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Overview
Initial plan for a revolt was set by Edvard Beneš in 1943,
where the first contacts with dissident elements were
established – this included the Slovak Army and various other
groups such as the government in exile, Czechoslovak democrats
and communists. They formed the Slovak National Council and
agreed to recognize Beneš and to recreate Czechoslovakia.
In 1944, charge was taken by Lieutenant Colonel Ján Golian and
the planning progressed. Conspirators proceeded with
preparations for uprising. The rebels called themselves
Czechoslovak Forces of the Interior and the First Czechoslovak
Army. Soldiers that deserted the army joined either the
partisans or the Soviet Red Army. Two Slovak Jews, Rudolf Vrba
and Alfred Wetzler, in the meantime managed to escape from
Auschwitz and spoke of the horrors in German extermination
camps. This fuelled the need of an armed rebellion against
Germany.
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There were two options set for
the course of the uprising and had been agreed upon by the
Slovak National Council in August 1944. Two heavily armed
divisions of Slovak Army and the entire eastern Slovak Air Force
were relocated to Prešov to be able to follow one of the two
plans.
Colonel Viliam Talský had agreed to both procedures - however
he would choose one of the options according to the nature of
the situation. After the German troops began their occupation of
Czechoslovakia, the Colonel abandoned the plan and two divisions
and joined the Soviet Army, leaving the rebels in confusion.
They were immediately disarmed before the uprising took its
place and therefore, the uprising lost its true potential due to
premature commencement.
The Uprising
On August 29, Banská Bystrica became the headquarters for
further action. The soldiers that were captured by Germans were
sent to camps while those who managed to escape joined the
partisans or returned home. During the beginning, the rebels
managed to capture large areas of central and eastern Slovakia,
which included two airfields. The distribution of equipment for
insurgents was organized by the Soviets. However, the government
allied under Tiso still held power in Bratislava and Germany had
increased number of soldiers by moving 40,000 additional men,
led by Gottlob Berger, to suppress the insurrection.
Beneš had arranged a meeting with Stalin and Molotov where the
support of the Soviets was discussed. This resulted in failure
since Stalin and STAVKA failed to deliver supplies and also
blocked Western military aid. The Slovak insurgent army was also
undermined by Soviet partisans in order to prevent communication
between them and partisans. Soviet air drops of weapons were
quickly confiscated by Soviet partisans from the Slovak
insurgent army. An attack on the Dukla Pass was initiated on
September 8 in order to seize it and gain access to Slovakia.
This action resulted in casualties on both sides. An argument
between Beneš, Soviet partisans and Slovak factions arose,
where the issue was the operational control. General Golian was
unable to bring the sides together and he was replaced by
General Rudolf Viest. He was unable to control the situation,
also due to the fact that the uprising overlapped with the
failure of Warsaw Uprising, the troubles of Western allies and
the stalling Soviet summer offensive. The Red Army and
Czechoslovak allies failed to gain their access to Dukla, where
the result was around 85,000 casualties.
The rebel army was renamed as 1st Czechoslovak Army in Slovakia
- this symbolised the Czech-Slovak reunification, which earned
recognition from the Allied forces. This was followed by a
counter-attack from Germans – the troops entered Slovakia from
Hungary, which was occupied by Germans. Stalin moved his focus
of interest from Eastern Slovakia to Hungary, Austria and Poland
before finally turning back to Czech and Slovak lands. The Axis
forces therefore managed to seize the territory from the
insurgents and encircled their fighting groups.
Insurgents had to evacuate Banská Bystrica just prior to the
German takeover. SOE and OSS agents retreated to the mountains
alongside the thousands of others fleeing German advance. The
rebels prepared to change their strategy to that of guerrilla
warfare. On October 28, Viest sent London a message that said
the organized resistance had ended. On October 30, General Höffle
and President Tiso celebrated in Banská Bystrica and awarded
medals to German soldiers for their part in the suppression of
the uprising.
Results
Partisans with the remains of the regular forces continued their
efforts in the mountains. Einsatzgruppen executed many Slovaks
suspected of aiding the rebels and destroyed 93 villages for
suspicion of collaboration. A later estimate of the death toll
was 5,304 and authorities discovered 211 mass graves that
resulted from those atrocities. The largest executions occurred
in Kremnička and Nemecká. Germans captured Golian and
Viest in and they interrogated and executed them. SOE and OSS
teams eventually united and requested immediate assistance.
Germans surrounded both groups and captured them. Germans took
the rest to Mauthausen concentration camp where they were
tortured and executed. The victory of
Germans served to post-pone the downfall of pro-Nazi regime.
However, by December 1944, Romanian and Soviet troops have
driven German troops out of southern Slovakia. In January 1945,
the Red Army took towns in Eastern Slovakia. By the end of the
March, northwest of Slovakia had been taken and they proceeded
to Bratislava and Banská Bystrica. |
