied since he couldn't help me by staying. Raising his hand
in a farewell gesture, he disappeared and that was the last time I ever
saw him, or my overcoat that he was carrying for me for that matter!
I kept firing while I still had ammunition, which was for about two
hours. I didn't know how many of the 'Ruskies' were out there,
and they didn't know how many of us were there either. One thing
was for sure the ring encircling me was getting tighter all the
time.
When my ammo ran out, I kissed the rosary which I always carried with
me, buried the gun in the bushes and surrendered. Soon I was
surrounded by soldiers, their bayonets digging into my ribs and
back. They proceeded to tie my hands with some rope and asked
what I had done with my gun and where the rest of us were. My
answer was that I didn't have any gun. I told them that my
companions were shooting to trying and cover me because I had hurt my
ankle and couldn't run, and that there were ten of them. As a
result of my 'honest' response, about twenty of them went in pursuit of
those 'missing ten', and the other twenty (pity I hadn't known that
I had so many secret admirers, otherwise might have given up sooner!),
escorted me to the nearest road where a military lorry was
waiting. They loaded me onto the lorry, forced me into a sitting
position on the floor and tied my hands behind me, which I undid during
the one hour journey. Two Russian soldiers sat on a bench facing
me with their bayonets touching my chest. I had a mind to jump
between them, pushing them both overboard and try to escape, but the
thought of my injured ankle forced me to abandon that suicidal plan,who
knows maybe for the better! Eventually we arrived at a place
called Nadworna, where I was locked in single cell at the local jail
and where I stayed for three weeks.
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© Nick Bailey & Krys Bailey (nee Stendera) & Jozef Stendera
2013-2020