10 Facts About Czechoslovak Legion

Czechoslovak Legion were volunteer armed forces composed predominantly of Czechs and Slovaks fighting on the side of the Entente powers during World War I Their goal was to win the support of the Allied Powers for the independence of Bohemia and Moravia from the Austrian Empire and of Slovak territories from the Kingdom of Hungary, which were then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Name Czechoslovak Legion preceded and anticipated the creation of Czechoslovakia.

Czechoslovak Legion distinguished itself in heavy combat during assaults near Arras on May 9 and June 16,1915.

New autonomous Czechoslovak Legion units were established by the decree of the French government on 19 December 1917.

Czechoslovak Legion pressure was crucial in convincing the anti-Bolshevik forces in Siberia to nominally unify behind the All-Russian Provisional Government, formed at a conference in Ufa during September 1918.

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The final blow to Czechoslovak Legion morale arrived on 18 November 1918, when a coup in Omsk overthrew the All-Russian Provisional Government and installed a dictatorship under Admiral Aleksandr Kolchak in control of White Siberia.

Czechoslovak Legion's body was dumped under the ice of the frozen Angara River and never recovered.

On January 1,1919, Czechoslovak Legion troops took control of the city of Bratislava and Italian Colonel Riccardo Barreca was appointed military commander of the city.

Flag of the Czechoslovak Legion can be seen in the Allies in the monumental painting Pantheon de la Guerre.

Note: There were quite a few books on the Czechoslovak Legion written in Czech that were published in the 1920s, but most were hard to find following Soviet victory in World War II.