| Battle of Slivice | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of World War II | |||||||
Memorial near Slivice |
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| Belligerents | |||||||
| Soviet Union Czechoslovakia[1][2] United States |
Germany | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Sergei Serjogin LeRoy Irwin |
Carl Friedrich von Pückler-Burghauss | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| Unknown | Approx 7,000 | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| estimated 300 Soviet dead estimated 120 American dead |
estimated 1,000 dead estimated 6,000 captured |
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The Battle of Slivice (named after village Slivice) was the last large World War II battle in the area of Czech lands. During 11–12 May 1945, German troops (frantically trying to surrender to the nearby Americans) defended themselves against the partisans and the Soviet Army. The Germans eventually capitulated during early hours of May 12. About 6,000 men were captured by the Soviet troops.
On 7 May 1945, all German forces were ordered to surrender staying in their positions. Field Marshal Ferdinand Schörner, the commander of the Army Group Centre deployed in Bohemia, however, ordered his units to force their way westwards and to surrender to U.S. forces. The units reached the agreed demarcation line in western Bohemia and stopped there. Since the Soviet Army was still days away from the demarcation line the partisans tried, mostly unsuccessfully, to stop the Germans, who responded with reprisals against the local population. On several occasions Vlasov's army units (also trying to reach the Americans) skirmished with the Germans.
On 9 May, a large formation of German troops reached the area between villages Milín, Slivice (now administrative part of Milín) and Čimelice, near the demarcation line. Among them were parts of Kampfgruppe Wallenstein[3], and the 2nd SS Panzer Division's 4th SS Panzergrenadier Regiment; the formation was commanded by SS-Gruppenführer and General-Leutnant of the Waffen-SS Karl Friedrich von Pückler-Burghauss. The soldiers were accompanied by fleeing German civilians and administrators. Because the road toward the Americans was blocked by the local resistance von Pückler-Burghauss ordered to establish defensive lines here. Since May 9, the Americans closed the line and returned any surrendering soldiers to the Soviet side.
On 11 May, partisan groups led by Soviet officer Yevgeniy Antonovich Olesenski[4] attempted to storm the Germans and were decimated. In the afternoon of this day, finally, the Soviet Army units arrived and attacked the Germans.
The attack started with a heavy artillery and rocket bombardment. The Soviet bombardment was supported by 4th Armored Division of the U.S. Third Army's XII Corps. Later, troops from the 1st, 2nd and 4th Ukrainian Fronts attacked the German positions. During the night the defense collapsed, and at around 03:00, General von Pückler-Burghauss signed the capitulation. The American negotiators refused to take the General and his family; fearing revenge from the Russians he shot himself. About 6,000 soldiers and a large number of vehicles were captured.
In 1970 a memorial to the battle, designed by Václav Hilský, was unveiled in Slivice. Since 2001 Czech military history clubs, the Museum in Příbram and the Army of the Czech Republic organize reenactments of the battle here.