Heslo Čechoslovák – Škarka Karel (2018)

Dear readers, you hold in your hands a unique book about a part of Czech history that has mostly been silenced. Have you heard anything about the existence and activities of the government army during the Protectorate? Probably not much, as this topic was taboo during communism. In Ústí nad Orlicí, Colonel Karel Škarka lived from 1917 to 2000, a government soldier, Italian partisan, and member of the Czechoslovak Armored Brigade in England. His son of the same name wrote a book titled 'The Czechoslovak Code.' The main motif of the book is the war diary of Colonel Škarka, while the second historical thread consists of the authentic experiences of the book's author, Karel Škarka Jr., who, along with his son, followed the traces of the government army in 2016, much of which had defected to the Italian partisans. Some, like Colonel Karel Škarka, escaped from the German encirclement over the Alps to Switzerland and then through France to the Czechoslovak army in Great Britain. After the battles at Dunkirk, they triumphantly arrived in Prague and participated in the famous military parade in Prague on May 30, 1945. The author connects excerpts from his father's war diary, insights from the journey tracing Czech soldiers in Italy, facts from scholarly literature, and finally, how the communists dealt with the Westerners. The author states: 'I want to convey information about...'