WWII's Forgotten First Battle - Czech Republic 1939
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- Опубліковано 29 вер 2024
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WWII's first battle didn't take place in Poland on 1 September 1939, but rather six months earlier, in March 1939 when Czech soldiers clashed with German troops sent to disarm them after Hitler had invaded their country.
Dr. Mark Felton is a well-known British historian, the author of 22 non-fiction books, including bestsellers 'Zero Night' and 'Castle of the Eagles', both currently being developed into movies in Hollywood. In addition to writing, Mark also appears regularly in television documentaries around the world, including on The History Channel, Netflix, National Geographic, Quest, American Heroes Channel and RMC Decouverte. His books have formed the background to several TV and radio documentaries. More information about Mark can be found at: en.wikipedia.o...
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Disclaimer: All opinions and comments expressed in the 'Comments' section do not reflect the opinions of Mark Felton Productions. All opinions and comments should contribute to the dialogue. Mark Felton Productions does not condone written attacks, insults, racism, sexism, extremism, violence or otherwise questionable comments or material in the 'Comments' section, and reserves the right to delete any comment violating this rule or to block any poster from the channel.
Credits: US National Archives; Library of Congress; David Baranek; Adam Hauner; demonboy.
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Your sound quality is still poor Mark. You are recording too close to the mic.
you should get the join button. I'd do it.
@@defenderoftheadverb sounds fine to me
Love the channel. Could you do the soviet assault on Manchukuo. It too is a seldom told story of the fall of Japan in the last days of WW2.
@@chrissuave92 Very good suggestion! The first battle here, one of the last battles for a later installment.
As a Czech I greatly appreciate Mark Felton for touching upon this historically obscured topic.
i am also . a american
I’m an American of the third generation descended from Slovak immigrants on my mother’s side. Back in the 1970s and 1980s my grandmother would have family or acquaintances visiting from Bratislava. On one day in late 1989 I was touring the UN building in New York City with an exchange student from Bratislava. I remarked how terrible German occupation of Czechoslovakia was. He responded that it was the best 5 years the Slovakia ever had. I was was stunned and shocked. It was later that I wondered just how popular was this point of view in the Slovak part of then. Czechoslovakia?
@@radiotec76 Unfortunately, far-right sentiments are way too common. In recent elections, far-right party amassed 8 percent, accompanied by alt-right conservatives. Both groups tend either to glorify Tiso (who was responsible for 60 000 deported), or look at that part of history with nostalgia, claiming that Czech somehow oppressed Slovaks, which is by any means not true.
@@radiotec76 as much as its not popular to say these things the czechs did not treat the german and Slovak minorities well.
@@radiotec76 i literlally dont know anyone here in slovakia that his grand parents or just the generations before him didnt like the life in czechoslovakia (first republic)
Dr. Felton, at the 11:40 - 11:44 mark, you state that the German Troops arrive at the front of the Czech Army Barracks. And that they are going to take the surrender of the German Garrison. I had to listen to this 3 times to make sure that I heard it correctly.
An interesting fact about the invasion of the Czech Republic. While that happened, a Dutch military plane was shut down by the Germans over the Wadden Sea, in international airspace. The Dutch planes at the time wore the color insignia similar to the colors of the Czech flag which also has red white and blue but in different order. After that, the Dutch military decided to paint the Dutch planes with the orange insignia. Whatever made the Germans think that a Czech plane would be so far away from home on the other side of Germany is a mystery to me.
Wow I didn't know that. I know that dutch planes had/have orange insignias but I didn't know that they changed it because of Czechs :D
This is what happens when one person stands up to a bully. While the little guy may get crushed in the end, his defiance inspires others to rise up.
That's why governments, past and present, have tried their best to discourage any such mindsets.
I was just looking for this, and boom, Mark Felton did the right thing. Good work.
Must have been very disheartening to learn that no one would help you in saving your country.
I live 2-3 kilometers from the place the fight took place at. Ever since the Munich "agreement" (called rather a "diktat" by some) some of us have this "Munich complex" as reffered by some other commenters. Basically being a trading comodity for larger powers. I'm glad those heroes who did fight are not being forgotten, like kpt. Pavlík and his men, but also those paratroopers who killed Heydrich, the highest Nazi official succesfully killed as a part of a military operation, those pilots who helped Polish, French and British air forces, or those soldiers fighting on the eastern front. The Czechoslovak soldiers often participated in resistance movements and some of them came close to killing Himmler by unsuccesfully bombing his train. And many many more that we don't even know of.
USA: WW2 started on December 7th 1941.
Britain, France, Poland: No, WW2 officially started on September 1st 1939.
Czech: No, technically the March 14th 1939 was the real starting date of WW2! Ours were the real first firefight!
China: Hey, WW2 supposedly started on July 7th 1937!
Spain: As a prelude, WW2 started on July 16th 1936. In a way.
Ethiopia: How about mine on October 3rd 1935?
Awesome history again and again!
Thanks for raising awareness of this battle. Terrific channel!
4:52 an error in the map: the city of Hirschberg (Jelenia Góra) was located within the pre-war Germany (Lower Silesia), to the West from the salient of Glatz (Klodzko). And one of Poland's top cities is usually spelled Krakow or Cracow.
As a person that watches your videos , I really appreciate this.
4:57 map is wrong, Jelenia Gora (Hirschberg) was then part of Germany. It lays west north west from Prague.
Thanks for showing that Czech soldiers put up a defense. However, I would have thought that Italy's invasion of Ethiopia in 1935 would have been the start of WWII.
Just shows that history is not always as you believe! Thanks to Dr Felton for shining a light on this event.
Any chance of doing a video on Alfred Jansa and his plans for defending Austria against the German attack? Both Austria and Czechoslovakia were great missed opportunities to stop Hitler at the very start.
Thank you so much for this video. A great work. PS I like your pronunciation of Hacha :-) I think it should be [Haakha]
This is not the only case of Czechs fighting the Germans since 38 actively fighting against German Freicorps units, where dozens of soldiers and policemen were killed. Furthermore, very fierce fighting took place mainly in the east of the republic against the Hungarian army (fighting for the Subcarpathian Rus, my grandfather fought here as well) these fights lasted until 17 March 1939 in these fights many Czech soldiers were also killed. But it should be added that despite these political problems the Czech nation did not give up and actively fought until the bitter end. In France in 1940 they formed a Czechoslovak division which fought alongside the French at the front, after the withdrawal some units withdrew to Africa and Syria where they fought alongside the British mainly in besieged Tobruk. Subsequently in England they formed large groups of paratroopers, four RAF squadrons and one Armoured Brigade which landed in Normandy in 1944 and sieged garrisoned of Dunkirk. At the end of the war on 5 May 1945 the Prague Uprising broke out in Prague where over 3k insurgents were killed in 4 days of bloody fighting. The home resistance was active throughout the war. Never forget!
Thanks for all your hard work it reminds me of the world at war narated by L.O.
Another great video, many thanks 🙏 there’s only slightl mischief, in those days you didn’t fight just for Czechs or Slovak they fight for old Czechoslovakia, which was very liberal and economically strong multinational republic before war began.
Imagine if Czechoslovakia had put up actual organized resistance..... The war would have been very different
I believe little is known that in 1930ies there was more Germans living in Czechoslovakia than Slovakians.
True over half of million Slovaks emigrated to the US between 1880 and 1930.
If we tried to fight Germans when they tried to take Sudettenland, we would probably be eventualy crushed by the Luftwaffe...but the Germans would lose a LOT. One should not forget that Czech rep. has like 80% if it's borders mountinous + the whole German-Czech border had lots and lots of strong forts. Nextly, we were, at the time, one of the biggest arms industries in the world with quite well trained soldiers (germans coppied or stole our tank and some weapon designs). In the event of Britain and France declaring war against Germany at the point where we were holding off the Germans, the war would likely end by Germany getting it's butt kicked in the early years of WW2. This all is just "What if" tho...
The heroism and intensity portrayed always gives me goosebumps!
Dr Felton asks the question on all our minds after watching this excellent video: what if the whole Czech army had fought this way.
After the secession of the Sudetenland, Slovakia, Hungary and Silesia, there wasn't much of a Czech army left to fight.
As a Scot living in Prague, it never ceases to amaze me how forgiving Czechs are towards the British apropos the Munich betrayal.
Let's get a grip to first determine who wanted to occupy who. Are the Czechs as forgiving to the Germans or the Russians?
@@ElGrandoCaymano Germans yes, Russians... less so.
I've learned so many hidden historic stories thanks to this channel I wouldn't be surprised if one day Mark Felton uploads a video "Tiger Tank at Waterloo" on April 1st and I would still believe it for a few seconds.
A particular favourite nugget of lost history is the German garrison holding out at Dunkirk, Felton did a video on that last year I think it was.
It would probably have been at the same place but in WW2
Cant beat the Halloween episodes
My grandpa was a 1st generation Czech immigrant. volunteered in 1940, He was a combat engineer...saw combat in North Africa,Italy he also landed on D day and participated in the Rhineland campaign. I know we was wounded twice and received various other medals. After seeing this ill have to dig out his box of things and do some research. As always your channel is superb👍
This is really nice story. I am really interest now about story of your grandpa.
My grandfather was a Czech in the U.S. army in Africa and Italy and the European theater also. Cool to think they could of once met one another. 🇺🇸
Hello, Czech here.
Just to clarify, Hitler was hesitating with the invasion because of his generals. Hitler himself wanted open war but his generals urged him that because of Border fortress system and czechoslovakian army that was highly motivated, well equiped and well trained (at that time 7th biggest army in the world), the german attack would suffer massive casualities and it even wasnt clear if they would have been able to conquer Czechoslovakia. So Hitler listened to his generals and chose political approach. In my country Munich agreement is known as Munich betrayal.
Mobilisation of Czechoslovakian army at 1938 was huge success. In just 24 hours after order was given on 23.9 1938 at 22:00, 3/4 of soldiers were ready. 99% of Czechoslovakians answered the call and even 40% of suddeten Germans despite Henleins order to not participate. At full strength 1 128 000 men were ready to defend their homeland against Nazis aggression.
The situation was also complicated because Czechoslovakia was completely encircled. Not only Germany and Austria, but also Hungary (they wanted southern parts of Slovakia) and Poland (they wanted Těšínsko, which is part of northeastern czechia) saw opportunity and got some of their units ready. Czechs and Slovaks hoped that help will come and that Britain, France and Ussr will come to aid but it never happened. We believe that the only ones who would actually came to help as promised were Romania and Kingdom of Yugoslavia.
Because of Munich betrayal, distrust of the west took place in Czechoslovakia and after war people didnt mind that communists took power and we became soviet satellite state, which brought us further economic, cultural and psychological destruction, as well as many people emigrating when they had a chance.
But even know we have admiration in our country for the dedication that our ancestors had while facing Wermacht. The absolute determination can be seen in speed of mobilisation as well as in civilian population. For example women were standing in front of Prague Castle yelling "Dáme vám své syny, vy jim dejte zbraně. " (we give you our sons, you give them weapon). Also after order came to retreat from defensive positions at Sudets, soldiers didnt want to leave they destroyed all equipment and some of them even commited suicide rather than fall back.
After capitulation many Czechoslovaks flew to Poland and Ussr and then to France and England where they Bravely fought, taking part in many battles such as El Alamein. The best fighter pilot in battle of Britain was Czechoslovak, czechoslovakian units also recaptured Dunkerq after D-Day and czechoslovakian paratroopers were able to assasinate one of the highest ranking german Officer Reinhard Heydrich (he was highest rank that allies were able to kill).
Mobilation of 1938 is the fastest and most succesful mobilisation in the world to this day
@@burst33 They would be, but with high casualties, weaking them and slowing enough for other nations to get ready and help Czech R. So yes it actually was an great opportunity to get rid of Nazis right on the start. But it is what it is, we cant change the desision but we should learn from them
"Poland (they wanted Těšínsko, which is part of northeastern czechia)"
You had on mind Zaolzie?
Do you know how Zaolzie (ethnically Polish at that time) get into Czech territory?
Because the Czechoslovakia's armed forces get into in 1920 while Polish-Soviet war
So the situation how it get back into Polish borders was similar to the situation from 1920
I didn't say it was right, it wasn't time for that and it shouldn't be done this way
@@123pik1 Nope, after WW1 Poland tried to occupy part of Těšínsko and get pushed by CZ army to Poland territory only to be stopped by France in further advance ;) Also in oposite way the Kladsko and part of Sachsen should be CZ territory...
@@jherejk You forgot about something important
People of which ethnicity were the main part?
Poland was recreated after the Great War and terrains ethincally Polish should be under Polish state
CZ only used the situation of Bolshevik's advance to occupy Zaolzie
Czech Republic also blocked transports of west weapons to Poland
It is a dark part of Polish-Czech's relations
You should also read that Cieszyn Silesia was divided between Czechoslovakia and Poland
and the Czechoslovakia attacked and started occupation
Government in Warsaw wanted to take their part back but state in Prague was playing for time
"Also in oposite way the Kladsko and part of Sachsen should be CZ territory..."
And Minsk, Wilno, Lvyv and Kiyv should be part of Poland, yeah pretty fairy tales
The Czechs were well trained and well armed, with tanks that were so good that the Germans copied them. If the British and French had backed the Czechs then the Nazis may have been stopped before they began. The problem was that the British and French publics would not countenance war, plus both countries had run their forces down until they were ineffective.
That's not true! Together with the British and the Czechoslovaks, the French would clearly outnumber the Germans. That was also the case in 1939! Together, the Poles, British and French were clearly superior to the Germans. In 1938 and 1939 the Germans were not prepared for a war on two fronts.
@@GreatPolishWingedHussars As they say in my country. "If grandmother was Male, she would be called grandfather". England and France were to slow, to inert, probably even calculating.
@@TGSSMC Right! They were ice-cold calculating slow and inert. They coldly betrayed Poland! The British and French declaration of war 1939 against Germany served only for saving face. The British and the French did not intend to keep to the contractual commitment and to attack massively in the west. They wanted to sacrifice Poland for peace with the Germans! This was the continuation of British and French appeasement stupid politics of the 30s! The inaction of the French and British was the message to Germany: Be satisfied with Poland. Do not attack us behind the Maginot Line. We do not attack Germany either! So most British bomber activity was the dropping of propaganda leaflets.
By the way, that was the stupidest betrayal in world history! Because
this betrayal prevented a relatively easy victory. If the British and French had massively attacked the Germans in the west the Germans would have lost the war because they were not prepared for a two-fronts war!
But it is claimed that an attack was not possible. But it's a lie that help for Poland was not possible. This is a useful myth for British and French that the Germans were so strong that Poland with French and British had no chance to win. In reality the Germans were not at all prepared for a two-front war. The Germans had no chance in two-front war against Poland, French and British! The French and British would only have had to attack massively in the West as agreed and the war would have ended quickly with a victory for Poland, France and the British! By the way, the France and the British could have quickly discovered by enlightening their opponents during the attack that the Germans had little air support in the West because 90% of German frontline aircraft were in Poland. Germans had alos hardly any tanks in the West. And that the French and British could also quickly realized that the Siegfried Line was a fake. They just had to attack. Even the most incompetent of generals would have won against this weak German troops in the West. That would also have complied the agreement and the war plan concluded with Poland. British and French only had to have the will to fight and loyalty to their allies. The Germans had in the West in 1939 only inferior reserves without tanks and hardly any air support. Part of the reserve was WITHOUT TRAINING! After war German military commander Alfred Jodl said that "if we did not collapse already in the year 1939 that was due only to the fact that during the Polish campaign, the approximately 110 French and British divisions in the West were held completely inactive against the 23 German divisions." German General Siegfried Westphal stated that if the French had attacked in full force in September 1939 the German army "could only have held out for one or two weeks." Franz Halder Chief of the German General Staff of the Army documents this fact in his war diary. "The Wehrmacht had been on the verge of a military logistical catastrophe in the Polish campaign. The happy ending after a few weeks saved her from having to stop the fight because of insufficient ammunition." For all that reasons the Germans had lost the war because Germans were not prepared for a two-fronts war! The French and British would only have had to attack massively in the West as agreed and the war would have ended quickly with a victory for Poland, France and the British!
Too bad the Czechs pissed everyone off by stabbing Poland in the back during the Polish-Soviet war and made enemies with everyone. That is why nobody helped them.
@@kiro6119 true, you were butthurt because you lost a war you started. No matter how you spin it.
My wife is Czech. Her grandfather was a doctor & he tended to many injured partisans. He was eventually arrested for openly criticizing Hitler & was sent to Terezin concentration camp. After around 10 months an SS officers wife became ill & Doctor Spurek was called upon to heal her which he did. The SS officer sought his release as a way of expressing thanks. Years later he was imprisoned again for speaking against communism. He was placed in the infamous Bory prison & later moved elsewhere where he was to spend the next seven years. Life became unbearable for the family with him in prison as when one had a family member in prison the rest of the family were rejected by society & they almost starved. My mother in law, Dr Spurek's daughter is an incredibly generous & soft hearted lady. She's the closest a human being can be to a saint. Difficulties brought the bestr out in her.
YOU should write a book!!!
Blessings for all of your family
Very sad. I like to think I am similar. I always speak out against prevailing mores, when they are obviously bad, even if it damages myself. It is called integrity. It seems to be a very rare quality.
damn. he was imprisoned for hating nazism once and arrested for hating communism. it's amazing how czechias ideology changed so quickly, even if it was soviet influence.
Respect to him.
Cordial regards to your wife from the Czech Republic. What a dramatic story! Hluboká úcta Vašemu dědečkovi. Velmi statečný člověk...
Thank you so much for this Mark. My dad has been dead 11 years but he was a native of Frydek-Mistek and I know all about the Czech garrison there. He emigrated to Australia in 1948 - running away from communism at 17-18.
Greetings from Melbourne!
Ta George. Return greetings from Adelaide
So now your family can be fleeing back to the Homeland to excape communism again 🙄 seeing that "the western countries" are running headlong to communism.😞
@Nunya Business, a warm howdy from Ohio!
@@fencepostjay2496 Greetings from the ocean!
Thank you so much for this video Mark! I think Czech role in WW2 is often kinda forgotten, except of Operation Anthropoid. And yes, even today many Czechs have "Munich Complex" as other comments say. Thank you again and fingers crossed for another video about Czechoslovakia 🤞
(Edit: What the hell is happening in thread under this comment? Just calm the hell down and stop trashtalking about WW2 vets and resistance fighters for God's sake.)
I'm always Czeching for more info on it.
The fact that the Czechs role was minor in WW2, and resistance to Germany was met with reprisals, I must debate the wisdom of such strategies done by the Czech army in 1939.
Munich Betrayal is more like it
They were cowards simple asf chosen to surrender instead of fighting and thats a historical fact
@@demonyakku3710 What? I mean how were se cowards? We built one of the biggest resistance groups during WW2. We would defend ourselves, even if we would be betrayed, and even if defeat was certain. It was only because of Beneš's decision, because he didnt want war for reasons in video (civillian casualties and basically decimation of Czech populace-threats of bombing Prague)
I live in Frýdek-Místek my whole life and walk past the memorial of this event every day, haha. It's amazing to see this little piece of history brought out to the whole world. Thank you so much!
Zdravím, odkdy je prosím vás z měst Frýdku a Místku jedno město?
thats up by Liberec, a very pretty town, i.i.r.c.
Already in September 1938, before 'Munich' , several hundred Czechoslovak servicemen died in the 'hybrid warfare' during the 'uprising' in the German Speaking borderlands. Basically, the German army 'instructors' led local Sudeten-German militias/guerillas in the attacks on small isolated Czechoslovak army posts or postal service stations in the mountains on the border with Germany.
This would deserve coverage as well. An interesting topic. Quite a Donbass/Ukraine scenario there.
They should've had shown the first eight or so minutes to NATO representatives before their meeting with Putin over Ukraine. Maybe show it twice to the French and Germans who seem to be totally in Putin's pocket. BTW, Ukraine wasn't even invited.
Comparing with Donbass is quite incorrect, no matter of initial role of Girkin-Strelkov and his henchmen there. There was not any constitutional crisis and coup d'état in Czechoslovakia (unlike of the Ukraine). Also, Czechoslovakia in any way never oppressed its German citizens and German culture/language in such manner like new post-Maidan Ukrainian authorities have done towards Ukrainian Russians, Russian speakers and Russian language and culture as whole.
@@jarlRiess Cry me a river. There were major russification efforts during the whole existence of the Soviet Evil Empire as well as msjor ethnic transfers to create 5th columns of Russians everywhere, from Kazakhstan to Estonia. Anything happening post-1991 is just returning the pendulum back where it should be.
@@petr7694 Russians in Kazakhstan (in its present, post-Soviet boundaries) or in the Ukraine lived hundreds years before the creation of the USSR.
Your argument is valid only and solely for mentioned Estonia and Latvia - in these cases transfers of Russians-Belarusians-Ukrainians after 1940 can be really viewed as form of ethnic cleansing and building of fifth columns at the same time (similar to ethnic policy of the Nazi Germany or present Israel in Palestine, for example).
Yes. Your comment immediately reminded me of Ukraine. So, this may be an event "in the past" but actually it is also a powerful lesson on the present and what may happen next.
Between this battle and the Czech resistance killing of Reinhard Heydrich, I have much broader respect for Czech contributions during WW2.
Many of them fought in RAF in Battle of Britain and also in Battle of Tobruk in Libya under British command.
Why they rolled over and gave in
Killing Heydrich a whole school-Building was destroyed and hundreds of Czech children killed same as laterThousand of Czech Civlians died by German retribution and also the Soviet Red Army raped and massacred their way across Czechoslovakia massacring and raping hundred of thousand of women and children. During the Spring in Praque thousand Czechs opposed the Soviet Red army tanks and got killed...Americans and British have big mouths, they were shocked about the Bombing of Pearl Harbour or London and 9-11 as if this were big things...wait till youi are getting a real bombing where 50'000 Civilians die in a single night--even small Yugoslavia lost more Civilians to the Nazi attacks then Britain or USA.
@@jurgbangerter1023 wow one person. While the rest of your country rolled over for them.
@@morewi seems your country was in shock after a small attack in which only 3'000 Civilians died...
I am so glad that you have explained this. This is not something that is commonly taught in history classes. You explain it in such an interesting way⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Unfortunately, not commonly taught in history classes today? I doubt whether European and WW2 history are taught at all in most dumbed-down schools today. Hence, uneducated graduates clamoring for socialism and Marxism; supporting censorship and big business collusion with government; supporting evil CRT that divides or rewards on the basis of race; and slandering or libelling political opponents with cries of "Nazi" or "fascist," without any understanding of those words, instead of reasoned and intelligent debate.
@@normamimosa5991 if you knew about education as much as you know about what you hear from certain media outlets, you wouldn't be saying the things you said. You say that people use terms that they do not understand, but then you say there are many calling for Marxism. There's no One calling for Marxism. I would suggest you learn about the terms you use. And that's just one example.
@@Ronritdds there are socalled Marxist groups and parties.. Why would they call themselves Marxist then?
@@oliveryt7168 Obviously, there is no widespread movement in the American education system to support Marxism. But American private citizens do support all kind of things, like Marxism, anarchism, Nazism (aka neo-Nazis) White Supremacy and White Nationalism, fascism and forms of anti-democracy, etc.
@@normamimosa5991 I suspect if you asked 100 american teen agers in what decade world war 2 was fought, 95% would ask "What's world war 2?"
Either I missed the detail or it wasn't directly in the video, but the fight occured because Germans invaded 12 hours earlier they were supposed to, so the soldiers in the barracks did their duty in accordance with all their orders. The german greed gave them the opportunity not to feel that down about the invasion as the rest of the army, which was ordered to lay down the arms without them being able to fire a shot.
There is also a 1956 Czechoslovak movie inspired by the incident, but it is heavily distorted by the communist propaganda.
Colonel Pavlik is the definition of a patriot and a hero! It makes me wonder what would have happened if the Czech Army had rose up and fought the Germans with their huge Army
The German army would have broken its teeth on the Czechoslovak fortifications, as it had almost no way to break through them. This was written by a German general after the war, I don't know the name and I can't trace it :D
@@pophap thats true, but it wasnt finished and it was in sudetenland, so it was given to germany before they gave us away completely
@@WorixNotAvailable Yes you are right , it was not finished, but the light fortifications were over 2/3 finished, about 10 thousand light fortifications. The heavy fortification was 265 bunkers. You have to factor in field fortification work. trenches, ditches, anti-tank and anti-personnel obstacles. and in particular 1.25 million soldiers, 350 tanks, heavy artillery (which Germany had no, or only an insignificant number of) fuel and lubricants for the machines. Germany had enough supplies for a week of heavy fighting. Czechoslovakia for a month. We are talking about the time before Munich. a příště to nebudu psát anglicky :D ať se nezdržuju :D když jsi z česka :D
@@pophap měli jsme vládu , které záleželo na životech jejího lidu a ano, německo by nás lehko nedobylo, ale pro nás by bylo skoro nemožné dobýt německo, nakonec by to skončilo jen spoustou zbytečně zmařenych životů. že to nakonec skončí světovou válkou tehdy předpokládal opravdu málokdo.
We would propably get absolutely destroyed after a while, that is if nobody helped us.
Thank you so much Mark for this video.
My grand-grand father was czech cavalry officer in Austro-Hugarian army. He fought in Galicia in WW1.
He often said: "give me machinegun on hilltop nest and I would stop them".
CzechoSlovaks had one the best army in that time with thousands of trained troops, veterans from legions serving in WW1 and tanks and planes which Germans used againts Polland.
Sudetenland fortification was build especialy againts german or austrian invasion.
To this day Czechs are not sure if they should fight or if they could win againts German invasion. Things would be different. At least Czech cities wasnt destroyed by bombardment. But Munich was absolut betrayel and czech people and mostly their pride suffered.
thats true , wich is quite funny that Czech towns are one of the most preserved and oldest buildings in europe north of the Alps wich other countries mostly rebuild their cities after WW2
@@holextv5595 yes, but is most likely that if Czechoslovakia would have fight, the rest of Europe would not suffer, who knows. France stated after Munich that if Czechoslovakia would fight, it would be seen as the aggressor in the war.
As a czech and lover of ww2 history thanks for recognizing our little country in the battle against Germany keep this great videos coming
Love from Prague
Germans built Prague!
@@occidentadvocate.9759 yes but italians and austrians too… and this is the only reasson hitler didnt shelled prague at the end of the war becouse he knew german kings builted this only air raid on prague was accidental by Americans. So maybe its for our good that they builted big part of prague otherwise it would be a lot diffrent as we know it now.
Přidávám se...👍✌
@@occidentadvocate.9759 haha nice joke.
@@skinnyj7889 Too bad the NSDAP didn’t win. Maybe then y’all wouldn’t have become dirty commies
We call it the "Munich Betrayal", not "Agreement". I think if the Czechs had a chance to fight, they would have made the Germans rethink their life choices, with the modern Czech army. I do think the Germans would have gone around the defenses in the Sudetenland, rather than through them. Not all the border forts were complete, but the ones that were done were impressive. A lot were in the hills, and would have exacted a heavy price. Good for the units that fought the Germans. It's also important to note that England and France wouldn't have helped, as the Poles discovered. I know no one wanted a repeat of the horrors of WWI, but they must have known Hitler wasn't going to stop.
Interestingly, history was repeated 30 years later when the Russians invaded... some army units fought. It's great to be a small country in central Europe - everyone uses and abuses you.
Yet Switzerland, too, is a small country in central Europe.
Thanks at any rate for an informative, interesting and perceptive comment.
I agree. I think Britain and France should have declared war as well.
@@dixonpinfold2582 Dont forget that switzerland is the home of the BI$
Churchill had been saying for many years, what was OBVIOUS to him was happening.
Germany was preparing for full-scale war. In Europe. All-out war.
The British Parliament & the French and others dismissed him as a War-mongering lunatic.....
Look how many countries apologised after the war. NOT NONE. Scumbags.
Ungrateful to this day. It still continues. The deaths of your countrymen are on your own hands.
But as usual.... The British get the criticism...even though they gave the most:
We defied. We resisted...and we came back, along with many others, to save your sorry backsides....
France. Belgium. Holland. Norway...to name but a few. WE PERSISTED.... we overcame.
Read a comment today that was critical of the British from some person in France that said, essentially, 98% of the war effort was USA.... You know... it was.... From a financial point of view... we owed so much to the USA.
And we paid for it for the next 60 years...plus interest.... Nothing in life is free. And the USA sure made the UK pay.
Then; The USA used the UK war reparations to invest...In the UK...our bomb damaged industries, maybe?
No. They rebuilt Germany, France, and Japan......To destroy British industry. Which they did, very efficiently.
I played on bomb sites in Manchester aged 10..... In slum poverty.....we were still in slums years later.,,,,
17 years after the war.. so that "Britain" could rebuild Germany & Japan....
Oh.... I almost forgot...
Where was the Vichy French?
Hardly a mention now... but only half of France was occupied by the Germans...the rest slunk away like the shite they were.
Where was the other half of France whilst their compatriots were resisting occupation.....? Being tortured and killed; Mmm? Anybody knows....?? Does anybody care to be honest....
Nah... France is generally pissed at the EU.... as are many members...of this EUSSR.... Putin knows it...is exploiting it.
And I guarantee... HALF OF FRANCE does not give a toss....just like 1940.
Ale my jsme měli šanci bojovat. Proste říct Mnichovu ne.
A taky jsme měli.
My grandfather, now 90 years old was actually witness to the shootout as a boy.
Anyway, great video. Some pronouciation errors here and there but otherwise im glad someone told this story.
Come on, Mark is not a Czech native speaker so of course the pronounciation will not be perfect, but him pronouncing Beneš was almost spot on.
First-class video again. Unfortunately it demonstrates clearly that Dr Felton failed his 'O' levels in the Czech language dismally.
I can tell... pronounce details are negligible as Im following Mark for long time and he is excelent in using actuall expression in right way.. which is outstaning compared to all others :-)
Also thanks for badge.
@@jirikajzar3247 ahoj prosím ťa nevedel by si niečo od svojeho dedka o tom ako to videl?
ak si niečo z toho pamätá alebo ak ty vieš niečo o tom
Couple of technical notes.
Frýdek-Místek lies directly on the Moravia-Silesia border. Frýdek is in Silesia, Místek in Moravia.
The correct name of the barracks would be Čajánek Barracks. Čajánkovy kasárna is a genitiv.
@@xioami135 this one depends on Who u ask
@@bruncla2303 Not really. Our genes are the same, we just speak different dialects and have slightly different culture.
Can always rely on Dr Felton to bring out details of past conflicts that get overlooked in many textbooks
Thank you Mark, this actually occured close to my hometown.... :) Really glad these guys were remembered...
i am glad also. a american
Is there a memorial I can lay a wreath at?
@Jason Roberts make sure to also visit a place where cpt. Morávek died. :) amazing history of The Three Kings - you can see a video on my channel telling their story :)
i am glad also. a antarctican
@Jason Roberts You're going to hate the fact they also fought against your Communists.
As Czech citizen, thank you very much for this! Also not surprised to see you mentioning what happened to Czechoslovakia at this very moment. Honestly was not aware, that there was referendum after Germans retook Rheinland. We all saw the same story just recently, including the fact, that it did not satiate the perpetrator as it seems...
They say history doesn't repeat, but rhymes, as Ukraine is finding out :(
When trying to avoid war too hard, the international system is victim to its most ruthless member.
Unfortunately I see the very same patterns of appeasement happening today with China and Iran. Appeasement never worked very well or very long in all of history. The Vikings never stayed appeased very long and there's plenty of examples in the Bible. Weak leadership is an age old scourge and it keeps repeating thru history. Weakness is not a virtue, never was , never will be; not in the human realm or the animal realm on earth.
yes this is true even tho i am a slovak and well we broke out of czechoslovakia :c
i think that the heroism even in 1938 was great
our people wanted to fight no matter if they were czechs, slovaks, or whatever
@@couchcamperTM That is true, that some pro-west and pro-east people died, but it in fact did not matter at all, but it was just used as pretext for geopolitical games. At around this time the rent agreement for Crimea shipyard for Russians expired and Ukraine did not want to extend. It would be pretty strong blow for Russian navy, to loose this shipyard. Then the negotiations about accepting Ukraine to EU (and EU = NATO) started. So Russians took what they needed, and created buffer from East Ukraine, as is their long term historical tradition.... On the other hand, I strongly believe that Russians were promised in 90s, that there will be some area of their influence, as otherwise they would not leave us so easily. This is now violated sort of. When I listen NATO representatives saying, that each state can decide, where it belongs, it is nice, but unfortunately not reality. Imagine that Russia agrees with Mexico to open the shipyard or military base close to Guadalajara. US army would be there faster than Russians, no matter what anyone said before about the freedom of the nations to decide for themselves.
This is an incredible story. I’m brought to tears by the heroism and selflessness of these men who resisted when their superiors chose fear.
To complement the story: later on, France itself was overrun by Czech made tanks, that Germans "acquired" after annexation. Skoda factory produced high quality weaponry to feed the Wehrmacht to the extent that US B-17s bombed the factory on Czech territory (Under German protectorate at that time).
Its ironic, isnt it? France and Britain sold us to Germans and Czechslovakian tanks in turn massacred their troops in France, just with German crosses on armour.
The Germans took a lot of factories, which then served them in war production. It was not only Škoda Plzeň, but also ČKD Praha, Zbrojovka Brno, steel production in Ostrava, etc.
It is not only factories but thanks to wests politicics german aquired large quantity of the already serving tanks without a fight. Tanks which were superior to german tanks at the time because of production of Panzer 3s and 4s was behind a schedule.
@@falky7815 Ironic that Skoda is now VW.
@@martinjohnson9316 Today, Škoda Plzeň and Škoda Mladá Boleslav are two different factories. In the past, they were related, but each produced something different. There was a heavy engineering and armaments industry in Pilsen and car production in Mladá Boleslav.
Well done Mark. Finally someone who doesn't repeat nazi propaganda (which is surprisingly common as you probably know), or reports in Lord Runciman's style, while talking about Munich 38.
You took an effort to look at the events through small 'far away country' eyes. Thank you
People who repeat Nazi propaganda get banned off UA-cam, it really isn't that common.
@@wartrix6046 Well, what about the saying that Sudetenland was taken from Germany and given to Czechoslovakia as part of Versailles Treaty? And that Germany wanted to reunite with their fellow Germans?
That is one of Geobles's propaganda lies, you can commonly find in literature and documentaries all the way till now days.
Reuniting german people and taking back the stolen land was the excuse for invading. What russia did right with kaliningrad was to deport all germans from there so germany can't have any further claims with same reason as before. Ukraine didn't deport russians from krimea or from ukraine's east and are paying the price.
@@lisavauhti7675 You're getting into very dangerous territory, advocating for forced deportations.
In fact, human rights abuses like that, could give a country like Germany or Russia even more justification to intervene. Because you ARE actually oppressing their countrymen at that point.
@@wartrix6046 So you are saying that Beneš decrees were evil? I agree wholeheartedly.
The great tragedy of Central European nations during the interwar period was that the best and only survival strategy they could adopt -- a strong mutual defence alliance -- was also completely unattainable for purely political reasons, as most of said countries had territorial disputes with one another. Take Czechoslovakia and Poland. Military alliace between these two in the face of German expansionism would seem a no-brainer. They were in a very similar predicament, as well as in an almost ideal position to compensate for each other's shortcomings (Poland with its relatively large population and territory, Czechoslovakia with its industrial muscle). Yet the conflict over Zaolzie/Zaolší made it impossible, even though the territory in question wasn't even particularly large or significant. And yeah, before anyone points this out -- annexing it in 1938 was a d*ck move on our (Polish) part.
Polish-Czech defense pact would be really interesting in "alternate" history scenario.
@@elky21 What's interesting, Polish and Czechoslovakian governments-in-exile entered into negotiations about the possibility of forming a Polish-Czechoslovakian Union (Związek Polski i Czechosłowacji) after the war. This obviously never came to pass, but it goes to show that many politicians at the time saw it as a logical and mutually beneficial solution.
The problem is that in 1938 we (Czechs) might have been possibly a "match" to Germans at least for some time to resist with your manpower help. In 1939, however, when he attacked Poland Hitler was much much stronger both in the air and on the ground.
@@tomasfuk8439 You're 100% correct IMO. 1938 was probably the last moment when Hitler could have been effectively contained. If a hypothetical Polish-Czechoslovakian alliance held for at least a few months, the French and the British would have also had time to mobilize, and Germany would have been forced into a two-front war. The Polish-French agreement of 1939 stated, that a major French offensive could be launched within 3 months of German invasion, so a similar timeframe would probably apply.
@@Qba86 Honestly, as both France and Britain sold us in Munchen, I am not that optimistic about the second western front. France did not act decisively anyways when you were attacked a year later...
France and Britain did not just let the Germans to take over Czechoslovakia, they literally forced Czechoslovakia to submit saying that if a war was to break out, it would Czechoslovakia´s fault. 2 years later France was conquered by tanks stolen by Germans in Czechoslovakia. Play stupid games, win stupid prizes...
Czechoslovakian tanks were good indeed, but the biggest reason France has fallen was that they let Germans surround them. What lead to Dunkirk was pathetic, yet there are people who celebrate the "victorious" retreat. We are being told everything Allies did was great, but even the Normandy was a big mistake in military reconnaissance. Soldiers were just running into line of machineguns.
My Great Grandfather was a Czech Legionnaire of the 22nd Regiment.
22nd Regiment was made up Czechs and Czech Americans from Chicago Cleveland and Pittsburgh who wanted to fight for Bohemia. He was injured with shrapnel on the 3rd day of battle 1918 in the town of Vouziers. It was named the “Battle of Terron”
He moved to Chicago 1921 and reunited with 2 of his American friends that survived the war with him.
Semper Fi
Hi Mark and thank you very much for reminding this part of our history. Our grandfathers wanted to fight for our country! But the battle was lost from the very beginning. Our country had a long border and a narrow territory. So very hard to defend it. It is said it would take just 1 week to defeat us. That is why our President and goverment gave it up.
Fascist military government of Poland was not taking part in collective defence against Germany initiated by Czechoslovakia (Little Entente) with Romania and Yugoslavia. On the contrary Poland was the first country signing diplomatic agreement with Hitler's 3rd Reich - declaration of non-aggression in Jan 1934. The same day Wehrmacht occupied Czechoslovakia in October 1938 Poles invaded Czechoslovakia too - you can find common photographs of German and Polish soldiers greeting and hugging each other. Poles acted even more aggressively than Nazis - first day of occupation they forbid and terminated all Czech schools {including elementary), all Czech clubs, fired all workers of Czech nationality. In less than 1 year Hitler paid back Poles their reward...
Peace at any price...in other words the men who died in World War I to secure the peace, died for nothing because their leaders were too cowardly to stand up to tyrants, and China, Finland, Ethiopia, Korea, Albania, Austria, Poland, and Czechoslovakia paid the price for Chamberlion and the League of Nations' cowardice
I think that if Chamberlain and deladier would have said to Hitler "If you attack Czechoslovakia Britain and France will declare war on Germany" Hitler would have got cold feet and not invaded. He only gambled on the allies doing nothing during his invasion of Poland because they did nothing when he invaded Czechoslovakia
@@twhis9843 well said
I believe the Czech President's name Hacha is pronounced like english "haha".
Poland had a similar commander who didn't want to surrender - Major Henryk Dobrzański, known as "Hubal". The Germans called him "The Crazy Major". He fought till 30 April 1940...
Yes it's spelled similarily as you say.
@@saiien2 Not spelled (psáno), pronounced(vyslovováno). The "ch" is pronounced quite similarly to the Spanish "j".
@@HFilip11 Já jsem Čech. Nemusíš mi říkat jak se vyslovuje "ch" a ano máš pravdu "pronounced" by byl lepší výraz. :P
@@saiien2 To už jsem jen říkal obecně.
I have a copy of Foreign Affairs journal from the late 80s or early 90s somewhere around the house, which has a long and fascinating article in it about the appeasement of Hitler and the situation that pertained in 1938.
It basically lays out a lot of historical evidence arguing that A) the French and the British went back and forth with each other about fighting Hitler and B) that the British, at least, realized that a war was inevitable, with the French reluctantly agreeing, but that even then they couldn't find the resolve at that time to take any action. On the French side it had to do more with public opinion: that the French people were so vehemently anti-war at this point (due in large part to their enormous losses in WWI - almost an entire generation of young Frenchmen killed) that the weak government at that time felt it would be too risky on the homefront to bring France into another war with Germany. On the British side was a similar realization, but it was much more about readiness: the British feeling that they simply did not have the manpower and weapons at that time to enter into war. They needed more time to arm.
But with the gift of hindsight, the article made it clear that French military strength at that time actually exceeded Germany's, and that had the French alone shown the resolve to challenge Hitler firmly, they could have won a quick victory that would have brought Hitler down, possibly even a coup. With British help it would have gone even quicker of course.
All that part is of course speculation, but it was based, as I recall, on a pretty extensive study of French, British, and German resources and manpower at the time. It seemed a pretty sober judgment of the situation.
The problem being that neither the French nor the British really knew all of this at the time, and what they did know didn't give them enough confidence to deal with Hitler as he should have been dealt with... at least not in 1938. It wasn't until almost a year later when they wearily agreed that if Hitler pushed on Poland, they would honor their treaties with that country and face the fact that like it or not, they were now dealing with the consequences of not having firmly and definitively broken German authoritarian militarism during the First World War.
This assessment is very similar to what Churchill wrote in the first volume of The Second World War although it doesn't factor in the Soviets and what they might have been able to do to help Czechoslovakia, which they were eager to defend. But the countries between Czechoslovakia and the Soviet Union were not willing to allow passage to Soviet troops, not trusting what they might do. Given developments in 1939, that's not particularly unreasonable....
No, the French couldn't, because they had so many issues it was surprising the rotting house that Hitler called Russia isn't coined for wartime France.
I agree with Erruel. The French were strong on paper, accounting for material and troop count. But, the French military leadership had beeen gutted by internal squabbling - being very inexperienced and internally uncooperative with each other. There are also technological implications not readily obvious that severely hampered the abilities of the French to counter the Germans, namely radios.
@@hughmungus1767 Czechoslovakia bordered Soviet Union at that time. However infrastructure at the east was pretty bad so mass transport of troops from USSR would be complicated.
@@lurk7967 They even attacked their navy to prevent Germany from using it.
Let's note the two undisputable facts coming from the video.
One - Slovaks stabbed Czechs in the back every single time they had a chance to do so. Very ungrateful behavior as the Czechs evicted Hungarians from the Slovak territory in 1919 and significantly contributed to the economic boom as there was nearly no industry back then.
Two - Czechs were willing to fight (morale was very high in the time of the mobilisation), and some of them were actually fighting against the Germans so they should not be called cowards by any means as the especially Poles like to say about them. NOT TRUE. France and Great Britain turned out to be cowardly and to be precise, Poland too as it took the Silesia at the same time Germany took the Sudetenland.
As a Slovak yes you right but you shouldn't used term of Slovaks stabbed Czechs in the back but the Slovak government. The same happened in 1993 when we got separated. It's not Czech or Slovaks who decided but politicians.
You cannot stab someone in the back when he already surrendered - that's exactly what Czechs did with Munich agreement. Surrendered without single shot. Moreover when they then asked for protection by the Reich
Glory to all, who defend liberty. Then and today. March 2022.
Thx, Sir Mark Felton. Recently I heard saying that Germans never make small mistakes. TBH I am a bit scared the times of small mistakes are back again...
If he were a peer, Lord Felton would be a correct style. But for a knight the given name must always be used. Thus, Sir Mark, or Sir Mark Felton.
@@dixonpinfold2582 Thank you for correction and sorry for lack of knwledge reg. this.
Hello mark! you should make a video on the so called: Austro-fascism or Ständestaat era in Austria in 1934-38 to the Anchluß, and go into the weeks leading into the Anchluß and the reality and misconseptions with ”Austria wanted to join germany” as the Chancellor schuschnigg wanted to have the plebicite ”Volksabstimmung” and the support of nearly everybody without the Austrian National socialist, this would maybe be an interresting topic.
All the best, Matt from Finland-
As Czech I really appreciate this. Thank you!
Hold on to your heritage in history, keep them safe.
@@bandinamerica3035 Well my name means German in Czech but Will do!
@@Benetkabc2nd You mean Little German :-)))
Very good again, and starts with a nice introduction to the history of the lead-up to WW2. One minor point: in Czech, the "ch", as in Emil Hacha is pronounced as in German or in the Scottish "loch".
Fascinating how many events are never heard about....it is really very interesting Mark Felton can dig so much out of archives.
Perhaps it is a stain on the eventual victors, Britain and France who were able to rewrite history in a favorably light...specifically, covering up their cowardly sellout of the courageous Czechs.
Ironically, many Czech airmen who managed to escape Nazi occupied Czechoslovakakia to the UK earned much valor defending a country that betrayed them. They did so during that country's "darkest hour"...the Battle of Britain.
@@kenkruger481 UK has been a very dirty nation for centuries...and still is not a very just country.
@@kenkruger481 And then britain betrayed them again (especially Polish)
Always a awesome story from Dr Felton. It's also worth it to throw a few dollars or whatever your currency is to Dr Mark to keep the always interesting videos coming. I do.
I really appreciate that you've made this video. This and many other stories about our resistaince in 1938 and 39 are not well known even here in Czech Republic, so it's really nice to see that someone has interest in that in other parts of the world.
Why not actually fight like the polish did.
@@morewi Watch the bloody video and don't ask stupid questions, you troll
@@xender166 I did. A handful of people in one location doesn't make up for the patheticness of the Czechs
@@morewi No but you just keep blatantly trolling
@@kurgisempyrion6125 your butthurt won't stop the fact that the Czechs rolled over
This is a really neat bit of history, the footage works so well. I really do wonder what would have happened if the Czech army had resisted the Nazis
The German army would have broken its teeth on the Czechoslovak fortifications, as it had almost no way to break through them. This was written by a German general after the war, I don't know the name and I can't trace it :D
If we have support from other nations as Ukraine has today we would have stopped Germany.
There is a czech historical fiction book called "Žáby v mlíku" (Frogs in the milk) about alternate history of Czechoslovakia, if Czechoslovakia not surrender. Problem is, the book is probably only in Czech language.
There might have been no WW2 if not for the betrayal of "Allies"
@@pophap No Germans were not stupid ones and they would avoid fortified areas and hit exactly there where were only machine gun nests, Czech hedgehogs and barbed wired areas were Heavy bombardment is a must too. I thought its logical but as I can see its obviously not
A historian myself, but I still learn something, whenever I watch one of your videos! Keep up the good work!
World War II was so vast in scope, and fairly well documented that it sometimes feels more complex and dramatic than the rest of human history combined.
In Czech republic, we refer to the Munich agreement as "about us, without us". Czech people will never forget about this event. Thank you for the video dr. Felton.
Fascinating Adam, thanks for sharing. The struggle of the Czech people in the face of a larger and aggressive neighbour resonates with me as an Irish man, in that we Irish fought to secure our freedom from Britain. Many Czech people live in Ireland 🇮🇪 today, some of whom I am proud to call my friends. And I must say that your nation makes great beer 🍺.
Respect to you from Ireland.
@@eoindee7007 except most of Ireland didn't even want the rising to happen at first..
@@Woody10719 correct, it was very unpopular at first, resulting in the destruction of large parts of Dublin, disruption to livelihoods and of course, many of the menfolk of those areas were fighting in the trenches and their dependants were worried that the Rising would reflect badly on them. Everything changed after the execution of the leaders of the the Rising, and the British attempted enforcement of conscription in 1917 fuelled support for independence which reached it's apex in the 1918 election where Sinn Fein swept the polls on the platform of full independence from Britain. This resulted in the formation of the first Dail on 21st January 1919, outlawed by Britain, resulting in the war of independence. The rest, as they say, is history.
@@Woody10719 a final point, ironically enough my own grandad was wounded at gallipoli the year prior to the Rising and his brother killed later in 1916 during the Somme. Regards from Ireland.
Wasnt munich agreement about ethnic Germans in German Bohemia that didnt want to be part of czechoslovakia since 1918? How was it about Czechs?
the Czechs had an amazing amount of divisions to stand against Hitler's 4 that he could field. They also had some of the best munitions factories in the world. Sadly the Nazi propaganda was the real winner here.
Fear was the winner
My grandmother emigrated from the area in 1910 following her mother and half sister to the states. She was tired of being beaten for speaking Slovak at school instead of Hungarian. She won an award for speaking Hungarian just to spite the teachers. Another old Polish lady told me about hiding food under the floor to keep it safe from scavaging Russian soldiers. All those ethnic groups caught in between the great powers. No control over the land between Austria-Hungry, Germany, Russia. It was a hard squeeze with little the peasent farmers could do.
In 1910 it was Austria-Hungary and your grandmother possibly lived in border area between today's Slovakia and Hungary. So nowhere close to that area in the video.
I love to see my country mentioned in the time it stood alone against the German war machine!
Hello, thanks for this video!
Just about those numbers of CS army:
200k was a peace-time strength, split between 17 Infantry and 4 "Fast" (basically tank) divisions. That 370k mark you mentioned was the numerical strenght after partial mobilization of 1st class of reservists in May 1938 when the first serious tensions at the border regions broke out. After General mobilization (which was advocated by both French and British) on 23rd September 1938, which was btw completed in time of the Munich Agreement, the total CS Army had a strenght of appox. 1.2 million men in 40 divisions and other smaller independent formations. Plus the border fortifications, 400 tanks, 900 planes...
I still find it reprehensible that any country can negotiate away another country's independence.
@@dmward1973 To be precise, Czechoslovakia had to give up only their borderland (Sudetenland). The core regions remained Czechoslovakian. The catch is that the borderland was crucial for defense because there are mountains and it was heavily fortified. So after losing it, Czechoslovakia remained helpless and defenseless so Germans just waited for 6 months and then came to take the rest as well. They broke the Munich treaty by doing that but there were no consequences for them...
@@c1eris Thanks for this. I should have been more specific.
What is most amazing is that these films and photos survived the war, and you have been able to find and utilize them along with other historical information to create these videos.
And here I thought I knew everything about WW2, but Dr Felton comes along with this incredible story! Your videos are the best!
I just don't know how I would fare without having this channel to look forward to watching, a beacon of light amongst a sea of dross. Thanks.
As I czech I thank you Dr. Felton. And not only for this video.
I am Czech from Sudetenland region. I had no idea about this battle, thanks for this amazing video. We still talk a lot about Munich 1938 and capturing our borders by Germans to this day, fight or not to fight. This topic will never be resolved. Around my town there are heaps of WW2 bunkers built to protect the borders. We used to play inside as kids a lot. My opinion is we would most likely loose at the end without external support with heavy casualties on both sides with most big cities bombed to dust. I think Benes had a long term plan, light at the end of tunnel knowing Hitler won't stop with capturing Czechoslovakia...
Prosívávás žádný Sudety region! Sudety jsou jen pohoří
Dear Mark. I am grateful to you that you pickedup this subject and made it know to the english speaking world.
That Battle is known as "The battle for the Čajakovy Barracks."
One small important detail.
Wermacht came there demanding surrender prior the General order to Surrender to all standing Czech Army was issued by the General HQ in Praque.
Hence the fierce resistance.
Also little detail. After the succesfull mobilisation our aemy had some 43 divisions and german forces had only 45 divisions. Thus germany did not had the supperior numbers. Even afte all the years passed the general mood is that we should have stand and fight !!!
That is also my oppinion.
Please do go on I like your channel.
Interesting to finally see video about my country on your channel. As someone who has partly German and partly Czech origin, this is interesting. Thank you
5:48 The border sign says "German Reich - Drive on the right!" Until 1939 Czechoslovakia - in contrast to all of its neighbors - drove on the left side of the road. Hitler changed it to the right side. Apparently the Czechs thought that was at least one good thing to come out of the occupation, since they never bothered changing back.
That's true.
Before the "Anschluß" traffic in Austria was driving on the left hand side too.
Cool.
Not true. The switch to rigth side driving was planned by Czechoslovakia since early 1930s. The preparations for the switch were finished by the end of 1938 and the day was set to mid-April 1939. As a result of the German occupation it was merely brought the switch forward by about four weeks.
@@letecmig I do recall now reading that Prague was planning to switch it already. Still that the Germans ordered the switch is an interesting bit of trivia and historical irony.
Thank you very much for this video. I understand that languages of the Central-Eastern Europe are hard to pronounce, but Mr Hacha's name is pronounced with 'ch' sound as in Scottish word for lakes 'loch'. Or if you want as transliterated from Russian 'kh' sound. I needed a minute to realise about which politician you were speaking, but again, many thanks for this and many other videos.
Damn, I didnt know about this historical event. Shame on our czech school system (Yeah, I am from Czechia).
So thank you very much for this video. I hope I will enjoy others of your videos as well as this one.
Huh? Blame yourself for not knowing. 😂
As Czech, I appreciate this. Thanks 🤘
Zdravím.
I visited the Mauthausen concentration camp in 2013. It was an experience I will never forget. Now that I know the brave story of Captain Pavlik it carries even more meaning with me. Thank you for shedding light on this forgotten chapter of history.
They killed over 300.000 of our citizens you know... I think etnic boarder parts cleansing after war was just inevitable...
Thank you for bringing this little known (unknown to me) gem of history to light! It needs to be remembered
I had the wonderful experience of working with a Czech emigré to Canada. He was in the Czech Military Academy when the Wehrmacht rolled into Czechoslovakia. Some four and a half years later he was in the British Special Operations Executive, roaming about France, Belgium, and.Germany killing Nazis.
I was born 42 years ago in Frydek-Mistek and I still live here. And I am proud to hear from Mr. Felton, that Czechs soldiers and citizens of city Mistek fought against German army. I am so glad that Mr. Felton let You know that we were fighting against German army. Some says that was nazis who fight, I says that they were Germans. Thats the way it is and thats the way it should be!
"they were Germans". Thats the way it is!
The thought of what might have been if all Czech army had resisted this way reminds me of the quote from alexandr solzhenitsyn's book where he pondered what might have been in Russia if in those early days the people had coordinated ambushes against red army soldiers invading their buildings and homes. Perhaps the word would've gotten around quickly that it wasnt worth carrying out orders for the soviets as you were likely to die doing so.
Perfect timing for a new Video and interessing. Funny but i live near the Czech Border and never heared of this, great Content!
As many here I really do appriciate that you touched on this topic and brought it to a wider audiance, especially as I was born in the city of Frýdek-Místek and I live here all my life. We re proud of our history. The Čajanek's barracks was defended by The 8th Infantry regiment "Silesian". I always wondered if elements of SS VT were involved. Thank you.
I am pleased that you have raised the still little understood shameful episode in our country's history when in a desperate attempt to avoid confrontation with the Nazis at almost any cost our Government betrayed and sacrificed the Czechs. It is true that we were not in a position to militarily assist them in a practical way and options were few but throwing them under the bus was no way to act. After the war this episode was glossed over by British historians and politicians who understandably were not proud of the part we played and the Czech people were understandably very bitter, probably still are.
I have great respect for the Anthropoid operatives, the Czech resistance fighters, the RAF pilots and legionnaires, but I have to say, I respect the Poles more for the way they took on the Germans.
We are not bitter with the english as much as we are with french, who we had alliance with. But the way your government dealt with polish pilots was way worse. We were thrown under the bus yes, but poor Polish were tottaly played. This stupid munich treaty was the reason, why our government joined the soviet block and changed rich and proud country in a country we are now. It was a deathblow to czech heart and we never recovered. Not entiraly western fault, the choice of our government not to fight put a shame on us too. We preserved our cities, but not the will. I dont know how to explain that. We were proud nation, now we are not.
@@evzenkastl6386 French and British officials during final stages of Munich threatened Czech diplomats that if they choose to fight Germans and take Soviet help in this, it may look as a "crusade against communist aggression" so not only France and Britain wouldn't anyhow help Czechoslovakia but their neutrality on the matter may lean to the opposite side. You know, THIS kind of ultimatum has quite a disarming effect on the moral, so I would certainly not blame Benes for the choices he made or go that far to call him traitor.
Soviet diplomat references this ultimatum in his post-war memoirs so I recommend to take it with a grain of salt - noone on French or British side mentions this which may be either due to this threat never took place OR it was obviously something you wouldn't be proud to remember after WW2 when both suspects acted as bastions of freedom and democracy, having moral high ground.
Still if you check all the Interbellum history of failures to build up collective security pact between France, London and Moscow to keep Germans at bay, you may start seeing quite curious pattern of Allied actions. The one, which in the end led Moscow to signing Molotov-Ribbentrop pact instead of continuing to waste time in empty talks with London and Paris.
And people wonder, why we have over 300k gun ownders here. We have learned our lesson. Noone will help us. We have to rely on us alone.
Were jelous here in Poland about Czech gun laws.
@@kwestionariusz1 You have pretty chill gun laws as well tho. Am I mistaken here? You can carry, you can own, you are not cucked like people from the UK, Germany and so on. only the ammo is a little on the expensive side. Correct me if I am wrong tho.
@@slavicslav7459 Yes, u can own a gun under some conditions, but u can't carry it loaded outside your property (it includes house, land, business or even car)...
Even though I support lesser gun laws guns won’t help us against unmanned drones :(
@@rct3LP U mean laser guns yea it might be very useful against drones.
As a Czech i love to see this video!keep up the great content
Czech yourself. I love CZ guns.
@@czjonny8933 yes they are the best👍
When it came time to sign the 'Munich Agreement' it was discovered that the inkwells were empty.
But even that didn't make Make Chamberlain and Delradier realize how insincere Herr Schikelgruber was.
@user-wj6dt5bq3w your welcom
That's why we fully support UKRAINE as Czechs, cause we know what it is being attacked by your neighbor and what it is like being betrayed by other nations. NEVER AGAIN!
Finally! Dr. Felton making a video about things Czech. Honoured!
Just a little detail. You have a funny pronunciation of President Hacha. It's not "Hasha" but more something like "Haakha"
This reminds me in some ways of how the U.S., the E.U. and NATO countries are negotiating with Russia right now in regards to the future of Ukraine and a possible invasion. Let's hope we don't make the same mistakes again. This is the future of Ukraine and it's people at stake. They deserve to be involved in these talks as much as anyone.
Russia will invade Ukraine no doubt and there'll be 0 military response from NATO, at the same time, if Russia invades Ukraine, I feel China will make a move for Taiwan
NATO and the UN are useless. Too scared to make a proper stand. Watch Russia stomp over Ukraine with no real opposition.
@@TheREALJWMGaming Full invasion of Ukraine will be like domino. Maybe Germans, France, USA and UK won't be the first to make a move, but countries like Lithuania, Estonia, Romania, Poland won't just stand and watch for their turn. We just need to hope for Bucharest Nine to work.
One of the big factors that exist now that didn't back in the 1930s is nuclear weapons. That alone makes it difficult to make honest comparisons to appeasement and what's going on today.
HK has already been devoured
patriots only
Thanks, Mark, for doing another story about Central Europe in WWII. Appreciated also would be something about the often very reluctant support of Slovak soldiers to their country's invasion of the Soviet Union, required as the country was a puppet regime of Nazi Germany.
The Slovak army also took part in the invasion of Poland in 1939. Not sure if they were "very reluctant" at that point.