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ABSTRACT
Between 1939 and 1945, tens of thousands of ‘Czechoslovaks’ fought against the Axis forces in France, Great Britain, the Soviet Union and the Middle East. In this latter theatre of operations, a battalion was formed in 1940 from the few men available to the Czechoslovak government-in-exile. Czechs, Jews and Slovaks made up the bulk of this unit, later expanded to regimental level. In 1941, they were part of the British-led invasion of Vichy Syria before defending the Tobruk perimeter under Polish command. Before transferring to Great Britain in 1943, the Czechoslovak fighters lived a truly transnational experience. However, Czechoslovak leaders had to make compromises with both their British patrons and the ethnic or religious groups in the unit. Although relations with the British Crown were far easier than with the French or Soviet allies, military exiles had to defend their – limited – autonomy. On the other hand, Palestinian Jews of Czechoslovak origin, German speakers or Slovaks often expressed their discontent with living under Czech rule, highlighting the weaknesses of the Czechoslovak exile.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Notes
1. On legionaries, see Pichlík, Klípa and Zabloudilová, Českoslovenští legionáři. On volunteers, see Mazurel, “Engagés volontaires,” 300–15.
2. O’Connor and Guttman, “Under a Foreign Flag,” 321.
3. Arielli and Collins, “Introduction,” 4.
4. Zückert, Zwischen Nationsidee, 115.
5. About 6000 in the Governmental Army, 800 in the Wehrmacht and 800 in the Slovak Army, mostly warrant officers and NCOs, not including the reserve cadres (probably more than 5000 officers, mostly Germans). Lenormand, “Vers l’armée du peuple,” chap. 1.
6. Vojenský historický archiv, vuapraha.cz/fallensoldierdatabase ([dataset]; accessed October 15, 2016); Lenormand, “Vers l’armée du peuple,” chap. 1. Among them were 10 generals (including Sergěj Ingr and Rudolf Viest, both members of the Czechoslovak National Committee which preceded the government in exile), as well as 120 high-ranking officers at the rank of major and above, out of about 150 generals in 1938, and out of more than 1600 colonels and lieutenant-colonels. Overall, military exiles represented no more than 5% of the 1938 officer corps (regular soldiers). Only one general (armádní general), Lev Prchala, left the Protectorate but he conflicted with Beneš and did not hold any command after 1939.
7. Brod and Čejka, Na západní frontě, 571–6. On Poland, see Kochanski, The Eagle Unbowed, chapter 7.
8. Jennings, Free French Africa.
9. Klapálek, Ozvěny bojů, 37. The unit had 400 in November 1940.
10. Brod and Čejka, Na západní frontě, 240; Czech Ministry of Defence, Vojenské osobnosti, 133.
11. Brod and Čejka, Na západní frontě, 243, 251, 360.
12. Sommr, Od Tobrúku, 53–4.
13. Firt, Od Eufratu, 169.
14. Sommr, Od Tobrúku, 59–65.
15. Firt, Od Eufratu, 170.
16. Horn, South African Prisoner-of-War Experience, 125–6.
17. Sommr, Od Tobrúku, 54.
18. Poles and Australians also gave a positive account of their Czechoslovak partners’ participation in the siege. Kwiecień, Tobruk 1941–1942, 124; Maughan, Tobruk and El Alamein, 419–20, 495.
19. Emmert, Češi u Tobruku, 122.
20. Johnston, The British Commonwealth, 211–12.
21. Middle East Field Censorship Weekly Summary, January to June 1942. Australian War Memorial 54 883/2/97, Part 2. No frictions were mentioned by censorship reports during the first six months of 1942, aside from bad memories of the deportation of Czechoslovak Jewish immigrants to Mauritius (a British possession), with Jews being later released and mobilized in the Czechoslovak unit.
22. Emmert, Češi u Tobruku, 152.
23. Klapalek was awarded the Distinguished Service Order. Mézl-Gak received the Military Cross and was made a companion of the Order of the Bath. Klapálek, Ozvěny bojů, 126; Czech Ministry of Defence, Vojenské osobnosti, 134, 196; Sommr, Od Tobrúku, 61.
24. Bílek et al., Zápisy ze schůzí, 157. Government meeting 48, 5 March 1942.
25. Interview with Jaroslav Krob (1910–2006), 22 August 2004, https://www.pametnaroda.cz/cs/krob-jaroslav-20040822-0 (accessed December 17, 2017). Training on Bofors guns was taken very seriously by Klapálek – described as a ‘sadist’ with a positive connotation – and the unit was ready to assume its anti-aircraft duties after only three months of intense practice.
26. Gottlieb, Po druhé Tobruk, 9; Klapálek, Ozvěny bojů, 125; Firt, Od Eufratu, 151.
27. Klapálek, Ozvěny bojů, 123–4; Sommr, Od Tobrúku, 76; Gottlieb, Po druhé Tobruk, 10; Firt, Od Eufratu, 201–2.
28. Secret dispatch, 28 December 1942, in “Foreign volunteers: Czech units, 1942 July–1943 May,” British National Archives (London), War Office (WO), 201/2324.
29. Cipher message, 26 December 1942, in “Foreign volunteers: Czech units, 1942 July–1943 May,” British National Archives (London), War Office (WO), 201/2324.
30. Bílek et al., Zápisy ze schůzí.
31. For a broader view, see O’Connor and Guttman, “Under a Foreign Flag,” 325.
32. War diary, Middle East, 11 January 1941.
33. War diary, Middle East, 26 April 1941. See also interview with Middle East veteran Viktor Wellemín (born 1923), 20 April 2015, https://www.pametnaroda.cz/cs/wellemin-viktor-20150420-0 (accessed January 13, 2019).
34. Láníček, Czechs, Slovaks and the Jews.
35. War diary, Middle East, 13 May 1941.
36. Hitachduth Olej Czechoslovakia (HOČ), 15 April 1942, VÚA, Čs.MiseBBSV, box 25, file 80/1/25.
37. Ibid.
38. War diary, Middle East, 5 September 1940. See also report on a lecture given in Hebrew by a Czechoslovak Jew, Czech Military Archives (VÚA, Prague), Czechoslovak Military Mission in the Balkans, the Near and the Middle East (Čs.MiseBBSV), box 25, file 79/1/25.
39. Maršálek, Česká, nebo československá, 379.
40. Arielli and Collins, “Introduction,” 7.
41. Španiel, Československá armada, 61.
42. Public hearing of General Louis-Eugène Faucher (n°2344), Les événements survenus, 1204–11.
43. Churchill, Discours de guerre, 163.
44. Bulínová, Československo a Izrael.
45. Mazurel, “Engagés volontaires,” 300–15.
46. On the debate about democracy and socialism in post-war Czechoslovakia, see Abrams, The Struggle for the Soul, 178–274.
47. War diary, Middle East, 24 March and 8 April 1941.
48. Gak to Catroux, Jerusalem, 9 September 1941, VÚA, Čs.MiseBBSV, box 15, file 70/6/15.
49. “Otto Wagner,” Ordre de la Libération, http://www.ordredelaliberation.fr/fr/les-compagnons/1005/otto-wagner (accessed October 15, 2017).
50. Report to Ministry of Defence, 4 February 1950, VÚA, Čepička records, box 35, file 247.
51. Letter to General Koenig, 7 March 1970; Letter to Miss Anne Dureau, 6 May 1973; Ordre de la Libération, file Otto Wagner.
52. Leighton-Langer, The Kings Own Loyal Enemy, 5.
53. Appendix to War diary, Middle East, 14 December 1941, VÚA, Czechoslovak units in the Middle East (Čs.JedSV), box 10, file 40/1/10.
54. VÚA, Čs.MiseBBSV, box 15, file 70/6/15. Various internship files.
55. Géraud Létang, “Désert, combattre dans le” in Muracciole and Piketty, Encyclopédie, 309–13.
56. Čapek and Vondrášek, Bojovali za Československo.
57. Interview with Stanislav Mikula (1918–2006), 19 May 2003, https://www.pametnaroda.cz/cs/mikula-stanislav-1918?clipId=40779#recording (accessed March 12, 2016).
58. War diary, Middle East, 17 May 1941.
59. Iain Johnston, “Troupes coloniales britanniques” in Muracciole and Piketty, Encyclopédie, 1342.
60. Program, 2 September 1941, VÚA, Čs.MiseBBSV, box 15, file 70/6/15.
61. Report on the AA Regiment, 10 October 1942, “Ninth Army: Allied Liaison Office, May–Nov 42,” WO 169/3981.
62. Interview with Hynek Zmítko (1916–2004), 1 April 2004, https://www.pametnaroda.cz/cs/zmitko-hynek-20040401-0 (accessed November 12, 2018).
63. Interview with Josef Polívka (1921–2011), 5 August 2003, https://www.pametnaroda.cz/cs/polivka-josef-20030805-0 (accessed January 12, 2019).
64. Christmas Eve of the mortar section, Tobruk, December 1941, quoted by Klapálek, Ozvěny bojů, 112.
65. For comparison, an example of a macaronic menu can be found in the records of former Austrian-Hungarian sailors studied by the author. Ankerstazione menu, 23 April 1932, VÚA, Czechoslovak Circle of the Revolutionary Sailors (ČONR), box 1, file 8.
66. See note 64.
67. “Jean Pompei,” Ordre de la Libération, https://www.ordredelaliberation.fr/fr/les-compagnons/779/jean-pompei (accessed January 5, 2018).
68. Czechoslovak Propaganda bulletin, n°19 (1942), 2, VÚA, Čs.MiseBBSV, box 40, file 159/1/40.
69. Middle East Field Censorship Weekly Summary, 1 to 7 April 1942, Australian War Memorial 54 883/2/97, Part 2.
70. Photographic and commemorative album, May 1942, VÚA, Čs.MiseBBSV, box 40, file 162/1/40.
71. Report on the AA Regiment, 10 October 1942, “Ninth Army: Allied Liaison Office, May-Nov 42,” WO 169/3981. Also, football matches were played on national days, such as a Czechoslovak-Yugoslav match on 28 September 1942 (death of St Wenceslas), followed by a “festive lunch […] supported by the Jugoslav Band [and] prolonged late in the afternoon.” Such events were quite banal in Allied garrisons.
72. Vojenský historický archiv. http://www.vuapraha.cz/soldier/13960410 ([dataset]; accessed April 25, 2018).
73. Čechoaustralan, Summer-Winter 2014–2015, 8. He would later open a Czech pub in Sydney.
74. LOT 493 Hawthorne Avenue, Rookwood, Auburn City Council, New South Wales, Australia, https://billiongraves.com/grave/Emil-Koroschenko–K%C3%B6r%C3%B6sk%C3%A9nyi/19936346.
75. Collage from Images, Cairo, 29 June 1942, VÚA, Čs.JedSV, box 32, file 158/1/32, with permission of the Czech Military Archives; postcard from the early 1940s, reproduced in Pál Takáč, “Koroschenko Emil” (2017), 11, http://www.obecbiel.sk/koroschenko-emil-oznam/mid/317455/.html (accessed November 23, 2018, in Hungarian).
76. Johnston, The British Commonwealth, 208.
77. Lenormand, “Vers l’armée du peuple,” chap. 4.
78. Lenormand, “Vers l’armée du peuple,” chap. 10.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Paul Lenormand
Paul Lenormand is researcher at the French Military Archives (SHD), Vincennes. He completed his PhD in history at Sciences Po Paris. During the last few years, he has taught at Yale University, Paris-Sorbonne and Sciences Po. His research interests include the history of warfare, the Second World War, the Cold War, military culture, social history and the history of Central and Eastern Europe. He has written several articles and book chapters on Czechoslovak military culture, the Slovak Army during the Second World War, Displaced Persons in Central Europe, and military attachés during the early Cold War. His current project focuses on the management of casualties in wartime and on the interactions between fighters and artefacts.