002: Kalisz and all points after

All dates show when we left the position.

Journal of Eddie Cutter

all italics indicate marginalia

Three days.
Three days to go from we're kicking ass to RUN AWAY!  RUN AWAY!  --Brass rhymes with ass for a reason--

We were damn lucky when the Reds in Ostrow and Pleszew hit our column, we escaped and evaded  --Cap's got the mojo--.  My memories of the night are hazy,  motors, shots, loud screams and louder explosions.  Somehow we evaded most of the action and the one bit of armor we encountered, well, Leo fed it an RPG and it brewed up.  In the confusion we lost Alphabit and his string of horses.  --He got better--

We hid out during the daylight.  Positioned the truck well off the road and camouflaged it.  Tried to sleep.  Intermittent traffic, mostly UAZs and a few GAZ trucks, passed by.  You could hear it, but only rarely see it.  Each time I startled awake, with my hand on my rifle, sure we'd been found.  The only one that found us though was Alphabit.  He didn't tell us anything about what had happened other than he'd used a "week's worth of luck".  --Think he keeps it ina bottle--

That night the Captain and Leo laid out "The Plan".  We're going to head south and see if we can find a bridge over the Warta, maybe in Opole or Kozle, before getting to the mountains.  From there we'll sneak our way --quiet, quiet mousey-- west.  Get ourselves back to friendly lines or, at least, Germany.

We set out the night of the 7th.  We stuck to small country roads, untended for the last 4 years, and no lights.  Slowly creeping our way south.  Sun light comes and we hide away --Just like vampires!--  Our new SOP.

July 9th -- Some locals stumbled across our daytime camp.  Out hunting whatever they could find.  They hadn't had any luck.  Leo bribed them to go away with a bottle of liquer.  They hit it before they were out of sight.

Enemy present outside Opole.  We spotted an OP, with emplaced MGs, overlooking the Opole - Olesno road.  They didn't see us, we think, and we backtracked to take sideroads south.

July 10th -- Woke up to gunfire way, way off to the southeast about 1300.  Leo observed trucks moving east down the Opole - Strzelice Opolski artery.  More gunfire, then they came right back home.  We're all wondering who, but don't want to find out.

Since Opole is a bust  --Would they let us use the bridge if we asked nicely?-- we'll try Kozle next.

 -- I wish I could find some aspirin.  Maybe ask Major Miller.  Driving 6 to 8 hours with NV goggles on gives me one hell of a headache. --