the nationality of all inhabitants of the czech provinces and ...

The Break up of Czechoslovakia and the Genesis
of the Transfer
A somewhat different situation arose
in the Ustí nad Labem Regierungsbezirk
particularly as far as the Czech
population was concerned. The advanced
divisions of the main shock battalions of
the Red Army’s 1 st Ukrainian Front,
which had commenced operations in the
vicinity of Dresden in support of the
Prague Uprising eventually fought their
way across the extremely difficult terrain
of the Ore Mountains during the night
of May 7/8 and quickly advanced into
Bohemia. The advance units of the 4 th
Guards Tank Army penetrated the area
via Hora Svaté Kateřiny and Moldava
and secured the districts of Most,
Chomutov and Bílina, and by evening
they were within reach of Žatec, Louny
and Slaný. After capturing Cínovec and
Teplice, units of the 3 rd Guard Tank
Army thrust towards Lovosice and
Terezín and rapidly advanced on Prague.
On May 7, 1945 at around 5 p.m.,
the Gauleiter, Konrad Henlein, left
Liberec for the area of Karlovy Vary
with his closest staff in order to contact
the American troops. His intention was
to negotiate the recognition of the
Sudetengau and its occupation by the US
army. He eventually made contact with
the American army at Loket on the
Bene‰ and Roosevelt in the USA, May 1943.
159
Chapter IV
morning of May 8, in the company of
his adjutant Umann and his interpreter
Bayerl. All three were taken by jeep to
Cheb, the headquarters of the 1 st
Infantry Division of the US 5 th Army
Corps. None of the top American
commanders was ready to negotiate
with them and they were simply
interrogated at the local prisoner-of-war
camp before being taken to Pilsen on
May 9. After interrogation at the
headquarters of the 5 th Army Corps
Henlein was transferred around
midnight to a temporary prisoner-ofwar
camp at the local barracks. There
the former supreme leader of the
Sudetengau committed suicide in the
night of May 9, 1945.
THE CZECH RESISTANCE
MOVEMENT
From the beginning of the occupation a
resistance movement operated constantly
in the so-called Protectorate and was
organised by the émigré Czechoslovaks.
Edvard Beneš became the leading
figure of resistance movement abroad.
Although he enjoyed considerable
authority in the democratic resistance on
Czech soil, it was initially no easy task
for him to assert himself as head of the