Żołnierze Legionu Czechów i Słowaków w niewoli sowieckiej 1939–1941
Soldiers of the Czech and Slovak Legions in Soviet Captivity 1939–1941

Summary/Abstract: The history of the Czechoslovak military unit in Poland, its engagement in the defence of Poland in September 1939, its capture by the Red Army and time in the Soviet Union between 1939 and 1941 has been given special attention not only by Czech, but also by Polish and Russian historiographers since the 1960s. Nevertheless, the potential for researching this issue has not been completely exhausted. One of the areas where inaccurate or misleading data has been carried over for years is the question of the unit’s personnel, especially after its capture by the Red Army. The study aims to eliminate, or at least clarify, these inaccuracies using a detailed analysis of primary resources from a personnel perspective that have not been fully used. The research succeeded in reconstructing the numbers of Czechoslovak soldiers who managed to reach Romanian territory in September 1939 or later, specifying the number of transports of soldiers released in 1939 and 1940 to Czechoslovak military units in France and the Middle East, identifying a group of those who decided to collaborate with the Soviet regime and deserted or were expelled from the ranks of Czechoslovak foreign armies, and especially those who fell victim to NKVD repression and were imprisoned in the Gulag. A group of soldiers who disappeared within the Soviet Union without a trace was also defined in a basic way.

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