I Czechoslovak Army Corps was a unit of the Czechoslovak army in exile

Czechoslovak military units on Eastern front

The 1st Independent Field Battalion, which was formed in Buzuluk, in the Urals, was the first Allied unit fighting alongside the Red Army in Soviet territory...

 on the Eastern Front

Eastern Front (World War II)

The Eastern Front of World War II was a theatre of World War II between the European Axis powers and co-belligerent Finland against the Soviet Union, Poland, and some other Allies which encompassed Northern, Southern and Eastern Europe from 22 June 1941 to 9 May 1945...

 fighting alongside the Soviet Red Army

Red Army

The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...

, which was created on the April 10, 1944 at Chernivtsi

Chernivtsi

Chernivtsi is the administrative center of Chernivtsi Oblast in southwestern Ukraine. The city is situated on the upper course of the River Prut, a tributary of the Danube, in the northern part of the historic region of Bukovina, which is currently divided between Romania and Ukraine...

 and moved to Krosno

Krosno

Krosno is a town and county in Subcarpathian Voivodeship, Poland with 47,455 inhabitants, as of 2 June 2009.Notably Krosno is the site of the first oil well in the world....

 area soon after.

The Corps's initial commander was Brigade General Jan Kratochvíl, who was soon replaced by Brigade General Ludvík Svoboda

Ludvík Svoboda

thumb|Svoboda and [[I Corps |I Czechoslovak Army Corps]]Ludvík Svoboda was a Czechoslovak general and politician...

 (September 11, 1944) who was also performing the role of Minister of Defence in the government in exile

Czechoslovak government-in-exile

The Czechoslovak government-in-exile was an informal title conferred upon the Czechoslovak National Liberation Committee, initially by British diplomatic recognition. The name came to be used by other World War II Allies as they subsequently recognized it...

. Towards the end of the war he was replaced by Brigade General Karel Klapálek (from April 3, 1945).

The I Czechoslovak Army Corps consisted of four infantry brigades, one tank brigade, and smaller air and other support units. While most Czechoslovak units served as part of the Corps, some may have been detached for operations with Red Army formations and units as required.

The Corps composition on formation in 1944 was:

1st Czechoslovak independent brigade

2nd Czechoslovak parachute desant brigade

3rd Czechoslovak independent brigade

4th Czechoslovak independent brigade

1st Czechoslovak independent tank brigade

1st Czechoslovak independent engineering battalion

Air units operationally attached to the Corps were:

1st Czechoslovak independent fighter air regiment

1st Czechoslovak mixed air division

Combat history

The Corps initially served within the 4th Ukrainian Front

4th Ukrainian Front

The 4th Ukrainian Front was a front of the Red Army during World War II...

's, 1st Guards Army.

From September 4 1944 the Corps was reassigned to the 1st Ukrainian Front

1st Ukrainian Front

The 1st Ukrainian Front was a front—a force the size of a Western Army group—of the Soviet Union's Red Army during the Second World War.-Wartime:...

's 38th Army

38th Army (Soviet Union)

The 38th Red Banner Army of was a field army of the Soviet Union that existed between 1941 and 1991.The army headquarters was formed in July 1941 by redesignation of the staff of 8th Mechanised Corps.On 1 May 1945, the army was part of 4th Ukrainian Front...

 until January 1945. During this time the Corps participated in the East Carpathian Strategic Offensive Operation (8 September 1944 - 28 September 1944). During this operation, from 14,900 personnel the Corps suffered a loss of 1,630 dead and 4,069 wounded.

In January it returned to the 1st Guards Army. However a couple of weeks later it was reassigned to the 1st Ukrainian Front's 18th Army

18th Army (Soviet Union)

The 18th Army of the Soviet Union's Red Army was formed on 21 June 1941 on the basis of HQ Kharkov Military District and armies of the Kiev Special Military District.The Army's commander in 1941 was General-Leitenant Andrew Kirilovych Smirnov...

. As part of this Army it took part in the Prague Strategic Offensive Operation

Prague Offensive

The Prague Offensive was the last major Soviet operation of World War II in Europe. The offensive, and the battle for Prague, was fought on the Eastern Front from 6 May to 11 May 1945. This battle for the city is particularly noteworthy in that it ended after the Third Reich capitulated on 8 May...

 (6 May 1945 -11 May 1945) during which it suffered 112 killed, and 421 wounded from a total of 48,400 personnel.

The I Czechoslovak Army Corps took part in assisting the Slovak National Uprising

Slovak National Uprising

The Slovak National Uprising or 1944 Uprising was an armed insurrection organized by the Slovak resistance movement during World War II. It was launched on August 29 1944 from Banská Bystrica in an attempt to overthrow the collaborationist Slovak State of Jozef Tiso...

, liberation of southern Poland, and the rest of Czechoslovak territory (Slovakia, Silesia and Moravia) from German occupation.

Since the end of the May 1945 the Corps was reorganized into the 1st Czechoslovak Army.

Sources

• Czechoslovak military units in USSR (1942-1945) http://www.czechpatriots.com/csmu/corps.php by Michal Gelbič
• Russia and USSR in the wars of 20th century: Losses of combat forces, a statistical investigation, under general editorialship of professor, General-Colonel G.F. Krivosheyev, Moscow, Olma-Press, 2001