Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1945-08-19
Todoy's War Story


Guerrilla UpHisii
Was Similar to
BY THOMAS r. HENRY,
Star Staff Correspondent.
PRAGUE-For years Prague had
endured the agony of ruthless &C.
cupation.
Still the spirit of the people was
not crushed and new atrocities only
made the fires Of hatred burn hot
ter. A guerrilla army was formed
in secret. Like the underground
forces of most of Europe 1t was
organized in cells.
The activities of these guerrillas
naturally were limited. Sabotage
targets always were targets OF OPP
portunity. Still they rendered val
liable service, especially to the Rus
slams, with whom they were In
closest contact, by blowing rail-
road bridges, cutting telephone lines.
dynamiting small factories. There
was an efficient underground Or
ganization for rescuing and hiding
Shutdown Allied pilots. Perhaps the
most sensational coup Of the guer-
rillas was the revenge assassination
of the first German protector"
Heinrich Heydrich. For this the
Germans carried out the destruc-
ton and massacre of Lidice.
The work of the guerrillas was
handicapped by poor communica-
lions with the outside world. They
were forced to act entirely on their
own judgment and on the basis of
rumors. With growing nerve ten
sion as they received garbled stories
of British, American and Russian
victories, they waited the great day
Of a general uprising when they
could come out in the open.
Yanks Reported Near.
Early in May this seemed very
close at hand. Troops of the Amer
lean Sd Army had skirted the fringe
of Czechoslovakia. From garbled
radio reports it appeared they had
come much farther into the country
The LIST Infantry Division of the
LIST Army and small contingent
of the Czech Legion was established
at Eyer in the Western Sudeten-
land. A few days later the I'd
Infantry Division entered Pilsen.
All this was essentially without
opposition. The Germans had
stopped fighting. Everywhere their
armies were surrendering. Some
where to the north and northwest
Of Prague were the Russians. They
had mopped up Berlin. Nobody
was opposing them any longer.
The Prague underground assumed
that the Americans at Pilsen would
continue northward into the CAPT.
tai. They also assumed that the
Russians would continue their ad-
vance, The hour had struck. Ger
man forces in the city were help
less between these two advancing
armies. The underground served
it's ultimatum.
The story of the liberation of
Prague is curiously similar to that
of the liberation of Paris. Both
these were effected primarily by
revolutions against the German rule
from the inside. In each case the
revolts were premature and resulted
in much unnecessary bloodshed
They were set of by false reports
that Allied troops were much nearer
than they actually were and by
the natural feeling on the part of
the people that the deliverance of
a great city is primary military
objective. In these days this rarely
is true. The objective is to destroy
the enemy army. Possession of any
particular city may, but often does
not, further this end.
Paris Outbreak Recalled.
In Paris the guerrilla revolution
had seemed, at first, complete sue
cess. After only a gesture Of fight
ing to save their faces the Germans
had agreed very readily to get out.
Then some Of them changed their
minds and the troops of the United
States LIST Army which entered the
city had a. stiff fight on their hands
for nearly three days.
The same thing apparently hap
pened in Prague. The Germans
knew the hopelessness of their posi-
ton better than the underground.
They knew the war was over. They
knew they could hold out only
few days at the most. Their fondest
hope was to become American, rath-
er than Russian, prisoners Of war
Their fear was that If the guerril-
las knew the true situation they
would try to hold them in the city
until the Russians arrived. Now
the only demand was that they get
out, which they probably intended
to do anyway. They gladly agreed
to evacuate the city, and it seemed
the underground had won a blood
less victory.
Then the Germans changed their
minds, just as they did in Paris.
Apparently it was not the Wehr-
macht which broke the truce but
the SIS. Probably they had much
better intelligence as to the real
situation than the Prague UNDER
ground. They knew that neither
the Americans nor the Russians
actually were on their way to the
city. Moreover, their behavior had
been such in the past that they
could expect little mercy from either
side. The Russians probably would
shoot them out of hand. They
assumed that the Americans would
turn them over to the Czechs, which
would be even worse.
They were led by an insane sadist,
Gauleiter Frank. This one-eyed