but also of the motorcyclists we came across. The questions which this surviving
remnant put to us showed that the Polish army was completely shattered
and, most importantly, that it had lost all contact.¹⁶⁶ After talking to us,
some of the troops went on ahead to join army units. Others set off towards
Łódź, but on the way they were captured by German patrols, who confiscated
their weapons and then let them go. Around 5 o’clock, as we were approaching
Żyrardów, we heard the sound of a heavy artillery barrage.
[3] We decided not to go on any further and went into the wood. We entered
a villa, to the right of Żyrardów[?], where we found several officers’ wives.
The women told us that the sound of the artillery barrage could be heard
all day long, coming from the same place. They directed us to side roads we
could take in order to bypass Żyrardów. We took their advice and looked for
overnight accommodation in a village on the far side of Żyrardów. It wasn’t
easy, because all the hamlets were full of refugees from all the places that had
been captured by the Germans. The next day we considered whether to follow
the railway tracks to Koluszki or to go via Jeżów¹⁶⁷ to Brzeziny. We decided
on the second route. After walking for several hours along various byways,
we saw a cart on the road. All our previous efforts to get peasants to harness
a horse and drive us some of the way, naturally for payment, had failed
because the peasants were afraid to set out and, most of all, their wives were
afraid to let them leave. However, we decided to take advantage of the fact that
the cart was already on the road and began to negotiate with the driver to take
us with him, as we were all going the same way. The peasant told us he was
coming from Skierniewice, where he had driven a wounded Polish officer, and
was going to Brzeziny, avoiding Jeżów. It turned out later that we were lucky
not to have been in Jeżów because there was a camp there for Jewish civilians
and prisoners, who served as the object of various German antics. The prisoners
were made to lie on the ground behind barbed wire with their noses to
the ground, listening to the Germans shooting over their heads. The prisoners
remained in that camp for quite a long time and then were marched off
in various directions to other camps. Thanks to that chance meeting, we were
spared the pleasure. The peasant drove us to his village and absolutely refused
166 This presumably refers to contact with the army command bodies.
167 Jeżów (Brzeziny County).
