Battle in Slovakia

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Toivo
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#16

Post by Toivo » 10 Nov 2002, 14:29

Well thats my mistake indeed, black space in my knowledge. Thanks for enlightening! (esp for fact slovakia attacked poland aswell)
I thought Czechs and slovaks were more united than that. Have to study this more!
But about czech partisans...those were quite active, guess this book "Name of Death is Engelchen" by czech was only about czech partisans.

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Bad Tolz
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#17

Post by Bad Tolz » 22 Nov 2002, 11:39

Operation to kill Heydrich was what one may call "Czecho-slovak"
Two main operatives-Jan Kubis-was Slovak.
Josef Gabchik-a Czech.
Rest of men were also mixed.
They came together various ways.Kubis was veteran of earlier German wars,fought in France for example,then eventually ended up in Britain with other Czechs and Slovaks (mainly Czechs though),quite a few were formed into commando groups.
Lidice and Lezaky were both destroyed after assasination (Lezaky being less known),they are both today in what is known as Czech Republic.
Movie on this operation is partly accurate,but will still give idea of general actions.Book is better,forgot name,for anyone interested I can search around a bit,not a bad little read.
Regards.


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Marcus
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#18

Post by Marcus » 22 Nov 2002, 19:47

Several off topic posts were removed.

/Marcus

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Bad Tolz
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#19

Post by Bad Tolz » 24 Nov 2002, 07:11

Ogorek,
an old former Partisan once told me in battle at Dukla pass,in the valley,the inexperienced Russian troops became so drunk (because of fact they became complacent about German troop strength in area)they were really unable to fight,and German soldiers situated on higher ground had picnic with automatic weapons.In the end,some woman soldiers had to be called into the battle-they were only ones sober.
Herad anything like this?
Regards.

josef
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SLOVAKIA

#20

Post by josef » 29 Dec 2002, 09:43

Responding to the first question in this thread (albeit quite late), Victor is very correct when he states that there is much work to be done regarding Slovakia and the battles which took place there. Specifically the Battle of Dukla Pass was a phenominal and VERY costly operation, for both sides. From the Autumn of 1944 through the Spring of 1945 the battles took place there. I have visited these battlegrounds several times over the last several years. Armoured vehicles and bunkers are littered throughout the areas. Tanks are left in the field where they stopped (although they are sealed for safety reasons and to prevent vandalism/theft) and serve as a permanent memorial. The small military museum in Svidnik is awesome to say the least. Even today people are killed by unexploded ordnance through the Dukla Pass and the Valley of Death. I believe the casualty numbers were 60,000 German and 80,000 Soviet troops, not to mention the Czech, Slovak (on both sides of the conflict), Hungarian troops who died. As difficult as it is to get there, I encourage anyone interested in eastern campaigns to make the long journey (sorry for the late response!) :roll:

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Csaba Becze
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#21

Post by Csaba Becze » 30 Dec 2002, 11:47

josef,

Perhaps a lot of bunkers were the parts of the Czechoslovakian bunker-line near the Hungarian border. The Czechoslovaks, Rumanians and Yugoslavians made also a quite strong and very expensive bunker lines (walls) near the Hungarian border. I have a lot of photos about this bunkers.

Csaba

gabriel pagliarani
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Battle in Eastern slovakia

#22

Post by gabriel pagliarani » 30 Dec 2002, 12:20

Coming from Kosice Mesto towards Ukrainian border, after about 50 km, on the main road passing thru low heights, when crossing deep forests and a little bit before meeting a small lake (..curiously the Slovaks call "our sea"), there is the monument of "Dukla Pass Battle". The remains of Soviet tanks (I have touched a T-34 and another turretless) are rusting beside the main road and the inlet in the forest is absolutely forbidden by cause of mine-fields and unexploded weapons. The last time I passed thru the Dukla Pass was in 1998. Therefore if we (we=westerns) don't know that bloody battle is due only to our ignorance.

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Benoit Douville
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#23

Post by Benoit Douville » 30 Jan 2003, 23:27

That was a very interesting and informative thread about the Battle of Dukla Pass. About 85 thousand Soviets troops were killed there and the Battle lasted for about 2 months. That's astonishing! But what about the lost on the German side? Any numbers? They were SS troops in that area.

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#24

Post by josef » 30 Jan 2003, 23:57

I was always told and read that around 60 000 German and Axis soldiers were killed. I know SS troops were brought in during the SNP (Slovak National Uprsiing) of August 1944, and that many units certainly did take part in the Battle of Dukla Pass. In the surrounding cemetaries there are many German troops who were SS buried there. I just have to get my act together and post some pics. I believe it is such an underrated battle, most in the West never knew of it. Do Widenja!

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Benoit Douville
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#25

Post by Benoit Douville » 31 Jan 2003, 06:43

Josef,

I will be really interested to see those pictures. You are quite right, this Battle is so underrated and before I started this topic I have never heard of the Battle of Dukla Pass and now I want to learn more about that Battle.

Regards

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Victor
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#26

Post by Victor » 31 Jan 2003, 11:26

gabriel pagliarani wrote: Coming from Kosice Mesto towards Ukrainian border, after about 50 km ...
By looking at the map I noticed that the Dukla Pass is on the border with Poland (altitude 502 m), not the Ukraine.

Anyway I am also interested to know more about this battle, since it took place close to the area of operations of the Romanian armies in late 1944 and early 1945. The high number of casualties can be easily explained by the difficult terrain in that part of Slovakia, which favors a determined defense.

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Benoit Douville
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#27

Post by Benoit Douville » 31 Jan 2003, 19:44

This book written by Mark W. Axworthy seems interesting. That author had previously written "Third Axis/Fourth Ally" about the Romanian Armed forces during World War II. This is the complete history of the Slovak Armed Forces during World War II but i don't know if it deals with the Battle of Dukla Pass???

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josef
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#28

Post by josef » 01 Feb 2003, 07:22

I'm not sure if it would, really, as this from what I understand was more a German /Soviet battle, with their allies. At this late stage in the war I do not know what the Slovak Army consisted of, especially after the SNP (Slovak National Uprising), where many of their numbers deserted, disbanded, or joined the Partisans. Here are just a few pics of the area, and some of the monuments. Not sure if I mentioned, but the small museum in Svidnik nearby is evry interesting. Sorry for the poor quality of the pics. I have others, just not on disc yet. The Monument to the Soviet troops killed in the battle is monstrous. The area is littered with unexploded ordnance which kills people even today. I have some relics from the garbage dump there as well, most noteably an M42 helmet with a shrapnel hole. The fields are filled with tanks and equipment, artillery pieces, ect. I've been to Normandy and find this as moving! And not much has changed here in over 60 years.
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Ogorek
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#29

Post by Ogorek » 01 Feb 2003, 18:42

Very good photos Josef.... Thank you for putting them up.

Ogorek

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Benoit Douville
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#30

Post by Benoit Douville » 02 Feb 2003, 07:00

Much appreciated Josef. Also here is a site of interest about the museum in Slovakia:

http://www.svidnik.sk/svidnik/dumuzen.htm

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