Battle of Czajánek ' s barracks The Battle of Czajánek ' s barracks ( also spelled as the Battle of Čajánek ' s barracks ) was a confrontation between the Czechoslovak and German armies , which took place on 14 March 1939 in the course of the German occupation of Czechoslovakia . Together with a clash which allegedly took place at Moravská Třebová , this was the only known Czechoslovak active resistance to the German army during the occupation of Bohemia and Moravia in March 1939 . Background . The German invasion of Czechoslovakia started on the evening of 14 March 1939 , a day before the original date set by Adolf Hitler . The German goal was to take control of the industrial region of Ostrava as soon as possible , in order to prevent anticipated Polish invasion into the territory . The Czech army was under orders of handing over the barracks without resistance . The battle . The area of Frýdek - Místek was the operational responsibility of the 8th Infantry Division of the Wehrmacht ( 28th Infantry Division ) , together with the elite motorized regiment " Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler " . At 17 : 30 of 14 March , both units marched from the Sudetenland towards Ostrava . The 84th Infantry regiment led the advance , and by 18 : 00 they reached Místek . The barracks at this town had been built at the time of the Austro - Hungarian Empire , and housed the 8th Infantry Regiment . The garrison was undermanned at the time due to the desertion of ethnic German , Hungarian and finally also Slovak soldiers who felt that their place was in an independent Slovakia ; most of the Czech soldiers who were left were new recruits , most of them in army for mere 14 days . The highest officer at Czajankových was captain Karel Pavlík , commander of the 12h machine gun company . His second - in - command was lieutenant Karel Martínek . Pavlík and some 30 other seasoned officers came to the barracks only earlier that day to attend a Polish language course . The German military convoy stopped on the road leading to the barracks and a German officer with a couple of soldiers started walking towards the main gate . A Czech sentry , private first class Bohuslav Přibyla , ordered the German officer to stop , however , he continued forward with his pistol in hand . After this , Přibyla discharged a warning shot in the direction of the officer , who reacted by shooting at the sentry , wounding him slightly on his head . Přibyla returned fire , wounding the officer . After learning of the German advance , Pavlík had set two improvised trenches in front of the barracks and ordered the deployment of the bulk of the troops on the second store . They were armed with rifles , machine guns and 50 hand grenades . The Germans formed a skirmished line in front of the barracks , and attempted to assault the main entrance with a Sd . Kfz 221 armoured vehicle . The armoured carrier was hit by armour - piercing rounds and disabled . The garrison endured three German assaults before surrender . The second assault was preceded by a megaphone call to surrender from another armoured vehicle . Then the German infantry , now including an anti - tank company , attacked the barracks with machine gun fire , 50mm and 81mm mortars and a 37mm anti - tank gun . The Czech trench at the entrance was overrun by the attackers , but the resistance of Pavlík men inside the building kept them outside the compound after a 40 - minutes battle . The commander of a German armoured carrier was killed , and two Czech soldiers seriously wounded during the exchange . Pavlík , who was himself firing from a heavy machine - gun positioned on the rooftop , attempted to summoned an armoured column from one of the neighbour garrisons , to no avail . At 7 : 00 colonel Eliashberg , the battalion commander , issued orders by phone to cease fire under the threat of martial court . Initially Pavlík ignored the orders , but the German fire became intense as they poured the barracks with anti - tank cannon and mortar rounds . After a night of fierce fighting , and low of ammunitions , Pavlík ordered his men to cease fire . Aftermath . The Czech troops were disarmed by the Germans at the garrison ' s courtyard , marched them into the local police station , where they were eventually dismissed ; the Czech army as a whole had been disbanded by then . Only 5 , 940 soldiers later re - enlisted into the new Vládní vojsko , the main security force of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia . Karel Pavlík was allowed to retain the command of his men immediately after the surrender , and the German officers didn ' t confiscated his personal weapon . Pavlík and Martínek later joined the Czech resistance ; Pavlík began his clandestine activities against the Germans with the group " Za Vlast " , which helped Czechoslovak pilots run across the border . Then he moved to Prague where he joined the resistance group Obrana národa and cooperated with Václav Morávek . After the betrayal of Ladislav Vaněk in the group " Jindra " , Pavlík was captured by the Gestapo and later sent to Mathausen concentration camp . After torture and questioning he was shot . His body was never found and his symbolic grave is in Kostelec nad Černými lesy . Martínek also joined the resistance . He carried out several sabotage actions , blowing up a German train at Lískovec , two high voltage pylons and a number of telephone lines . He was eventually betrayed and handed over to the Germans . Martínek was rescued by American troops from Mathausen in 1945 . He later led an ill - fated anti - communist uprising and was jailed for 15 years . Martínek died of leukemia on 25 February 1975 . Czechoslovak president - in - exile Edvard Beneš was during the second world war often referring to the skirmish as a heroic resistance of Silesian soldiers against the occupants . On July 18 , 1946 , Beneš visited the barracks and held a speech to the surviving members of the battle , praising their actions .