Grandpa's stories about his fights ...

[Indrid]

ok, here's another "propaganda " story. the romanian army was getting ready to enter a city in Czekoslovakia and just as they made their way to the outskirts, they received a message from the russian side to hold positions and make way for the russian troops who were supposed to clease the city of remaining germans. what actually happened was that the city was a major producer of alcohool derivates and the russians just wanted to get to the booze first. and that's just what happened, only that the germans poisoned the huge canisters of alcohool and more than 500 russians died. my grandpa told me that he would have done the same thing, get drunk and all, but he was lucky. for once the russians saved romanian soldiers from death.

[Alexandru H.]

Actually Indrid's stories are exact 100%.... :wink:

[mabadesc]

Actually, Indrid, we have no reason not to believe Indrid's stories.
We are just sharing memories heard from family members/veterans.

By the way, there are tons of true stories about Russian soldiers entering a town and drinking everything in sight from perfume to gasoline.

Indrid, I have a similar story. When the Russian soldiers arrived in Bistrita, for instance, in the fall of '44, they looted the high school and in the zoology lab they found the jars with specimens (small animals, insects, etc) filled in formaldehyde (formol).
Well, they thought it was close enough to alcohol and drank it all. A bunch of them died, of course. The funny thing is, there is now a monument in Bistrita dedicated to the "fallen Russian heroes who died while liberating Bistrita."

Alexandru, just wondering, what happened to your grandfather. And, more importantly, what is your opinion of him and what he did? Just curious to see what you think....

[Indrid]

well, finally! thank you! anyway, i think those russian soldiers who died in Bistrita did not die because of the alcohool in the jars, maybe they choked with the frogs in those jars.


and talking about the quality of the russian soldier, he had to shoot two of them that were so drunk that they started to rape a 84 year old grandma somewhere in hungary. he told me that he had to do it because talking to tthem only made it worse, they were reaching for the guns and so... he was in a lot of trouble because you all know how the russians regarded romanians.

oh, and thank you Alexandru, glad you confirm my stories

[johnny_bi]

mabadesc said:

QUOTE

When the Russian soldiers arrived in Bistrita, for instance, in the fall of '44, they looted the high school and in the zoology lab they found the jars with specimens (small animals, insects, etc) filled in formaldehyde (formol).   Well, they thought it was close enough to alcohol and drank it all. A bunch of them died, of course. The funny thing is, there is now a monument in Bistrita dedicated to the \"fallen Russian heroes who died while liberating Bistrita.\"

I do confirm the story. It was a German high-school... today "Colegiul Liviu Rebreau". Some of the Russian soldiers died because of the formol.

But I have to say that the part with the monument is NOT TRUE. There is no monument in Bistrita dedicated to the Russian soldiers (as i have previously said to mabadesc in a private message). I live in Bistrita since 1980 and I've never seen or heard about it. As the longest bouleverd in Bistrita is about 1 km long, I think that it is impossible for this kind of monument to remain unseen.

[johnny_bi]

There are no WWII monuments in Bistrita (the city) ... by the way.

[Geto-Dacul]

Alexandru H. wrote :

QUOTE

My grandfather took care of the army deposits and made sure he stole from them as much as he could, without being forced to leave for the frontline...Back home, after the war he became administrator of a factory and used to also steal, but also to denounce fellow workers to the Securitate. He even got the \"Hero of Socialist Labour\" title...

And that was in time of war? Let's be serious! Stolling weapons! On foreign territory, you said? As for the "back-home" episode, again, hard to believe since martial law in the RPR was very severe, and I doubt that your grandfather was payed with "factory stuff", by the "Security guys" for his service...

Getu'

[Geto-Dacul]

Alexandru H. wrote :

QUOTE

Actually Indrid's stories are exact 100%....

Yes, exact 100%!
And on the post of November 16 at 12:07 am you said that you weren't sure of how much truth there was in his stories... But after a little time, you just made an "edit" to your post, and said the opposite! Very interesting, indeed, no? 8)

Getu'

[Alexandru H.]

Well, it seems that disbelief runs rampart through this thread 8)

First of all, I believe Indrid. Not because I know him (and his grandfather btw), but because these stories are told by an ex-war hero...You may not know this, because you've never been to war, but I do not believe that his granpa is lying... War is always a crazy time and we shouldn't compare it with our own (sometimes distorted) opinions.... And he said nothing out of the usual for the eastern front, which was perhaps one of the bloodiest and absurde display of force and violence in the history...

Second of all, my own story is about a grandfather who never cared much about anyone but himself. He is dead now but I don't think he would care much about it either... Yes, he was everything but a war hero, I never invented stories, just to look cool ("hey, I have a hero in my family), so this anti-story seems reliable since I don't praise him or my kind. But, of course, I don't want to be judged either by only one man, who seems to have taken the mod status all too serious :cry:

QUOTE

Why did the Germans lost their time and bullets slaughtering people...? Looks more like a propaganda story...   Sorry not believe it...

Aah...this even sounds wrong. Yes, they did take time and they did most of those things on more occasions than once. Only ardent or ignorant nationalists (like Iliescu, Vadim or Pavel Corut) could claim that everything was just darn nice about the ways of the german army.... And if we see that the americans or the british did some things that would place them in the war criminals section (strategic bombing, placing american citizens of japanese origin in camps), I don't see how the germans or the russians (who were fighting on a criminal front) could have been nice with each other...

[Indrid]

You know, it's sad to join a club of people who claim to have an interest in history and when you tell the little stories that the history books do not care about because they are insignificant pieces of insignificant lives , all you get back is disbelief and mockery.

what is a person that criticises all and accepts nothing? sad or ignorant?

my grandfather faught in that stupid war without believing in it. he fought because if not he would have been emprisoned or shot by a authority he did not elect. so , why would he tell lies? flaw of character? need for worship? fear?

why , then would he tell the truth? because it was ugly, stupid, illogical?
because i would learn nothing about human nature except what i can see daily in a different form?

if i`m going too fast, i`ll slow down for you.

i thought this was a forum where we could discover the hidden facts, unknown stories, the puny truths. if he wanted to tell lies, he would have told me that he crashed 20 panzers with one hand and while being drunk. or that he saved 1000 jews from the hands of himmler himself. but he didn't. he told me how he killed two drunken bastards and how he haw a mass burrial site.

oh, and he told me a lot of other things too: the germans had huge metal machines that flew in the air, that the americans threw one bomb over a city in japan and killed hundred of thousands, that germany was ruled by a guy named hitler and we were under monarchical rule. cross my heart and hope to die. but i guess he was lying to me.
no?

[Victor]

Ever considered of writing down his stories? Dr_V (another member) did this for a family friend (see http://www.worldwar2.ro/memorii/?article=4&language=ro)

[Alexandru H.]

This would be very nice and because I write better, I should be the third party *the one that translates what Indrid heard from his grandfather into nice words*

..no, I am not kidding

[Indrid]

i would love to but he is in galati, i am in bucharest, we meet quite rarely.
i hope he will be ok until the next summer to get him to talk. he has a fantastic memory. re remembers all the names of his commarades and superiors and where they came from. he is quite forgetfull about more recent events though .

[johnny_bi]

Victor said:

QUOTE

Ever considered of writing down his stories? Dr_V (another member) did this for a family friend (see http://www.worldwar2.ro/memorii/?article=4...=4&language=ro)

I have to admit that this article is very impressive. I think that reading the article you have to admit that "the reality exceeded the imagination". We need more stories like this one.

[Victor]

QUOTE

i would love to but he is in galati, i am in bucharest, we meet quite rarely. i hope he will be ok until the next summer to get him to talk. he has a fantastic memory. re remembers all the names of his commarades and superiors and where they came from. he is quite forgetfull about more recent events though .

Well, would it be too much to ask him to write you a letter, describing his memories?