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SpecialCzechs in the Red Army
...At midday the Russians launched an almighty attack on Hrabyne, their air
force led the barrage. From over the hills a whole chain of Russian tanks
approached. The Germans retaliated with a desperate counter attack. This
was the start of a terrible panzer battle, which is impossible to imagine
for those who weren't there. The din of anti-tank weaponry, the explosion
of grenades and the baying of the tanks' machine guns fused into one.
There was a constant explosion of bombs and mines. The battle lasted all
afternoon. Several times the Russians retreated only to come back again on
the attack...
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Current AffairsRemembering the liberation of Plzen, sixty years on
At the end of World War II most of Czechoslovakia was liberated from the
east by the Red Army, but until the fall of communism, the fact that it
was the Americans who liberated the far west of the country was largely
ignored. It was sixty years ago this week - on the 18th April 1945 - that
General George Patton's 3rd Army entered Czechoslovakia, liberating
Western Bohemia from six years of Nazi-German occupation. The largest
Czech city they freed was Plzen - about 80 kilometres south-west of Prague
- and this year the city is to mark the 60th anniversary with major
celebrations.
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SpecialMemories of World War II in the Czech Lands: Remembering Russian Cowboys
In this series women recount some of their memories of wartime.
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Current AffairsNationwide celebrations planned to remember the end of World War Two
On the 8th May 1945 Prague was the last city in Europe to be liberated, a
painful irony given that six years earlier, in March 1939, it had also
been the first foreign capital to be occupied by German troops, months
before World War Two had even broken out. So in this May's commemorations
to mark 60 years since the end of the war in Europe, Prague will have a
special place. Veterans of both the Soviet and American liberating armies,
as well as survivors among the 50,000 Czechs and Slovaks who fought in the
allied armies through the war, will be coming together in Prague and other
Czech cities to remember their fallen comrades. But there will also be
celebrations. The highpoint will be a huge historical parade on Prague's
Letna Plain, a wide open space not far behind the castle, as the main
organizer Vaclav Marhoul told David Vaughan. More
Current AffairsThe Battle of the Airwaves: the extraordinary story of Czechoslovak Radio and the 1945 Prague Uprising
Welcome to a special programme to mark the 58th anniversary of the end of
the Second World War, a national holiday in the Czech Republic. The
anniversary has a special significance in Prague, because it was here that
some of the last shots of the war in Europe were fired, long after most
European cities had been freed. The liberation of Prague by the Red Army
on the 9th May 1945 was preceded by three days of fierce fighting in the
streets of the city, and over 3000 people lost their lives fighting for
Prague's freedom. In the uprising, the radio and the very building from
which we are now broadcasting, was right at the heart of events.
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