Počet zobrazených článkov: 15 (z celkom 16 nájdených)
Sowjetische Kriegsverbrechen in der Westukraine im Sommer 1941 aus der Sicht slowakischer Soldaten
Die Forschung und Interpretation einzelner Ereignisse, Zeitabschnitte oder Gestalten des Zweiten Weltkriegs bleibt auch sechzig Jahre nach ihrem Ende für viele Historiker oder Laien in aller Welt weiterhin ein anziehendes Thema. Trotz unzähliger von Literatur, die nach 1945 zu diesem Thema erschienen ist, gibt es immer noch mehrere Fragen, die bis heute nicht befriedigend geklärt werden.
Operations by the Red Army’s Danube fleet in Slovakia I.
The conflicts fought during the Second World War on Slovak territory took place almost entirely on dry land and in the air. Nevertheless, an interesting chapter can be written about the rare operations on water. Because our only stream, navigable by larger vessels, is the Danube, an important transport artery, its waters provided the only scene for armed conflicts involving floating objects. Besides being the link connecting Central Europe with the Black Sea, in times of hostilities throughout history it often served as a military-tactical element, mainly defensive.
First Slovak aerial “kill”
Prior to the publication of this article in the (Czech) periodical “Letectví + kosmonautika” in April 2004 [1] no-one had succeeded in reliably describing the circumstances of the first aerial victory won by Slovak flyers in WW2. There are several reasons for this being so. The main actors – František Hanovec, Martin Žiaran and Viliam Jaloviar – either could not or were not willing to produce statements, which could be confidently accepted as truthful (or it wasn’t known whether any witness statements even existed). Also, most authors did not have access to serious archive material and had to rely on the reminiscences of a wide variety of witnesses, which were – to say the least – inexact. Most of them were (and still are) so misleading that today they cannot be used even as secondary sources of information.
A Remarkable ascent to the top of Mt. Sitno
Military training in the Slovak army in the years 1939-44 was very demanding. It run mainly along the guidelines and rule books used by the earlier Czecho-Slovak army. Gradually, though, it was adapted taking into account experiences gained by the Slovak army during the defence operations against the Hungarian aggression in March 1939, the campaign against Poland in September 1939 and later on during the campaign aganst the Soviet Union. Many novel ideas and methods were being introduced into training by German instructors before the war against the Soviet Union in the course of the year 1940.
Escapes of Slovaks from Soviet Captivity (II.)
By the end of summer 1941 the Slovak Army Group, which was sent to join the war against the Soviet Union, underwent a re-organization. The result was the formation of the Rapid Division and the Securing Division. The Rapid Division (RD) was moved to the front line and the Securing Division (SD) remained in the rear of the Wehrmacht as an occupying formation. Its role was to perform guard and security duties in the northern parts of German-occupied Ukraine and in the southern Bielorussia. In that area it was given the responsibility for the keeping of order, guarding of supply stores and protecting rail and road communication lines from partisan attacks. Right from the start to those duties was added also active fighting against the partisans. Thanks to Stalin’s military politics in the years 1937-41 the Soviet partisan movement was weak and badly organized. It lacked adequately trained cadres (the specialists, trained for partisan warfare before 1937 had disappeared in the gulags, having been accused of terrorist activities), stores of weapons and ammunition were non-existent, there was a general shortage of explosives and of communication equipment. For all these reasons the activity of partisans right until spring 1942 was practically nil. Slovak units therefore performed only a very limited number of anti-partisan actions, with minimal results. The first significant encounter of Slovak forces with the partisans occurred on 13th March 1942 near the town of Perkalje. The losses suffered by the Slovak units in this battle were heavy. 14 men died, 22 were wounded and 8 ended up as missing-in-action (MIA). Of the wounded 5 have died later, so that the final total of dead rose to 19. The partisans have also taken one prisoner, Pte. Michal Kováč. Nothing is known of his subsequent fate.
Liptovský Mikuláš – Pyrrhic victory of the 1st Czsl. Army Corps
When in 1942 on the territory of the Soviet Union the 1st Czechoslovak Independent Field Battalion (later Brigade) began to be formed, few of its members had an inkling of what the future held for their unit. The Czechoslovak soldiers were to pass through the baptism of fire in the battle of Sokolovo and later distinguished themselves during the liberation of Kyjev.
Slovak Volunteers in the Special Units of Otto Skorzeny (II.)
Conclusion...
Slovak Volunteers in the Special Units of Otto Skorzeny (I.)
For Germany and its allies the situation on all fronts in autumn (amer. Fall) of 1944 was more than critical. The Red Army was pushing the Wehrmacht unstoppably westward and from the Atlantic coast the Allied divisions were advancing through France. In the occupied territories was spreading a new phenomenon – partisan movement, which made it necessary for the German fighting forces to organise units specialising in anti-partisan warfare. That kind of fighting soon gained, especially on the Eastern front and in the Balkan region a cruel – even criminal – character. Considering the conditions and specifics of partisan and anti-partisan fighting, resort to such cruelty was to be expected.
Gustáv Wendrinský – White page in the Slovak Military History
Gustáv Wendrinský was born 24th Jan. 1923 in Bratislava. He spent the longest part of his childhood, from 1929 until 1938 in Semtín near Pardubice. His father, an employee of the Bratislava-based firm “Dynamit-Nobel” was employed there in the factory of “Explosia Semtín” and as an explosives expert took part in the development of the famous Semtex. Young Gustav spent a lot of time in the company of housemaid, a native of Petrograd (later Leningrad) who had escaped the murdering Red revolutionaries and found refuge in Czechoslovakia. She taught the boy to speak fluent Russian, an ability, which some years later proved to be very decisive in his career. From her first-hand experiences he also found out about the true image of Russia’s promised “Communist Paradise”.
Battle for the Strečno Gap (31. 8. – 3. 9. 1944)
The Strečno Gap on the river Váh, thanks to its position, has been attracting the attention of settlers and conquerors alike since the Middle Ages. It is not surprising at all that soon after the raid by the Tartars a fort was built on the right bank, which today bears the name of Starý hrad (engl. Old Fort – or Old Castle) and a short time later, at the down-stream end of the Gap on the opposite side of the river was constructed another fortified Castle, now known as Strečno. These background facts help to underscore the importance of the few-kilometres-long narrows squeezed from both sides by steep 500 to 1000m high forest-covered massifs of the Lower Fatra. Meanwhile the Strečno Gap provides the only approach corridor to the districts of Turiec and Liptov from the west and that accounts for the further enhancing of its importance when the Košice – Bohumín Railway Line was constructed late in the 19th Century.
Slovaks against the Molotov Line (II.)
At the time when the Rapid Group (RG) was already fighting in Western Ukraine, back in Slovakia was in progress a so-called “hidden” mobilisation, which served as a foundation for the build-up of a Combat Army. Because the Army Organisation, in force since 1st Oct. 1940, called for the establishment of two Infantry Divisions (instead of three as planned in 1939), the majority of called-up reservists were allocated to them. The 1st Division (1.D), with Command base in Trenčín, covered the whole of the territory of Western and more than half of Central Slovakia. It was Commanded by Col. (Artl.) Jozef Turanec. Into the 2nd Division (2.D), with Command base in Prešov, were posted reservists from the eastern part of Central and the whole of Eastern Slovakia.The Commander of the 2.D was Col. (Gen. Staff) Augustín Malár. Together they formed, in the North and East of the country, an Army Group under the Command of Lt. Gen. Ferdinand Čatloš.
Slovaks against the Molotov Line (I.)
The Molotov Line was a system of re-inforced concrete fortifications, which were being constructed in 1940-1941 along the western border of the former Soviet Union after the partition of Poland between the German Third Reich and the USSR in 1939. This line of Defences was being built only along the section of the border shared with the new neighbour, which was, as of autumn 1939, the Great-German Empire (ger. Grossdeutsches Reich). The work began early in the year 1940. By the time the war broke out, there were completed along the entire length of the German-Soviet border, about 2500 re-inforced concrete bunkers of various designs and sizes. Around 1000 of these were equipped with Fort Artillery weapons and the remaining 1500 with Machine Guns. The work on the fortifications required every day the labour of close to 140 thousand people. Stalin was personally urging the Projects completion. In order to speed up the outfitting of the bunkers and to make them ready for battle, part of the artillery hardware of the old Stalin Line, on the old USSR borders, was dismantled. That equipment was then installed on the new defence line and the superseded defence line was partly mothballed and partly destroyed.
Struggle for the Hron bridgehead and operation Südwind
Dukla, Bratislava, Moravia gate, Prague… These few battlefields of the world war two in former Czechoslovakia were interpreted by the official historical science before 1989 as the most important events of this era in the country. There was of course a strong ideological aim: to show the Red army and the 1st Czechoslovak army corps as a victorious power, unstoppable for the enemy. But had it always been so? It is clear, that no army is invincible, great victories do not come easy, mostly after heavy defeats and casualties. This was a fact that marxist historians tried to hide for long time. Soviet soldier was no kind of a perfect super-hero, even in the last months of the war. But the „mighty shield of the socialism“ has been carefully watching and caring for her image…
Military decoration in wartime Slovak republic
Appreciation of civil and military deeds from ancient times till today was one of traditions of cultural states which showed respect and thanks to people in which values of society were inpersonificated.
Escapes of Slovaks from Soviet Captivity (I.)
Perhaps the harshest fate, which could possibly befall a soldier who has survived frontline dangers, is being taken prisoner. The situation faced by Prisoners of War (PoWs) in spite of the formal signing, by virtually every nation, of the Geneva Convention early in the 20th century, has radically worsened during the Second World War. Arbitrary killing of prisoners or wilfull neglect of them aimed at ensuring their early death have characterised especially the fighting on the Eastern front. Both Soviet Union and the German Third Reich have adopted equally cruel methods in the treatment of PoWs. That was certainly one of the elements which wwere responsible for the war on the Eastern front being fought by both sides with exceptional brutality.
