On the night of September 1, 1939, around 5 a.m., while the soldiers of our Mounted Artillery Division tranquilly slept, the Luftwaffe roared through the short distance to Oswiecim undetected and, perched above our camp, proceeded to rain a blazing shower of incendiaries on the entire region. At the same hour, hundreds of the powerful and modern German tanks crossed the frontier and hurled a tremendous barrage of shells into the flaming ruins. The extent of the death, destruction and disorganization, combined with fire, caused in three short hours was incredible. By the time our wits were sufficiently collected, even to survey the situation, it was apparent that we were in no position to offer any serious resistance.