U československé vojenské mise v Americe I. - Vzpomínky legionáře Oldřicha Španiela – Španiel Oldřich (2024)

Oldřich Španiel is one of the significant yet almost forgotten figures in Czechoslovak military history. He entered it as a soldier in the Austro-Hungarian army, and while in captivity, he joined the Czechoslovak legions in Russia, eventually making his way to France in the autumn of 1917. After the war, he continued his military career, and after the occupation in 1939, he became involved in his second resistance, initially as a military attaché in the United States, which he knew well. At the very end of the war, he participated in the liberation of his homeland. However, he was not spared the purges after February 1948. He then dedicated himself to writing extensive memoirs about World War I, from which we present two parts, where he recalls his time with the military mission in America. This mission arrived in June 1918 to recruit compatriots for our army in France. The first volume describes the arrival, the meeting with Professor Masaryk, and a joint promotional tour through the eastern states, including visits to the largest expatriate centers in New York, Chicago, and Pittsburgh. The text is complemented by around a hundred period photographs.