Return To Czechoslovakia
On 23 April, a symbolic 140-men strong unit led by major Sítek detached from the troops besieging Dunkirk, joined with the 3rd US Army and raised the Czechoslovak flag on its homeland border crossing on 1 May 1945 at Cheb.
The Dunkirk garrison did not surrender until 9 May 1945, when 15,500 German troops and three U-boats were captured by the Czechoslovaks. The brigade then marched to Prague, reaching the city on 18 May 1945, eight days after the arrival of Soviet-sponsored Czechoslovak troops commanded by Ludvík Svoboda.
During the siege of Dunkirk, the Czechoslovak Armoured Brigade suffered 668 casualties; 167 dead, 461 wounded, and 40 missing.
Read more about this topic: 1st Czechoslovak Armoured Brigade
Famous quotes containing the words return to and/or return:
“... one cannot be happy in exile or in oblivion. One cannot always be a stranger. I want to return to my homeland, make all my loved ones happy. I see no further than this.”
—Albert Camus (1913–1960)
“East and west on fields forgotten
Bleach the bones of comrades slain,
Lovely lads and dead and rotten;
None that go return again.”
—A.E. (Alfred Edward)