STANISŁAW GABRYLEWICZ

Stanisław Gabrylewicz
Class 5a
Wisznice, 19 June 1946

My most important wartime experience

On 22 June 1941, the Germans declared war on Russia. After lunch on Sunday, as I was walking home from the Mass, some German planes arrived and clashed with the Soviet planes. I saw a flicker of a flame in the air; a Soviet plane was burning. When it hit the ground, one farm building caught fire. We stayed in our shelter during the entire battle.

Towards the evening we saw another Soviet plane in the air, but the Germans didn’t notice it. There was no more shooting as the evening fell. Several Soviet planes were shot down on that day. On the next day I went to see a burnt-out plane.

I would have written more if I hadn’t run out of time.