Frontový deník – Kalcovský Vladimír (2025)

In February 1944, the Red Army liberated Ukrainian Volhynia, where a significant Czech minority lived. Thousands of men and women subsequently joined the Czechoslovak army to fight for the liberation of their ancestors' homeland. Among them was teacher Václav Kalcovský, who was assigned as an office sergeant to a self-propelled artillery unit, which later became the 3rd Tank Battalion. He later participated in the campaign into Czechoslovakia – going through battles at Dukla, in Poland, and during the liberation of Ostrava. However, he does not only recall clashes with the Germans; he describes the everyday life of soldiers on the front and in the rear, as well as coexistence with the residents in the areas they passed through. He also remembers his commanders, including Hero of the Soviet Union Richard Tesařík, and the arrival in Prague, which was not as they had expected. He subsequently participated with his battalion in the consolidation of the border areas in northern Moravia, after which he returned to his pre-war profession. His extensive memories are complemented by 250 unique photographs and documents that also shed light on the fates of other, now almost forgotten Czechoslovak participants in World War II.