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| The Free Czechoslovak Army 1st Czechoslovak Infantry Division Jan Hyrman On 15th January 1940 the 1st Czechoslovak Infantry Division was formed (three infantry regiments, an artillery regiment, anti-tank artillery, engineers and a reconnaisance troop). In the Spring of the same year, the unit had already 10,000 men. General Rudolf Viest became the commander of the division. Paradoxically, he was a hot candidate for the head of the Defence Department of Jozef Tiso's Slovak State, a German puppet state. France is engulfed in chaos and indifference. The division's soldiers suffer from bad nutrition and accommodation, insufficient equipment and armament. The uniforms they received had been in store since the Great War, there are too few rifles (and moreover, without magazines), the radios do not work during the exercises, the vehicles are in bad condition, horses are ill. The artillery regiment received guns in such an appalling condition, that the commanders were afraid to give an order for fire with live ammunition. On 10th May 1940, the German offensive in western Europe started. By the end of the month the French Army was defeated. The Czechoslovak Division received a movement order to the first line, due to lack of arms only the 1st and 2nd Infantry Regiments departed for the front - the so-called Czechoslovak divisional infantry. The command passes on to General Cihak due to General Viest's illness. On 6th June 1940, both regiments leave for the first line into the area of the Marne River (about 200 kilometres southeast of Paris). |
| The 1st Regiment left with 2,262 men, 161 horses, 166 heavy and light machine guns and 18 mortars. They had not a single anti-tank cannon. Both units have a desperate lack of ammunition for the rifles, machine guns and mortars. On 11th June 1940 the units arrived to the area, the 1st Regiment is attached to the French 23rd Infantry Division, the 2nd Regiment to the 4th Light Mechanized Division. Both Czechoslovak regiments fought bravely on the Marne and the Loire, but they could not save the day themselves - on several occasions they were nearly surrounded due to the retreating French units on their flanks and must retreat as well. Then came the complete collapse of the French armed resistance and the news of the French Prime Minister, Marshal Petain, requesting a truce with Hitler on 17th June, signed on the 22nd. On 19th June General Cihak ordered the retreat of the Free Czechoslovak Army to the south of France. The previous day President Benes, staying at London at the time, asked the head of the British War Department, Sir Anthony Eden, for help. Eden immediately promised to help and issued the orders. 5,000 Czechoslovak volunteers (including 900 airmen) are evacuated to Great Britain. During the French campaign, the Czechoslovak units lost 400 killed and several hundred missing; tens of the soldiers were captured and often handed over to the Gestapo. 32 members of the Free Czechoslovak Army were awarded the French War Cross (Croix de Guerre), 132 were awarded the Czechoslovak War Cross 1939 and 102 received the Czechoslovak Military Merit Medal. |