Slovakia during World War II

Slovakia did not participate in the start of the Axis invasion of the Soviet Union, which began on June 22, 1941. Hitler and other Nazi leaders distrusted the Slovaks against participating in Eastern European campaigns because they were Slavs.[3] Although Hitler did not ask for help from Slovakia, the Slovaks decided to send an expeditionary force.

The Slovak Army group attached to the 17th German Army attacked the Soviet 12th Army. Along with the 17th Aramta German and Hungarian army, the group directed the Slovak army deep into southern Russia. During the Battle of Uman (3 to 8 August 1941), a mechanized body of the Carpathian Group formed double wings encircling the 6th and 12th Soviet units. During this struggle, 20 Soviet divisions were destroyed or surrendered.

From 1942 to 1944 only the Slovak 1st Division was kept on the front line, fighting in the Caucasus area and later in southern Ukraine.

4,000 Slovak soldiers were casualties in the fighting on the Eastern Front. There was also a high rate of desertion, at first individuals but later large groups of soldiers disillusioned with the war.[4]

On August 29, 1944, the Slovak National Uprising broke out after German troops invaded Slovakia. The German occupation troops resumed the pursuit of the Final Solution by deporting Slovak Jews to mass death-camps in Germany and occupied Poland.

Slovakia soon became a theater of war. On September 19, 1944, the German command replaced SS-Obergruppenführer Berger, who had previously commanded the troops fighting the Uprising, with SS-General Höfle. By that time the Germans had 48,000 soldiers in Slovakia: eight German divisions (including four of the Waffen-SS) and one pro-Nazi Slovak formation.

On October 1 the resistance army renamed itself as the "1st Czechoslovak Army in Slovakia" in order to symbolize the beginning of a Czech-Slovak reunification that the allied forces would recognize.

A major German counteroffensive began on October 17−18, 1944, when 35,000 German soldiers entered Slovakia from Hungary (which the German military had occupied on March 19, 1944). Stalin demanded that the advance of the 2nd Ukrainian Front led by General Rodion Malinovsky immediately divert towards Budapest. By the end of October 1944, the Axis forces (six German divisions and the pro-Nazi Slovak unit) took back most of the territory which the resistance army had occupied, and surrounded the battle groups. The fighting cost at least 10,000 casualties on both sides.

The resistance had to evacuate Banská Bystrica on October 27 just before the German takeover. SOE and OSS agents retreated to the mountains, with thousands of others fleeing the German advance. On October 28, General Viest, the commander of the 1st Czechoslovak Army in Slovakia, informed London that the resistance would move towards guerilla warfare. On October 30, General President Hoffa and Tiso celebrated in Banská Bystrica, with medals for German soldiers for their part in suppressing the revolt.

However, the remnants of the forces of the National Uprising continued their efforts in the mountains. In retaliation, the Germans executed several hundred suspected resistance members and Jews, and destroyed 93 villages for suspected collaboration. A later estimated death toll was 5,304; and the authorities have discovered 211 mass graves that resulted from these atrocities. Most executions took place in Kremnička and Nemecká. On 3 November the Germans captured Viest and Golian in Bukovec Pohronský; Nazi authorities later interrogated and executed the two captured commanders.

Special Operations Executive and Office of Strategic Services teams eventually joined and sent a message requesting immediate assistance. The Germans surrounded both groups from December 25 and they were captured. Some men were summarily executed. The Germans took the rest to Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp, where they were tortured and executed.

The German victory in Slovakia only delayed the final fall of Tiso's pro-National Socialist regime. Six months later, the Red Army attacked the Axis forces in Slovakia. As early as December 1944, Romanian and Soviet troops confronted German troops in southern Slovakia as part of the Battle of Budapest (26 December to 13 February). On January 19, 1945, the Red Army occupied Bardejov, Svidník, Prešov and Košice in eastern Slovakia. On March 3–5 they took northwestern Slovakia. Soviet and Romanian troops liberated Banská Bystrica on 26 March 1945. Malinovsky's forces marched into Bratislava on 4 April 1945.

The Slovak National Uprising did not achieve its main military objectives due to the timing of the uprising and the actions of Soviet partisans, who often undermined the plans and objectives of the Slovak armed insurrection. If the uprising had occurred later, when Slovak preparations were complete, the Slovak resistance could theoretically have co-ordinated with the Allies and allowed the Red Army to move quickly through Slovakia (although it is questionable whether the Soviet leadership would have preferred such an option, as this would have significantly empowered democratic forces in Slovakia). Nevertheless, the activity of the guerrilla forces required Germany to deploy troops that could have otherwise strengthened the eastern front lines against the advancing fronts of Ukraine to the north and south of Slovakia.

Slovakia became target of Allied bombers towards the end of World War II. The major targets of strategic bombing included oil refineries in Bratislava and Dubová (Banská Bystrica Region), arms factories in Dubnica nad Váhom and Považská Bystrica, railroad hubs like Nové Zámky. During the liberation months tactical bombing was executed, strongest hit were Prešov and Nitra.[5]

Major air raid included the bombing of Bratislava and its refinery Apollo on June 16, 1944 by American B-24 bombers of the Fifteenth Air Force with 181 victims[6] and bombing of Nitra on March 26, 1945 by Soviet A-20 bombers with 345 victims.[7]