Memoirs of Grandpa Klassen - a Podvod Driver (cont'd)

Just before the harvest in 1919 I was taken by the Red Army into the Podvod service. I was on my yard in Fuerstenau, looking over harvest machinery as several wagons came driving onto the yard; this in itself was not unusual. They said they were hungry and demanded food. This was prepared as well as food for the horses. As soon as they had packed their stomachs full of food and the horses had been fed they came to me and ordered me to prepare immediately for the Podvod service, first to Tokmak from where they came. I tried in various ways to avoid this assignment, but no way. I had to harness a "Droschke" (hackney-carriage); two men and a woman mounted and we drove to Tokmak to the town centre. Approximately after two hours we were finished there and returned again to Fuerstenau under the impression that I had done my duty; but by no means. They did not allow me to go onto my yard inspite of the fact that I tried to do so. Now I noticed that I had fallen into a trap and would not be relieved of this so easily. I was ordered to fall in line with my wagon with others across the street from my yard.

The street was full of military and other vehicles. Our trip was to take us to Wernersdorf to engage the White Army. There, I was told I would be relieved by others and allowed to go home. I traveled then with my passengers, a small Kommissar (Russian police inspector) and a nurse to Wernersdorf to be relieved, which however did not occur. Instead we got only to Liebenau onto the yard of Peter Kaethlers. There I was told to unharness and put the horses into the barn. It was a terrible night, huge rain with lightening and thunder. I stayed with the horses in the barn. Where my companions slept I did not know. I could have fled; didn't do it however as they knew from exactly which yard they had taken me and this could have had unpleasant consequences and even doubled my Podvod time. When finally the long uncanny, pitch black night was over and I was taking care of my horses, it was just beginning to dawn, Frau Kaethler came into the barn and invited me to join them for breakfast, which was very much appreciated. Kaethlers were both discouraged and excited; were anticipating what was about to occur. Soon aftre my traveling companions also appeared. We then drove from Liebenau to Wernersdorf where we stood on the street for several hours without getting out. Suddenly it dawned on my Kommissar companion, that he must immediately drive back to Tokmak and with my vehicle. It was like a lightening bolt out of the heavens. I was of the opinion that at any moment I would be relieved and freed and now this. I considered it a dirty trick and very mean. I pleaded that he take another vehicle as I had already served them two days and one night with my vehicle; the horses too were quite exhausted with the extensive chasing back and forth; however with such a hard-hearted man I had no chance to plead for anything. So I drove with this man to Tokmak, for whatever reason I did not care to know. We drove onto several yards in Schoensee, perhaps there was something to steal, and finally arrived in Tokmak.

After an hour there, we stopped in at my yard in Fuerstenau, I told the man that I had no feed for the horses and surely that was something I had to have or they should relieve me but there was no reply. Now it was very clear as to my situation - there was no thought of relieving me. So I knew that I would remain under their captivity. There was no other way for me to get away from these people. In Wernersdorf all vehicles had already been mobilized by the Red Army and it was evident that it was time to depart or one can say to break through. The enemy, the Whites, were making an attack on the Red Army in Wernersdorf from Sparrau/Konteniusfeld. On the street innumerable military vehicles had gathered. Shortly before sunset we departed Wernersdorf and drove as though there were no concerns about anything, to meet the enemy. When we had driven about 4-5 Verst onto the fields, we made a stop in a valley, it was already dark and our first chore was to obtain feed for the horses. This was plentiful as we were in a large wheat field. It was night, watchmen patrolled the area so that no one could defect. Every Podvod driver was ordered to avoid starting a fire so that the enemy could not detect our position. The night was cool. The whole camp was quiet and uncanny. No doubt the quiet before the storm. Finally the morning grayed, everything in the camp became alive, the horses were fed; the soldiers in the field kitchens cooked their soups for breakfast. I had not expected to be kept this long and had brought very little food from home. We had just had breakfast, the soldiers and the drivers; as was the custom at a camp, they had just received their packets of tobacco. It may have been about eight in the morning when the enemy sent us a morning greeting that dug into the ground nearby, a serious beginning, all kidding aside. Who knows what now? Shall we harness the horses? No don't harness. In one hour another shot came, now it was clear that the enemy had found our position and that we were in danger of being destroyed. Command -- harness up immediately and no waiting for the third attack as it was quite likely that that would not miss its target. As we were harnessing the horses, gun and machine gun clatter were heard which however fell silent again. We were ready with everything, we drove down toward Wernersdorf where we crossed a bridge and enetered a position under some trees and bushes. Here we could not be seen by the enemy. Thereafter we left for Tokmak, a distance of about eight Verst where we were constantly bombarded until we reached the village. The enemy had gotten significantly closer. The military proceeded in all haste toward Tokmak. I still had my initial passengers, it was an army surgeon (Feldsher) and a nurse (Barmherzigkeitsschwester). The grenades usually exploded over the row of soldiers and so this yielded wounded casualties. I then had to chase to the wounded, load them onto my wagon, bring them out of the line of fire, thereupon they were taken to Tokmak and I had to return to the front lines where there were wounded again. And so this continued in the deep winter wheat. For me this was very nerve racking and we were just barely in Fabrikerwiese on Russian soil. How could we get to Tokmak in this way? The grenades exploded above us in the air and about us on the ground so that we on several occasions had to throw ourselves onto the ground. This was a military tactic to avoid injury from the grenade fragments. The situation kept getting worse, the horses too were extremely nervous and we were far from our destination. We were only in the area of the Fuerstenau forest on the Russian side and in open fields three Verst before Tokmak where the enemy could attack us from all sides. Here we were held up by the enemy for awhile as though he wanted to destroy us before we could reach Tokmak. The canon shells made their holes just in front of us on the ground; from behind we were driven forward with machine gun fire, from above in the air came lead bullets and pieces of flak. A few grenades fell in Tokmak in the first row of houses and killed a six year old girl there. When we had finally come into Tokmak, just before sunset, the horrible shooting had finally ended. What the night and the following day would bring us or how and where we might be driven lay in deep darkness, although suspecting nothing good we sat on our wagons on the streets and rested. It was completely dark by now. Soon we were to move further on Russian territory in the direction of Prischib. It was a pitch black night, in addition it had rained several days before so that the road was badly softened up especially in the valley between Tokmak and Prischib where there were many swamp puddles and where we got stuck. How long our transport was during that night could not be determined -- the day before we advanced one Verst. We were joined by four canon and several ammunition wagons which had stood in Tokmak. For a person who has no interest in such an adventure or undertaking it makes one despondent and nervous. Toward morning at about three o'clock, it was still completely dark, we arrived at least I, very tired and with very hungry horses in Prischib. And now where would we get feed money? I did not have one kopek. The people were sleeping everywhere and so I thought I would see how the other drivers would do it. They too had no feed. They had empty sacks, went into any farmer's yard, took, naturally without asking anyone, as much feed as they desired. It was clear that no one would offer me any feed and so I took some as well, knowing that I had come to be among the wolves. The military instead of resting during the night and preparing to defend itself against the enemy next day made "house calls" in the village of Prischib and set these into terror. Where one didn't allow them a free hand, force was applied.

Now the night has passed, I had essentially not slept at all; the sun had not yet risen but on the street in our camp, preparations were being made to depart but to where, we drivers did not know but this we did know, the White army was on our heels. We were ordered to harness the horses, which did not take very long, drove at about eight o'clock over the Prischib bridge up in the direction of Neu Halbstadt where we stopped in the empty parking lot next to the Russsian church, unharnessed our horses, gave them the last little feed that I had and for myself I sought a little food from the soldiers. It was about noon, suddenly we heard machine gun fire and not far away, I was just sitting with some soldiers eating our lunch, shocked, we got up and tried to determine where the clatter was coming from. Suddenly my army surgeon shouted furiously: "harness up old devil or I will shoot you down." The harnessing did not take very long. As we left I became aware that I had incorrectly hooked up one of the harness reigns on the bridle. I had to disembark and reapply the clasp on the bridle. This slowed our departure for which I was at fault and for which I received my dues, at least a dozen curse words. Now we traveled down to Halbstadt, crossed through the small Russian village and then we proceeded in galloping fashion over the Muntauer meadows to the orchards and found and hid behind some trees and bushes where they could set up their artillery as they expected to hold the attack in this position. However there was no time to settle in; the enemy was approaching nearby. I for myself would gladly have come into White Army captivity whereby I would have been relieved of my cursed Podvod duty -- but no such luck. We were standing with our wagons in Alt Habstadt on the street, which was as they say packed full with wagons and military and waited as it appeared, for orders to break through. My passengers, the Kommissar and the nurse were already in the wagon and prepared, now we could take off but to where, over the Molotschna river to Prischib and always further, who knows to where? On our rapid departure from Halbstadt to Prischib, we were attacked horrendously by machine guns and cannons from the post road near Petershagen so that one thought perhaps to here and no further and precisely this is what happened. We were traveling at top speed, I was standing on the "Droschke" and had to whip the horses in order to get away. A few steps before the bridge, still on the "Brueckendamm" a cannon exploded on my right side whereby instantly we were enveloped in a cloud of smoke and I was knocked off my "Droschke" and was lying down by the "Brueckendamm" nearby the water. From the explosion of the grenade and speedy chasing I had plowed into the left bridge pillar (Prallpfosten) with my left wheel and had flown head over heels onto the ground. I must have been knocked unconscious for about a minute because I did not know how and why I had landed here at the water. After I had become oriented again, I looked up to the bridge for my wagon. What now? I noticed that my horses had somehow together with the "Droschke" extrictaed themselves from the bridge pillar and were running without anyone on board over the bridge to Prischib where I could see they were enmeshed and tangled with all the wagons. How Kommissar and nurse got off the "Droschke" I do not know, neither was I concerned about that at this point. I was concerned only for myself. A quick and proper decison needed to be made immediately but how? Clearly I could not remain here by the water as that would look suspicious . In thinking back and forth several options came to mind such as over the bridge and head for the wagons; if not necessary I did not wish to leave the wagon and horses unattended, however I saw no way to get to where they were because of the military and the many wagons blocking the way. The second option was to cross the river; it was swollen from recent rains and I had no idea how deep the water was and instead of wading through it, I knew I could swim a little and in this way losing my horses and wagon seemed very costly. Just as I was about to enter the water, fragments of flak whistled over the water and I changed my plan as though it was to be so. Now there remained only one more option, what if that fails? Then I would be forced to accept my fate regardless of the outcome. My third choice was to proceed on foot past the fleeing military from the Prischib bridge in the direction of Halbstadt. The situation continued to worsen, repeatedly the grenades exploded, the bridge was riddled with shots so that it was horrible and I could no longer stay in this hopeless situation even another minute. I removed my shoes, I had no luggage, my jacket had remained on the wagon, and I ran, I could still run well then, alongside the post road per foot to Halbstadt. The post road was so full of fleeing military that I thought at any moment someone might come upon me and take me with them because my course would be suspicious. But luckily I succeeded, the military was busy with itself getting away, as the enemy (White Army) was attacking with cannons and machine guns with such furry that one had the impression that only few could survive this, among whom I hoped I would be one, for I saw only death and destruction before me. How many may have fallen there I did not learn for I had no time to look up, I had to run in order to get myself into safety. The bullets whistled overhead; many reached their endpoint and fell to earth still sharp enough on my entire run to still wound me. But thank God I got through this unscathed. I actually arrived at Heinrich Willms' mill in Halbstadt, as one might say, exhausted and out of breath, as though one ought to be hospitalized. People there were also very excited, welcomed me and wanted lots of information but I could not tell them anything initially for I could not speak; after a few minutes it became different and I felt somewhat better. I had arrived in a garden house in which people were living and from where I could look onto the street and saw several stragglers both on foot and on horseback rushing after their main battalion. I stayed with the people in the garden house perhaps one and one half hours. During this time I had recovered somewhat and went out to the street to see if the air had cleared. The street was empty; evidently everything had retreated only I was not with them any longer, for which I was very happy and thankful, inspite of the fact that my wagon and horses were gone. I now went to Jakob Barkowskis, where the fleeing military had left its devastation, he himself was not home, but with his in-laws I ate a normal supper. From there, it was already past sunset, I went per foot since I no longer had a vehicle to Neu-Halbstadt to Peter Loewens, and wanted to overnight there and in the morning see if there was any way for me to get home. The White Army had now come into Prischib and there from behind Hoffental thay were bombarded with cannons by the Red Army, some of these cannons also came over to Neu-Halbstadt where there were also several dead, among them a grown son of David Isaak (Raduga Press) and a factory worker. Late at night, it was already time to go to sleep, someone brought the messsage that the Reds were coming back again. Everything impossible could become possible again and who knows what fate was in store for me; might I be reunited with my "Droschke" again through that? But they did not come, naturally neither did my "Droschke".

In the morning after we had had breakfast the deadly gunfire began again, inspite of that I needed to look around for a vehicle to hopefully get back to Fuerstenau because I did not have any money to hire one. I wanted if at all possible to catch a ride to Tokmak. In the afternoon it so happened that I was able to get a ride with someone from Wernersdorf directly to my home in Fuerstenau. When I had left Halbstadt I could see the fighting was taking place on both fronts and now the shots were falling into Prischib and now thankful as I came closer to my loved ones who had not been unmolested during this turmoil. Happy and well, only very tired we shared each others experiences that had played out during the last six days. My brother Jakob, two days later had also been taken into the Podvod service but by the White Army with my horses and my vehicle and was not yet home. He arrived two days later but without the horses and wagon which he had had to leave behind. At home not everything had stayed as it had been either. A variety of items had been taken away from the farmyard like my coiled spring wagon (Federwagen), harnesses and so on. One became more and more disinterested about a variety of items, so that one began to think that hopefully once everything is gone we might have peace. And we did lose all, but peace there was none. It seemed now even our lives were at risk.

Several days after my return I went to Halbstadt on some errands. There the Prischib Podvod drivers told me of their experiences with the Reds, namely the Whites had constantly been on their heels so that they had had no opportunity to take a stand, no way other than the Dnieper river remained for them and because of rains and flooding during this time of year, it was full of slime and quagmire. They were driven into this and only wagons with especially strong horses were able to get out after much struggle and agony. Many drivers and their wagons sank and perished.

And so ended the six day ordeal of Grandpa Franz Klassen as a Podvod driver for the Red Army.

Translated by Herb Fransen