František Wawrecka & 2nd Cavalry of the 3rd US Army - Mysliv, Czech Republic
Posted by: ToRo61
N 49° 24.877 E 013° 34.384
33U E 396500 N 5474527
Two plaque dedicate to a liberators of Czechoslovakia from Nazi rule.
Waymark Code: WMR1CF
Location: Plzeňský kraj, Czechia
Date Posted: 04/27/2016
Views: 19
The western part of the former Czechoslovakia (now Czech Republic) was liberated from Nazi rule until the summer 1945. The liberation ensure also 2nd Cavalry of the 3rd US Army (
visit link) . This fact reminds the plaque on the wall of local municipality office.
Colonel (ret.) František Vavrecka (Wawrecka) was born on the 3rd of April 1920. In the summer of 1939 he decided to leave for Poland, which was still independent at the time. On the 27th of June 1939 he and one friend illegally crossed the borders. Arriving in Krakow, they were taken care of by an official of the Czechoslovak consulate and on the 25th of July 1939 they joined the army as volunteers.
He was transferred from Istanbul, Turkey, to Haifa in Palestine, where on the 1st of May 1941 he was signed into the Middle-East Army. His company took part in the occupation of Syria at Djerabluss, against the French Vichy army. As a rifleman he took part in the defence of besieged Tobruk, occasionally doing rounds as a watchman. He was retired to the back lines, given anti-aircraft training, and transferred to the 200th Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment where he took part in the so-called "Second Tobruk". After putting the city behind him, he and other soldiers circled the whole of Africa on the ship the Mauretania. In the autumn of 1943 the dropped anchor in Liverpool. In England he was moved to a reconnaissance platoon, given training for the use of the Bren Carrier armoured car, and set to work as a mechanic. He reached France with the second phase of the invasion and took part in the siege of Dunkirk as a member of the reconnaissance platoon of the motorized infantry battalion's 2nd company. The first stop on Czech soil was at Klatovy. Myslív was also among the places he passed by - he got married there soon after the war. For family reasons he later moved to Myslív village in the Klatovy district.