Iosif first combat experience came during The Battle Of Stalingrad in 1942:

“In Stalingrad we used to be thirsty, and there was no way of getting some water. We had to clean and eat snow instead of water. We were afraid to stick out our heads. We had a rifle and a submachine gun. We put a helmet on a bayonet and raised it up. The Germans thought that was a soldier’s head. Bang! They hit the helmet. Once, it happened near Stalingrad. We were 30 men in our platoon, or 31. The next day only 18 survived. I was wounded near Stalingrad, rather contused. The Germans threw shells and bombs and one of them hit close to us. It was impossible for us to get to a hospital, because there was no way doing it in the daylight. We waited for the night to come. At night we were picked up and driven to a field hospital.”

Iosif recovered and fought in The Battle of Kursk in July 1943 and The Liberation of Prague in May 1945.

Iosif’s unit marched through Bratislava before joining the Prague Offensive and liberating the city. He was in Czechoslovakia when the war ended and was demobilized in 1947.