First Stuka Bombardment
The emphasis in the account quoted in the posting The Day WWII Began (February 8) had been on the burning houses of the little town on the Vistula river, in view of the origin of the account in the burning house in Picasso's painting about Guernica after its bombardment in the Spanish civil war; which had provided the take-off point for the assigned exercise in a writing course. The first bombardment mentioned there could not be described within the limited scope of that assignment.
Dawn had bare ended the first night of the war, during which we had left our farm outside Czestochowa. Many other civilians were similarly streaming east away from the city, some with horse drawn carts, when the Stuka-s (short for STUrzKAmpfflugzeug) attacked. They must have known that it was not a military target. We quickly scattered into a wooded area to the right of the road. It was really terrifying. None of us was hurt, but one of our "older" (~20) women started running away screaming. Several of our ("older") members ran after her but couldn't catch/ find her.
I thought I wasn't chicken, but boy was I scared! With bare hands I tried desperately,while lying on the ground, to dig a little depression to hide in just a little bit. The bombs were bad enough, but even worse was the screeching of the planes every time they returned for another pass, diving right at us.
In view of the death of Jan Pawel II, the first Polish pope, two days ago, let me digress here to point out that he would have been about five years older at 19, about a hundred km to the south and likely subject to bombardment, too. While not a Catholic, nor happy with some of his legacy, notably on birth control, I have shared the liking of almost all for his person. I shall add photos of Jasna Gora, the Czestochowa compound that withstood the siege of the Swedes for two months until they withdrew, toward the end of the religious wars that followed the Reformation; and of the Black Madonna, credited with the rescue. Czestochowa thus became one of the main places for Catholic pilgrimage in the world; and certainly a place for the amazing man from Wadowice to visit when he returned to Poland as pope.
http://www.jasnagora.pl/jasnagora_z_lotu_ptaka_czolowka.jpg
To view a larger, more detailed version of this image click on it. If you are using Internet Explorer, click then on the icon at the lower right of the resulting image.
http://www.ctk-thornbury.org.uk/Poland/100_0931%20Czestochowa.jpg
Dawn had bare ended the first night of the war, during which we had left our farm outside Czestochowa. Many other civilians were similarly streaming east away from the city, some with horse drawn carts, when the Stuka-s (short for STUrzKAmpfflugzeug) attacked. They must have known that it was not a military target. We quickly scattered into a wooded area to the right of the road. It was really terrifying. None of us was hurt, but one of our "older" (~20) women started running away screaming. Several of our ("older") members ran after her but couldn't catch/ find her.
I thought I wasn't chicken, but boy was I scared! With bare hands I tried desperately,while lying on the ground, to dig a little depression to hide in just a little bit. The bombs were bad enough, but even worse was the screeching of the planes every time they returned for another pass, diving right at us.
In view of the death of Jan Pawel II, the first Polish pope, two days ago, let me digress here to point out that he would have been about five years older at 19, about a hundred km to the south and likely subject to bombardment, too. While not a Catholic, nor happy with some of his legacy, notably on birth control, I have shared the liking of almost all for his person. I shall add photos of Jasna Gora, the Czestochowa compound that withstood the siege of the Swedes for two months until they withdrew, toward the end of the religious wars that followed the Reformation; and of the Black Madonna, credited with the rescue. Czestochowa thus became one of the main places for Catholic pilgrimage in the world; and certainly a place for the amazing man from Wadowice to visit when he returned to Poland as pope.
http://www.jasnagora.pl/jasnagora_z_lotu_ptaka_czolowka.jpg
To view a larger, more detailed version of this image click on it. If you are using Internet Explorer, click then on the icon at the lower right of the resulting image.
http://www.ctk-thornbury.org.uk/Poland/100_0931%20Czestochowa.jpg
posted by solar_sol | 4:44 PM
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