Czechoslovak Independent Armored Brigade
The Czechoslovak independent armored brigade (Czech: Československá samostatná obrněná poptávka , English: Czechoslovak Independent Armored Brigade Group , abbreviated CIABG ) was a Czechoslovak fighting unit of the Czechoslovak exile army during the Second World War, which was formed in Britain in 1943 and on the verge of Operation Overlord - the Invasion of Normandy - took part in the fighting.
Emergence
The armored brigade was created by merging some already existing formations. From the remnants of the 1st Czechoslovak Division ( 1st československá divize ) evacuated from France in 1940, the 1st Czechoslovak Mixed Brigade ( 1st československá smíšená brigáda ) was formed on August 12, 1940 in Cholmondeley , which was temporarily independent in July 1941 Brigade ( Československá samostatná brigáda ) was reorganized; After receiving tanks in July 1943, it was merged into the Czechoslovakian armored brigade on September 1, 1943 under the incorporation of the Czechoslovak Light Air Defense Regiment 200 - East ( Československý lehký protiletadlový pluk 200 - Východní ). The unit was equipped with tanks of the types Cromwell , Cruiser Challenger , Crusader , Sherman Firefly and M5 Stuart as well as armored transports. General Alois Liška received the supreme command . After the invasion of Normandy, the brigade with its 306 tanks was shipped to the Dunkirk area in France between August 30 and September 9, 1944 .
commitment
The high command of the 21st Army Group , who was in the Czechoslovak independent armored brigade, hesitated for a long time to use them at the front, out of fear, for larger losses, the unit could be out of action due to lack of supply of soldiers, as before with the first Polish Armored Division happened was. At first the brigade was only on standby in the second line. From October 5, 1944, she was charged with the siege of Dunkirk, where she replaced the British units and, along with a few smaller Canadian and French units, became the main force in the siege. The main task was to prevent the Wehrmacht from breaking out of the garrison and preventing subsequent disruptive actions. The port and the fortress were very well armed and supplied with supplies, while the besieging units lacked aircraft and other equipment, which made a storm very difficult. This situation lasted until the end of the war. On May 9, 1945 General Liška accepted the surrender from the hands of Vice-Admiral Friedrich Frisius , the commandant of the "Dunkirk Fortress".
At the end of April 1945, General Liška had 6,200 Czechoslovak, 4,400 Canadian, British and 3,200 French soldiers under the command; the losses of the Czechoslovak Brigade amounted to 182 fallen soldiers.
At the end of April a small symbolic group, consisting of 140 soldiers under the command of Colonel Alois Sítek, became part of the Third United States Army , with which they crossed the Czechoslovak border on May 1, 1945 and hoisted the flag on the town hall in Cheb . On May 6th it reached Pilsen temporarily and only on May 12th 1945 Prague. The bulk of the brigade with 6,500 soldiers, 300 tanks, 230 armored vehicles and 1,300 other vehicles as well as 96 guns were transported to Czechoslovakia from May 12 to May 22, 1945. However, the units had to stay in the American occupation zone and were allowed only after after a special permit from the Soviet commandant of Prague on May 30, 1945 Prague travel. After renaming to 1 Panzer Corps, the brigade was disbanded in late summer 1945.
swell
- Gustav Svoboda, Československá samostatná obrněná brigáda a operace Overlord , In: Historie a Vojenství 4/1996, online reprint at: www.volny.cz / ...
- Naši veteráni v 2. světové válce , A short documentation from the Ministry of Defense of the Czech Republic, online at: www.veterani.army.cz / ...
Individual evidence
- ^ A b Gustav Svoboda, Československá samostatná obrněná brigáda a operace Overlord , In: Historie a Vojenství 4/1996, online reprint at: www.volny.cz / ...