First Czechoslovak Army in Slovakia

The First Czechoslovak Army in Slovakia was an ad-hoc military formation formed by the insurgents of the Slovak National Uprising (August – October 1944) against Nazi Germany. It was destroyed by German and pro-German Slovak forces as part of the successful crackdown against the Slovak National Uprising.

Background

The First Slovak Republic had been formed as a puppet state of Nazi Germany in early 1939, during the German Invasion of Czechoslovakia, when the territories of the modern-day Czech Republic that had not yet been part of Nazi Germany as a result of the 1938 Munich Agreement were forcefully integrated into the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia ("Reich Protectorate" for short).[1]: 100  Slovakia agreed in treaties with Germany signed on 23 March 1939 to follow the German lead in foreign policy,[2]: 180  and later to also allow the formation of a German Zone of Protection in Slovakia,[3]: 116  where German forces in the country were initially concentrated.[3]: 132  Militarily, Slovakia was forced to fight a brief war against Germany's partner Hungary; the Slovak–Hungarian War ended in further territorial concessions to Hungary that even exceeded the previous concessions made at the First Vienna Award of 2 November 1938.[2]: 180 

Slovakia participated in World War II on the side of the Axis; the Slovak Field Army Bernolák participated in the German Invasion of Poland of September 1939 with a small-scale Slovak invasion of Poland. On 23 June 1941, the Slovak Republic declared war on the Soviet Union, which had been invaded by Germany a day prior; a Slovak contingent subsequently was placed under the command of the German 17th Army.[4]: 80 

As the fortune of war on the Eastern Front turned against the Axis, Slovak soldiers began to desert in disproportionate numbers to the Red Army, especially after the widely acclaimed German defeat at the Battle of Stalingrad 1942/43. The actions of Soviet partisans in areas still occupied by Germany and its allies widened to include Slovakia as well starting in spring of 1944. The anti-German partisans started to infiltrate central Slovakia in August 1944, and the Bratislava government soon lost control in the area, declaring martial law on 10 August 1944. As even Slovak military officers were starting to defect to the underground Slovak National Council, the German chief diplomat in Bratislava Hanns Ludin suggested to his government a German occupation of Slovakia. On 28 August, the German government gave corresponding orders and received a token permission by Jozef Tiso, the puppet president of Slovakia. Warnings were given out within the military resistance, and the Slovak National Uprising began on 29 August 1944, the same day as German troops moved to occupy the whole of Slovakia.[5]: 203–205 

Operational history
Ján Golian
Rudolf Viest

Initially under command of Ján Golian, who was later succeeded by Rudolf Viest,[6]: 849  the First Czechoslovak Army in Slovakia, which was formed in early October 1944,[7]: 502  fought against better-armed German forces and pro-German Slovak formations until 27 October 1944, when Banská Bystrica, where the insurgents had their power base, fell to the Germans.[6]: 849  Viest had returned from exile in London to take his command. In late September, the 2nd Independent Czechoslovak Airborne Brigade and the 1st Independent Czechoslovak Fighter Regiment joined the fight.[7]: 502 

In a protracted defensive battle, the Slovaks came under increasing pressure in mid-October 1944; a major German offensive of 18–20 October brought the military decision by enabling the capture of Banská Bystrica on the 27th.[7]: 502 

After the Slovak National Uprising was crushed, the First Czechoslovak Army in Slovakia operationally ceased to exist; surviving veterans and remnant groups retreated into Slovakia's mountains, from where they waged guerilla warfare against the Germans until the end of the war in early 1945.[6]: 849 

Legacy

Memorials to the members of the Slovak National Uprising include the memorial to the 2nd Independent Czechoslovak Airborne Brigade in Nowosielce in Poland.[8]

See also

References
  1. Müller, Rolf-Dieter (2007). An der Seite der Wehrmacht: Hitlers ausländische Hitler beim "Kreuzzug gegen den Bolschewismus" 1941–1945 (in German). Ch. Links Verlag. ISBN 9783861534488.
  2. Kamenec, Ivan (2011). "The Slovak State, 1939–1945". In Teich, Mikulas; Kovac, Dusan; Brown, Martin D. (eds.). Slovakia in History. Cambridge University Press. pp. 175–192. ISBN 9780521802536.
  3. Rychlík, Jan (2018). "Slovakia". In Stahel, David (ed.). Joining Hitler's Crusade: European Nations and the Invasion of the Soviet Union, 1941. Cambridge University Press. pp. 107–133. ISBN 9781316510346.
  4. Hillgruber, Andreas; Hümmelchen, Gerhard (1989) [1978]. "Juni 1941". Chronik des Zweiten Weltkrieges: Kalendarium militärischer und politischer Ereignisse 1939–1945 (in German). Bindlach: Gondrom. pp. 76–83. ISBN 3811206427.
  5. Rychlik, Jan (2011). "The Slovak Question and the Resistance Movement during the Second World War". In Teich, Mikulas; Kovac, Dusan; Brown, Martin D. (eds.). Slovakia in History. Cambridge University Press. pp. 193–205. ISBN 9780521802536.
  6. Rajcan, Vanda; Vadkerty, Madeline; Hlavinka, Ján (2018). "Slovakia". In Megargee, Geoffrey P.; White, Joseph R.; Hecker, Mel (eds.). Camps and Ghettos under European Regimes aligned with Nazi Germany. United States Memorial Museum Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos 1933-1945. Vol. 3. pp. 841–852. ISBN 9780253023865.
  7. Gebhart, Jan (2018). "Czechoslovakia in the Years after the Munich Agreement and in the Second World War (1938–1945)". In Panek, Jaroslav; Tuma, Oldrich (eds.). A History of the Czech Lands. Karolinum Press. pp. 479–508. ISBN 9788024631356.
  8. "Memorial 2nd Independent Czechoslovak Airborne Brigade - Nowosielce - TracesOfWar.com". www.tracesofwar.com. Retrieved 2023-05-18.
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