Ludvík Krejčí

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Ludvík Krejčí (born August 17, 1890 in Tuřany (now part of Brno ), † February 9, 1972 in Ústí nad Orlicí ) was a highly decorated Czechoslovak soldier, legionnaire on the Russian Eastern Front , army general in the Czechoslovak Army , chief of staff and during the mobilization 1938 the head of the armed forces . In the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia he was partially imprisoned in the Small Fortress Theresienstadt . After 1945 he was demoted.

Military career

Krejčí, who was born into a farming family, graduated from high school and a forestry school. He briefly worked as a forester in Bosnia. After the outbreak of World War I , he served as an officer in the Austrian army in Serbia and Montenegro , Albania , Italy and Romania and was awarded the Signum Laudis Medal of Merit. In May 1917 he was taken prisoner by Russia and three months later he joined the Czechoslovak legions . Krejčí was in command of various units, was promoted, took part in the Battle of Bachmatsch and in the battles for the Trans-Siberian Railway . He ended the war as a colonel and received numerous awards. In June 1920 Krejčí returned to Czechoslovakia.

On his return Krejčí attended the war schools Vysoká škola válečná in Prague and École supérieure de guerre in Paris, which were specialized in the training of senior officers and generals. In 1923 he was appointed brigadier general, in September 1925 he took over the command of the 4th division in Hradec Králové, in May 1928 he was appointed division general. 1932/1933 Krejčí was the country commander for Slovakia. On November 30, 1933, Krejčí was appointed Deputy Chief of Staff by President Masaryk and on December 31, 1933, Chief of Staff of the Czechoslovak Armed Forces. In March 1934, Krejčí was promoted to army general and in the following months he advocated further armament and modernization of the armed forces. From March 1935 he was in the newly established "Council for Fortification Work" together with General Karel Husárek responsible for the planning and implementation of the construction of the bunker fortifications along the border, known as the Czechoslovak Wall .

Sudeten crisis

At the beginning of September 1938, already during the worsening Sudeten crisis , he advised President Beneš to take decisive action against the separatist tendencies and actions of the Germans. He addressed three memoranda to the government in which he underlined the determination of the armed forces to defend the country and warned against making concessions to the Nazi German Reich . At this point in time he asked for the reservists to be called up, but this was initially rejected.

After the general mobilization was announced on September 23, Krejčí was appointed Commander in Chief of the armed forces, a post normally incumbent on the President. On September 28, he advocated Beneš not to give in to pressure from the great powers. Ludvík Krejčí, who was a staunch opponent of surrender in terms of the Munich Agreement , had to officially accept it on September 30th under pressure from the state leadership.

Protectorate period and after 1945

On March 1, 1939 Krejčí lost his post as Chief of Staff of the Army, after the occupation of the country by the Wehrmacht from March 15, 1939, he was retired. He was under the supervision of the Gestapo ; on October 14, 1941, he was arrested and taken to the Small Fortress Theresienstadt , briefly held in the Pankrác prison in Prague and transferred back to Theresienstadt, then released on July 22, 1942.

After the end of the war, President Beneš refused to reactivate him, and in 1947 he was transferred to the reserve and retired. After the communist revolution in February 1948 he was demoted on July 6, 1950 and on June 1, 1956 he lost his pension. He supported himself and his family as a simple laborer.

It was not until 1990, 18 years after his death, that he was rehabilitated and returned to the rank of army general.

Awards

Ludvík Krejčí received 25 awards and medals during his military career (including 5 French and one each from Belgium, Chinese, Italian, Yugoslav, Romanian, Russian, Greek and one from Great Britain, also 3 from Austria-Hungary), in memoriam (2008 and 20122) then two orders of the Czech Republic, including:

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e Armádní generál Ludvík Krejčí (1890–1972) , short biography of the institute Ústav pro studium totalitních režimů (ÚSTR, Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes), online at: ustrcr.cz / ...
  2. ↑ a b c d e Pavel Šrámek: Armádní generál Ludvík Krejčí , online at: armada.vojenstvi.cz / ...
  3. ↑ a b c Ludvík Krejčí , bipography of the Brno.cz portal (official website of the city of Brno), online at: brno.cz / ...
  4. ↑ a b c d e f Ludvík Krejčí , short biography of the encyclopedia of the city of Brno, online at: encyklopedie.brna.cz / ...
  5. ↑ Pavel Šrámek: Čs. opevnění do roku '39 , in: Armády, technika, militaria , Vol. 3, 12/2005, pp. 70–72, quoted in to: Čs. opevnění do roku '39 , online at: armada.vojenstvi.cz/.../1.htm

Web links

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personal data
SURNAME Krejčí, Ludvík
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Czechoslovak general and commander in chief of the army
DATE OF BIRTH 17th August 1890
PLACE OF BIRTH Tuřany (today part of Brno )
DATE OF DEATH February 9, 1972
Place of death Ústí nad Orlicí