The activities of Czechoslovak ground troops and air forces

On January 6, 1940, the 1st Czechoslovak Infantry Division with two infantry regiments began its formation in Agde. Before being deployed at the front in June, it consisted of 11,405 members, including 8,169 mobilized Czechoslovaks living in France and 3,236 volunteers (refugees from the Protectorate and interbrigadistas from the Spanish Civil War). Until the surrender of France, the Czechoslovak troops lost over 2500 men (wounded, dead, missing); several hundred Czechoslovak soldiers were taken captive by the Germans. Almost 5,000 men were evacuated to Great Britain by the end of June.

On the French front, 135 Czechoslovak fighter pilots and 26 members of bomber squads were deployed; they made over 3,100 combat sorties, during which they shot down certainly 129 and probably 25 aircraft. The most successful Czechoslovak pilots in the battles of France included Alois Vašátko with 12 certainly and 2 probably downed aircraft, František Peřina with 11 probably downed aircraft, Václav Cukr with 8 certainly downed aircraft and Josef Stehlík with 6 certainly and 1 probably downed aircraft.

Portraits of prisoners, by painter and graphic artist Karel Lehký Brodský (December 22, 1897 – August 9, 1943), who lived in Valašské Meziříčí; as a participant of the Home Resistance, he was arrested and died in Mauthausen.