Unavailable
Unavailable
Unavailable
Ebook204 pages2 hours
SOE in Czechoslovakia: The Special Operations Executive’s Czech Section in WW2
Rating: 0 out of 5 stars
()
Currently unavailable
Currently unavailable
About this ebook
The majority of the successful SOE operations in Europe took place in countries occupied by the Germans after the outbreak of war in 1939, Hitler’s forces being regarded as foreign invaders. In Czechoslovakia it was different. The country, which had large numbers of ethnic Germans living within its borders, had been occupied since 1938, allowing the Germans to establish a strong hold on the country which limited the opportunities for subversive action by resistance movements.
Nevertheless, resist the Czechs did, despite the Germans conducting savage and indiscriminate reprisals. It was against this background that SOE attempted to infiltrate its agents into Czechoslovakia in 1941, their role being to help in co-ordinating and expanding the resistance movement and to establish communications with the Czech authorities in the UK. Successful actions were admittedly few before 1942 when one of the most successful SOE-backed operations resulted in the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich, the highest-ranking Nazi to be killed by any resistance group. The huge wave of reprisals against the civilian population which followed severely hampered SOE activities in the immediate aftermath.
Another factor which limited SOE’s ability to infiltrate Czechoslovakia and to supply the resistance was the distance and difficulty experienced by the RAF in flying to the region. During the short nights of summer, no flights could be attempted. This changed in September 1943 when sorties were able to be conducted from Italy, and by 1944 the scale of operations increased both in frequency and scale.
More than 300 Czechs were trained by SOE and, in conjunction with local resistance groups, those that managed to infiltrate back into their homeland, kept the occupying forces constantly on the alert, ensuring that Germany’s eastern flank was never entirely secure.
This is the first full, official account of SOE in Czechoslovakia, compiled by SOE headquarters staff who had direct access to all the organisation’s records, many of which were destroyed after the war.
Nevertheless, resist the Czechs did, despite the Germans conducting savage and indiscriminate reprisals. It was against this background that SOE attempted to infiltrate its agents into Czechoslovakia in 1941, their role being to help in co-ordinating and expanding the resistance movement and to establish communications with the Czech authorities in the UK. Successful actions were admittedly few before 1942 when one of the most successful SOE-backed operations resulted in the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich, the highest-ranking Nazi to be killed by any resistance group. The huge wave of reprisals against the civilian population which followed severely hampered SOE activities in the immediate aftermath.
Another factor which limited SOE’s ability to infiltrate Czechoslovakia and to supply the resistance was the distance and difficulty experienced by the RAF in flying to the region. During the short nights of summer, no flights could be attempted. This changed in September 1943 when sorties were able to be conducted from Italy, and by 1944 the scale of operations increased both in frequency and scale.
More than 300 Czechs were trained by SOE and, in conjunction with local resistance groups, those that managed to infiltrate back into their homeland, kept the occupying forces constantly on the alert, ensuring that Germany’s eastern flank was never entirely secure.
This is the first full, official account of SOE in Czechoslovakia, compiled by SOE headquarters staff who had direct access to all the organisation’s records, many of which were destroyed after the war.
Unavailable
Author
An Official History
This official account of the Allied campaign was written for the Air Ministry and was based on information and testimonies provided by those involved in the campaign.
Related to SOE in Czechoslovakia
Related ebooks
SOE in Czechoslovakia: The Special Operations Executive's Czech Section in WW2—An Official History Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe World War II Story Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Berlin Airlift: The Salvation of a City Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Through Hitler's Back Door: SOE Operations in Hungary, Slovakia, Romania and Bulgaria 1939–1945 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Forgotten German Genocide: Revenge Cleansing in Eastern Europe, 1945–50 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Czecho-Slovakia Within Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSacrifice for Stalin: The Sacrifice to Keep the Soviets in the Second World War Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Slovakia 1944. The Forgotten Uprising Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBattle of Brody and Battle of Kursk: Death and Destruction in the Biggest Tank Battles of The Second World War Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe World Crisis: The Eastern Front Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Third Reich is Listening: Inside German codebreaking 1939–45 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5British Army of the Rhine: The BAOR, 1945–1993 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHitler's Death Trains: The Role of the Reichsbahn in the Final Solution Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Silent Attack: The Fallschirmjäger Capture of the Bridges of Veldwezelt, Vroenhoven & Hanne 1940 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Berlin Airlift: The World's Largest Ever Air Supply Operation Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWith Fire and Sword Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Bitter Road to Freedom: A New History of the Liberation of Europe Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hitler versus Stalin: The Eastern Front 1944–1945 - Warsaw to Berlin Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Photographic History of Amphibious Warfare 1939-1945 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Balkans, Italy & Africa 1914–1918: From Sarajevo to the Piave and Lake Tanganyika Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Operation Sealion: Hitler's Invasion Plan for Britain Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPillboxes and Tank Traps Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Two Maps of Europe, and Some Other Aspects of the Great War Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Anschluss of the Sudeten Regions and the Subjugation of Czechia Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBattles of the Ages: World War II 1939 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMemoirs of Dr. Edvard Beneš: From Munich To New War And New Victory Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsIn Cold War Skies: NATO and Soviet Air Power, 1949–89 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDeath at Dawn: Captain Warburton-Lee VC and the Battle of Narvik, April 1940 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Numbers Had to Tally Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Korsun Pocket: The Encirclement and Breakout of a German Army in the East, 1944 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Wars & Military For You
Art of War: The Definitive Interpretation of Sun Tzu's Classic Book of Strategy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sun Tzu's The Art of War: Bilingual Edition Complete Chinese and English Text Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Resistance: The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Art of War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Last Kingdom Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Masters of the Air: America's Bomber Boys Who Fought the Air War Against Nazi Germany Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Killing the SS: The Hunt for the Worst War Criminals in History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Band of Brothers: E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne from Normandy to Hitler's Eagle's Nest Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Daily Creativity Journal Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The God Delusion Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Rise of the Fourth Reich: The Secret Societies That Threaten to Take Over America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Blitzed: Drugs in the Third Reich Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Making of the Atomic Bomb Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5When I Come Home Again: 'A page-turning literary gem' THE TIMES, BEST BOOKS OF 2020 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5They Thought They Were Free: The Germans, 1933–45 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Art of War & Other Classics of Eastern Philosophy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Unit 731: Testimony Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Mein Kampf: The Original, Accurate, and Complete English Translation Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWashington: The Indispensable Man Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5About Face: The Odyssey of an American Warrior Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5God Is Not One: The Eight Rival Religions That Run the World--and Why Their Differences Matter Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Faithful Spy: Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the Plot to Kill Hitler Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Wager Disaster: Mayem, Mutiny and Murder in the South Seas Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for SOE in Czechoslovakia
Rating: 0 out of 5 stars
0 ratings
0 ratings0 reviews