Slovak National Uprising 29.8.1944

[dusan]

The Slovak National Uprising

The Slovak National Uprising. Europe's second-largest uprising against Nazi rule.

Until the beginning of World War II, Slovakia was a part of the1. Czechoslovak Republic(ČSR). In 1938, Jozef Tiso, a Roman catholic priest and an activist of the Slovak Rural Party, became the Prime Minister of the autonomous Slovak Republic, then still a part of Czechoslovakia. On March 14, 1939, Tiso proclaimed an independent Slovak state. After few months he became President of Slovakia. Under him, Slovakia became a 'satellite' for the Third Reich. The mood among Slovaks was mixed. Everyone understood that Slovak 'independence' was only guaranteed by German troops. There was, however, little opposition to the arrangement and the country prospered economically under the Tiso regime. However,during the Slovak state was nearly 58 000 Jews deported in the camps. On June 22,1941 are Slovak soldiers involved in the campaign against the Soviet Union. Then,thousands of Slovak soldiers deserted in 1943 and 1944 and joined partisan groups and the Red Army. After this,in Slovakia increased resistence against the Tiso government.
In December 1943, the rebellious Slovaks formed a coordinating group called the Slovenská Národná Rada (Slovak National Council), or SNR, and appointed General Ján Golian to take charge of military operations.
During the summer of 1944, partisan warfare against occupying German troops broke out especially in the eastern part of Slovakia. Many officers in Slovak army decided to rise up against Tiso before the Germans directly occupied their country. On August 28, 1944 Nazi troops arrived in Slovakia to put down Slovak partisan rebellion. On August 31, 1944 German troops disarmed the Eastern Slovak Army,which wanted to open Dukla pass in the Carpathian Mountains for Red Army.
The Slovak National Uprising began on August 29,1944 when Defence Minister F.Čatloš announces on state radio that Germany has occupied Slovakia. The rebel Slovak Army has changed a name to 1. Czechoslovak Army in Slovakia. It had after two mobilisations 60,000 soldiers and 18,000 partisans. A centre of the Slovak National Uprising was in a town Banská Bystrica,in the middle of Slovakia. The hardest fights were near Strečno, Telgárt, Žiar nad Hronom, Ostrô, Priekopa, Malá Štubňa, ...... The 1.Czechoslovak Army didn´t have a lot of heavy weapons. A strategic triangle of Slovak defence was between Banská Bystrica,Brezno and Žiar nad Hronom. The main leaders of the Slovak National Uprising were General Ján Golian and later also General Rudolf Viest, who came in Banska Bystrica in October from London. The other leading officers were gen. Mikuláš Markus,gen. Jozef Tlach,gen. Emil Perko,gen. Július Nosko,plk. Ján Černek,plk. Ján Malár,plk. Pavol Kuna,mjr. Michal Širica,three brothers Vesels .....The main German leaders were General Berger and General Hofle. A hilly terrain in Slovakia and the heroic defence of Slovaks caused Nazis a lot of problems. The German troops ( 47,000 soldiers),which had many of heavy weapons, started on October 18, 1944 a massive-counter attack with the best SS-divisions and the other special troops. On October 27,1944 German took Banská Bystrica. The rebel 1.Czechoslovak Army retreated to the mountains, marking a shift in strategy to guerrilla warfare. Approximetly 17,000 partisans and soldiers continued fighting in the mountains till the end of the war. The Red army didn´t support Slovaks with weapons,which they needed,because this Uprising wasn´t in plans for J. Stalin.He didn´t want to help us because he wanted only the Red Army to liberate Slovakia.

[Owen]

Here's one of those posts lost in the depths of the site. A shame.

The Red army didn´t support Slovaks with weapons,which they needed,because this Uprising wasn´t in plans for J. Stalin.He didn´t want to help us because he wanted only the Red Army to liberate Slovakia.

Another Uprising Stalin didn't support. Rather like Warsaw.
Let the locals rise up against the Nazis, get beaten then The Red Army can march in and take over.............sorry I mean "Liberate"............the country with no opposition.
What a wonderful man Stalin was to give freedom to his neighbours.

I see this thread starter was double posted http://www.ww2talk.com/forum/history...-8-1944-a.html

Perhaps I'm too quick to condemn, according to this Slovakian site there were many Soviet casualties.http://www.spectacularslovakia.sk/ss2002/snp.html

July 1944: Red Army troops begin heading for Slovakia from the Soviet Union and Poland.
27 August 1944: Around 30 German diplomats are murdered in Martin.
28 August 1944: More Nazi troops arrive in Slovakia with orders to put down the rebellion.
29 August 1944: The Slovak National Uprising officially begins when Defence Minister Ferdinand Čatloš announces on state radio that Germany has occupied Slovakia. The rebel Czechoslovak Army in Slovakia, formed to fight the Nazis, has an estimated 18,000 soldiers, a total which first increases to 47,000 after mobilisation on 9 September 1944, and later to 60,000, plus 12,000 partisans. The Slovaks are aided in the Uprising by soldiers and partisans from the Soviet Union, France, the (current) Czech Republic and Poland. In total, 32 nations are involved in the SNP.
31 August 1944: German troops disarm the Eastern Slovak Army. Many are sent to camps in the Third Reich, others escape and join partisan units or return home.
8 September 1944: The Red Army begins an attack on the Dukla Pass on the Slovak-Polish border, where Hitler has placed 55 troops. Two months later, the Russians win the battle and enter Slovakia. But the toll is tremendous: 85,000 Red Army soldiers are dead, plus several thousand Germans and Czechoslovaks.
19 September 1944: General Berger, the German in charge of ending the Uprising, is replaced after the partisans put up a stronger battle than the Nazis had anticipated. General Hofle takes charge of the German troops, which number 48,000 soldiers (six German divisions and one pro-Nazi Slovak unit).
1 October 1944: The rebel army of the Slovak National Uprising is renamed the 1st Czechoslovak Army in Slovakia, signifying the beginning of the Czech-Slovak reunification recognised by the Allied forces.
17 October 1944: The Nazis mount a massive counter-attack, sending 35,000 troops north from Hungary.
27 October 1944: The Nazis take Banská Bystrica. The rebel army retreats to the mountains, marking a shift in strategy to guerrilla warfare. Although the main leaders of the movement are captured in Pohronský Bukovec, the partisans continue fighting in the hills till the end of the war.
30 October 1944: In Banská Bystrica, General Hofle and President Tiso award Nazi soldiers with medals for their suppression of the Uprising.
November 1944 - March 1945: Nazi troops begin searching for remaining partisans. Anyone suspected of aiding the rebels is killed; villages suspected of having collaborated with the movement are burnt to the ground. In total, 5,304 citizens are murdered; 211 mass graves are discovered; 93 villages are completely destroyed. The worst mass murders occur in Kremnička (747 killed) and Nemecká (900 killed).
December 1944: Much of southern Slovakia is liberated during the Budapest Operation, a joint effort of the Red Army and Romanian army.
19 January 1945: Eastern Slovakia’s Bardejov, Svidník, Prešov and Košice are all liberated by the Red Army.
3-5 March 1945: North-west Slovakia is liberated.
25 March 1945: Banská Bystrica is liberated.
4 April 1945: Bratislava is liberated.
9 May 1945: Prague and Berlin are liberated, the Nazis are defeated, and World War II ends in Europe.
Sources: The Slovak National Uprising museum in Banská Bystrica, the War Museum in Svidník, and ‘A History of Slovakia: The Struggle for Survival’ by Stanislav Kirschbaum, a Slovak-Canadian historian.
World War II photographs: Courtesy the Slovak National Uprising (SNP) Museum in Banská Bystrica.

[Stephen]

The Slovak uprising was not the same as the Warsaw rising, the Warsaw rising was aimed at the Germans and the Soviets and there had been no talks before the rising between the Polish resistance and the Soviets. The Soviets knew the Slovak rising was coming and there had been talks on co-operation between the Soviets and the London based Government. There was a problem as the Slovak army did not want to go over to the Soviets or to be disarmed by them and the London Government wanted the Slovak army to become the nucleus of a new Czechoslovakian army, clearly this would not accord with Soviet thinking.

There was also a partizan force in Slovakia under the control of the Slovak National Council a communist front organisation and partizans who took their orders from the Central Ukrainian Partizan Staff. It seems that the forces taking their orders direct from the Partizan Staff intensified activities in August and brought on an appeal from the Slovak Government to Germany for help. These military attacks occured without liason between the communist partizans and the Slovak army which was unprepared and asked London to curtail this activity.

On August 31st the deputy commander of the East Slovak Corps flew to the Soviets while the commander of the Corps went over to the Germans.
A panzer division attacked the Corps on August the 31st and within 24hrs the Corps was no more. Garrison troops in other parts of the country did not join in the rising and this meant the failure of the London Government to organise military forces of their own the partizan war that followed was largely communist controlled.

The Czechoslovakian 1st Army Corps which had been formed on Soviet territory was commanded by a General who was a London officer and as the Corps was moving into Slovakia the Soviets had him replaced with a communist. They thus ensured that the new Czechoslovakian army was a communist army.

Taken from "The Road To Berlin" by John Erickson.

[Stephen]

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