Eugenia Górna
Wisznice, 19 June 1946
My most important wartime experience
The worst moment came when the enemy planes arrived and started bombing us. It was on 18 March 1943. A chill runs down my spine at the very thought of it, yet we had to survive an hour or more. Bullets and grenades were everywhere. There was simply nowhere to hide.
When the planes arrived for the first time, they caused little damage. But the second time more planes came and destroyed a lot for such a small colony as Romanów.
Everybody was running about aimlessly under the hail of bullets. Right after a bomb fell, a fire would start. Some people were crying, some were vainly trying to salvage their belongings, because [the enemy] was shooting at us from his planes. It was horrible to look at, let alone be in that crowd. You couldn’t move even if you wanted to see what was happening. Rescue was out of the question.
Finally, the planes went away. Everybody rushed home in fear because it was already evening. We could see the glow of fires and the belching smoke and smell the odor of scorched animals. Human figures could be distinguished in the dark but only where the fires would illuminate them. Only the cries, wails and the howling of dogs could be heard. There were explosive objects on the road. Wherever we looked, we could recall the buildings that used to stand there, but only rubble was left of them. It is a sad memory but thank God nobody died. This is how the horrible moment ended.