Nezištný zakladatel protinacistického odboje odstavený od boje: Lev Prchala ve Varšavě, Paříži a Londýně 1939–1943
The founder of the military resistance was sidelined from combat: Lev Prchala in Warsaw, Paris and London, 1939–1943

Summary/Abstract: This text discusses the role played by the Czechoslovak army general Lev Prchala in Poland in establishing the first Czech and Slovak military units of the anti-Nazi resistance following the German occupation of the Czech lands in March 1939. The text highlights Prchala’s contacts with the Chief of the General Staff of the Polish Army, General Wacław Stachiewicz, and the respect Prchala enjoyed among Polish leaders, thanks to which the Legion of Czechs and Slovaks in Poland was officially established in August 1939. General Prchala was appointed commander of the Legion by Polish President Ignacy Mościcki on 3 September 1939. Following the invasion of Poland by the German Reich and the Soviet Union, and the capture of part of Prchala’s unit by the Red Army, he ended up in France after many vicissitudes. There, the Czechoslovak resistance movement was forming under the leadership of former president Edvard Beneš and his supporters. According to the author, Beneš, General Sergei Ingr, former ambassador to Poland Juraj Slávik and intelligence officers led by Colonel František Moravec had already tried to thwart Prchala’s activities during his Polish exile precisely for the reasons they reproached him with: self-centred efforts to secure Beneš’s leadership of the resistance. Upon his arrival in France, Prchala was prevented from taking part in the military leadership of the resistance, despite being the most senior representative of the former Czechoslovak army abroad in terms of rank and function. He was bullied by the now internationally recognised leader of the resistance, Beneš, and his supporters, even after the fall of France and evacuation to London. This led Prchal to decide to join the political opposition against the resistance leadership, which he did in March 1943 when he became chairman of the opposition group Czech National Unity. This group was opposed to the government in exile. The text is interspersed with contemporary documents and quotations from notable figures, including Prchala’s own account of his reasons for engaging in politics.

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