1st Czechoslovak Army Corps

After the occupation of Czechoslovakia by Nazi Germany on March 15, 1939, a large number of former military personnel disbanded by the invaders of the Czechoslovak army left the country. Of these, the formation of the Czechoslovak Legion began in Poland in March 1939 . Its number exceeded 900 people, it was located in Krakow , Lviv and other cities in eastern Poland. The Legion was armed with only 12 machine guns and 50 rifles, it was not an effective part .

After the start of the German-Polish war in September 1939, the legion began to retreat to the eastern border of the country and after the entry of Soviet troops into Poland on September 18, 1939 in the Ternopol region, met with Soviet troops and laid down their arms . The personnel of the Legion were declared internees and during the winter of 1939-1940 was stationed in the Kamenetz-Podolsk area , and from the spring of 1940 in Suzdal ^[1] . Since 1940, the USSR did not prevent the departure of former legionnaires to France and other countries to participate in battles against Germany in the armies of Western allies. The bulk of the former legionnaires took this opportunity.

However, with the increasing threat of a German attack on the USSR, the situation began to change. At the negotiations between the USSR and the Czechoslovak government in exile in May 1941, an allied agreement was signed, in one of the clauses of which the USSR allowed the formation of Czechoslovak units on Soviet territory. On September 27, 1941, a Soviet-Czechoslovak military treaty was signed, according to which the formation of the Czechoslovak infantry battalion began.

The formation of the battalion was started on January 5, 1942 in Buzuluk , where 93 former legionnaires who had remained in the USSR by that time were transferred ^[1] .

Subsequently, the interned Czechs and Slovaks (including even those convicted of “illegal border crossing” for whom a special amnesty was declared), Soviet citizens of Czechoslovak origin, Rusyns (residents of the Transcarpathian part of Czechoslovakia , torn away by Hungary in 1939 and fled from Hungarians in the USSR ), Jews who fled from Czechoslovakia. The formation of the battalion was carried out with significant problems and delays. However, they also had a flip side: all this time, the commander of the battalion L. Liberty conducted intensive combat training, so the level of training of the personnel of the battalion was very high.

The personnel were dressed in Czechoslovak military uniforms, had Czechoslovak military ranks and served under the military regulations of the Czechoslovak army. On organizational matters, the battalion was subordinate to the Czechoslovak government in exile; on operational matters, it was subordinate to the higher command of those Soviet military units to which it was assigned. In the future, this order was maintained until the end of the war.

The Soviet command praised the fighting qualities of the 1st Czechoslovak Separate Infantry Battalion. Already on April 29, 1943, the Resolution of the State Defense Committee No. 3265 ^[2] was issued on the formation of the 1st separate Czechoslovak infantry brigade on the basis of the battalion. The formation was carried out in Novokhopyorsk . By September 30, 1943, the brigade totaled 3,517 people, including 114 officers. It had a tank company (20 tanks), 30 mortars, 28 guns, 110 machine guns, 43 anti-tank rifles, 11 anti-aircraft guns. The number of Soviet troops in the brigade was limited in comparison with the military formations of other countries: for example, only 21 Red Army officers and 148 soldiers were in the brigade. They replaced the posts of military specialists, in which the Czechoslovakians had a shortage (medical staff, radio operators, part of the artillerymen).

On April 10, 1944, on the basis of the brigade, the formation of the 1st Czechoslovak Army Corps began, which included the following units and formations ^[3] :

• 1st Separate Czechoslovak Infantry Brigade ;
• 2nd separate Czechoslovak airborne brigade ;
• 3rd separate Czechoslovak infantry brigade ;
• separate tank regiment;
• artillery regiment;
• anti-tank artillery regiment;
• anti-aircraft artillery regiment;
• communications battalion;
• combat engineer battalion;
• health battalion

A little later, an automobile battalion was formed.

In June 1944, the 1st separate Czechoslovak fighter aviation regiment (32 aircraft) was created.

In August 1944 ^[4] the 1st separate Czechoslovak tank brigade was created (65 tanks, three tank and one motorized infantry battalion).

In December 1944, the 1st separate Czechoslovak mixed air division was created (two fighter and one assault air regiment, a total of 99 aircraft and 114 pilots).

In areas adjacent to Transcarpathia , where many Slovaks and Ruthenians lived, mobilization of fighters in the corps was carried out.

In August 1944, the corps was transferred to the 1st Ukrainian Front , approaching the Czechoslovak border in the Carpathians .

As of the end of August 1944, the total number of corps amounted to 16,171 military personnel, including 623 Soviet military personnel ^[5] .

In the East Carpathian operation, the corps was given an important role in the course of the offensive to help the beginning of the Slovak uprising . However, on the very first day of participation in the battles of September 9, due to poor intelligence and poor control, two corps brigades came under a concentrated attack by enemy artillery and suffered heavy losses (611 people). The front-line commander Marshal of the Soviet Union I.S. Konev replaced the corps commander with his order, although he did not have such authority. However, the London government was forced to confirm the change of command.

Parts of the corps in heavy bloody battles broke through one after another the defensive positions in the mountains. On September 20, the city ​​of Duklja was liberated, and on October 6, the fortified Dukelsky pass located on the old Czechoslovak border was stormed. On this day, Czechoslovak and Soviet units entered Czechoslovak territory, laying the foundation for the liberation of Czechoslovakia from the enemy. Until November, the corps continued offensive battles, then switched to defense. The corps was not withdrawn to the rear, acting on the front until the end of the war. Training of personnel and reorganization of units was carried out in training and spare parts of the corps.

Until the end of the war, the corps fought as part of the 38th Army of the 4th Ukrainian Front . From January 1945 , he attacked during the Western Carpathian operation , from February - in defense, from March - again in the offensive in the Moravian-Ostrava operation . On April 30, 1945, parts of the corps entered the territory of Czech lands with battles. However, stubborn battles with the German Army Group Center continued until the end of the war. The advance detachment of the corps on Soviet tanks on May 10, 1945 entered Prague . On the same day, parts of the corps held their last major battle.

On May 17, 1945, a parade of the entire corps personnel in Prague took place. Since June 1945, the formation of the 1st Army of the Czechoslovak People's Army began at its base. By the end of the war, 18 087 fighters of the corps were fighting at the front, and together with the rear and training units its number was 31 725 people.

The losses of the corps (taking into account the losses of a separate battalion and a separate brigade in 1943-1944) amounted to 4011 people who died, went missing and died from wounds, 14 202 people - sanitary. German troops experienced animal hatred towards captured soldiers of the corps, subjecting them to brutal torture and torment. So, the five captured wounded soldiers of the Czechoslovak battalion near Sokolovo, the Germans hanged alive upside down in the cold, before that they had their ears, noses and tongues cut off. Having discovered 8 seriously injured soldiers of the battalion during the capture of Kharkov in one of the hospitals, German soldiers killed them directly in hospital beds. In the battles in Slovakia in 1945, the painful executions of captured soldiers (up to burning alive) were widespread. For 26 months of fighting, Czechoslovak troops destroyed 24,600 Nazis. ^[6]

In addition to the corps, other military units were formed in the USSR. Since January 1944, the 2nd Czechoslovak Airborne Brigade was formed. In September-October 1944, she was abandoned in Slovakia and fought together with the rebels during the Slovak national uprising . After the uprising was suppressed, parts of the brigade with heavy losses broke through the front line and were included in the Czechoslovak army corps. In addition, in May 1944 the Czechoslovak Fighter Aviation Regiment was formed, and in January 1945 the Czechoslovak Mixed Aviation Division was formed. They also took part in the battles.

• from 10.04.1944 - Brigadier General Jan Kratohvil ;
• from September 11, 1944 - Brigadier General Ludwik Freedom ;
• from 3.04.1945 - Brigadier General Karel Klapalek .

The Czechoslovak brigade was awarded the orders of Suvorov II degree and Bogdan Khmelnitsky I degree, the Czechoslovak Military Cross and the medal "For courage before the enemy . "

Several thousand fighters and corps commanders were awarded Soviet and Czechoslovak orders and medals. Six fighters were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union : Lieutenant Otakar Yarosh , Captain Antonin Sokhor , Captain Richard Tesarzhik , Lieutenant Joseph Burshik , Lieutenant Stepan Wajda , Army General Ludwik Freedom . Six fighters were awarded the title Hero of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic : Army General Ludwik Svoboda , Army General Karel Klapalek , Lieutenant Colonel Josef Kohl , Captain Frantisek Vrana , Captain Wendelin Opatrna , Lieutenant Rudolf Jasiok .

• S.I. Grachev, F.P. Petrov. Shoulder to shoulder. On the military partnership of Soviet and Czechoslovak soldiers. M., Military Publishing, 1958.
• L. Freedom. From Buzuluk to Prague. M., Military Publishing House, 1963
• I. S. Ratkovsky . Summer-Autumn 1918: Chronicle of the Czechoslovak rebellion // World of Economics and Law. 2013. No. 11-12. S.47-55
• A. Ressel. On the roads of war. M .: Military Publishing, 1978
• V.S. Molozhavenko. Roads led to Prague. Kharkov, "Prapor", 1985-181 p., Ill.

• Czechoslovak military units in the USSR