1944 Uprising
From Metapedia
The 1944 Uprising (Povstanie roku 1944) or Slovak National Uprising (Slovenské národné povstanie, abbreviated SNP) was a military action of a part of Slovak army in August – October 1944 against German forces trying to supress partisan activities in Slovakia.
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Preliminaries
Opposition existed against the new pro-German regime already from the establishment of Slovak Republic in March 1939. It was, however, rather futile. Communists were active, and although the regime was very mild against them, they did not get virtually any support from the population. The first partisan unit was created already during the spring of 1942 by the Communists. It consisted of about 30 members (20 of them being Jews), but was soon destroyed by the Hlinka guard and most of its members were arrested.
As it became more and more evident that Germany will lose the war, some officers of the Slovak army were trying to find a way how to break alliance with Germany and shift to the Allies at the right time. They cooperated with non-Communist opposition. This "civic" branch of resistance was trying to reestablish Czechoslovak Republic as it was before the war. In December 1943, a document known as "Christmas treaty" was signed, where the "civic" resistance allied with the Communists on some points and Slovak National Council (Slovenská národná rada) was created to govern their common activities.
In April 1944, Slovak National Council, after being refused by several other army officers, successfuly established contact with Lieutenant Colonel Ján Golian, who was charged with preparing the military aspect of the uprising. He elaborated two possibilities:
- The uprising will take place as a coordinated action with the Red Army, will open the Carpathian passes at the right time and help the Soviets to get across Slovakia as quickly as possible. This was considered the more favourable model.
- The uprising will begin as a reaction, would the Germans try to occupy Slovakia. This was considered the worse modality.
In summer 1944, Soviets started dropping partisan units on the Slovak area more and more often. All in all, 53 units of bolshevik partisans were sent to Slovakia from July 1944 until the end of the war. These units, however, or individuals asserting they belonged to them, were not only sabotaging the Slovak and German infrastructure and military installations, but also commited atrocities, lootings, rapings and mass murder of civilian population of German descent.
These attacks had a growing proportion. One of the worst occured on August 27, when partisans took over Ružomberok. During the day, the killed about a hundred German soldiers and captured 67 members of the German Party. Overnight, they were kept in confinement and the next morning, along with about 20 other local civilians, were dragged to the outskirts of the town and executed by the partisans. Some sources claim that the number of murdered was 146.
On August 27, interior minister Alexander Mach delivered a speech on the radio, where he warned Slovaks about what troubles such actions can bring and he called for a general calming of the situation. On about the same time, however, in Brezno, partisans murdered the mayor František Slameň along with three other members of the city council.
On August 28, partisans in Martin stopped an international express train and lured out a troop of 24 – 28 (sources vary) German soldiers, who were on their way back from Romania. During an unsuccessful attempt to disarm them, the partisans killed them all. In Ľubochňa, partisans snatched 20 members of a guard unit of a German children camp and, although they gave up to them, partisans shot them, along with a telephone operator.
Partisan attacks cause German intervention
All these incidents caused uproar of the German leaders. They were trying to convince Slovak president Dr. Jozef Tiso to give them his approval to intervene against the partisans. In the beginning, Tiso was reserved, and refused two times, but after finding out that the situation could not be calmed by Slovak forces, he finally gave his approval to the Germans on August 28.
On the night between August 28 and 29, German forces started crossing Slovak borders and occupying its territory, disarming the units of Slovak army. Some units, however, as, for example, the garrison of Nitra, were not disarmed because they showed their loyalty to the Slovak Republic and were not considered as unreliable by the Germans.
On August 29 at 18:00 in Banská Bystrica, Ján Golian issued the coded signal to start the uprising: "Begin with the evacuation!" ("Začnite s vysťahovaním!"). The city was taken over by 1st Partisan Brigade of J. V. Stalin, commanded by the Soviet officer Anatolij Pavlovič Ržeckij and the renewal of Czechoslovak Republic was declared. Banská Bystrica, located in the center of Slovakia, was the main bastion of the uprising.
First, the insurgents asserted (on August 30) that Germans abolished the Slovak Republic, kidnapped president Dr. Tiso to Malacky and are about to shoot him and that Hungarians were occupying Slovakia from the south. None of this was true, but the propaganda was effective, because of large support of Tiso and Slovak Republic by common Slovak people. However, when Tiso issued a live speech in the radio on 19:00, the volunteers were confused and many of them ran away, not supporting the uprising. Later during the uprising, growing desertions led to establishment of "military police", which were men with an automatic gun instructed to shoot anyone, who was seen running away from the combat line.
Combat operations
At first, the German forces, aided by the Hlinka Guard and the rest of Slovak gendarmerie, were advancing very quickly, occupying all of west and east Slovakia in about two weeks. The insurgents were however able to set up their defences in central Slovakia and, although they were much less skilled and equipped than the Germans, they were able to ward them off from conquering Banská Bystrica until late October. However, the Germans finally broke their defences and on October 27, Banská Bystrica was taken over.
The commanders of the insurgents issued orders that the army should continue fighting together with the partisans. However, in the state of general chaos, this order did not ever reach most insurgent soldiers. Some, however, continued fighting against the Germans right until the end of the war.
Perception
The term Slovak National Uprising was invented by the Communists and is officialy used to this day. During the era of Communist rule, the uprising was portrayed as being almost exclusively an act of Communists, which was however not true. Today, the uprising is considered as one of the most important milestones in Slovak history. August 29 is a holiday, day of the Slovak National Uprising. Mainstream historians consider it a great act of defiance against Hitler and "fascism". Prime minister Robert Fico declared on August 29, 2007 that historical debate is needed, except that on the uprising and that the government will "harshly intervene" against any "displays against SNP". However, it is not against the law to be critical of the uprising; no such legislation exists, unlike in the case of "Holocaust".
Nationalists, however, tend to have a more sceptic view on the uprising: they advert that Dr. Tiso and Slovak Republic had the real support of the Slovak people, that the uprising led to worthless bloodshed and that Slovakia could easily have been spared of the tragedies of war. Also, they argue, the uprising helped the Communists on their way to power as they played a prominent role in it.
