Ladislav Kudrna

Articles

• Action D

  "It is remarkable that family members, especially the wives of detainees, remained completely calm, accepted the detention of the spouses calmly, so that their actions affected our authorities in the sense that they were prepared for this circumstance and that they explain their detainees' detention more as honors (sic!) than as punishment. "

  Part of the evaluation report of the Ministry of the Interior of April 1949, concerning action D

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• Venture "Vietnam"

  In July 1946, I got with my team, which I commanded, into a trap set for us by Vietnamese guerrillas. I fought from 7 a.m. to 12 p.m., and only when I saw that I had lost four people did I give the order to retreat. I received a war cross for this activity.
  Sergeant-chef František Vaňhara, April 7, 1951

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• Bohumil Hrabal under the supervision of (not only) communist censorship

  It was recommended to edit the text of the caption for the film Closely Watched Trains, in which, among other things, letters to B. Hrabal are quoted: It falls on your head that young people aged 13-15 are fucking in the apartments of their employed parents. How do you answer that? The railroad workers should sue or stone you, because in your opinion , you vulgar beast, there was nothing done on the track but " fucking " on the chief's couch. Daily Report No. 73 of the Main Press Supervision Administration of July 28, 1966

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• I fought against communism in Vietnam

  This year, 35 years have passed since the end of the Vietnam War, which lasted almost 30 years with breaks. France's failed engagement was followed in 1965 by the deployment of the US military in southern Vietnam. In March 1973, American troops were withdrawn. For the United States, the longest and most unpopular war in its history has ended. 58,325 young Americans remained on the battlefield. Those happier who have returned have often carried and continue the trauma of war throughout their lives. How did this conflict affect the life of a young Czechoslovak emigrant, whose fate swept all the way to Southeast Asia?

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• They fought and died in Indochina

  Ladislav Kudrna's eighth book maps a hitherto unknown page from our modern history. More than 2,000 Czechoslovak youths fought and died in the hell of the First Vietnam War.

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• They were aviators, they wanted to fly

  What was it really like with the entry of Czech pilots into the service of the German Air Force after March 15, 1939.

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• Czechoslovaks as foreign legionaries in Indochina

  Hot autumn 1950 in Indochina. For many alien legionaries the last in their lives. On September 16, 1950, Vietnamese troops launched a massive offensive aimed at gaining control of the entire territory of Tonkin. The attack began on the main French fortress in this area - Dong Khe, in which many young Czechoslovaks also served.

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• Czechs in the service of the Luftwaffe?

  "I report that yesterday in the officers' mess I've been asked by an English Flight Lieutenant - how many Czechs are said to be flying in the Luftwaffe against the RAF? I told him of course no one, as far as I know! But he quoted me the story of a German plane shot down last year over Malta, whose pilot was a drunk Czech officer who was taken to an English canteen, saying that he would rather fly for Hitler than work in a factory!"
  Report of Squadron Leader (S / Ldr - major) Vlastimil Veselý from April 20, 1943 to the Inspectorate of the Czechoslovak Air Force in London.

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• Czechoslovakia on the way to "February"

  The functioning of " limited " democracy in post-war Czechoslovakia 1945-1947.

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• Czechoslovak pilots in the Polish campaign of 1939

  Some proud pride grew in my heart as I crossed the line and frightened the memory of the child and wife. We happily went to meet the Polish guard. "Where are you going, why did you go, there will be no war, there are no legions" , etc. were their words.

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• Czechoslovak pilots in Soviet captivity 1939–1941

  "Hunger forced us to beg for bread from the settlers, and on this occasion we learned from them that the Red Army had crossed the border on September 17 and was going to help Poland. We are all just scattered around the village when 28 Russian planes arrive at ground level. We do not know the situation, and when we see a red rocket fired from a plane, we know that a rage command has been given, perhaps the worst in my life. The planes bomb the village from low altitudes in all directions, this one is immediately in one sea of flames, stirred up by massive detonations of standing ammunition trucks. After the bombing, Russian planes occupy a different formation, the so-called 'wheel', and machine guns fire at every target in the village that still seems alive. After an hour of this furnace, where we can't see each other for smoke and a hundred dead and wounded, the planes take off and we get out of the village. Our last things were destroyed by flames, so I'm glad to meet Lt. Lenc, rtm. Fornůstek and des.Vyhnis. We are looking for our unit, but in vain. ” So were the words of Lt. Václav Kopecký, who later fell into Soviet captivity.

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• Czechoslovak soldiers in the first year of occupation

  For a large part of the Czech population, Hitler's decree on the establishment of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia did not mean the end of their hopes. On the contrary, it indicated the possibility of autonomous development. The aim of the day was to preserve everything Czech, to save the " autonomy " of the Czech nation at all costs. Demonstration church pilgrimages, celebrations with the imposition of Mach's remains in Vyšehrad and other events based on tense Czechism, agrarianism and Catholicism were held in accordance with the Protectorate government, whose representatives also took part in these events. Historian Jan Tesar described this period as a euphoria of " teary " and often sentimental national unity. It is also necessary to take into account the relatively considerable helpfulness of some high-ranking Nazi chiefs or the German occupation administration towards military personel.

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• Czech imprint in secret world diplomacy

  Did the Czech communists and United States diplomacy already know the intentions of the Soviet Union in the winter of 1939?

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• The journey of the United States to Vietnamese hell

  American professional athlete Rocky Bleier in Vietnam almost lost both legs. In one of the later conversations, he regretted only one. No one ever told him what it was all about. Neither in the training center nor in his platoon in Vietnam. " I wanted to know why I was going there, " he said, " but I never found out. "

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• Cholmondeley 1940 - Causes and course of one crisis of the Czechoslovak foreign army

  When World War II broke out on September 1, 1939, we eagerly awaited the arrival of our military district commission and then joining the army. The month of September passed, then October and nothing smelled. We learned about the establishment of the Czechoslovak army in the town of Agde and the transfer of our boys from the Foreign Legion to this army. [...] More than once I turned to Captain Michal, Lieutenant Křen and others to tell me what will happen to us. Nobody explained anything to me. They just shrugged and did not speak. At that time, they probably already knew about the consequences of the non-aggression pact between Hitler's Germany and the Soviet Union [...]. It resulted in two extremely serious facts. The first could be called the division of Poland as a boy. So far secret. The second was an instruction from the Communist International led by Stalin to all communists not to take part in the capitalist war. Michal Durkaj, former Spanish interbrigadist, Prague 1985

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• Left or right?

  On July 18, 1940, His Majesty's government and the then Soviet regime definitively recognized the Czechoslovak government in exile in London. For Edvard Beneš and his collaborators, this was a turning point in their long struggle for the restoration of the Czechoslovak Republic within the pre-Munich borders and in a free Europe, where there would be no place for the Nazi regime.

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• The formation of the czechoslovak foreign resistance in the first year of the occupation

  Shortly after the Munich events, a number of Czechoslovak public workers and army officers began to prepare for resistance activities. Immediately after the occupation, the exodus of those who intended to take up arms in the following years began. The Czechoslovak army was re-established abroad.

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• Harris' Battle of Berlin - A failed attempt to end the war

  " Maintaining morale has become the most difficult problem facing domestic authorities in Germany. Awareness of the full consequences of the air strike has spread to all parts of the country since the destruction of Hamburg, and the prevailing view is that peace must be achieved at all costs and that the destruction of other German cities must be prevented. "
  Royal Air Force Intelligence Service, November 1943

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• Hitler and the genocide of European Jews, or what did he know about the Holocaust?

  More women were killed in Edward Kennedy's car at Chappaquddick than in one Auschwitz gas chamber - David Irving, a publicist in the service of Nazi ideology.

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• Virtue

  The Influence of Intensive Operational Deployment on the Morale of Pilots During World War II To tell you the truth, if it lasted another 14 days and still flew 3 to 4 hours a day over the front, I would be nervous. There is a difference between encountering bomber planes, whether they are Do 17 or He 111, or even Me 110, but encountering 80 Me 109 and He 112 when there were only eight of us. It was seen how air superiority was made. That day I had four He 112s ( actually Bf 109E) behind me, and I really had to get rid of them. I got one shot in the propeller. However, on May 12, 1940, when I shot down two Ju 87s, I was attacked by a Me 109 and brought three bullets in the dashboard, which flew about six cm around my head on the right side of the cabin. Furthermore, one bullet exactly in the middle of the hull and stopped only in the armor. I had about nine in my wings. The only thing that saved me was that the Me 109 was very close and I heard its machine guns. A sharp turn to the right and I was away from him. Air Force Sergeant František Peřina, May 26, 1940

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• Morale of BOMBER COMMAND crews during the Second World War

  W / O Vilém Jakš, famous pre-war boxer, member of the 311th Czechoslovak Bomber Squadron. Her famous combat deployment began with the Three Hundred and Eleven. On the night of September 10-11, 1940, he took part in an operational flight over Brussels in the crew of Sgt. Korda. Later, after a break in operations, he worked as a weapons instructor at the 2nd SFTS Continuing Pilot School in Brize Norton. However, he succumbed to words that he had found a warm spot and returned to the 311th Squadron. Before his fateful combat flight, he confided to F / Lt Vilda that he was afraid of flying. He wanted to carry out only a few actions and end the operational flying. But fate was faster. On August 21, 1943, he participated in the crew of the squadron commander, W / Cdr Jindrich Breicetl, DFC, the first deployment of liberators at the 311th Squadron. Unfortunately, their Liberator GR.Mk.V BZ780 (with the fuselage letter O ) was shot down by a force of German long-range fighters flying Messerschmitt Bf 110G-2 from II./ZG 1, operating from the base in Brest. A total of eight brave Czechoslovaks fell in battle. Among them is 33-year-old W / O Vilém Jakš ...

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• The thought world of a fighter - British view versus Czech

  To you, silent brothers, to you, to whom fate gave everything and only took life. To you, war pilots! Filip Jánský, Heavenly Riders.

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• Return of Czechoslovak pilots from German captivity

  An article about the end of the Second World War through the eyes of shot down and captured Czechoslovak RAF pilots, their journey back to Great Britain, convalescence and returning home.

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• Not just a famous war photographer

  A brief look back on the long life of Ladislav Sitenský (August 7, 1919 - November 14, 2009).

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• Unteachable "runaway"

  I don't like talk like we're a nation of cowards. We, the pilots from England, were no cowards. We went to every event with the chance that we can end " there ". But if one was to fall, at least for a good cause. In the post-war years, we hoped that the republic would remain democratic and that our lives would be without major upheavals. However, comrades who wanted to monkey themselves in everything according to the Soviet model did not like this. That means hating freedom and everything Western and every former Western pilot or soldier. After the communist coup in 1948, most Westerners soon realized how the political change would affect our lives, and it was clear that our persecution would take place.

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• Inadaptable - Students, hippies and others from the point of view of the Czechoslovak authorities

  It was the secretariat of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia that gave its consent on February 25, 1965, to the organization of a student majáles in the capital. The unexpected course of the celebrations led him to subsequently organize a nationwide conference of university students. At a meeting held on September 29, 1965, the members of the Politburo came to the conclusion that there was political-ideological activity of the student, stating that the wave of political activity in the university environment did not rise suddenly, but that it had been gathering for many years.

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• Communists' dissatisfaction with military courts after "Victorious February"

  "The Senate of the High Military Court, as composed of the trial of General Karel Janoušek and others, and perhaps the High Military Court in Prague, is simply not enough at all for trials of such importance. It must be stated that the conduct of a process of this kind and significance at the regional court in Pankrác after the February events is completely differently prepared, completely differently managed and conducted in a completely different spirit, corresponding to today and the interest of the state. […] This fact was noticed immediately at the beginning of the main hearing by the lawyer of Lt. Col. Hanuš, who declared that the military penitentiary and the High Military Court in Prague are a "sanatorium" comparing to Pankrác prison. " From the report of Col. gšt. Reindl, a member of the 5th Department of the General Staff of the Ministry of Defense, June 17, 1948

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• An image of the enemy

  Fight… kill! If it weren't for the Germans, there would be no Hitler! And therefore to declare a relentless struggle for all that is German and not to divide the Germans into state-forming and anti-state. There is and will not be a difference between the Germans.
  Stanislav Fejfar, Diary of a Fighter, pp.68–69

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• The oldest living pilot of the 311th Czechoslovak Bomber Squadron has died

  With great emotion, I heard a telephone message from Dobromila Urubová that her husband, Colonel Petr Uruba, had left this world forever on the morning of March 1, 2009. Another legend of the Czechoslovak foreign resistance left.

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• Determined to fight

  A book about the patriotism of Czechoslovak pilots during the Second World War against the background of war and political events.

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• Looking back on the French War

  The legionnaires survived at the cost of sacrifices that only those who saw could understand. The two companies of the legion were surrounded by a human sea, which roared in waves of two hundred over the constant fire of defenders. Convinced that he would be better able to resist, the captain who commanded this stronghold asked the artillery to fire directly at his position. And that allowed him to last until noon.
  Commander of the Order of the Legion of Honor, veteran from Indochina and Algeria Pavel Knihař

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• Operation Lorraine

  Colonial Route 2 plunged into the jungle in the north and we spent the night on a small hill while the engineers put in order Colonial Route 2, dug by Viet Minh trenches. We learned that we were involved in Operation Lorraine. Pavel Knihař, veteran of the Foreign Legion and commander of the Order of the Legion of Honor

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• Air Force Colonel Otakar Černý and his journey through the short 20th century

  The main trial of a group of "treacherous" pilots from the West took place at the infamous State Court in Prague from the morning of February 9, 1949. It was nothing more than a constructed process with a group of div. gene. Karel Janoušek, in which, coincidentally, he found himself Capt. Otakar Černý, who, like the others, heard a harsh verdict that afternoon. He sentenced him to three years in a heavy prison, sharpened by a hard bed. Furthermore, the loss of honorary badges, decorations and the loss of honorary civil rights for three years.

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• On enemy side

  "Antonín Lipovský, captured by the Americans on August 1, 1944 at Sartilla, as he tried to escape the siege. […] He was called to London for a special interrogation, where he described in detail the organization of the radio service and was able to give the English all the necessary information about the new code, which entered into force on 1 August 1944 (Raste Schlüssel RS 44). I think it would be very useful to gather a facta about the effective assistance of Czechoslovak members by providing the right messages immediately after [their] capture in good faith that they are helping the right party and themselves. I doubt that this help would ever be publicly acknowledged to us. We have not yet fought and it seems that we will be among the last allies in this regard. It will therefore be very important that, on the first occasion of [ground-based] combat success, our participation and participation in the first phase of the invasion be given to English public opinion, at least briefly. Mentions in the English press of the bravely fighting Czechs in the German army have not just benefited us. "

  Report of the infantry captain Oldřich Večerek from August 24, 1944 to the MNO in London.

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• Strange patriots

  The present war is an imperialist, unjust war, in which the bourgeoisie of all the belligerent states is equally to blame. In no country must the workers' party, much less the Communist Party, support this war. The bourgeoisie is not waging a war against fascism, as Chamberlain and the leaders of social democracy claim. It is a war between two groups of capitalist countries for world domination.
  Klement Gottwald, September 8, 1939, Moscow

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• The last flight of Captain Stanislav Fejfar

  Captain Stanislav Fejfar was one of the best Czechoslovak fighters who served in the RAF. He died in an air battle on May 17, 1942 over northern France. His conqueror was a German ace, Captain Josef Priller.

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• Post-war reverberations from the deployment of Slovak state pilots in the Polish campaign

  Slovak pilots continued to accompany German bombers to a depth of 60 to 90 km in Polish territory. On September 17, they accompanied the attack of German pilots on Hluboczek Wielki, whose anti-aircraft defense was entrusted to Czech and Czechoslovak-oriented Slovak pilots who left their own state. Thus, for the first time, but not for the last time, Slovaks fought against Slovaks in World War II.

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• The story of one book

  Difficulty with the publication On the Western Front and the subsequent reaction of soldiers from the West.

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• Twilight of men in blue

  "It was cruel because I was still serving as a 'westerner' in January 1949. In the end, we were rewarded in this way - thrown out from day to day. Guards escorted me out of the barracks. It was bitter. I have always stuck to the motto - where it is possible to help, there everyone has to do something for their homeland. Suddenly I was a 'westerner', the one who draws with the capitalists. That was not permissible at that time. "Air Force Colonel Petr Uruba, December 14, 2006

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• Fighter pilot Otto Hanzlíček

  One bitter testimony from the Battle of France.

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• Fighter pilot the first line

  Air Force Colonel in memoriam Stanislav Fejfar and his odyssey.

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• The Silver Devil from Indochina - The Story of Paratrooper Karel Mynar

  In the so-called First Vietnam War (1946–1954), over 2,000 Czechoslovaks fought in the ranks of the French Foreign Legion. About 500 of them fell far away. The paratroopers of the Viet Minh warriors were nicknamed the Silver Devils ...

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• Supermans without fear and shame

  " Men of the squadrons! The enemy is in our country, we handed over our proud planes. Germany was occupied and unconditionally capitulated. Friends, this sad fact brings tears to our eyes. Before us lies a vague and bitter future that will bring us only worries and pain. But something, my men, will survive us forever - the traditions of our squadron and our performances. If they try to humiliate us, this tradition will allow us to straighten our backs and look clearly and proudly into the future. [...] We have handed over everything to Germany and our squadron and we will continue to be regular and direct German men. With a feeling of pain, but also pride, I say goodbye to my squadron today and thank you for the trust you have given me in times of war. You will now have to work hard in another Germany, but you can still rejoice in the feeling that you have done everything in your power to win Germany into this war! Long live our beloved homeland! Major Heinz-Wolfgang Schnaufer, Commodore of the NJG 4 Squadron, May 8, 1945

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• Testimony of Jaroslav Hlaď

  "I was assigned to the English operational unit on January 19, 1943, I flew gladly and furiously, so until the end of the war, in terms of the number of actions over the enemy, I took the lead over the old airmen. In England, with my aviation zeal and refusal to be classified by the Czechoslovak Aviation Inspectorate, I became friends with the chief inspectorate, Major Schejbal, who said at a meeting of senior commanders that I could never get any command of a Czechoslovak unit. Later, however, when the morale of the Czechoslovak unit was poor, and the pilots too often returned from operations for 'defective engine operation', I was still assigned to command the squadron and later the entire group. "
  Air Force Colonel Jaroslav Hlaďo, May 12, 1950

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• Participants in the Third Resistance? Czechoslovaks on the battlefields of Southeast Asia 1945–1954 and 1964–1973

  " It was the border guards who were responsible for the fact that some provocations at the state borders did not escalate into a large-scale confrontation and a breach of peace. It was the members of the border guard who provided peace for the peaceful life and work of people not only on the border. And that they did not have a simple service is evidenced by historical sources from the 50s, when weapons, submachine guns, hand grenades and so on were found among the violators of the state border státní "
  From the speech of the KSČM MP Marta Semelová of 11 February 2011 at the Chamber of Deputies, discussing the bill on the Third Resistance

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• Escape of eight Slovak pilots to Poland

  "After the sad March 15, 1939 and March 17, 1939, when our friends from Bohemia left us, I decided together with cpl. Hrala and cpl. Rehák that we will leave Slovakia in any way, because we have seen how tragic the mistake was made by the Slovak representatives who put themselves in the service of Hitler. "
  Cpl. Ján Lazar, July 29, 1941

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• In search of Secret Police

  In the summer of 1956, the arrival of British citizens, Royal Air Force veteran Karel Kasal and his wife, former film actress Helena Bušová - Kasalová, in Czechoslovakia caused ( not only ) a stir in the West.

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• In the position of beggars or It was impossible to fight with an empty pocket

  " And why the deputy, who has absolutely no work here, perhaps only the so-called representative, why does he receive 60 pounds in a few days? "Lieutenant Stanislav Fejfar, 310th Czechoslovak Fighter Squadron, Great Britain September 5, 1940

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• War voices or men in battle

  " It was a terrible stench. He was so terrible that he almost poisoned us. The stench of rotting meat. The old German trench front was covered with bodies that blackened them all. The bodies had been lying there since the beginning of July. It was naughty. Colonel Pinney provided the stretcher, and our job was to put the corpses on them, take them away, and throw them into the pit. There must have been over a thousand corpses in it. I don't know how many of these bodies we buried like this. I will never forget that look. Corpses all around. I'll never forget it. I was only 18 years old, but I realized that not everything was wrong here. "From a letter from a British soldier in the summer of 1916, at the time of the bloody battle of the Somme

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• The war experience of death

  God, how scared I am. Now that I'm alone, I don't even have to hide it; I don't really have to hide anything anymore. I don't have to worry about how I look because no one sees me; it separates me from twenty-one thousand feet, and moreover, at the moment when it grabbed me again, I would not be able to pretend, even if I wanted to. Nothing forces me to clench my teeth and clench my masticatory muscles as I had at lunch when the corporal brought the telegram with the order and handed it to Tinker, who looked up at me and looked at me and said, " Charlie, it's your turn. Now you have to go upstairs. "It simply came to our notice then. As if it wasn't clear to me that it was waiting for me now. Roald Dahl, I'm switching. Ten stories about pilots and flying

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• Christmas in exile - How Czechoslovak pilots celebrated war holidays

  Christmas 1940 was the saddest of my life. I received two letters before Christmas Day. One from Vlad [Kubíček] and the other from Mirek [Plecitý], who was already at the squadron as a sergeant-shooter. I was the first to open Mirek's letter, which began: " Dear Franta, I consider it my duty to tell you a very sad news, even though it will spoil Christmas for you and others, because I am sure you would learn from other boys. Jenda Křivda started last night on a mission last night. In a short time, they were forced to return for hitherto unexplained reasons. They landed with a bomb. For an unknown reason, however, Jenda's plane crashed just before landing in the forest and burned completely. […] Sorry to ruin your Christmas, but we're guys! "My hands were shaking and I couldn't even read the letter from the Government because of the tears in my eyes. It was a heavy blow to me. I lost my best friend… I sat on my bed for a long time and cried like a child. LOUCKÝ, František: I was left alone. Orbis, Prague 1946, pp. 41–42.

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• Military defense intelligence

  Military defense intelligence of Bedřich Reicin and his influence on the operation of the army and Czechoslovak post-war society.

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• Murders in the clouds

  I climbed into the cabin of my plane and had an empty feeling of tension down in my stomach. For a second, time seemed to stop, and I stared blankly ahead. I knew I would kill someone for the first time that morning. Richard Hillary, The Last Enemy

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• Did dissatisfaction with the diet result in an open uprising of the operational personnel of the 311th Czechoslovak Bomber Squadron?

  When ( Ocelka ) left the dining room, Franta punched a fork and knife on the table and shouted what was enough for his throat: " We're not going to die for such food, guys! What do you call it? «The pilots agreed with him and everyone put down their cutlery. Franta climbed onto the table for everyone to see and hear, " Did you hear what the commander said? That he would not go anywhere for such food, and you rams would go to the slaughterhouse again; This must be done, either today or never. You know very well what raid awaits us again! Friends, we are not afraid to fly, we are not afraid of fascists, but we must not continue to suffer " ." KOCMAN, Vincenc: Fight without glory. Brno 1962, pp. 124-125.

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• Web PhDr. Ladislava Kudrny, Ph.D.

  Brief introduction to the content of the site
  http://kudrnaweb.psm-net.cz/
  and their author, PhDr. Ladislav Kudrnou, Ph.D.

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• The forgotten battle of Rozvegov on January 6, 1939

  The state's military readiness officially lasted from May 20 to December 15, 1938, when the demobilization of the army ended after the tragic outcome of the Munich crisis, but the fighting on the Czechoslovak border did not end. On the contrary. In the first months of 1939, the Hungarian border became the most exposed part of the border, where Czechoslovak soldiers and members of the financial guard often clashed with Hungarian terrorists, who were replaced in March 1939 by the Hungarian army during the invasion of Subcarpathian Russia.

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• The living envy the dead

  Czechoslovak deserters and prisoners in Vietnamese prisoner of war camps 1949-1951.

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• The report of the divisional general Ing Alois Vicherek

  Report of Division General Ing. Alois Vicherk on the events from the Czechoslovak mobilization to March 4, 1941
  Unknown archival document in the light of the facts.

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