Ervín Hoida: poslední z hrdinů – Klůc Jiří (2023)

The book discusses the life story of Major Ervín Hoida, who currently lives forgotten near Liverpool. The publication is released on the occasion of his 105th birthday anniversary. Ervín Hoida fought in the battles of World War II and personally knew the paratroopers Josef Gabčík and Jan Kubiš. After the German occupation of Ostrava in March 1939, he took a dramatic route through fascist Italy to southern France. He voluntarily joined the Czechoslovak foreign army and in the spring of 1940 participated as an infantryman in the retreat battles. He was successfully evacuated to the British Isles, where he was to undergo training for deployment in the occupied homeland. However, that did not happen. He met a British citizen and got married. Instead, as a tank driver in the Czechoslovak Independent Armored Brigade from 1944 to 1945, he participated in the siege of the Nazi-occupied French port of Dunkirk. ***** Ervín Hoida is today the last veteran who went through the entire saga of Czechoslovaks on the Western Front. The last witness of the battles for France in 1940. The last comrade of the future paratroopers Gabčík and Kubiš. He is the last hero.