Ostrava operation in 1945

Ostrava, the third largest city in Czech Republic is a town with long history going back to 13th Century. In 1783 big source of good quality black coal was discovered here and  in 1828 steelworks were founded.

It is logical that Ostrava was very important for Nazi Germany during WWII. Historians still remember Adolf Hitler's memorable sentence: "If you give up Moravian Ostrava, you give up Germany."

In March 1945, Ostrava provided 35 percent of the Reich's industrial production, and Hitler was well aware of its fundamental strategic importance.

The liberation of Ostrava from German occupation, which the local population experienced 80 years ago, on April 30, 1945, was preceded by an extensive Ostrava (also Ostrava-Opavská) operation lasting almost two months. Over 265 thousand soldiers of the 4th Ukrainian Front of the Red Army, including members of the 1st Czechoslovak Independent Tank Brigade and the Czechoslovak Mixed Air Division, took part in the battle. They were opposed by 150 thousand soldiers of the German army.

The liberators had over 300 tanks, more than 6,000 guns and mortars, and over 420 aircraft in the final phase of the operation.

The result of the operation, which ended on May 5, was the liberation of the Ostrava region and the entire northwestern Moravia and Silesia. Almost 24,000 Soviet and Czechoslovak soldiers paid for it with their lives. On the German side, the most common number of dead, wounded and missing is about 70,000. Hundreds of civilians also died in the fighting, many of whom were directly involved in the liberation.

After the first unsuccesful attempts to reach the town already on 20th April Red Army changed the strategy. The Ostrava operation lasted 57 days and during its course a territory with a total area of ​​15 thousand square kilometers with more than 600 villages and towns was liberated.

Czechoslovak tankists in Ostrava - when the WWII began many Czechoslovak citizens escaped abroad and joined Red Army. 

During World War II, Czech Ludvík Svoboda as a brigadier general, commanded the 1st Czechoslovak Army Corps on the Eastern Front, fighting as part of the Red Army of the Soviet Union.

End of April 2025 - celebrating end of WWII in Ostrava

Thanks for reading

                                  Margaret