From 1940, Lt.-Col. Klapalek was appointed deputy of Col. J. Kores, the commanding officer of the Czechoslovak Infantry Regiment No 4 (three infantry regiments, part of the 1st Czechoslovak Infantry Division, were evacuated from France to Britain). Later, Klapalek was entrusted with the position of the commander of the Czechoslovak Infantry Regiment No 11 - East, which was created on 1st November 1940.

After the participation of the Czechoslovak units in the campaigns in Syria and north Africa (including the defence of the besieged Tobruk), he was appointed deputy of the commander of the Czechoslovak brigade in Great Britain. In September 1944 he was sent to the U.S.S.R., where he, as a commander of the 3rd Czechoslovak Brigade and, from April 1945, as a commander of the 1st Czechoslovak Army Corps, took part in the fierce fightings during the liberation of Czechoslovakia.

After the war, president Benes's proposal to appoint Klapalek Chief of Staff was not accepted. From 1945 to 1950 he was the military commander in Prague, in 1946 he achieved the highest military rank of Army General. In 1950 he had to retire as 'unreliable' and from 1952 to 1956 he was persecuted as a result of made-up charges. Upon intervention of Khrushchev he was released from prison. In 1968, Ozveny boju (Echoes of Battle), his memoirs, were published and he was decorated with the title of Hero of the Czechoslovak Socialistic Republic.
KAREL KLAPALEK
Born on 26th April 1893 in Nove Mesto nad Metuji
Died on 18th November 1984 in Prague
Already before the First World War, he was an important officer of the Czechoslovak Army. During WWI, he fought as a company commander in the ranks of the Czechoslovak legions in Russia and also took part in its Siberia peril. After his return to Czechoslovakia he took various commanding positions at the regiment level at Plzen and Uzhorod. From 1932 to 1937 he also taught at the Military Academy at Hranice.

After the occupation of Czechoslovakia on 15th March 1939 he was a member of the Defence of the Nation resistance organization, set up by former members of the military. Under pressure from the German efforts for his capture, amidst executions and persecuting, he entered illegality and, in 1940, he managed to overcome many difficulties in escaping through Slovakia, Hungaria, Jugoslavia and Turkey to the French Syria. However, after the news of French surrender arrived, he departed for British Palestine, together with a group of about 200 Czechoslovaks, who were previously waiting for transport to France.