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Our next task was to go to a village, where the mayor - a Bulgarian - had done great harm. He had sentenced people without any sentence to death; he had raped women. We got the order to eliminate him. Many years have passed since then and I remember neither his name nor the name of the village. Eight of our people went there and besieged the village. They killed the mayor and burned all the community papers in order to avoid the tax payments. They gave food to people. There was a large dairy there and they took away some cows to provide us with food for the march. They were of great use for us as there was nothing else to eat so we slaughtered the cows one by one.
Then a message arrived saying that Bulgarians shouldn't stay there any longer because there was danger that we would get killed. Thus we left for Bulgaria. It was a several kilometer long column of soldiers - armed and disarmed. When we came to a railway station named Raiko Zhiznifov in Macedonia at the Pchinia River, we came close to an ambush of Germans and Bulgarians. We stopped, as we already knew about the ambush from our intelligence officers. Then the whole unit except a few people, who guarded the captured soldiers, attacked and overcame the enemies. They ran away and the road was free. We passed the bridge and marched on to the town of Kratovo.
One night in Kratovo, when we were just about to fall asleep, we heard the sound of drums and tambourines. It was a very loud noise. We thought that someone was attacking us but finally it turned out that it was Ramazan [Turkish religious holiday] and festivities were going on and the Turkish people had started a feast as they hadn't eaten anything during the day. They treated us very well and gave us some food. We ate and drank together and then we continued on our way. We slept on peak Ruen in Osogovo Mountain at the former Bulgarian border. It was rather cold although it was only the end of August.
Then a message arrived saying that Bulgarians shouldn't stay there any longer because there was danger that we would get killed. Thus we left for Bulgaria. It was a several kilometer long column of soldiers - armed and disarmed. When we came to a railway station named Raiko Zhiznifov in Macedonia at the Pchinia River, we came close to an ambush of Germans and Bulgarians. We stopped, as we already knew about the ambush from our intelligence officers. Then the whole unit except a few people, who guarded the captured soldiers, attacked and overcame the enemies. They ran away and the road was free. We passed the bridge and marched on to the town of Kratovo.
One night in Kratovo, when we were just about to fall asleep, we heard the sound of drums and tambourines. It was a very loud noise. We thought that someone was attacking us but finally it turned out that it was Ramazan [Turkish religious holiday] and festivities were going on and the Turkish people had started a feast as they hadn't eaten anything during the day. They treated us very well and gave us some food. We ate and drank together and then we continued on our way. We slept on peak Ruen in Osogovo Mountain at the former Bulgarian border. It was rather cold although it was only the end of August.
Location
Bulgaria
Interview
Leon Levi