Battle of Opava (WFAC)

Invasion of Czechoslovakia
	Battle of the Border; Opava • Bruntál • Šatov • Znojmo • Křelovice • České Budějovice Bohemian front; Plzeň • Hořovice • Prague • Tábor • Hradec Králové • Kutná Hora • Jihlava Moravian front; Prchala offensive • Hranice • Šternberk • Olomouc • Brno • Blansko • Vyškov • Třebíč • Vyškov • M Line Polish front; Zaolzie Campaign Hungarian invasion of Czechoslovakia; Komárno • Levice • Nitra • Zvolen • Kosiče • Užhorod • Trenčín

Battle of Opava
	Part of the Invasion of Czechoslovakia
	; German soldiers inspects the cleared-out bunker OP-S 9 Na lukách near Opava.
Date	1–5 October 1938
Place	Near Opava, northern Moravia, Czechoslovakia
Result	German victory
Belligerents
Nazi Germany	Czechoslovakia
Commanders and leaders
<img src="https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/althistory/images/7/7c/Flag_of_the_German_Reich_%281935%E2%80%931945%29.svg/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/22?cb=20170416183750" alt="Nazi Germany" class="thumbborder " data-image-key="Flag_of_the_German_Reich_%281935%E2%80%931945%29.svg" data-image-name="Flag of the German Reich (1935–1945).svg" width="22" height="13" > Gerd von Rundstedt; <img src="https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/althistory/images/7/7c/Flag_of_the_German_Reich_%281935%E2%80%931945%29.svg/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/22?cb=20170416183750" alt="Nazi Germany" class="thumbborder " data-image-key="Flag_of_the_German_Reich_%281935%E2%80%931945%29.svg" data-image-name="Flag of the German Reich (1935–1945).svg" width="22" height="13" > Johannes Blaskowitz	<img src="https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/althistory/images/c/cb/Flag_of_the_Czech_Republic.svg/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/22?cb=20100705121819" alt="Czechoslovakia" class="thumbborder " data-image-key="Flag_of_the_Czech_Republic.svg" data-image-name="Flag of the Czech Republic.svg" width="22" height="15" > Vojtěch Luža; <img src="https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/althistory/images/c/cb/Flag_of_the_Czech_Republic.svg/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/22?cb=20100705121819" alt="Czechoslovakia" class="thumbborder " data-image-key="Flag_of_the_Czech_Republic.svg" data-image-name="Flag of the Czech Republic.svg" width="22" height="15" > Emil Fiala
Units involved
II Army Corps: 3rd Panzer Division ; 6th Infantry Division ; 12th Infantry Division ; 32nd Infantry Division ;	Hraniční pásmo XIII: Border Area 37 (HO-37) ; 16th SOS Battalion ; In reserve: 8th Division ;
Strength
64,900 men; 324 tanks; 51 armoured cars; 202 howitzers; 489 mortars; aerial support	~20,000 men; 263 heavy machine guns; 1,037 light machine guns; 42 anti-tank cannons; In reserve:

The Battle of Opava was fought between 30 September and 4 October 1938, between the forces of Czechoslovakia and Germany. It was one of the first battles of the during the initial stages of the Invasion of Czechoslovakia. Around 20,000 Czechoslovak soldiers defended a fortified line of border fortifications for five days against more than 60,000 German troops. Although defeat was inevitable, the Czech defence stalled the attacking forces for five days and postponed the encirclement of the Czechoslovak First Army as they withdrawing from Bohemia towards Slovakia. Eventually the tanks broke through the Czech lines and eliminated all the bunkers one by one. The last bunker surrendered around midday on 4 October.

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