Event description

In the first days of May 1945, the surroundings of Klatovy often bore witness to raging battles between the advancing US Army units and the German defenders in the Šumava ridges—then called the “Bohemian Forest.” In field fortifications, a disparate mix of German defenders fighting within Wehrmacht units, SS, Hitlerjugend, and the oft-forgotten home defenses of the Volkssturm, as well as Nazi allies, e.g. Hungarian and Belorussian units, and exotic volunteers guarded the surroundings of the villages of Srní and Prášily against the advancing units of the American 90th and 2nd Infantry division. The path to the liberation of Klatovy began in the Šumava passes, seized after fierce battles in late April / early May of 1945 by regiments of the 90th infantry division, opening the door to the Czechoslovak interior. During these battles, the liberators incurred numerous losses of equipment, and sadly human lives as well. To break the resistance, the Americans had to take advantage of their artillery and their total aerial dominance. Because these passes became part of German territory in October 1938, the American losses in the battle for the Šumava are often forgotten.

A breaking point came on May 4–5, when the backbone of the region’s German defenses, the 11th Panzer Division, rode out in full splendor from Chuděnice past Všeruby and Sv. Kateřina into American captivity. After noon on May 5, Klatovy’s local resistance entered the fray of rebellion, and representatives of the Revolutionary National Committee began negotiating the conditions for the capitulation of the occupation forces in this town. They were supported in this by Frank Binder, an officer of the American intelligence services with Czechoslovak roots. His mission helped to acquire a promise from Major Horn, commander of the garrison in Klatovy, that the Wehrmacht units would withdraw into their barracks and wait without resistance for the arrival of the US army, to which they would then surrender. With this, the planned German defense of the town collapsed.

The dreaded soldiers of the Gestapo and Sicherheitsdienst stations fled, and only the local Volkssturm unit stood against the rebellion. In the last hours of the war, its members shot several Kladno citizens near the present-day location of the roundabout by Mercandinové sady. The head of the local Wehrmacht garrison, Major Horn, halted this needless bloodbath. The Volkssturm’s Klatovy battalion thus dissolved, and its commander Jankowski vanished from the city. Due to this escape, he is among the Nazi war criminals who have never been found. On Saturday, May 5, American units began a coordinated advance past the borderline into the Protectorate, towards Klatovy.

The formation’s right wing, attacking from Javorná, comprised the soldiers of the 90th Infantry division, “Tough Ombres,” while the left wing, advancing from Kdyně, comprised those of the 2nd infantry division, “Indianhead.” A ceasefire came to Klatovy—as well as eager anticipation of the American units’ arrival. Both columns of liberators, i.e. the soldiers of the 90th Infantry Division coming in from Běšiny as well as those of the 2nd Infantry Division coming in from Beňovy, entered the town at nearly the same time.

At 21:25 on Saturday May 5, major Horn presented the German garrison’s capitulation to the Americans. The town was secured very quickly, and at 9:30 p.m. the American units completed their further advance.

The occupation of other municipalities on the territory of Klatovy and the advance of the main column towards Pilsen only came later, on May 6, 1945.

A reconnaissance platoon of the Red Army, which entered Klatovy from the direction of Nepomuk and Plánice, unexpectedly joined in on this operation. These soldiers were the first of the allies to enter the village of Čínov, where they remained as a garrison for the next several weeks. So Klatovy was in reality liberated by both main Allied armies, American and Soviet.

The executions in Luby u Klatov

At the former military shooting range in Spálený les in Luby u Klatov, people sentenced to death by a Gestapo military tribune following the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich were executed on May 31 through July 3, 1942. They were convicted for “approving the assassination,” supporting paratroopers, and other resistance activities.

The first to be executed, on May 31, 1942, was Staff Captain Bedřich Přetrhdílo of the Czechoslovak Army. Just before his execution, he shouted out: “Long live the Czechoslovak Republic!” Other officers from the military resistance organization “Defense of the Nation” were executed here on June 22, 1942.

On June 29 through July 2, residents of Bernartice (the Doubek, Lukeš, Krzák, Tupý, and Tomek families) who had supported the paratroopers from the “Operation Intransitive” airborne group were executed in Luby u Klatov. The Viktor family from Věšín, executed on July 1, had provided assistance to Corporal Bohuslav Grabovský (also from Intransitive) as he was on his way to Bernartice.

The executions were carried out by members of the Schutzpolizei battalion from Klatovy, and the bodies were taken to the crematorium in Pilsen to be burned.

In total, 73 people were executed, including 17 women. The most fatal day was June 29, 1942, with a total of 15 executions.

Memorial plaques and the absurdity of history

A pair of memorial plaques is located on the town hall building; they bear the inscriptions: “Dne 5. května L.P.1945 byly Klatovy osvobozeny od německé nadvlády severoamerickými vojsky III. armády gen. G.S. Pattona. Na paměť budoucím věnováno obcí města Klatov.” and “To future generations in remembrance of the liberation of Klatovy on 5th May 1945 from the German oppressors by General G. S. Patton's Third U.S. Army.”

In close proximity to these is another plaque—thanking the Soviet Army for the liberation of Czechoslovakia.

Not far from all these is another plaque, in memory of the occupation on August 21, 1968, by the troops of the Soviet Union...

Such a strange history, such a strange little neighborhood of plaques, strange yet absurdly true.