Battle of Sokolovo - 9th part
German view of the battle for Sokolovo, deployed units and losses.
German view of the battle for Sokolovo, deployed units and losses.
The first part of the series devoted to the 1st Field Battalion's fighting at Sokolov in March 1943 deals with the plight of Czechoslovak citizens who found themselves in Soviet labour camps. It is a little-known fact that around 80% of the 1st Field Battalion was made up of prisoners from the gulags.
After a fierce battle the Czechoslovaks lost Sokolovo, but during the following night they set out to recapture it...
After fierce fighting at Sokolov, the Czechoslovak battalion was threatened with encirclement. Therefore, he was ordered to retreat, during which, however, there was no shortage of dramatic moments...
The battle of Sokolov was over, but the recovery of the battalion was not a simple task...
Czechoslovak soldiers were ordinary people, as in all armies. There were heroes, there were cowards. Both the former and the latter are part of the complete history of the deployment of the 1st Field Battalion at Sokolov, and there is no point in saying that the latter category did not exist. Yet it cannot be overlooked that there were only a few cowards, while those who did not leave their battle stations were much, much more numerous...
The final part of the series about the first combat performance of the Czechoslovak troops on the Eastern Front deals with the issue of Czechoslovak soldiers captured in Sokolov.
The second part of the article about the combat performance of the Czechoslovak soldiers at Sokolov reveals the desperate situation of the Czechoslovak citizens in the gulags and the difficulties they had to face when they wanted to join the Czechoslovak troops.
The political behind the scenes of the establishment of the first Czechoslovak unit in the USSR.
Battalion construction, armament, training and intrigue.
The actual movement of the Czechoslovak unit to Kharkov, where it was to be deployed as part of the Voronezh Front, was not easy. The Soviet railways were quite damaged by the war, so the move to Valuiki station, from where the soldiers were to continue on foot, took three weeks.
The soldiers of the 1st Field Battalion went to the front as a fast unit, trained and designed to conduct offensive combat. After being assigned motor vehicles, they were to take part in the offensive actions that the Voronezh Front was conducting at the time. However, a turn in the situation at the front caused them to frantically start building defensive positions and waiting for German tanks...
Preparations for battle are at their peak, the Czechoslovaks are building defences, weapons are being deployed. The battle is approaching.
The memories of veterans draw the reader directly into the burning Sokolov...
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