19 June 1946
Ryszard Osypiuk
Class 5b
Wisznice, Włodawa district
My wartime experience
On 1 September 1939, the Polish-German war broke out, with the Germans attacking and bombing the Polish land. Soon after, Poland ended up under German occupation.
After two years, Germany declared war on Russia. In Wisznice the Germans shot 30 prisoners. In 1944, the front moved through our area, and German cannons were set up in the bushes. There was a fire in the evening, and the Wisznice Bridge went up in flames. I was in the shelter all night long. I crawled out in the morning and I saw a lot of things, metal hulks and burnt-down cars.
When the Soviets chased the Germans away, they started occupying Poland themselves. In 1944 the Germans were ousted from Poland. The Soviets then went with mine detectors to find mines, so that their soldiers would not be blown up, because many of them would die. The Soviets went past, and we could hear cannon blasts from afar.