Slovakia participated in World War II on the side of Germany, but did not have any serious influence on the course of military operations on the Eastern Front and had rather symbolic significance, supporting international image Germany, as a country that has allies at least in the rank of satellites. In addition, Slovakia had a border with the Soviet Union, which was very important in a geopolitical sense
Slovakia began to establish its relations with Germany immediately after the defeat of France and on June 15, 1941 joined the Axis countries by signing a corresponding pact. The country became "the only Catholic state in the area of dominance of National Socialism." Somewhat later, blessing the soldiers for the war with Russia, the papal nuncio said that he was pleased to inform the Holy Father good news from an exemplary Slovak state, truly Christian, which implements a national program under the motto: “For God and the Nation!”
The population of the country was then 1.6 million, of which 130,000 were Germans. In addition, Slovakia considered itself responsible for the fate of the Slovak minority in Hungary. The national army consisted of two divisions and numbered 28,000 men.
When preparing to implement the Barbarossa plan, Hitler did not take into account the Slovak army, which he considered unreliable and feared fraternization due to Slavic solidarity. The command of the ground forces did not count on her either, leaving behind only the tasks of maintaining order in the occupied areas. However, a sense of rivalry with Hungary and the hope for a more favorable establishment of borders in the Balkans forced the Slovak Minister of War to tell the Chief of the German General Staff, Halder, when he visited Bratislava on June 19, 1941, that the Slovak army was ready for combat. The order for the army said that the army did not intend to fight with the Russian people or against the Slavic idea, but with the mortal danger of Bolshevism.
As part of the German 17th Army, an elite brigade of the Slovak army numbering 3,500 people, armed with outdated light Czech tanks, took the battle on June 22, which ended in defeat. A German officer assigned to the brigade noted that the work of the headquarters was below any criticism and he was only afraid of getting injured, since the equipment of the field hospital corresponded to the times of Maria Theresa.
It was decided not to allow the brigade to participate in the battles. Moreover, the level of training of Slovak officers turned out to be so low that it was pointless to form the Slovak army anew. And therefore, the Minister of War, along with the majority of the soldiers, was returned to their homeland two months later. Only the motorized brigade, brought to the size of the division (about 10,000), and the lightly armed security division, consisting of 8,500 people, took part in the fight against the partisans, first near Zhitomir, and then Minsk.
Subsequently, the combat path of the Slovak armed forces closely associated with the actions of this brigade (German: Schnelle Division). During the heavy and prolonged battles on the Mius River, this combat unit, under the command of Major General August Malar, held a ten-kilometer-wide front from Christmas 1941 to July 1942. At the same time, it was protected on the flanks by the Wehrmacht mountain division and Waffen SS units. Then, during the catastrophic Second German offensive for the Soviets in the summer of 1942, this unit in the battle formations of the 4th Tank Army advanced on Rostov, crossed the Kuban and took part in the capture of the oil regions near Maykop.
The attitude of the German command towards the needs of the Slovaks was dismissive and therefore their losses were determined not so much by combat interaction with the enemy, but by poor nutrition and epidemic diseases. In August 1942, this unit occupied defenses near Tuapse, and after the catastrophic defeat at Stalingrad, it was difficult to cross to Kerch, losing its equipment and artillery.
The unit was then reorganized and became known as the First Slovak Infantry Division, which was entrusted with the defense of the 250 km coastline of Crimea.
The division's combat and general rations remained at an extremely low level. Slovakia's relations with its stronger neighbor Hungary remained tense and Slovak President Tiso appealed to Hitler to remind him of Slovakia's participation in the war on the Eastern Front with the hope that this would provide protection against Hungarian claims.
In August 1943, Hitler decided to create strong defensive positions in front of the “Fortress of Crimea”. Part of the division remained on the territory of the peninsula beyond Perekop, and its main structure took up defense at Kakhovka. And he immediately found himself in the direction of the main attack of the Soviet army, suffering a crushing defeat within one day. After this, the remnants of the division went over to the side Soviet Russia, which was prepared by the activities of the communist agents of Czechoslovakia.
Constantly diminished in numbers due to desertion, the remaining 5,000 soldiers under the command of Colonel Karl Peknik carried out guard duty in the interfluve between the Bug and the Dnieper. Hundreds of Slovaks joined the partisan detachments, and many soldiers, led by officers, became part of the First Czechoslovak Brigade of the Red Army. The demoralized remnants of the Slovak army were, at the direction of the German command, sent to Italy, Romania and Hungary, where they were used as construction units.
Nevertheless Slovak Army continued to exist and the German command intended to use it to create a defensive line in the Beskids. By August 1944, it became clear to everyone that the war was lost and a movement began in all Balkan countries in favor of finding ways out of the war. Back in July, the National Council of Slovakia began preparing an armed uprising with the participation of a well-armed and trained army corps stationed in Eastern Slovakia, numbering up to 24,000 people. The German troops at that time in the direction of the main attack of Marshal Konev were commanded by Henrici (German: Heinrici). It was assumed that the Slovak soldiers would occupy the peaks of the Beskydy mountain range in his rear and open the way for the approaching units Soviet army. In addition, the 14,000 Slovak soldiers located in the central part of Slovakia were supposed to be used as a center of armed resistance in the Banska Bystrica region. At the same time, the activities of the partisans intensified, which convinced the German command of the inevitability of an uprising in their rear.
On August 27, 1944, mutinous Slovak soldiers killed 22 German officers passing through at one of the train stations, which caused an immediate reaction from the German authorities. At the same time, an uprising was raised in central Slovakia, in which 47,000 people took part. A Waffen-SS unit of 10,000 under the command of Obergruppenführer Berger eliminated the rear danger in a strategically extremely important part of the country.
Nevertheless, the rebels managed to hold the Dukla pass for two months, where heavy fighting took place between the German First Tank Army and Soviet troops. After the war, a monument to 85,000 was erected here Soviet soldiers. During the last battles, General Svoboda distinguished himself, becoming one of the national heroes of post-war Czechoslovakia and its eighth president.
Little was written about Slovakia's participation in World War II in the USSR. The only thing memorable from the Soviet history course is the Slovak National Uprising of 1944. And the fact that this country fought for five whole years on the side of the fascist bloc was mentioned only in passing. After all, we perceived Slovakia as part of the united Czechoslovak Republic, which was one of the first victims of Hitler’s aggression in Europe...
A few months after the signing in September 1938 in Munich by the prime ministers of Great Britain, France and Italy Neville Chamberlain, Edouard Daladier, Benito Mussolini and German Chancellor Adolf Hitler of the agreement on the transfer of the Sudetenland of Czechoslovakia to the Third Reich, German troops occupied other Czech regions, proclaiming them the "Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia". At the same time, Slovak Nazis, led by Catholic Bishop Josef Tiso, seized power in Bratislava and proclaimed Slovakia an independent state, which entered into an alliance treaty with Germany. The regime established by the Slovak fascists not only copied the rules in force in Hitler’s Germany, but also had a clerical bias - in addition to communists, Jews and gypsies in Slovakia, Orthodox Christians were also persecuted.
Defeat at Stalingrad
Slovakia entered the Second world war already on September 1, 1939, when Slovak troops, together with Hitler's Wehrmacht, invaded Poland. And Slovakia declared war on the Soviet Union on the very first day of Germany’s attack on the USSR - June 22, 1941. A 36,000-strong Slovak corps then went to the Eastern Front, which, together with Wehrmacht divisions, passed through Soviet soil to the foothills of the Caucasus.
But after the defeat of the Nazis at Stalingrad, they began to surrender en masse to the Red Army. By February 1943, more than 27 thousand Slovak soldiers and officers were in Soviet captivity, who expressed a desire to join the ranks of the Czechoslovak Army Corps, which was already being formed in the USSR.
The people have spoken the word
In the summer of 1944, troops of the 1st and 2nd Ukrainian Fronts reached the borders of Czechoslovakia. The government of Josef Tiso understood that units of the Slovak army would not only not be able to hold back the offensive Soviet troops, but were also ready to follow the example of their comrades, who surrendered en masse to the Red Army in 1943. Therefore, the Slovak fascists invited German troops to the territory of their country. The people of Slovakia responded to this with an uprising. On the day the Wehrmacht divisions entered the country - August 29, 1944 - in the city of Banska Bystrica, the Slovak National Council, created by underground communists and representatives of other anti-fascist forces in the country, declared the Tiso government deposed. Almost the entire Slovak army, at the call of this council, turned its arms against the Nazis and their Slovak henchmen.
In the first weeks of fighting, 35 thousand partisans and Slovak military personnel who went over to the side of the rebels took control of the territory of 30 regions of the country, where more than a million people lived. Slovakia's participation in the war against the Soviet Union was effectively over.
Help for the Red Army
In those days, the President of the Czechoslovak Republic in exile, Edvard Beneš, turned to the USSR with a request to provide military assistance to the rebel Slovaks. The Soviet government responded to this request by sending experienced instructors in organizing partisan movement, signalmen, demolitions and other military specialists, as well as organizing the supply of partisans with weapons, ammunition and medicine. The USSR even helped preserve the country's gold reserves - from the Triduby partisan airfield, Soviet pilots took 21 boxes of gold bars to Moscow, which were returned to Czechoslovakia after the war.
By September 1944, the rebel army in the mountains of Slovakia already numbered about 60 thousand people, including three thousand Soviet citizens.
They called Bandera’s members “the very bastards”
In the fall of 1944, the Nazis sent several more military formations against the Slovak partisans, including the SS Galicia division, staffed by volunteers from Galicia. Slovak partisans deciphered the letters SS in the name of the division “Galicia” as “the very bastard.” After all, Bandera’s punitive forces fought not so much with the rebels as with the local population.
The Soviet command, specifically to help the rebel Slovaks, conducted the Carpathian-Duklinskaya from September 8 to October 28, 1944 offensive operation. Thirty divisions, up to four thousand guns, over 500 tanks and about a thousand aircraft took part in this battle on both sides. Such a concentration of troops in mountain conditions There has never been a war in history. Having liberated a significant part of Slovakia in difficult battles, the Red Army rendered decisive help to the rebels. However, even before the approach of the Soviet troops on October 6, 1944, the Nazis stormed Banska Bystrica, captured the leaders of the uprising, executed several thousand partisans, and sent about 30 thousand to concentration camps.
But the surviving rebels retreated to the mountains, where they continued the fight.
During the national uprising in Slovakia, Soviet officers Pyotr Velichko and Aleksei Egorov commanded large partisan brigades (over three thousand people each). They destroyed 21 bridges, derailed 20 military trains, destroyed a lot of manpower and military equipment fascists. For his courage and heroism, Egorov was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. And in Czechoslovakia, on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the Slovak National Uprising, a Chest sign"Egorov's Star"
Slovaks do not glorify Hitler's collaborators
Of course, the Slovak rebels played a significant role in the liberation of their homeland, but even today in Slovakia no one doubts that without the Red Army their victory over the Nazi invaders would have been impossible. The liberation of the main part of the country's territory and its capital city of Bratislava became part of the Bratislava-Brnov operation of the troops of the 2nd Ukrainian Front, commanded by Marshal of the Soviet Union Rodion Malinovsky. On the night of March 25, 1945, several advanced divisions of the 7th Guards Army of this front suddenly crossed the flooded Gron River for the enemy. On April 2, the advanced units of the army broke through the line of fortifications on the approaches to Bratislava and reached the eastern and northeastern outskirts of the capital of Slovakia. Another part of the 7th Guards forces made a roundabout maneuver and approached the city from the north and northwest. On April 4, these formations entered Bratislava and completely suppressed the resistance of its German garrison.
Josef Tiso managed to flee the country with the retreating German troops, but was arrested by the US Army military police and handed over to the Czechoslovak authorities. On charges of high treason and collaboration with the German Nazis, a Czechoslovak court in 1946 sentenced him to death penalty by hanging.
Today in many countries of Eastern Europe The history of the Second World War is being revised. However, Slovakia considers itself not the legal successor of the Slovak state of Josef Tiso, but of the common Czechoslovak Republic with the fraternal Czech Republic. According to surveys, the majority of the country's citizens consider the period of Slovak history from 1939 to the start of the national uprising to be at least undeserving of a positive attitude, and even simply shameful. No one in Slovakia would think of declaring Josef Tiso a national hero, although his last words spoken before his execution were the pompous phrase: “I am dying as a martyr for the sake of the Slovaks.”
Bratislava. Catholic cathedral St. Martin's. Place of coronation of the Holy Roman Emperors and Austria-Hungary
Slovakia participated in World War II on the side of Germany, but did not have any serious influence on the course of military operations on the Eastern Front and had rather a symbolic significance, supporting the international image of Germany as a country with allies at least in the rank of satellites. In addition, Slovakia had a border with the Soviet Union , which in a geopolitical sense was very important
Slovakia began to establish its relations with Germany immediately after the defeat of France and on June 15, 1941 joined the Axis countries by signing a corresponding pact. The country became "the only Catholic state in the area of dominance of National Socialism." Somewhat later, blessing the soldiers for the war with Russia, the papal nuncio stated that he was glad to tell the Holy Father the good news from the exemplary Slovak state, a truly Christian state, which is implementing a national program under the motto: “For God and the Nation!”
The population of the country was then 1.6 million, of which 130,000 were Germans. In addition, Slovakia considered itself responsible for the fate of the Slovak minority in Hungary. The national army consisted of two divisions and numbered 28,000 men.
When preparing to implement the Barbarossa plan, Hitler did not take into account the Slovak army, which he considered unreliable and feared fraternization due to Slavic solidarity. The command of the ground forces did not count on her either, leaving behind only the tasks of maintaining order in the occupied areas. However, a sense of rivalry with Hungary and the hope for a more favorable establishment of borders in the Balkans forced the Slovak Minister of War to declare to the Chief of the German General Staff Halder when he visited Bratislava on June 19, 1941 that the Slovak army was ready for combat. The order for the army said that the army did not intend to fight with the Russian people or against the Slavic idea, but with the mortal danger of Bolshevism.
As part of the German 17th Army, an elite brigade of the Slovak army numbering 3,500 people, armed with outdated light Czech tanks, took the battle on June 22, which ended in defeat. A German officer assigned to the brigade noted that the work of the headquarters was below any criticism and he was only afraid of getting injured, since the equipment of the field hospital corresponded to the times of Maria Theresa.
It was decided not to allow the brigade to participate in the battles. Moreover, the level of training of Slovak officers turned out to be so low that it was pointless to form the Slovak army anew. And therefore, the Minister of War, along with the majority of the soldiers, was returned to their homeland two months later. Only the motorized brigade, brought to the size of the division (about 10,000), and the lightly armed security division, consisting of 8,500 people, took part in the fight against the partisans, first near Zhitomir, and then Minsk.
Subsequently, the combat path of the Slovak armed forces is closely connected with the actions of this brigade (German: Schnelle Division). During the heavy and prolonged battles on the Mius River, this combat unit, under the command of Major General August Malar, held a ten-kilometer-wide front from Christmas 1941 to July 1942. At the same time, it was protected on the flanks by a Wehrmacht mountain division and Waffen SS units. Then, during the catastrophic Second German offensive for the Soviets in the summer of 1942, this unit in the battle formations of the 4th Tank Army advanced on Rostov, crossed the Kuban and took part in the capture of the oil regions near Maykop.
The attitude of the German command towards the needs of the Slovaks was dismissive and therefore their losses were determined not so much by combat interaction with the enemy, but by poor nutrition and epidemic diseases. In August 1942, this unit occupied defenses near Tuapse, and after the catastrophic defeat at Stalingrad, it was difficult to cross to Kerch, losing its equipment and artillery.
The unit was then reorganized and became known as the First Slovak Infantry Division, which was entrusted with the defense of the 250 km coastline of Crimea.
The division's combat and general rations remained at an extremely low level. Slovakia's relations with its stronger neighbor Hungary remained tense and Slovak President Tiso appealed to Hitler to remind him of Slovakia's participation in the war on the Eastern Front with the hope that this would provide protection against Hungarian claims.
In August 1943, Hitler decided to create strong defensive positions in front of the “Fortress of Crimea”. Part of the division remained on the territory of the peninsula beyond Perekop, and its main structure took up defense at Kakhovka. And he immediately found himself in the direction of the main attack of the Soviet army, suffering a crushing defeat within one day. After this, the remnants of the division went over to the side of Soviet Russia, which was prepared by the activities of the communist agents of Czechoslovakia.
Constantly diminished in numbers due to desertion, the remaining 5,000 soldiers under the command of Colonel Karl Peknik carried out guard duty in the interfluve between the Bug and the Dnieper. Hundreds of Slovaks joined the partisan detachments, and many soldiers, led by officers, became part of the First Czechoslovak Brigade of the Red Army. The demoralized remnants of the Slovak army were, at the direction of the German command, sent to Italy, Romania and Hungary, where they were used as construction units.
Nevertheless, the Slovak Army continued to exist and the German command intended to use it to create a defensive line in the Beskids. By August 1944, it became clear to everyone that the war was lost and a movement began in all Balkan countries in favor of finding ways out of the war. Back in July, the National Council of Slovakia began preparing an armed uprising with the participation of a well-armed and trained army corps stationed in Eastern Slovakia, numbering up to 24,000 people. The German troops at that time in the direction of the main attack of Marshal Konev were commanded by Henrici (German: Heinrici). It was assumed that the Slovak soldiers would occupy the peaks of the Beskid mountain range in his rear and open the way for the approaching units of the Soviet Army. In addition, the 14,000 Slovak soldiers located in the central part of Slovakia were supposed to be used as a center of armed resistance in the Banska Bystrica region. At the same time, the activities of the partisans intensified, which convinced the German command of the inevitability of an uprising in their rear.
On August 27, 1944, mutinous Slovak soldiers killed 22 German officers passing through at one of the train stations, which caused an immediate reaction from the German authorities. At the same time, an uprising was raised in central Slovakia, in which 47,000 people took part. A Waffen-SS unit of 10,000 under the command of Obergruppenführer Berger eliminated the rear danger in a strategically extremely important part of the country.
He became one of the national heroes of post-war Czechoslovakia and its eighth president.
The Slovak uprising was finally suppressed by three German divisions brought into action. The decisive operation began on October 18, 1944. The Germans captured Banska Bystrica. Armed detachments of the Carpathian Germans (German Heimatschutzes) also took part in this, which subsequently led to a massacre, the victims of which were 135,000 Volksdeutsche. On the other hand, about 25,000 Slovaks died during the punitive operations of the Germans. About a third of the uprising participants fled to their homes. 40% ended up in German concentration camps. A small part joined the partisans.
This victory of the German army, in a historical sense, became the most recent victory that the Wehrmacht was able to win over the army of another state. At the same time, it brought the First Slovak Republic to its end.
In April 1945, troops of the 2nd Ukrainian Front liberated Nazi invaders the capital of Slovakia, Bratislava. Little was written about Slovakia's participation in World War II in the USSR. The only thing memorable from the Soviet history course is the Slovak National Uprising of 1944. And the fact that this country fought for five whole years on the side of the fascist bloc was mentioned only in passing. After all, we perceived Slovakia as part of the united Czechoslovak Republic, which was one of the first victims of Hitler’s aggression in Europe...
They copied the orders of Nazi Germany
A few months after the signing in September 1938 in Munich by the prime ministers of Great Britain, France and Italy Neville Chamberlain, Edouard Daladier, Benito Mussolini and Reich Chancellor of Germany Adolf Hitler agreement on the transfer of the Sudetenland of Czechoslovakia to the Third Reich, German troops occupied other Czech regions, proclaiming them the “protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia.” At the same time, Slovak Nazis led by a Catholic bishop Josef Tiso seized power in Bratislava and proclaimed Slovakia an independent state, which entered into an alliance treaty with Germany. The regime established by the Slovak fascists not only copied the rules in force in Hitler’s Germany, but also had a clerical bias - in addition to communists, Jews and gypsies in Slovakia, Orthodox Christians were also persecuted.
Defeat at Stalingrad
Slovakia entered World War II on September 1, 1939, when Slovak troops, together with Hitler's Wehrmacht, invaded Poland. And Slovakia declared war on the Soviet Union on the very first day of Germany’s attack on the USSR - June 22, 1941. A 36,000-strong Slovak corps then went to the Eastern Front, which, together with Wehrmacht divisions, passed through Soviet soil to the foothills of the Caucasus.
But after the defeat of the Nazis at Stalingrad, they began to surrender en masse to the Red Army. By February 1943, more than 27 thousand Slovak soldiers and officers were in Soviet captivity, who expressed a desire to join the ranks of the Czechoslovak Army Corps, which was already being formed in the USSR.
The people have spoken the word
In the summer of 1944, troops of the 1st and 2nd Ukrainian Fronts reached the borders of Czechoslovakia. The government of Josef Tiso understood that units of the Slovak army would not only not be able to hold back the advance of the Soviet troops, but were also ready to follow the example of their comrades, who surrendered en masse to the Red Army in 1943. Therefore, the Slovak fascists invited German troops to the territory of their country. The people of Slovakia responded to this with an uprising. On the day the Wehrmacht divisions entered the country - August 29, 1944 - in the city of Banska Bystrica, the Slovak National Council, created by underground communists and representatives of other anti-fascist forces in the country, declared the Tiso government deposed. Almost the entire Slovak army, at the call of this council, turned its arms against the Nazis and their Slovak henchmen.
In the first weeks of fighting, 35 thousand partisans and Slovak military personnel who went over to the side of the rebels took control of the territory of 30 regions of the country, where more than a million people lived. Slovakia's participation in the war against the Soviet Union was effectively over.
Help for the Red Army
In those days, the President of the Czechoslovak Republic in exile Edward Benes turned to the USSR with a request to provide military assistance to the rebel Slovaks. The Soviet government responded to this request by sending experienced instructors in organizing the partisan movement, signalmen, demolitions and other military specialists to Slovakia, as well as organizing the supply of weapons, ammunition and medicine to the partisans. The USSR even helped preserve the country's gold reserves - from the Triduby partisan airfield, Soviet pilots took 21 boxes of gold bars to Moscow, which were returned to Czechoslovakia after the war.
By September 1944, the rebel army in the mountains of Slovakia already numbered about 60 thousand people, including three thousand Soviet citizens.
They called Bandera’s members “the very bastards”
In the fall of 1944, the Nazis sent several more military formations against the Slovak partisans, including the SS Galicia division, staffed by volunteers from Galicia. Slovak partisans deciphered the letters SS in the name of the division “Galicia” as “the very bastard.” After all, Bandera’s punitive forces fought not so much with the rebels as with the local population.
The Soviet command, specifically to help the rebel Slovaks, carried out the Carpathian-Dukla offensive operation from September 8 to October 28, 1944. Thirty divisions, up to four thousand guns, over 500 tanks and about a thousand aircraft took part in this battle on both sides. Such a concentration of troops in mountainous conditions has never happened before in the history of wars. Having liberated a significant part of Slovakia in difficult battles, the Red Army provided decisive assistance to the rebels. However, even before the approach of the Soviet troops on October 6, 1944, the Nazis stormed Banska Bystrica, captured the leaders of the uprising, executed several thousand partisans, and sent about 30 thousand to concentration camps.
But the surviving rebels retreated to the mountains, where they continued the fight.
By the way
During the national uprising in Slovakia, Soviet officers Pyotr Velichko and Aleksei Egorov commanded large partisan brigades (over three thousand people each). They destroyed 21 bridges, derailed 20 military trains, and destroyed a lot of fascist manpower and military equipment. For his courage and heroism, Egorov was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. And in Czechoslovakia, on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the Slovak National Uprising, the “Egorov’s Star” badge was established.
Slovaks do not glorify Hitler's collaborators
Of course, the Slovak rebels played a significant role in the liberation of their homeland, but even today in Slovakia no one doubts that without the Red Army their victory over the Nazi invaders would have been impossible. The liberation of the main part of the country's territory and its capital city of Bratislava became part of the Bratislava-Brnov operation of the troops of the 2nd Ukrainian Front, commanded by the Marshal of the Soviet Union Rodion Malinovsky . On the night of March 25, 1945, several advanced divisions of the 7th Guards Army of this front suddenly crossed the flooded Gron River for the enemy. On April 2, the advanced units of the army broke through the line of fortifications on the approaches to Bratislava and reached the eastern and northeastern outskirts of the capital of Slovakia. Another part of the 7th Guards forces made a roundabout maneuver and approached the city from the north and northwest. On April 4, these formations entered Bratislava and completely suppressed the resistance of its German garrison.
Josef Tiso managed to flee the country with the retreating German troops, but was arrested by the US Army military police and handed over to the Czechoslovak authorities. On charges of treason and collaboration with the German Nazis, a Czechoslovak court in 1946 sentenced him to death by hanging.
Today, many countries in Eastern Europe are revising the history of World War II. However, Slovakia considers itself not the legal successor of the Slovak state of Josef Tiso, but of the common Czechoslovak Republic with the fraternal Czech Republic. According to surveys, the majority of the country's citizens consider the period of Slovak history from 1939 to the start of the national uprising to be at least undeserving of a positive attitude, and even simply shameful. No one in Slovakia would think of declaring Josef Tiso a national hero, although his last words spoken before his execution were the pompous phrase: “I am dying as a martyr for the sake of the Slovaks.”
Like Stepan Bandera , Josef Tiso was a nationalist. Like Bandera, he was blocked with Nazi Germany ostensibly in order to solve “the political problems of his nation.” But unlike the current Ukrainian leadership, which glorifies Bandera, the Slovaks have not forgiven their “national leader” for collaborating with Hitler.
So in 2015, when, having obeyed the shout from Washington, the leadership of a number of European Union countries refused to participate in the May 9 celebrations in Moscow in honor of the 70th anniversary of the Victory, a large delegation headed by the Prime Minister of Slovakia arrived in the Russian capital Robert Fico .
Number
About 70 thousand Slovaks fought on the side of the fascist bloc from 1941 to 1944
- Published in No. 68 of 04/19/2017
One of the allies of the Third Reich on the eastern front were Slovak troops. We decided to explore the history of their participation in hostilities against the Red Army and the transition of thousands of Slovak fighters to the side Belarusian partisans. The Slovak Army in the War of Independence against the Soviet Union In March 1939, Hitler summoned the leaders of the Slovak People's Party to Berlin and threatened them that if they did not withdraw Slovakia from Czechoslovakia, he would order the Hungarians to seize their country. And the Slovaks joined the Axis. President Monsignor Josef Tiso created a one-party state. Slovakia was allowed to create its own army, which received Czechoslovak weapons.
In March 1939, the “Treaty on Security Relations between Germany and the Slovak State” was signed by Prime Minister Vojtěch Tuka and German Foreign Minister Ribbentrop. Vojtech Tuka In accordance with this document, the Reich took upon itself the “defense” of the political independence of the Slovak state and the integration of its territory. On July 21, 1939, a new constitution was adopted in Slovakia, according to which the Glinka Party, which since 1938 became known as the Party of Slovak National Unity, received the right to be the ruling “state party.”
Other parties were dissolved. Tiso inspects Slovak troops An important point in the history of fascist Slovakia they became the so-called. Salzburg negotiations between Tuka and Hitler in July 1940 and the accession of Slovakia to the Anti-Comintern Pact in November 1940. War against Poland Slovakia became the only ally of the Third Reich, which attacked the Second Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in September 1939. Slovak units attacked the southern part of Poland, moving towards Debice and Tarnow. Air cover of the operation was provided by the Slovak air regiment. The 1st Slovak Division, under the command of General Anton Pulanić, covered the flank of the 2nd German Mountain Division and occupied the city of Zakopane. On September 11, 1939, the 3rd Slovak Division crossed the Slovak-Polish border and occupied part of Polish territory without resistance.
This ended the Polish-Slovak war. War against the USSR On June 22, 1941, Tiso issued an order to mobilize the army. The next day, Slovakia declared war on the Soviet Union, and on June 24, 1941, Slovak troops crossed the Soviet border in the area of the San River. The first Slovak army unit sent to the Eastern Front was a mobile group, which moved towards Voitkov and Krostenko. Slovak soldiers inspect a damaged Soviet T-28 tank, Western Ukraine On June 27, the Slovaks received orders to destroy Soviet pillboxes in the Sanok-Zaluz-Lesko area and successfully completed this task. In total, 9 pillboxes were destroyed and 4 were blocked.
The garrisons of the blocked pillboxes were captured. Josef Tiso 1 July motorized group Slovak troops occupied Drohobych, and a day later the Slovaks were already in Stryi. By July 8, Slovak units were concentrated in the Sambir area. Slovak infantryman of the 1941 model. By July 22, Slovak units entered Vinnitsa, but near Lipovtsi, as a result of a counterattack by Soviet troops, the Slovaks suffered significant losses and were driven back. Cities Western Ukraine reminded Slovak soldiers of the times when both Slovakia and Western Ukraine were part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Lviv was also a typical Austrian city, despite the “Polish” interwar twenty years. A German officer thanks Slovak soldiers for their service. This is how the city was described by the Slovak war correspondent Karol Murgash: “Lviv was a typical European city. Behind him, further to the east, emptiness began. Lviv was, in fact, the border between Europe and Asia.”
In Lviv, Slovaks had to see the horrors of the NKVD crimes, when, unable to evacuate prisoners, the Soviet repressive bodies brutally dealt with them. Bloody pictures of executions in NKVD prisons were “like a balm for the soul” for Goebbels propaganda. Many Slovak soldiers recalled how German propaganda officers ran around with cameras and documented “Stalin’s crimes.” In Western Ukrainian villages, Ukrainians and Poles generally greeted the Slovak units friendly. The events were in some ways reminiscent of September 17, 1939, because... homemade ones appeared in the villages triumphal arches and welcome slogans. But not even two years have passed since the “liberation campaign of the Red Army in Western Ukraine.” And these are the metamorphoses. In the diary of the commander of the 1st Slovak division during these days, the following entry was made: “In the morning, our units have been advancing to the Dobromila area. On the way, local residents greeted us very warmly, treated us to strawberries, and threw flowers at our cars. Ukrainian people are very hospitable.
For example, when Ukrainians see our soldier, they immediately call him for “milk” or “fried eggs.” And here is another report from July 5, 1941: “We are going to Staraya Sol. In all villages, triumphal arches were built, which are decorated with Ukrainian, German and Slovak flags. In Terli, a large Slovak flag can be seen from afar, under which there is a sign with the inscription: “Long live the Slovak army.” The Red Army soldiers surrender to the Slovaks. In his diary, one of the Slovak officers wrote on July 8: “Children throw flowers at our feet. Old people come up to us and shake hands, thus expressing gratitude for liberation from Soviet hell. July 20. There are a lot of people in the square. Ukrainian girls in national clothes run up to our soldiers and give them flowers.” From the diaries of Slovak soldiers and officers we also learn that many of them were shocked by what the Bolsheviks did to churches.
For example, in the town of Khirov, the monastery was turned into barracks, and a cinema was organized in the church. Icons and other decorations were simply thrown into the street. And in their place, portraits of Soviet leaders and propaganda posters were hung. In Ilintsy, the council turned the church into a warehouse. Slovak mobile unit With the beginning of German aggression on Soviet Union, in Western Ukraine, disagreements between Ukrainians and Poles intensified. The former relied on the creation of an independent state, while the latter found themselves in the role of victims. Some funny things happened. The fact is that Slovaks often sang the national anthem “Hej, Słowacy” which is very similar to the Polish national anthem. At the sight of servicemen singing such a similar anthem, many Polish women, according to eyewitnesses, began to cry. Even the men did not hold back. In turn, nationalist-minded Ukrainians, because of the “hymns,” suspected the Slovaks of sympathizing with the Poles. Slovaks lead captured Red Army soldiers However, one should not think that the path of the Slovaks on the eastern front was completely strewn with flowers. In August 1941, the 1st Motorized Division was formed on the basis of a mobile brigade. It consisted of two infantry regiments, an artillery regiment, a reconnaissance battalion and a tank company. In total there are about 10 thousand people.
The remaining units became part of the 2nd Security Division (about 6 thousand people), whose task was to fight the encircled Red Army units and partisans. In mid-September 1941, the 1st Motorized Division took part in the assault on Kyiv. Then, the Slovaks took part in the fighting in the Kremenchug region. Since October 1941, the division fought as part of Kleist's 1st German Tank Army in the Dnieper region. In the winter of 1941/1942, the Slovak “mobile division” fought in the Mius area. One of the German officers, characterizing the Slovaks in his report, wrote: “These are brave and hardy soldiers with very good discipline.” The division later took part in the capture of Rostov, where it fought alongside the SS Viking Division. In 1942, Bratislava invited the Germans to send the 3rd Slovak division to the front, but Berlin refused. Slovaks crossing the San River In the battles near Krasnodar, the Slovak “fast division” was surrounded. Only a small part of the personnel managed to escape from the ring. At the same time, all material part became a trophy of the Soviet army.
After the reorganization, the remnants of the motorized division were renamed the 1st Infantry Division, which was sent to guard the Black Sea coast. Soviet partisans and Slovaks who went over to the Soviet side In the spring of 1943, the 2nd Security Division was transferred to Belarus, to the Minsk region, to fight Soviet partisans. In addition, the Slovaks served as security guards railway tracks in the area of Mozyr and Kalinkovichi. In the winter of 1943, due to increasing cases of desertion (in December 1943, 1,250 soldiers of the security division went to the partisans), the Slovaks were disbanded and sent to Italy as a construction unit. Slovak uprising of 1944 When the front approached Slovakia in 1944, the East Slovak Army was formed in the country: the 1st and 2nd infantry divisions under the command of General Gustav Malar. In addition, the 3rd division was formed in Central Slovakia. The army was supposed to cover the German army in the Western Carpathians and stop the advance of the Soviet troops. However, the Slovaks no longer wanted to fight on the side of the Third Reich. Unrest began in the Slovak units. Uniform of a Slovak army soldier during the uprising. Soviet partisan groups landing in Slovakia played a large role in organizing the uprising.
Thus, until the end of the war, 53 organizational groups numbering more than 1 thousand people were sent to Slovakia. By mid-1944, two large partisan detachment- “Chapaev” and “Pugachev”. On the night of July 25, 1944, a group under the command of Soviet officer Peter Velichko was dropped in the Kantorska Valley near Ružomberk. It became the basis for the 1st Slovak Partisan Brigade. The Slovak army at the beginning of August 1944 received orders to conduct an anti-partisan operation in the mountains, but the partisans were warned in advance. In addition, Slovak soldiers did not want to fight against their compatriots. On August 12, Tiso declared martial law in the country.