Alfréd Bartoš

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Alfréd Bartoš

Alfréd Bartoš (born September 23, 1916 in Vienna , † June 22, 1942 in Pardubice ) was a personality of the Czechoslovak resistance 1939-1945 against National Socialism . Bartoš was a soldier and officer in Czechoslovakia . From 1941 to 1942 he was in command of Operation Silver A , which u. a. was involved with the operation group Anthropoid in the assassination attempt on the deputy Reich Protector in Bohemia and Moravia Reinhard Heydrich . The discovery of the activities of the illegal broadcaster Libuše led to the murder of all adult residents of the village of Ležáky .

Life

Alfréd Bartoš was born in Vienna as the child of tailors Adolf Bartoš and Antonie Bartošová, nee. Kuželová, born. After the First World War , the family moved to Sezemice nad Loučnou near Pardubice, where his father started working as a baker.

He graduated from secondary school in Sezemice and from 1930 continued his studies at a grammar school in Pardubice, where he was one of the best students. In 1935 he passed his school leaving examination with distinction.

On October 1, 1935, Alfréd Bartoš entered the military service of the 8th Cavalry Regiment in Pardubice. On December 23, 1935 he was promoted to private and on July 25, 1936 to NCO . After graduating from the Reserve Cavalry Officer School, he was promoted to Sergeant Aspirant on September 5, 1936 and then began to study at the Military Academy in Hranice na Moravě . At school he was again one of the best and finished the same on August 29, 1937 with the rank of lieutenant of the cavalry. Until the occupation on March 15, 1939, Bartoš worked for the Dragoon Regiment No. 8 in Pardubice.

In 1939 he traveled legally to France , where he initially helped at the Czechoslovak consulate in Paris and from June 8th he joined the Légion étrangère . He served in Tunisia until the beginning of World War II , then returned to France and joined the 2nd Czechoslovak Regiment on November 16 as a first lieutenant. With his unit he took part in the fighting on the Western Front . After the defeat of France, he went on July 13, 1940 on board the Egyptian sailing ship Rod el Farag (sunk in 1944) and went to England , where he was platoon leader of the 1st platoon of the 2nd company of the 2nd Infantry Battalion.

resistance

A memorial plaque at house number 405, Smilova ulice, Pardubice, where Bartoš was captured by the Gestapo

In the spring of 1941 he volunteered for training to carry out special tasks behind enemy lines. After completing his training, he was appointed commander of Operation Silver A appointed.

The main task of Operation Silver A was to maintain contact with England and to transmit important news about the events of the Protectorate through the transmitter codenamed Libuše . After several failed attempts on October 29, November 7 and November 30, the landing team was flown out on the night of December 28 to 29, 1941 together with participants from the Anthropoid and Silver B groups . Bartoš was deposed together with foreman Josef Valčík and radio operator Jiří Potůček near Senice near Poděbrady (instead of the originally planned position at Heřmanův Městec ). He was provided with protectorate documents under the code name Emil Sedlák .

One of Bartoš's main activities was reporting to London on the situation in the Protectorate and the situation of the resistance groups . An important piece of new information for the government-in-exile in London was his announcement that one could not rely on the contact addresses that the paratroopers had received before landing because the Gestapo had succeeded in disrupting the resistance network.

His group succeeded in building an extensive network of employees with up to 140 members and in March 1942 reestablished contact with staff captain Václav Morávek , who had been lost after the destruction of the Sparta I and Sparta II radios . It was also possible to set up a center for the reception of parachute agents with Jan Vojtíšek, a bookbinder, in Lázně Bělohrad . His resistance activities were u. a. supported by the Pardubice hotelier Arnošt Košťál. In January 1942, Lieutenant Bartoš was promoted to the rank of captain as an exception.

After the betrayal Bartoš was persecuted by the Gestapo, he got on 21 June 1942 in one case and committed on the run suicide . He succumbed to his injuries the following night.

See also

literature

  • Rudolf Ströbinger : The attack in Prague. Verlag Politisches Archiv, Landshut 1976, p. 204.
  • Hugo Theisinger: The Sudeten Germans: Origin, the time under Konrad Henlein and Adolf Hitler, expulsion - a contribution to Sudeten German history. Verlag / Druckerei Hans Obermayer, Buchloe 1987, p. 408.
  • Uwe Naumann: Lidice - a bohemian village. Röderberg-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1983, p. 48.
  • Jiří Šolc: Bylo málo mužů. Českoslovenští parašutisté na západní frontě za druhé světové války. Merkur, Praha 1991, ISBN 80-7032-624-7 .
  • Zdeněk Jelínek: Operace Silver A . Prague 1992.
  • V. Prchal, S. Horák: Život a odbojová činnost Arnošta Košťála, hoteliéra na Veselce. Východočeský sborník historický 8, Pardubice 1999, pp. 117-138.
  • Eduard Stehlík: “BARTOŠ Alfréd.” In: LÁNÍK, Jaroslav, a kol. Vojenské osobnosti československého odboje 1939–1945. Ministerstvo obrany České republiky-Agentura vojenských informací a služeb (AVIS), Prague 2005, ISBN 80-7278-233-9 . Pp. 16-17.
  • Miroslav Kunstat, Jaroslav Sebek, Hildegard Schmoller (eds.): Crisis, War and New Beginning: Austria and Czechoslovakia in the Years 1933–1948. Vienna 2017, p. 133 (footnote).
  • Karel Gottwald, Jiří Kotyk: Alfréd Bartoš (1916–1942) a jeho zápisník . Klub přátel Pardubicka, Pardubice 2019.

Web links

Commons : Alfréd Bartoš  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Martin Reichl: Cesty osudu. Svět křídel, 2004, p. 26.
  2. ↑ Biografický slovník českých zemí: B-Bař. Historický ústav AV ČR, 2005, p. 239.
  3. ↑ Eduard Stehlík: Bartoš Alfréd, In: Láník, Jaroslav, a kol. Vojenské osobnosti československého odboje 1939–1945. Ministerstvo obrany České republiky-Agentura vojenských informací a služeb (AVIS), Prague 2005, ISBN 80-7278-233-9 . P. 16–17, online (archived) at: vojenskaakademiehranice.ic.cz / ...
  4. ↑ Stehlík, as above.
  5. ↑ Stehlík, as above.
  6. ↑ Stehlík, as above.
  7. ^ Martin Groman: Z pekla smůla. In: Respekt , January 10, 2011, pp. 71-73, ISSN 0862-6545.
personal data
SURNAME Bartoš, Alfréd
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Czechoslovak first lieutenant and resistance fighter
DATE OF BIRTH September 23, 1916
PLACE OF BIRTH Vienna
DATE OF DEATH June 22, 1942
Place of death Pardubice