Balthazar

Hi guys,

what do you think would happen, if czechoslovak army would fight in 1938 against Hitler and not sign The Munich Agreement. After mobilization had the army about 4 Million soldiers. Do you think that it would change the history and in what range.

(sorry for my poor english but I hope you will understand what I mean)

Pantagruel

Hey Balthazar, interesting question. I think it would definitely have made a difference if the Czechs had fought, even if they were unable to defeat the Germans. The German army was by no means the fearsome fighting machine in 1938 that it became in the invasion of France in 1940, and the Czechs had some good equipment (including some nice tank designs that the Germans subsequently used themselves) and a well-fortified border. Therefore resistance wasn't hopeless.

Czech resistance, even if unsuccessful, would also have made if far more difficult for Hitler later on because the British and French would have known for sure that he intended to expand by conquest. In that case they might have reacted more quickly when (if?) Hitler invaded Poland. Poland itself would probably have mobilized their entire army in time and been in better position to resist the Germans.

One last point: if you read Heinz Guderian's Panzer Leader you find that even during the peaceful occupation of Czechoslovakia, the German Army had all kinds of mechanical problems with their tanks and other vehicles. Imagine how much worse these problems would have been with Czech soldiers attacking them

BTW Balthazar, your English is just fine; in fact it's better than that of many native speakers I know.

Jonathan4290

Well-said Pantagruel. The German war machine in 1938 was not the arrogant, seemingly invincible army it was in the midst of the war. The Germany army used less than seven panzer divisions invading Poland and many tanks were not concentrated with the exception of Guderian's spearhead and another which I can't recall. Less tanks, more of them breaking down? This means trouble.

As well, one of the main reasons Czechoslovakia HAD to sign the Munich Agreement was that their strongest line of defences in the Sudetenland was taken from them previously. Czechoslovakia would have obviously been defeated but Poland, Britain and France could have come into the mix much sooner and scattered the overstretched, ungrown German army. Many German officers even acknowledged that had France moved into the Rhineland as soon as Germany remilitarized it, the Germans would not have been able to get away fast enough.

This is one of those "what-ifs" that makes you want to go back in time and kick Neville Chamberlain's father in the groin before he was conceived.

Nikd

Czechoslovakia had surrendered cause the British announced them that they will NOT help them. Practical the British and French surrendered Czechoslovakia to Hitler with the hope that they will win time for the oncoming onslaught.

Belisarius

Interesting question. The Sudeten defences should have been another "Maginot line" and once they were given away, there was no possibility of making a fight of it. Could the Germans have broken through, or might they instead abandoned the excuse of reuniting all the Volksdeutch and have gone for Poland in 1938?

Admiralwaldek

Remeber that not only Germans atacked Bohemia... they were also atacked from north by Poland who had over 1 milion people in army, which was pretty nice equpied but in old fighting style..
If Bohenia hadn't captured so easy, maybe world war would have started a bit later nothing more. Germans in the biginning of war were unbeatable. No one could stand them in open field.

cegorach

Actually Polish minister of foreign affairs Józef Beck proposed France that Poland is read to attack Germany if Czechoslovakia resists and is supported by France.
The French refused.

Handsome Larry

The actual wording of the Munich agreement was that the alliance between the French and Czechs/Slovaks was void and that if Czechoslovakia resisted the annexation of the Sudetenland France and Britain would not come to their aid.

As for the Sudeten Mountains; I'm studying in Prague right now and I have been to them, and I can tell you that they are no Swiss Alps. Not to mention the fact that the majority of the residents of the mountains were ethnic Germans. If the Czechs had fought they would have lost.

I've heard alot about how the Germans were not as strong in '38 as in '40 but it pays to remember that the Allies recognized that war was inevitable and began rearming only after Hitler broke the Munich agreement and occupied the whole of the Czech lands in 1938. Britain and France were not even ready for war in 1940, in 1938 they were even worse off.

vid

I have just read memoirs of pro-soviet later Czechoslovak president Ludvik Svoboda, who was officer in czechoslovak army at a time, and discussed this matter in a deep detail. I will present some of his arguments here.

First of all, he shows on some examples that Hitler had already previously cancelled attack on Czechoslovakia at the last moment, when he failed to get assurance from France and England they will not intervene. He quotes some of Hitlers generals, who told English diplomats they will immediately overthrow Hitler, if England gives them assurance it will intervene in case of attack on Czechs.

Also, he quotes Hitler assuring western powers that this is his last land demand in Europe, and western leaders seemed to believe it. According to him, Chamberlain, when he returned to England, said that he saved one generation from war.

So much for western powers. He acknowledges that without external help, we couldn't win. Not even with tens of thousands of Yugoslovians who volunteered and (not sure here) Romanians who promised to join us. What we could do is to hold off Hitler for several weeks, hoping for growing opposition to appeasement politics in west to force govs to help us.

Also, Czechoslovakia signed peace treaty with Soviet Union in 1935. Here, in case of invasion, Soviet intervention was conditioned by French intervention. But before Munich, Soviets informed us they will intervene even if France won't. By that time, Hitler couldn't dream of matching Soviet + Czechoslovak army.

Reason why Czechoslovak president Benes decided not to defend ourselves and wait for soviet help was that he was afraid this would be presented by Hitler as confirmation of his propaganda that Czechoslovakia was forefront of bolsheviks, provocateur of war, and that western powers would join nazis to stop this "bolshevik invasion". That's how western powers regarded nazi regime since its beginning, when they allowed it to rearm and supported its rearming, anyway.

Lucius

Thank-you, vid.