Ludvík Cupal

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Ludvík Cupal (1915–1943)

Ludvík Cupal (born August 23, 1915 in Břeclav , † January 15, 1943 in Velehrad ) was a soldier in the Czechoslovak Army and head of the TIN paratrooper command . The command was charged with carrying out an assassination attempt on Emanuel Moravec , Minister for Education and Public Enlightenment in the Protectorate Government and a collaborator with the German National Socialists .

youth

The father worked as a locomotive heater for the state railway company ČSD . The mother's name was Františka, nee Tomolová. After an apprenticeship as a locksmith , Ludvík worked as a boiler maker. In 1934 he enlisted in the military and served in the 30th  Infantry Regiment in Vysoké Mýto in Bohemia. He graduated from a non-commissioned officer school and ended his active service in 1936. As part of the mobilization in 1938 , he was called up again and deployed on the border wall near Glatz .

In exile

After the occupation of the country by the German Reich , he fled via Poland to France in July 1939 and joined the French Foreign Legion . After the war began, he joined the Czechoslovak Army in Exile in Agde and took part in the fighting for France . After France's defeat, he was evacuated to England on the ship Rod el Farag in June 1940 and served in the 2nd Infantry Battalion of the Czechoslovak Army.

In Great Britain he registered for special training and from January 1941 to February 1942 completed courses in attack combat, sabotage and parachuting . On 28 October 1941 he became a Staff Sergeant ( Sergeant transported). In January 1942 he was transferred to the Czechoslovak training base STS 2 in Bellasis near Dorking together with Jaroslav Švarc . STS ( Special Training School ) was a facility of the British Special Operations Executive during World War II .

Operation TIN

In February 1942 he was commissioned by the Czechoslovak government- in- exile in London to lead the TIN paratrooper command. The command, consisting of Ludvík Cupal and Jaroslav Švarc, had the task of carrying out an assassination attempt on Emanuel Moravec, Minister for Education and Public Enlightenment of the Protectorate Government and most influential collaborator with the German National Socialists.

The two paratroopers were deployed on the night of April 29th to 30th, 1942 near the village of Věšín near Rožmitál in Central Bohemia . Together with them, three other Czechoslovak paratroopers (Václav Kindl, Bohuslav Grabovský, Vojtěch Lukaštík) were released from the INTRANSITIV command . The group separated on landing. Cupal injured his leg on landing and also suffered serious internal injuries that did not fully heal. He was found by Vojtěch Lukaštík. Lukaštík helped him to come to Pilsen and later moved with him via Brno to Veselí nad Moravou . After the assassination attempt on Reinhard Heydrich, they no longer dared to go to Prague. Together with Vojtěch Lukaštík, Cupal undertook a series of acts of sabotage, which had little success, but attracted the attention of the Gestapo . On January 15, 1943, Ludvík Cupal was found hiding in the old brick factory in Velehrad. In the hopeless situation, he shot himself.

After the war

In July 1948 he was promoted to nadporučík (first lieutenant ) in memoriam .

Awards and honors

  • 1940 - Čs. válečný kříž 1939Československý válečný kříž 1939 ( Czechoslovak War Cross 1939 )
  • 1944 - Pamětní medaile československé armády v zahraničí se štítky Francie a Velké BritániePamětní medaile československé armády v zahraničí se štítky Francie a Velká Británie (Commemorative medal of the Czechoslovak army abroad with the badge of France and Great Britain)
  • 1945 - Čs. válečný kříž 1939druhý Československý válečný kříž 1939 (second Czechoslovak War Cross 1939)

See also

literature

  • Martin Reichl: Cesty osudu . Svět křídel, Cheb 2004, ISBN 80-86808-04-1 (Czech).
  • Ludmila Habichová: Výcvik československých parašutistů ve Velké Británii (1940–1945). Diplomová práce. Západočeská univerzita v Plzni , Faculty filozofická, Plzeň 2016, p. 27–34, 46–47, 53 (Czech, 103 p., Online [PDF]). Resumé in English on pages 80–81.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g CUPAL Ludvík , Čs. váleční parašutisté 1941–1945 , Knihovna Akademie věd ČR (Czech).
  2. ↑ Ludmila Habichová: Výcvik československých parašutistů ve Velké Británii (1940-1945). Diplomová práce. Západočeská univerzita v Plzni, Faculty filozofická, Plzeň 2016, p. 27–34 (Czech, 103 pp., Online [PDF]). Resumé in English on pages 80–81.
  3. ^ Jan Boris Uhlíř: Emanuel Moravec. Český nacionální socialista. In: Historie a vojenství, Volume 55 (2006) Issue 3, pp. 49–50 . Praha 2006 (Czech).
  4. ↑ Operace TIN , Jan Stokman on the server webnode.cz (Czech).
  5. ↑ Ludmila Habichová: Výcvik československých parašutistů ve Velké Británii (1940-1945). Diplomová práce. Západočeská univerzita v Plzni , Faculty filozofická, Plzeň 2016, p. 53 (Czech, 103 pp., Online [PDF]). Resumé in English on pages 80–81.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Cupal, Ludvík
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Czechoslovak soldier
DATE OF BIRTH August 23, 1915
PLACE OF BIRTH Břeclav
DATE OF DEATH January 15, 1943
Place of death Velehrad