Zapomenuté vojsko - Československá domobrana z Itálie a její neznámá epopej – Špánik Jozef (2022)

The Czechoslovak Home Guard from Italy, in which more than 60,000 men served, was formed on Italian territory shortly after the end of the fighting in World War I. Its members were former soldiers of the Austro-Hungarian army who voluntarily enlisted in the Czechoslovak army while in captivity – Czechs, Slovaks, and Germans. This book provides readers with information about the formation of home guard battalions, the course of their transports back to the homeland, and the subsequent involvement of home guards in military operations aimed at stabilizing and calming the situation in the border areas of Czechoslovakia. The most famous chapter in home guard history became their participation in the fight against Hungarian Bolsheviks in Slovakia in the spring and summer of 1919. The book also maps the further fates of former members of the Czechoslovak home guard after 1920, up to the first half of the 1990s, including information about the history of the Union of the Czechoslovak Home Guard from Italy, the involvement of former home guards in both domestic and foreign resistance during World War II, and profiles of selected personalities who served in the home guard battalions. The text is complemented by over 200 period photographs and documents.