She moved on. There was no post guarding the entrance onto the bridge. But people could walk freely only towards the Praga district, as on the other side a police guard was checking the documents of everybody who wanted to enter [106] Warsaw, rarely allowing people to return to the city.
Crowds of people were walking down Zygmuntowska and Targowa streets towards Grochów.407 Mrs D. and her husband were also heading in that direction. She was not yet tired. She was just very thirsty. Unfortunately, all shops were closed and you could buy neither water nor lemonade. Mrs D. managed to get some water only after they got to Grochowska Street. Some women were standing there treating refugees to water, cigarettes, and chocolate. They had prepared all that for soldiers and now they were distributing it to passers-by, as no troops had passed by.
An avenue of smoldering ruins, Grochowska Street constituted an incredible and captivating sight. More than 30 percent of the buildings had been destroyed and almost all of the remaining buildings had been deserted.
Mrs D. suddenly shuddered while she was walking across the waves of ruins. An ominous hum of airplanes was coming from above, nearing and intensifying. The explosions of bombs and the crack of breaking walls were ear-splitting. An air-raid [began]. The crowd dispersed in panic and chaos. People were looking for shelter, pushing and treading on one another. Desperate screams were mingling with the cracks of shots. The fierce shelling of Grochów lasted 20 minutes. Mrs D. and her husband spent that entire time at a tenement gate. When she finally left the gate she stumbled taking her first step on the street. The whole district was enveloped in a cloud of dust rising from the ruins of the tenements that had been destroyed minutes before. It was difficult to breathe and walk due to the scattered corpses. [107] Vehicular traffic was almost totally paralysed on Grochowska Street and further down the road. Single horsewagons, passenger cars, or military cars rarely drove down the road. The roadside villages were completely deserted. All houses were closed, their windows boarded up from the inside.
It was twelve o’clock when Mrs D. found herself in Wawer. Tired and thirsty, she wanted to find a place to rest. The local tenements were deserted and shops were closed, too. Consequently, Mrs D. sat down on the sidewalk.
