‘This was total war.’ | The Nazi-Soviet invasion of Poland скачать в хорошем качестве

‘This was total war.’ | The Nazi-Soviet invasion of Poland

‘Hitler invaded on 1 September 1939. My grandparents were 45… My father was just 15. He was bedridden in his parents’ spacious apartment, recovering from typhoid. The Bohemian crystal glasses rattled in the cabinet as he watched through his window while wave after wave of Luftwaffe aeroplanes darkened the sky. . ‘Even so, reality had not sunk in yet. My father still beamed with boyish enthusiasm when he told me how at first it was fun to go up to the top of the building & watch the dog-fights between German & Polish planes. But the horror had begun. “I was coming home with Father, we were caught in the entrance to our apartment block when the first bomb fell. We stood in the archway because we thought that was the safest place. Which wasn’t true!” He laughed. The bomb exploded about 100 metres from where they stood. A person was blown to bits – a piece of leg was flung through the air & landed near my father… . “What was it like to be invaded?” I asked. . “Well, there was panic. Many people… took their chances & fled, heading east. The roads out of Warsaw were absolutely stuffed with people. You’ve seen the films.” . ‘I have. Grainy black-and-white images; great rivers of fleeing refugees. People like snails carrying all that they had on their backs. People like cattle pulling handcarts. German planes machine-gunning them as they fled. . ‘My family stood their ground even as the Germans bombed it out from under them. The Panzer tanks arrived on the outskirts of Warsaw on 8 September 1939. “They would just go along the street. Boom! Boom! Boom! House after house after house. Every house had a hole in the front. Every. Single. House.” . ‘My family’s apartment survived, but almost all of Warsaw’s buildings were damaged or destroyed. The streets were filled with the corpses of people & horses. The Germans bombed the water supplies. Fires raged throughout the city. It was not long before people were starving… . ‘Still my family stayed… There was no right decision. This was total war & no place was safe. My family stayed & fought for Poland, not knowing how long this hell might last.’ . ~ Magda Szubanski