Soldier Cucu Nicolae and his memories about the Battle of Paulis
Interview taken by Briscu Bogdan and Suciu Catalin on 26 June 2010 to Cucu Nicolae, aged 85 in 2010, world war 2 veteran, in Oradea, Bihor county, at the headquarters of the National War Veterans Association, Oradea branch.
"We guarded one such POW transport gathered from the country side. It was transported by train to their new POW camp when we were attacked by German aircraft that machine-gunned us. The POWs jumped off the train yelling "samaliot! samaliot!" ["aircraft! aircraft!" in Russian] and ran to a nearby corn field for cover. We gathered them back with difficulty after the air raid was over and we didn't manage to find them all. We, the guardians of the POWs, also jumped off the train and took cover on the railway's bank. In this air raid some civilians travelers were killed by the aircraft's machinegun fire. With the POWs we managed to gather from the corn field we marched on foot towards the camp, where we arrived late in the night. After we brought the POWs in the POW camp, they were put under harsh surveillance until Soviets' arrival. God knows which was eventually their fate, as all knew that the Soviet doctrine stated that one Soviet should rather die than surrender to the enemy. So, the POWs who managed to escape from us preferred rather to hide than to return to their own. Few days after our POW escorting mission we were gathered in the yard of our NCO school and a light armored car came inside the yard. From it emerged some Soviet officers, the first I saw in my life, wearing their Soviet uniforms, so different from our Romanian ones. They asked if the German POWs were well guarded, especially because their numbers grew after we captured some of them at the Arad airfield. At the Arad airfield our NCO school saw its first engagement with the enemy. The Germans at first did not occupy the airfield, but our farm, from the Agricultural University. After being driven away by our troops, they entrenched themselves at the airport. But they were driven back from the airport as well. I suppose the Soviet officers were interested also in our fighting capacity."
"Practically, it all began on 14 September 1944, even if the first heroes from the Paulis Detachment died on 13 September 1944, killed by an enemy air raid. The fighting ended on 20 September 1944. Those who died on 13 September were from the 5th Company. They were marching when an enemy air raid surprised them. Six men were killed and rest of the Company was almost wiped out, as there were a lot wounded among the survivors. This was on 13, but the enemy attack started on 14 September."
He mentions enemy aircraft being involved in the Battle of Paulis. I assume they were Hungarian bombers since the Germans weren't involved in this battle. Does anybody know which Hungarian aircraft they were or which unit they belonged to?
Interview taken by Briscu Bogdan and Suciu Catalin on 26 June 2010 to Cucu Nicolae, aged 85 in 2010, world war 2 veteran, in Oradea, Bihor county, at the headquarters of the National War Veterans Association, Oradea branch.
"We guarded one such POW transport gathered from the country side. It was transported by train to their new POW camp when we were attacked by German aircraft that machine-gunned us. The POWs jumped off the train yelling "samaliot! samaliot!" ["aircraft! aircraft!" in Russian] and ran to a nearby corn field for cover. We gathered them back with difficulty after the air raid was over and we didn't manage to find them all. We, the guardians of the POWs, also jumped off the train and took cover on the railway's bank. In this air raid some civilians travelers were killed by the aircraft's machinegun fire. With the POWs we managed to gather from the corn field we marched on foot towards the camp, where we arrived late in the night. After we brought the POWs in the POW camp, they were put under harsh surveillance until Soviets' arrival. God knows which was eventually their fate, as all knew that the Soviet doctrine stated that one Soviet should rather die than surrender to the enemy. So, the POWs who managed to escape from us preferred rather to hide than to return to their own. Few days after our POW escorting mission we were gathered in the yard of our NCO school and a light armored car came inside the yard. From it emerged some Soviet officers, the first I saw in my life, wearing their Soviet uniforms, so different from our Romanian ones. They asked if the German POWs were well guarded, especially because their numbers grew after we captured some of them at the Arad airfield. At the Arad airfield our NCO school saw its first engagement with the enemy. The Germans at first did not occupy the airfield, but our farm, from the Agricultural University. After being driven away by our troops, they entrenched themselves at the airport. But they were driven back from the airport as well. I suppose the Soviet officers were interested also in our fighting capacity."
"Practically, it all began on 14 September 1944, even if the first heroes from the Paulis Detachment died on 13 September 1944, killed by an enemy air raid. The fighting ended on 20 September 1944. Those who died on 13 September were from the 5th Company. They were marching when an enemy air raid surprised them. Six men were killed and rest of the Company was almost wiped out, as there were a lot wounded among the survivors. This was on 13, but the enemy attack started on 14 September."
He mentions enemy aircraft being involved in the Battle of Paulis. I assume they were Hungarian bombers since the Germans weren't involved in this battle. Does anybody know which Hungarian aircraft they were or which unit they belonged to?
