"I have never talked to anyone about my service in the German army during the war."
Antonín Klečka, sergeant in retirement, was born in 1924 in Karviná. In 1942, when he was eighteen, he was drafted into the wehrmacht. After training he was deployed as a member of a covering battalion in the French territory. In 1944 he decided to desert his unit and he was subsequently captured by the Allies. After internment he was transported to southern France and then to Naples in Italy, where he was selected to serve in the Allied army. He went through training in England, and then returned to France again as a tanker - telegraph operator. As a member of the 13th armored tank battalion he arrived to the Czechoslovak territory. After the war he settled in Šternberk. He left the army in 1946, found employment with the railways, but was forced to leave his position in 1948. He worked in manual professions till his retirement.
