Z deníku radiotelegrafisty – Vančata Pavel (2013)

Readers are presented with a unique diary of Pavel Tofel, a radiotelegraphist of the 311th Czechoslovak Bomber Squadron of the RAF during World War II. In 1939, Pavel Tofel decided to leave for abroad to fight against Nazi Germany. His journey took him through Poland, the Foreign Legion, and the Czechoslovak army in France to Great Britain, where he enlisted in the RAF. After completing training as a radiotelegraphist-gunner, he initially carried out 11 raids over Germany and occupied territories with the 311th Squadron. Then, from the summer of 1942, he conducted patrol flights over the Bay of Biscay against enemy submarines. One of these flights soon became fatal for him... The transcription of the authentic diary, along with the fates of Pavel Tofel and his close colleagues, is set within a factual biography supplemented by related historical events of the 311th Squadron. The author drew from both domestic and foreign archives. The publication is illustrated with nearly 200 period photographs and documents, most of which are published for the very first time. The book is admirably detailed. I do not mean just the diary of P. Tofel, the publication of which is already a commendable and immensely interesting achievement, but I refer to the comments and references that illuminate (for me often new, and...