Obrana národa

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Obrana národa (ON; German Defense of the Nation ) was one of the three most important non-communist Czechoslovak resistance groups in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia , which formed around the summer of 1939 and merged to form the umbrella organization of the resistance ÚVOD in early 1940 . It consisted mainly of former officers of the Czechoslovak army and was therefore professionally structured and organized. There were many prominent figures in the resistance group, including the Prime Minister of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, General Alois Eliáš, who was executed in 1942 . Through her connection to the Czechoslovak government- in- exile in London she played a prominent role in the union of the illegal underground movements ÚVOD.

history

Josef Bílý, 1st commander of ON

After the political decision of the occupation of the country by the Wehrmacht on 15./16. In March 1939, as a result of the Munich Agreement , the officers and soldiers of the no longer existing Czechoslovak army had two options: some fled the occupied country, for a long time only to the west (France, Great Britain), where they joined the units joined the Czechoslovak army in exile , others then took part in the illegal resistance in the protectorate and built up a secret army.

The first local conspiratorial cells arose as early as March 1939, and until the summer came together to form a resistance organization. The founding of a secret underground army goes back to an idea of ​​the generals Josef Bílý , Sergej Vojcechovský and Sergěj Ingr . The initiators also included parts of the General Staff and senior officers, who were then joined by former officers and non-commissioned officers, members of the police force, former legionaries and members of the armed units of the Ministry of Finance. A hierarchical command structure was created with a general staff and national leaderships for Bohemia, Moravia and Prague. The so-called liquidation group of the Ministry of Defense, which was supposed to integrate the military personnel into civil life and did so in the interests of ON, played a special role in the establishment. The active participation of the officers of the Czechoslovak military intelligence services , the so-called "Second Department of the General Staff", was also important. The military and political intelligence activities of ON were also given high priority. The armament came from stocks of the Czechoslovak army, which were saved from the attack of the armed forces, many weapons were brokered in the following period, for example, by the workers of the armaments factories such as Zbrojovka Brno etc.

Waves of arrests

Although the Obrana národa was the largest resistance organization of the Czechoslovak resistance, it had to cope with several waves of arrests, which in some cases significantly weakened its effectiveness. The Gestapo succeeded in penetrating the structures of the ON early on, so that the first arrests could take place in autumn 1939 and early 1940, affecting many hundreds of people, including the management level of the resistance organization. Many of those arrested were tortured during interrogation, deported to concentration camps, some sentenced to death and executed. These arrests destroyed numerous links to and between local groups. Another blow occurred when the martial law was declared twice in 1941 and 1942 after the assassination attempt on Heydrich . This led to further extensive arrests and many executions . After the arrest of General Bedřich Homola, who was at the head of ON, in December 1941, the structure was rebuilt by General Zdeněk Novák in the period 1942/1943. However, he was also arrested in June 1944 and had to be replaced by General František Slunečko .

Although the resistance group was considerably weakened and could not, as originally planned, participate fully and as a driving force in the actions against the German occupying power at the end of the war, it was nevertheless able to participate in the events of the May uprising in 1945, which were often uncoordinated, intervention. In some areas of the Protectorate the operations were directed by officers of the Obrana národa. In Prague, for example, it was General Slunečko who formed the Alex group at short notice from the remaining resistance fighters and parts of the previous armed units such as the police who no longer wanted to serve the protectorate and took an active part in the May uprising in 1945. It was also the resistance group Bartoš in Prague , led by General Karel Kutlvašr and Lieutenant Colonel František Bürger-Bartoš . In the south-west of Bohemia (Domažlice, Klatovy and Strakonice) the uprising was led by the units of the Niva , which arose from the remnants of the ON.

activity

The initial hope that a general uprising against the German occupying power could soon be brought about turned out to be an illusion and was soon recognized as such. Instead, Obrana národa concentrated on longer-term tasks.

  • Intelligence activity, supplemented by the establishment of a connection with the government-in-exile in London: the acquisition of information was facilitated by the fact that many of the officers got jobs in the armaments factories. Your information, for example about the strength and needs of the Wehrmacht, was evaluated by former analysts and sent to London, where it was then passed on to the Allies. This also applied to information obtained through other resistance groups, such as former members of the Military Intelligence Service who were employed in various district and county press departments in the Protectorate.
  • The connection with the government in exile was also helpful for the coordination of numerous parachutist operations over the protectorate area and for the preparation of acts of sabotage. The radio connection was ensured by numerous transmission facilities, the better known were the Sparta I and Sparta II radio stations, which were responsible for the connection with London from 1940.
  • In parallel to Obrana národa, the group Tři králové (Three Kings) worked, a kind of independent special department, consisting mainly of officers Josef Mašín , Josef Balabán and Václav Morávek , who were engaged in acts of sabotage, maintaining the radio connection to London to the head of the Czechoslovak intelligence service in Exile, František Moravec , and specialized in weapons procurement. They commanded their own illegal groups that were conspiratorial; some, such as the Mašín group, did not limit themselves to actions in the Protectorate territory. František Peltán , who worked as a radio telegraphist for both the Tři králové and Obrana národa groups , also belongs to the group .
  • Obrana národa also ensured that several thousand people who were in danger in the protectorate or who were former members of the army who sought to join Czechoslovak army units abroad were able to flee.
  • Obrana národa also operated a kind of defense - the employees observed collaborators and Gestapo agents who were active in the protectorate or who were sent abroad, they also collected information about imminent arrests and infiltrated Czech fascist organizations. A group led by former intelligence officer, Major František Hieke , was entrusted with this work .
  • Obrana národa published the magazine V boj , one of the most important illegal magazines of the Czechoslovak resistance in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. who reported on the resistance, delivered news from London and did theoretical work; it also served as a platform for writers, painters and other artists.

Some members of the resistance group were later honored with the laying of stumbling blocks .

Organization and command structure

A hierarchical command structure was created with a general staff at the top and the national lines for Bohemia, Moravia and Prague, including the lines for counties (with a total of 13 divisions), districts (regiments) and locally commanded battalions, companies and platoons; the state lines set up specialist departments for sabotage, espionage, radio and courier connections.

General Bedřich Homola, the second in command of the Obrana národa

The main command of the Obrana národa was established in August 1939. At its head was General Josef Bílý as its commander , and Čeněk Kudláček was the chief of staff ; General Hugo Vojta (later Václav Šára ) was responsible for the national lines for Bohemia , General Bohuslav Všetička (who replaced the emigrated Sergěj Ingr ) for Moravia and General Bedřich Homola for Prague .

There were the following commanders of the resistance group:

The general staff consisted of:

The liaison officers of the Obrana národa in the umbrella organization ÚVOD were Josef Balabán and Josef Churavý .

Other well-known members of the group

Many members of the former generals worked in the organization in a variety of posts, including:

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h i History of the Vojenské zpravodajství Military Intelligence Service ( memento from September 5, 2018 in the Internet Archive ), p. 10, section V podmínkách domácího protektorátního odboje (Czech)
  2. ↑ a b c d e f Obrana národa 1939-1945 , portal and publisher Codyprint, online at: codyprint.cz/…
  3. ↑ a b Obrana národa , keyword from the online encyclopedia cojeco , online at: cojeco.cz/…
  4. ↑ Eva Leicmanova: Czech resistance and Europe performances in World War II , publication of the Institute of History of the University of Vienna, online at: www.univie.ac.at/...
  5. ↑ a b c Rudolf Hrdlička: Bránili svůj národ , report of the newspaper Svobodné Noviny, August 18, 1946, online (pdf reprint) at: www.rosmus.cz/… ( Memento of February 10, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
  6. ↑ a b c d e f Obrana národa , KVH portal for military history, online at: kvhmz.webnode.cz/…
  7. ↑ Alexandr Pícha: Květnové povstání v Praze , material of the Czech radio rozhlas.cz from April 14, 2005 (archive), online at: rozhlas.cz/…
  8. ↑ Martina Nyklová: Obrana národa v bojích na sklonku války , report of the Czech radio station Radio Praha of May 8, 2008, online at: radio.cz/cz/…
  9. ↑ a b c d e František Moravec : Špión, jemuž nevěřili (autobiography; Czech translation from English), Sixty-Eight Publishers, Toronto 1977, ISBN 0-88781-032-2 , especially p. 248ff .; Original: František Moravec: Master of Spies. The Memoirs of General Frantisek Moravec. The Bodley Head Ltd 1975, ISBN 0-370-10353-X
  10. ↑ František Peltán, čtvrtý ze "Tří králů" , in: Kolínský týdeník PRES (Kolín's weekly newspaper) March 14, 2013, online at: kolinskypres.cz / ...
  11. ↑ V boj , short entry in the Internet encyclopedia CoJeCo, online at: www.cojeco.cz/…/V boj

See also