70th anniversary of the liberation of Ostrava and the end of World War II

Born 25 November 1895 in Hroznatín. During the First World War he was captured by the Russians while fighting for the Austro-Hungarian Army, and he later joined the Czechoslovak Legion in Russia. He took part in the Battle of Zborov in July 1917 and the Legion’s Siberian campaigns of 1918–1920. He returned to his homeland on one of the last evacuee transports in September 1920. He became a professional army officer, and during the period between the wars he also lectured at the Military Academy in Hranice.

Svoboda left for Poland in 1939 after the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia. During the German invasion of Poland in September 1939 he became the Commander of the Eastern Group of the Czechoslovak Army, leading its retreat into the Soviet Union. After the German attack on the USSR Svoboda was entrusted with assembling a Czechoslovak unit which would later fight alongside the Red Army. Originally a field battalion, it grew in size during the war to become a brigade and eventually an army corps. In April 1945 Svoboda was appointed the Minister of Defence in the “Košice government” – the first Czechoslovak government in the newly liberated country. He held this post in subsequent governments until his dismissal in 1950. Two years later Svoboda was arrested and imprisoned for several months. In 1954 he resumed his political career when he entered the National Assembly. In late March 1968 he was elected President of Czechoslovakia, a post which he held until 1975. He died on 20 September 1979.

Born 8 August 1917 in Nosislav near Hustopeče. In the late 1930s he attended the Military Academy in Hranice. In 1939 he left the country illegally, travelling to Poland and then to the USSR. As an infantry officer he participated in the Battle of Sokolovo in March 1943, later joining a tank unit. During the Ostrava-Opava operation Janko commanded the First Czechoslovak Independent Tank Brigade. At the end of the war he was appointed the military commander for Moravian Ostrava and Silesia. After the war he continued in his military career, rising to the rank of General. He committed suicide on 14 March 1968.

Born 20 August 1892 in Popelín near Dačice. During the First World War he was an officer in the Austro-Hungarian Army and saw combat on the Russian and Italian fronts; he was captured in the final stages of the war. After the war he became an air force officer. When the Nazis invaded Czechoslovakia Budín became involved in the resistance movement. In 1944 he evaded arrest by escaping to Slovakia, which was then in the throes of an uprising. From there he travelled to the USSR, where (in October 1944) he was appointed the Commander of the First Czechoslovak Mixed Air Division in the USSR. He returned to his homeland as a Brigadier General. In the early 1950s he retired, and died in Brno on 1 February 1956.

Born 26 April 1923 in Sub-Carpathian Ruthenia (then part of Czechoslovakia, now Ukraine). Not much is known about his early life. In 1944 he joined the foreign army, serving in the First Czechoslovak Tank Brigade in the battle to liberate Ostrava. On 18 April 1945 he was captured by German soldiers in Štítina and killed – allegedly by crucifixion on a farm gate.

Born 11 September 1911 in Postřelkov, West Bohemia. In 1939, as an officer of the Czechoslovak Army, he travelled to the USSR via Poland. He was present at the Battle of Sokolovo in March 1943, and later trained in a tank unit. He was decorated with the Gold Star of a Hero of the Soviet Union for his role in the Battle of Kiev in November 1943. He was a member of a tank unit which participated in the Ostrava-Opava operation. A promising post-war career as an officer was cut short when he was accused of treason and arrested in 1949. He managed to escape captivity and lived in exile with his wife. He returned his Soviet medals as a protest against the Warsaw Pact occupation of Czechoslovakia in August 1968. He died on 30 June 2002 in Northampton, England.