František Bláha (General)

František Bláha (born February 26, 1886 in Poděbrady ; † May 21, 1945 in Theresienstadt concentration camp ), was a Czechoslovak soldier, legionnaire and general in Czechoslovakia and, as a leading member of the Obrana národa resistance group, a figure in the resistance against National Socialism .

Life

František Bláha attended a grammar school in Hradec Králové from 1896 to 1900 and then studied from 1903 to 1907 at the commercial academy in Prague. 1907–1908 he did military service in Prague, after which he attended a military course for volunteers. After the outbreak of World War I, he was assigned to the Russian front in November 1914 and captured six days after arrival. In June 1916 he was assigned to the Czechoslovak Legions in Russia and took part in various battles in Siberia as company commander. 1918-1919 he commanded the rank of major in the garrison in Yekaterinburg .

After returning to Czechoslovakia, he served in the military intelligence service of Czechoslovakia . His next assignment awaited him in 1922 in Khust in the Carpathian Ukraine and from 1923 as regimental commander there. From November 1932 he served as a brigade commander in Košice in Slovakia, then, from December 1933, he headed a military academy in Prague. After being appointed Brigadier General in 1934, he became commander of the 7th Infantry Brigade in Josefov . From December 1937 he was deputy commander of the 4th division in Hradec Králové, during the general mobilization of the Czechoslovak army in September 1938 he was in command of it.

After Czechoslovakia was occupied by the Third Reich and the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia was proclaimed, Bláha joined the resistance and took on important tasks in the Obrana národa resistance group , which was formed from the military who remained in Czechoslovakia. After the arrest of General Zdeněk Novák in June 1944, he became their commander, but was arrested by the Gestapo in November 1944 and taken to the Theresienstadt concentration camp . There he could still experience the liberation of the country, but died as a result of a typhus epidemic that was rampant there .

In October 1946 František Bláha was promoted in memoriam to division general.

Awards

• 1919 Order of the Falcon (Czechoslovakia)
• 1919 Order of Saint Stanislaus, Second Class (Russia)
• 1921 Czechoslovak War Cross 1914–1918
• 1921 Czechoslovak Revolution Medal
• 1921 Czechoslovak Victory Medal 1918
• 1946 Czechoslovak War Cross 1939 (in memoriam)

swell

• Přehled popravených, umučených a padlých československých generálů , keyword brigádní generál František BLÁHA , biography, online at: codyprint.cz/…
• Bláha, František, divisní generál in memoriam , overview and curriculum vitae of the forum.valka.cz portal , online at: forum.valka.cz/…