The Czechoslovak Legion (Czech: Československé legie; Slovak: Československé légie) were volunteer armed forces consisting predominantly of Czechs and Slovaks fighting on the side of the Entente powers during World War I and the White Army during the Russian Civil War until November 1919. Their goal was to win the support of the Allied Powers for the independence of the Lands of the Bohemian Crown from the Austrian Empire, and of Upper Hungary from the Kingdom of Hungary, which were then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. With the help of émigré intellectuals and politicians such as the Czech Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk and the Slovak Milan Rastislav Štefánik, they grew into a force of over 100,000 troops.
In Russia, they took part in several victorious battles during the Russian Civil war, including the battles of Zborov and Bakhmach against the Central Powers, and were heavily involved in the Russian Civil War fighting Bolsheviks, at times controlling the entire Trans-Siberian railway and several major cities in Siberia.
After three years of existence as a small unit in the Imperial Russian Army, the Legion in Russia was established in 1917, with other troops fighting in France since the beginning of the war as the "Nazdar" company, and similar units later emerging in Italy and Serbia. Originally an all-volunteer force, these formations were later strengthened by Czech and Slovak prisoners of war or deserters from the Austro-Hungarian Army. The majority of the legionaries were Czechs, with Slovaks making up 7% of the force in Russia, 3% in Italy and 16% in France.
The name Czechoslovak Legion preceded and anticipated the creation of Czechoslovakia.
Involvement in World War I In Russia In the first months of World War I, the response of the Czech soldiers and civilians to the war and mobilization efforts were highly enthusiastic; however, it turned into apathy later. As World War I broke out, national societies representing ethnic Czechs and Slovaks residing in the Russian Empire petitioned the Russian government to support the independence of their homelands. To prove their loyalty to the Entente cause, these groups advocated the establishment of a unit of Czech and Slovak volunteers to fight alongside the Russian Army.
On 5 August 1914, the Russian Stavka authorized the formation of a battalion recruited from Czechs and Slovaks in Russia. This unit, called the "" (), went to the front in October 1914, where it was attached to the Russian Third Army.Josef Kalvoda, The Genesis of Czechoslovakia (Boulder: East European Monographs, 1986) 62–63. There the Družina soldiers served in scattered patrols performing a number of specialized duties, including reconnaissance, prisoner interrogation and subversion of enemy troops in the opposite trenches.
From its start, Czech and Slovak political émigrés in Russia and Western Europe desired to expand the Družina from a battalion into a formidable military formation. To achieve this goal, they recognized that they would need to recruit from Czech and Slovak prisoners of war (POWs) in Russian camps. In late 1914, Russian military authorities permitted the Družina to enlist Czech and Slovak POWs from the Austro-Hungarian Army, but this order was rescinded after only a few weeks due to opposition from other branches of the Russian government. Despite continuous efforts of émigré leaders to persuade the Russian authorities to change their mind, the Czechs and Slovaks were officially barred from recruiting POWs until the summer of 1917. Still, some Czechs and Slovaks were able to sidestep this ban by enlisting POWs through local agreements with Russian military authorities.
Under these conditions, the Czechoslovak unit in Russia grew very slowly from 1914 to 1917. In early 1916, the Družina was reorganized as the 1st Czecho-Slovak Rifle Regiment. During that year, two more infantry regiments were added, creating the Czechoslovak Rifle Brigade (Československá střelecká brigáda). This unit distinguished itself during the Kerensky Offensive in July 1917, when the Czecho-Slovak troops overran Austrian trenches during the Battle of Zborov.
Following the soldiers' stellar performance at Zborov, the Russian Provisional Government finally granted their émigré leaders on the Czechoslovak National Council permission to mobilize Czech, Moravian and Slovak volunteers from the POW camps. Later that summer, a fourth regiment was added to the brigade, which was renamed the 1st Division of the Czechoslovak Corps in Russia (Československý sbor na Rusi), also known as the Czechoslovak Legion (Československá legie) in Russia. A second division, consisting of four regiments, was added to the Legion in October 1917, raising its strength to about 40,000 troops by 1918.Kalvoda, Genesis, 101–105.
In France
In France, the Czechs and the Slovaks who wanted to fight Austria-Hungary were allowed to join the Foreign Legion, hence originated the term Legion for units of Czechoslovak volunteers. On 31 August 1914, the 1st Company of the 2nd Infantry Regiment of the Foreign Legion in Bayonne was created mostly of the Czechs and was nicknamed "rota Nazdar" ("Nazdar!" Company). The company distinguished itself in heavy combat during assaults near Arras on May 9 and June 16, 1915. Because of heavy casualties, the company was disbanded, and volunteers continued to fight in various French units.
New autonomous Czechoslovak units were established by the decree of the French government on 19 December 1917. In January 1918, the was formed in the town of Cognac; it mixed prisoners of war with volunteers living in America. The 22nd Czechoslovak Rifle Regiment was created later in May.
In Italy
The creation of Czechoslovak units in Italy took place much later than in France or Russia. In January 1918, the commander of the Italian 6th Army decided to form small reconnaissance groups from Czech, Moravian Slovak and Southern Slav volunteers from prisoner-of-war camps. They also served in propaganda actions against the Austrian army. In September 1918 the first fighting unit, the 39th Regiment of the Czechoslovak Italian Legion, was formed from those volunteer reconnaissance squadrons.
Czechoslovak legionaries in Italy were the first to return to newly created Czechoslovakia in 1918 and were immediately drafted into fights for new state borders, most notably in the war against the Hungarian Soviet Republic.
Table of units involved in World War I
+ Czechoslovak Legion Russian Empire French Army
Moroccan Division 1st Company, Battalion C, of the 2nd Foreign Infantry Regiment 53rd Infantry Division 21st Czechoslovak Rifle Regiment 134th Infantry Division 22nd Czechoslovak Rifle Regiment Royal Italian Army 6th Army Esploratori Cecoslovacchi 6th Division Czechoslovak Czechoslovak Italian Legion VI. Division and VII. Division 31st Regiment 32nd Regiment 33rd Regiment 34th Regiment 35th Regiment Imperial Russian Army Russian Third Army "Companions" (Družina) Czechoslovak Rifle Brigade 1st Czecho-Slovak Rifle Regiment 2nd Czecho-Slovak Rifle Regiment 3rd Czecho-Slovak Rifle Regiment 1st Division of the Czechoslovak Corps in Russia 1st "Jan Hus" Infantry Regiment 2nd "George of Poděbrady" Infantry Regiment 3rd Infantry "Jan Žižka from Trocnów" Regiment 4th Infantry "Prokop Grand" Regiment 2nd Infantry Division 5th Infantry Regiment of "Tomáš Masaryk" Prague 6th Hanack Infantry Regiment 7th Tatra Rifle Regiment, 8th Infantry Silesian Regiment
Flags used by the Legion
Flags of legions’ regiments were white and red with embroidered symbols of the Czech countries and Slovakia, linden twigs, St. Wenceslas’ crown, letters “ S”, and Hussite themes.
The reverse side of the Russian legion's flag showed national colors for the Russian command, and Czech and Slovak colors for the Czechs and Slovaks.
The National Council of Czechoslovakia in exile, which led the anti-Austrian resistance, became the interim government on 26 September 1918 with the consent of France, Great Britain, and the US.
The first ceremonial hoisting of the Czechoslovak flag on the house inhabited by T. G. Masaryk, the head of the interim government, took place on 18 October 1918. Based on the historical flag of Bohemia, the Czechoslovak flag was defined as the connection of two stripes, i.e. a white one above a red one.
Russian Civil War
Evacuation from Bolshevik Russia
In November 1917, the Bolsheviks seized power throughout Russia and soon began peace negotiations with the Central Powers at Brest-Litovsk. The chairman of the Czechoslovak National Council, Tomáš Masaryk, who had arrived in Russia earlier that year, began planning for the Legion's departure from Russia and transfer to France so the Czechoslovaks could continue to fight against the Central Powers. Since most of Russia's main ports were blockaded, Masaryk decided that the Legion should travel from Ukraine to the Pacific port of Vladivostok, where the men would embark on transport vessels that would carry them to Western Europe.Victor M. Fic, Revolutionary War and the Russian Question (New Delhi: Abhinav, 1977) 36–39.
In February 1918, Bolshevik authorities in Ukraine granted Masaryk and his troops permission to begin the journey to Vladivostok.Tomáš Masaryk, The Making of a State, Translated by Henry Wickham Steed (New York: Frederick A. Stokes, 1927) 177. On 18 February, before the Czechoslovaks had left Ukraine, the German Army launched Operation Faustschlag (fist strike) on the Eastern Front to force the Soviet government to accept its terms for peace. From 5 to 13 March, the Czechoslovak legionaries successfully fought off German attempts to prevent their evacuation in the Battle of Bakhmach.Henry Baerlein, The March of the Seventy Thousand (London: Leonard Parsons, 1926) 101–103, 128–129.
After leaving Ukraine and entering Soviet Russia, representatives of the Czechoslovak National Council continued to negotiate with Bolshevik authorities in Moscow and Penza to iron out the details of the corps' evacuation. On 25 March, the two sides signed the Penza Agreement, in which the legionaries were to surrender most of their weapons in exchange for unimpeded passage to Vladivostok. Tensions continued to mount, as each side distrusted the other. The Bolsheviks, despite Masaryk's order for the legionaries to remain neutral in Russia's affairs, suspected that the Czechoslovaks might join their counterrevolutionary enemies in the borderlands. Meanwhile, the legionaries were wary of Czechoslovak Communists who were trying to subvert the corps. They also suspected that the Bolsheviks were being pressured by the Central Powers to stall their movement towards Vladivostok.Victor M. Fic, The Bolsheviks and the Czechoslovak Legion (New Delhi: Abhinav, 1978) 22–38.
By May 1918, the Czechoslovak Legion was strung out along the Trans-Siberian Railway from Penza to Vladivostok. Their evacuation was proving much slower than expected due to dilapidated railway conditions, a shortage of locomotives and the recurring need to negotiate with local soviets along the route. On 14 May, a dispute at the Chelyabinsk station between legionaries heading east and Magyar POWs heading west to be repatriated caused the People's Commissar for War, Leon Trotsky, to order the complete disarmament and arrest of the legionaries. At an army congress that convened in Chelyabinsk a few days later, the Czechoslovaks – against the wishes of the National Council – refused to disarm and began issuing ultimatums for their passage to Vladivostok.Fic, Bolsheviks, 230–261. This incident sparked the Revolt of the Legions.