Slovak Order of Battle in 1939
Encyclopedia
Overview
The Slovak Army was newly born from the disorganized remnants of the former and well-equipped CzechoslovakCzechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
Army and Air Force. Such was Slovakia's lack of preparedness, that the motorised Hungarian
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
columns initially met almost no resistance, reportedly surprising two companies of Slovaks in their beds.
The situation of the Slovak Army
Lieutenant-General Augustín MalárAugustín Malár
Augustín Malár was a Slovak General during World War II.-Awards:* Iron Cross 2nd and 1st Class* Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross -References:...
was responsible for the defence of the eastern border with Ruthenia
Carpatho-Ukraine
Carpatho-Ukraine was an autonomous region within Czechoslovakia from late 1938 to March 15, 1939. It declared itself an independent republic on March 15, 1939, but was occupied by Hungary between March 15 and March 18, 1939, remaining under Hungarian control until the Nazi occupation of Hungary in...
. VI Corps, which he had inherited from the Czecho-Slovak Army, had already been seriously disrupted the previous autumn by the Vienna Award, which had obliged it to abandon its border fortifications and remove its headquarters from Košice to Prešov. The Hungarian occupation of Ruthenia (Carpatho-Ukraine
Carpatho-Ukraine
Carpatho-Ukraine was an autonomous region within Czechoslovakia from late 1938 to March 15, 1939. It declared itself an independent republic on March 15, 1939, but was occupied by Hungary between March 15 and March 18, 1939, remaining under Hungarian control until the Nazi occupation of Hungary in...
), where the garrison, the 12th Division, had come under VI Corps' jurisdiction, had further undermined it. As VI Corps had largely been based among unlreliable Hungarians and Ruthenes, it had a very high proportion of Czechs in its ranks. The 12th Infantry Division was involved in a fighting retreat back into eastern Slovakia over the period of March 14-18, but it then dissolved itself virtually completely as its Czech officers and men headed for home.
Similarly, the regiments of the VI Corps' Slovak-based 11th and 17th Divisions, which should have had 2000-3000 men each, were only left with between 70 and 400 Slovaks apiece once all their Czechs had gone home. This left the eastern border virtually undefended. Therefore, Malár began to fill out his skeleton units with the reservists called up on March 15.
At the same time, Generals Jurech and Imro, in the west of the country began to form units to support Malár as Slovak officers and conscripts began to return from Bohemia and Moravia, but their move to the east was delayed because roads and railways became crowded with Czech troops being repatriated in the opposite direction. The whole repatriation and reinforcement operation had to be organised by the various inexperienced and desperately overstretched Slovak staffs, especially that of Malár in Prešov. There was often bad feelings on both sides. One Slovak artillery officer detraining from Moravia was dismayed to be roundly abused at the station by a Slovak officer, who assumed from his rank that he must be a Czech. Some Czech troops sabotaged their equipment rather than let the Slovaks have it. Malár did manage to persuade a number of Czech officers to stay on temporarily to help Slovakia against the Hungarians, but the general confusion could not be adequately sorted out during the very brief period of hostilities with Hungary.
These factors also prevented the remains of the Czechoslovak 3rd Rapid Division, which was based in the far west of the country from being deployed to good effect in the east. Its 3rd Tank Regiment was left with only 10 out of 60 officers and 222 out of 821 other ranks when all the Czech soldiers went home. This was a decisive disadvantage, because the regiment's 70 LT vz. 34 and LT vz. 35 light tanks, 30 ČKD/Praga Tančik vz. 33
Tančík vz. 33
The Tančík vz. 33 was a Czechoslovak-designed tankette used mainly by Slovakia during World War II. Seventy-four were built. The Germans seized forty when they occupied Bohemia-Moravia in March 1939; there is no record of their use. The Slovaks captured thirty at the same time when they declared...
tankettes, 3 OA vz. 27 and 10 OA vz. 30 armoured cars were more than a match for the five obsolete Fiat 3000B light tanks, 70 Ansaldo 35M tankettes and 3 Crossley 29M armoured cars of the Hungarian invasion force. The only armour Malár had available in Eastern Slovakia were the 8 OA vz. 30 armoured cars and nine LT vz. 35 light tanks which the Czechs had evacuated from Carpatho-Ukraine to Humene and Prešov.
However, once in Slovakia their embittered Czech crews had sabotaged all of them. As a result, none of them were immediately available when the fighting started on March 23.
VI Corps
Commander-in-Chief: Lieutenant-General Augustín MalárAugustín Malár
Augustín Malár was a Slovak General during World War II.-Awards:* Iron Cross 2nd and 1st Class* Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross -References:...
- 16th Infantry Regiment (partially)
- 20th Infantry Regiment
- 37th Infantry Regiment (partially)
- 12th Artillery Regiment (partially)
- 112th Artillery Regiment (partially)
- Armoured Car Platoon (9 OA vz. 30 armoured carsOA vz. 30The OA vz. 30 was a Czechoslovak-designed armored car used by Nazi Germany, Slovakia, Romania and Hungary during World War II. Fifty-one were built, of which the Germans seized twenty-four when they occupied Bohemia-Moravia in March 1939 and the Slovaks captured eighteen when they declared...
) - Tank Platoon (3 LT vz. 35 light tanksPanzer 35(t)The Panzerkampfwagen 35, commonly shortened to Panzer 35 or abbreviated as Pz.Kpfw. 35, was a Czechoslovak-designed light tank used mainly by Nazi Germany during World War II. The letter stood for tschechisch...
)
Air Force
- 45th Flight (based in Spišská Nová Ves with 10 Avia B-534Avia B-534The Avia B-534 is a Czechoslovak biplane produced during the period between the Great War and World War II. The B-534 is considered one of the last aircraft built with a classic biplane design.-Design and development:...
fighter aircraft) - 49th Flight (based in Spišská Nová Ves with 10 Avia B-534 fighter aircraft)
- 12th Flight (based in Spišská Nová Ves with 10 Letov Š-28 tactical reconnaissance aircraft and Aero AP-32 tactical reconnaissance aircraftAero A.32-See also:...
) - 13th Flight (based in Spišská Nová Ves with 10 Letov Š-28 tactical reconnaissance aircraft and AP-32 tactical reconnaissance aircraft)
Sources
- Axworthy, Mark W.A. Axis Slovakia - Hitler's Slavic Wedge, 1938-1945, Bayside, N.Y. : Axis Europa Books, 2002, ISBN 1-891227-41-6