Liberation of Czechoslovakia (WFAC)

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Liberation of Czechoslovakia
Part of Eastern Front of World War II
Date 10 March – 11 May 1945 (2 months and 2 days) Place Czechoslovakia Result Decisive Allied victory
Belligerents
Nazi Germany Hungary	Soviet Union United States Czechoslovakia Romania
Commanders and leaders
Ferdinand Schörner Lothar Rendulic	Ivan Konev Rodion Malinovsky Andrey Yeryomenko George S. Patton Ludvík Svoboda Vasile Atanasiu Nicolae Dăscălescu

The Liberation of Czechoslovakia was one of the last major military operation of World War II in Europe. The offensive was fought on the Eastern Front from 30 March to 11 May 1945. Fought concurrently with the Prague uprising, the offensive was one of the last engagements of World War II in Europe and continued after Nazi Germany's unconditional capitulation on 8 May.

On 8 May 1944, Czechoslovakia had signed an agreement with both British, American and Soviet leaders stipulating that Czechoslovak territory liberated by Allied armies would be placed under Czechoslovak civilian control. Despite this, the liberation of the capital Prague as a prestigious military and political goal for both the Soviets and the Americans.

As the Red Army were engage in the Battle of Berlin, the U.S. Third Army under General George S. Patton was ordered toward Bavaria and Czechoslovakia, anticipating a last stand by Nazi German forces there. While a U.S. advance to Prague was feasible after the liberation of Plzeň on 5 Mat, General Eisenhower was informed that such was not desired by the Soviets.

The city of Prague was ultimately liberated by U.S. Forces of Patton's Third Army, only hours before Soviet forces of Marshal Konev reached the city.

Background

On 8 May 1944, Czechoslovakia had signed an agreement with both British, American and Soviet leaders stipulating that Czechoslovak territory liberated by Allied armies would be placed under Czechoslovak civilian control. Czechoslovak President Edvard Beneš hoped and believed that the wartime alliance of the "Big Three" of the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States would continue after the war, with the "Big Three" co-operating in an international system that would hold Germany in check. Beneš saw the role of Czechoslovakia and his own role as being that of a mediator between the Big Three.

The liberation of Czechoslovakia had begun with the East Carpathian Strategic Offensive, which began on 8 September. The 1st Ukrainian Front under Marshal Ivan Konev was ordered push through the old Czechoslovak-Polish border in the Carpathian Mountains via the Dukla Pass near Svidník to penetrate Slovakia proper. Meanwhile, the 4th Ukrainian Front under was to cross the Carpathians and capture the Uzhhorod-Chop-Mukachevo (Užhorod–Čop–Mukačevo) area. However, Germans and Hungarians had fortified the aread, forming the Karpatenfestung ("Carpathian fortress") or Árpád Line. One of the biggest battles in the operation took place on and around Hill 534 in the northwest from the town of Dukla; the battle to capture this hill lasted from 10–20 September, and during that period the control of the hill changed more than 20 times. The town of Dukla was seized on 21 September. On 6 October, Czechoslovak forces liberated Vyšný Komárnik, the first Czechoslovak village to be liberated from Axis occupation. However, while most of the territory of Subcarpathian Ruthenia, including Mukachevo, had been secured by Red Army, the operation as a whole had seen some of the bloodiest fighting of the Eastern Front, having taken the Red Army almost a month to reach Slovakia. The operation ended in a stalemate and was called off on 28 October 1944, with the Soviets suffering a total of 131,900 casualties, including 26,800 killed in action.

At the Yalta Conference from 4-11 February 1945, the heads of government of the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Premier Joseph Stalin respectively, met to discuss the postwar reorganization of Germany and Europe. The aim of the conference was to shape a post-war peace that represented not just a collective security order but a plan to give self-determination to the liberated peoples of post-Nazi Europe. The meeting was intended mainly to discuss the re-establishment of the nations of war-torn Europe. However, each leader entered the negotiations with different priorities. For Stalin, the main purpose was to force acceptance of Soviet control of Central Europa and the Balkans. Roosevelt wanted to secure Soviet support for a United Nations organization while the top priority of Churchill and the British were to obtain guarantees that Czechoslovakia would be genuinely free and independent. During the conference, Stalin promised that the Soviet Union would adhere to the agreement signed with Czechoslovak President Edvard Beneš on 8 May 1944. The Soviet Union would not sponsor a provisional government on Czechoslovak territory occupied by the Red Army that rivalled the authority of the Czechoslovak government-in-exile in London. Stalin also endorsed the The Declaration of Liberated Europe, which pledged "the earliest possible establishment through free elections governments responsive to the will of the people."

However, in February the spirit of Yalta had turned sour. In Poland, the Soviets had installed a Communist-dominated Polish Committee of National Liberation led by Bolesław Bierut. In Romania, Soviet Vice Commisar of Foreign Affairs, Andrey Vyshinsky, had installed a puppet government in March headed by Petru Groza. On 1 February 1945, the Czechoslovak delegation in Khust tasked with establish the provisional Czechoslovak administration departed after months of conflict and obstruction from the Soviets, who endorsed the "National Council of Transcarpatho-Ukraine" in Mukachevo led by Ivan Turyanitsa (a Rusyn who deserted from the Czechoslovak Army). The departure of the delegation effectively left Carpathian Ukraine under Soviet control. These actions had resulted in protests from the llied Control Commission that these acts were blatant contraventions of the Declarations on Liberated Europe. Churchill feared that Stalin's guarantees on Czechoslovakia would be and tried to prompt Roosevelt into a "showdown". Although shaken by Stalin's bad faith, he wanted to "minimize the general Soviet problem as much as possible."

On the Allied side, both Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin saw Prague as a significant prize, the seizure of which could significantly influence the political makeup of postwar Czechoslovakia. Stalin was determined to have the Soviet Army present in force in western Czechoslovakia when the German troops there finally surrendered.

Liberation of Czechoslovakia

April–May: U.S. Offensive

Once the Anglo-American armies had crossed the Rhine and advanced into Western Germany, a decision had to be made whether to advance on a narrow front towards Berlin or in a simultaneous push by all Western armies spanning from the North Sea to the Alps. America's most aggressive commander, Third Army head General George S. Patton in General Omar Bradley's centrally located Twelfth Army Group, had advocated a narrow front ever since D-Day, and did so again; likewise at this point British 21st Army Group chief Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery in the north, each lobbying to be the decisive spearhead. Cautious Allied commander in chief U.S. General Dwight Eisenhower, however, resisted both. Ultimately, this broad front strategy left the Seventh Army of General Jacob L. Devers' southern Sixth Army Group in a position at war's end to race south through Bavaria into Austria to prevent German entrenchment in any mountain redoubt and cut off alpine passes to Nazi escape.

In March 1945, a number of intelligence reports to the Supreme Headquarters of the Allied Expeditionary Forces (SHAEF) had identified southern Germany and Austria as having stores of foodstuffs and military supplies built up over the preceding six months, and could even be harbouring armaments production facilities. Within this fortified terrain, they said, Hitler would be able to evade the Allies and cause tremendous difficulties for the occupying Allied forces throughout Germany. The alleged Alpine Fortress was one of three reasons associated with SHAEF's movement of forces towards southern Germany rather than towards Berlin, the other two being the fact that the city was planned to be in the Soviet Zone of Occupation, and that the battle for it would have entailed unacceptably high Western Allied casualties.

However, when the American armies penetrated Bavaria and western Austria at the end of April, they met little organized resistance, and the National Redoubt was shown to have been a myth. Subsequently, throughout April 1945, debate raged at the highest levels of the Allied High Command over whether or not to liberate western Czechoslovakia and more specifically, the capital city of Prague. British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, the British Chiefs of Staff, the British Foreign Office, U.S. President Harry S. Truman, the U.S. State Department and the Czechoslovak government-in-exile pressed for the Americans to liberate Prague and as much of western Czechoslovakia as possible as a counter-balance to Soviet influence. Supreme Allied Commander, General Dwight D. Eisenhower, however, did not want to hazard American lives for postwar political purposes and did not want to offend the Soviets. , U.S. Army Chief of Staff General George C. Marshall and the other U.S. Chiefs of Staff supported Eisenhower's decision as the Theater Commander in Europe.

As early as 12 April, the U.S. First Army had reached the banks of the Elbe and their advance is stopped on the Wismar-Schwerin demarcation line. Churchill urged General Bradley not to withdraw his troops so that he can use them to negotiate with Stalin. Patton agreed with Bradley that any U.S. advance towards Czechoslovakia, Prague or Austria was not bound by any official agreements from Yalta. Subsequently, Patton received orders to prepare a plan for crossing the Czechoslovak border and to occupy the demarcation line running from Linz – České Budějovice – Plzeň – Karlovy Vary, as well as prepare plans for a possible second demarcation line running through České Budějovice – Tábor – Prague – Karlovy Vary. Patton's Third Army had initially been ordered toward Bavaria and Czechoslovakia, anticipating a last stand by Nazi German forces there. When it became clear that this last stand would not materialize, U.S. troops could quite easily advance to Czechoslovakia instead. On 18 April, reconnaissance units of the U.S. Third Army, commanded by General George S. Patton, entered the territory of the pre-Munich Czechoslovak Republic. Two days later, U.S. troops liberated Aš followed by Cheb on 25 April. By early May, General Eisenhower was satisfied that the National Redoubt was nothing more than a figment of Nazi Propaganda. However, with Berlin captured by the Soviets and with U.S. and Soviets forces having linked up along the Elbe River, the only remaining German forces of any appreciable size were in central and western Czechoslovakia and parts of Austria. As a result, Eisenhower decided to send the U.S. Third Army to help the Soviets clear the remaining German forces out of Czechsolovakia. On 4 May, Eisenhower informed the Soviets that he had ordered the army to attack eastwards toward the Karlovy Vary–Plzeň–České Budějovice line with a possible further advancement to the west bank of the Vltava river. Since the Vltava River flowed through Prague, this implied a possible advance to liberate at least part of the Czechoslovak capital.

Patton ordered both V and XII Corps to attack the following morning with their infantry divisions to open up routes for the armoured division to pass through. Patton's field army was the largest assembled by the United States, and comprised four corps, including seven armoured division and over 550,000 soldiers. Nearly a half of this force was sent forward to liberate western Czechoslovakia. In XII Corps' area to the north, the 4th Armored Division pushed towards Karlovy Vary followed by the 5th and 90th Infantry Divisions. 9th Armored Division pushed northeastward through the mountain passes held by the 1st Infantry Division and headed for Prague. The 26th Infantry Division attacked towards České Budějovice. Meanwhile, the newly arrived 16th Armored Division and the 1st Czechoslovak Armoured Division, which was assigned to V Corps on 1 May, attacked through the lines of the 97th Infantry Division, with Combat Command B (CCB) making the main effort. They advanced along the Bor–Plzeň Road that same day, launching an attack on Plzeň, designed to capture the famous Škoda Works Plant. Combat Command Reserve (CCR) advanced through Plzeň to assigned high ground east of the city. To the southeast, a combat command of the 4th Armored Division captured Strakonice.

May: Prague Uprising

While German defeat was inevitable, Gauleiter of Bohemia-Moravia and SS-Obergruppenführer and General of Police Karl Hermann Frank announced over the radio in Prague that he would drown any uprising in a "sea of blood". As rumors of an impending Allied approach reached Prague, the people of Prague streamed into the streets to welcome the victors. Frank ordered the streets to be cleared and instructed the German Army and Waffen-SS forces in Prague to fire at anyone who disobeyed.

After days of hesitation, at 06:00 on 4 May, the Czechoslovak underground army led by Defence of the Nation (Czech: Obrana národa, ON) launched the uprising against the German occupiers. The uprising began with the storming of the Czechoslovak Radio at Vinohradská 12, which began broadcasting only in Czech and playing forbidden national songs and musical compositions and urging the citizens to rise up against the Germans. During the day, the citizens of Prague began flying Czechoslovak flags from buildings and began removing German signs in many places around the cit. Enthusiasm reigned in the city, as crowds of unarmed civilians, mostly young men with no military training, overwhelmed German garrisons and stores. Many casualties were inflicted by German soldiers and civilians sniping from strong-points or rooftops; in response, Czechoslovak forces began to intern Germans and suspected collaborators. Czech noncombatants assisted by setting up makeshift hospitals for the wounded and bringing food, water, and other necessities to the barricades, while German forces were often resorted to looting to obtain essential supplies. Czech forces seized thousands of firearms, hundreds of Panzerfausts, and five armoured vehicles. By the end of the day, the resistance had seized most of the city east of the Vltava River. The insurgents held many important buildings, including the radio, the telephone exchange, most railway stations, the Old City Hall at Old Town Square (Staroměstské náměstí), the New Town Hall at Charles Square (Karlovo náměstí), and ten of twelve bridges. Three thousand prisoners were liberated from Pankrác Prison. By controlling the telephone exchange, resistance fighters were able to sever communication between German units and commanders. German forces held most of the territory to the west of the river, including an airfield at Ruzyně, northwest of the city, and various surrounded garrisons such as the Gestapo Headquarters.

German Waffen-SS units continued to attack the resistance and the Czechoslovak Radio building throughout the day without succes. At 19:22, a radio broadcast urged the citizens of Prague to build barricades to prevent the Germans from moving troops and armour into the city. Over 1,600 barricades had been errected by the following morning. The resistance were armed with rifles, light machine guns, hand grenades and Panzerfausts.

The announcement of Prague Radio was also repeated in French, English and Russian, in which Prague asked for help from Allied troops. In London, the report was interpreted by Hubert Ripka, in Beneš government-in-exile, who greeted the people of Prague by radio and confirmed the uprising of the Czechoslovak Underground State with the consent of President Beneš. Ripka asked the British authorities to release our pilots and soldiers for support. He also asked the U.S. forces to advance on Prague and drop weapons and ammunition from air bases in Bari in Italy. Half an hour after midnight, an encrypted telegram was received by General Heliodor Píka in Moscow, who handed it over to the Chief of Staff of the Red Army, General Aleksei Antonov, the Chief of the Soviet General Staff. The leader of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, Klement Gottwald, was devastated by the news. "Our best people will lose their lives unnecessarily at the end of the war. In addition, the Americans and the British are in danger of reaching Prague before Malinovsky and Konev." Václav Kopecký stated that this would allow Beneš to impose conditions on the Communists. Stalin ordered that military aid to Prague be provided immediately, that is, a day earlier than planned.

The following morning, German Wehrmacht and SS units supported by tanks, StuG III and Hetzer tank destroyers began to break into the city. The insurgents also fought in the inner city with the German garrison, while the Nazis kept trying to seize important objects. Fighting would continue until 9 May, with the German forces committing numerous war crimes against Czech civilians throughout the uprising. Many people were killed in summary executions, and the SS used Czech civilians as human shields.

May: Race for Prague

The Prague uprising had changed the situation dramatically. The uprising was timed to coincide with the American and Soviet advances. An additional, political goal of the Czechoslovak Underground State was to assert Czechoslovak sovereignty before the Red Army arrived in Prague.

On the Allied side, both Churchill and Stalin saw Prague as a significant prize, the seizure of which could significantly influence the political makeup of postwar Czechoslovakia. As early as 13 April, British Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden recommended to the U.S. Ambassador John Gilbert Winant that the United States should liberate Prague, while Churchill attempted to convince the Americans by saying that nothing stood in the way of the Allied intervention in Prague, nor any agreements with the Soviets.

The situation had been complicated with the death of U.S. President Roosevelt on 12 April 1945. While his successor Harry S. Truman was navigating his new position, Churchill invited him to occupy Vienna, Berlin and Prague with the Americans. Truman assessed the situation: The occupation of Vienna was unrealistic demand, while Berlin was off the table for both military reasons and because of the gentleman's respect for their Eastern Allies. He needed the Soviets to join the war against Japan, and he knew that Berlin was a symbol of victory for millions of Soviet soldiers as the culmination of a long and bloody journey. They will take revenge on the thousands of dead Russian soldiers and civilians on whom the Germans have committed an unimaginable number of horrific crimes. However, safeguarding Czechoslovakia as an democratic buffer state in Central Europe was desired, and Soviet protests to a U.S. occupation of Prague ould be minor compared to that of Berlin. As a result, Truman instructed General Marshall to advance towards Prague if the situation allowed it.

On 30 April Churchill telegrammed Truman, stating that:

“

There is no doubt that the liberation of Prague by American troops would create a changed post-war situation and would strongly affect the situation in neighboring countries. But if the Allies, on the other hand, played only an insignificant role in the liberation, the country would follow a path such as Yugoslavia's. I consider it of the utmost importance that this very important political aspect be explained to Eisenhower...

”

To which Truman answered:

“

The Soviet General Staff is preparing operations in the Vltava valley. My intention is, as soon as the current military action allows, to advance and destroy the remaining German military forces. Therefore, if it is desirable to enter Czechoslovakia and conditions allow it, our logical approach will be directed to Pilsen and Carlsbad.

”

While Churchill and Truman agreed on liberation Czechoslovakia, Eisenhower was more cautious, as he considered Czechoslovakia to be in the Soviet zone of operations. He was also disinclined to accept American casualties or risk antagonising the Soviet Union. However, following orders by Truman, he sent another dispatch to General Antonov. Similarly, Patton asked for permission to advance along the Vltava in order to aid the Czech resistance and take up positions along the České Budějovice – Tábor – Prague – Karlovy Vary demarcation line. Stalin, however, asked that the Americans stop at Plzeň, 50 miles to the west, stating that the Red Army already had initiated a major offensive towards Prague.

Meanwhile, on 1 May 1945, before Berlin was subdued, Stalin issued orders directing the 1st Belorussian Front to relieve the 1st Ukrainian Front in the Berlin area so that the latter could regroup to the south along the Mulde River and drive on Prague. The 2nd Ukrainian Front also received orders on 2 May to drive on Prague from the southeast. Stalin was determined to have the Soviet Army present in force in western Czechoslovakia when the German troops there finally surrendered.

Eisenhower did not want to advance across the first demarcation line for political or military reasons, as they expected resistance from three well-armed German divisions. However, General Patton ignored Eisenhower's request to stay behind the first demarcation line, and ordered elements of the 9th and 16th Armored Divisions and the 1st Czechoslovak Armoured Division to move towards Prague at 07:00 on 6 May.

May: Soviets launch Prague Offensive

On 6 May, Konev's 1st Ukrainian Front opened the Prague Offensive with an attack by the 3rd and 4th Guard Tank Armies and the 13th, 3rd Guards, and 5th Guards armies. This group of five armies was Konev's main attack and pushed south from the area around Riesa. Facing Konev's thrust were troops of the German 4th Panzer Army. The attack opened with a reconnaissance-in-force in the morning, followed by a brief but powerful artillery barrage. 13th, 3rd Guards, and both tank armies (as well as two other tank corps) attacked southward in the afternoon, with the 13th Army and the 4th Guards Tank Army pushing forward some 23 kilometers. By evening, 5th Guards Army had joined the attack with the objective of capturing Dresden.

Ending a separate 1st Ukrainian Front operation, 40,000 German troops in Breslau surrendered to the Soviet 6th Army after a two-month-long siege. On 6 May, 4th Ukrainian Front attacked to the west, intent upon capturing the city of Olomouc. Defending against the Soviet attack in front of Olomouc was the 1st Panzer Army.

Continuing the main attack of the 1st Ukrainian Front, 3rd Guards Army captured Meissen on 7 May, home of the famous German porcelain. The 13th Army and the 4th Guards Tank Army pushed 45 kilometers further to the south and reached the northern slope of the Ore Mountains. The 3rd Guards Tank Army and 5th Guards Army began the battle to capture Dresden. Farther to the east, the second attack of the front developed as the 28th and 52nd Armies attacked to the south.

Following a 30-minute artillery barrage, the 7th Guards Army and the 6th Guards Tank Army led an attack to the northwest, opening the offensive of the 2nd Ukrainian Front. Adding to the difficulties of the defending German 8th Army, the Soviet 9th Guards Army and 46th Army reinforced the attack on its left (southern) wing. By the end of the day, the front had pushed 12 kilometers into the German lines along an advance 25 kilometers in breadth. Between the 2nd and 1st Ukrainian Fronts, the 4th Ukrainian Front continued its advance on Olomouc.

On 7 May, General Jodl, signed the surrender of all German forces at SHAEF. The surrender was to become effective at 0001 hours on 9 May.