11 Czechoslovak Infantry Battalion - East

11 Czechoslovak Infantry Battalion No. 11 - East Czechoslovak Infantry Battalion No. 11 - East Czechoslovak Infantry Battalion No. 11 - East - Czechoslovak military unit fighting the Allies during the Second World War

On August 14, 1940, the Czechoslovak Military Mission to the Middle East and the Middle East was led by the Czechoslovak government emeritus led by Gen. O. Mezel. As a result of its activities, a Czechoslovak Contingent - the Middle East was formed on 28 October, subordinate to the commander-in-chief of the British Army in that region, General Archibald Wavell.

At the same time, 4 Czechoslovak Infantry Regiments were dissolved. On its basis at the Gedera camp in Palestine on November 1, 11 Czechoslovak Infantry Battalions were formed - the East under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Karela Klapálka, deputy commander of the 4th Infantry Regiment. The unit consisted of the headquarters, four firing companies (three platoons each) and a company of accompanying weapons (machine gun platoon, communications, munitions, workshops and transport). At the beginning of December 1940, Czechoslovak soldiers underwent 11 weeks of acclimatization and were transferred to the camps at Sidi Bishr and Agami. By spring 1941, patrol services in the Judean desert were conducted. Subsequently, the Battalion underwent orders from the 23rd Infantry Brigade under the command of Brigadier A. Galoway. He was in Sidi Hanaism as a retreat of the British troops conducting Operation Battleaxe. In early July he participated in the "Exporter" operation, the Allied war effort against the forces of France Vichy in Syria. He did not take direct part in the fight, but as a result of an unexpected artillery attack he lost 1 soldier. After the capitulation of the French on 11 July, he protected the border with Turkey by October.

In August, the Czechoslovak government of emigration requested the British authorities to transfer the Battalion to Great Britain, but the British refused. On 20 October, they transported him to the German-Italian Tobruku, where he was subjected to the Polish Independent Carpathian Rifle Brigade. Dipl. Stanisław Kopański. He participated in the defense of Tobruk until the mid- of December. He lost 14 soldiers killed and 81 wounded. He remained in the Tobruk area, initially under the orders of the British XIII Corps and then the 38th Indian Infantry Brigade. In March 1942 he was transferred to Egypt and again to Palestine, where he was subordinated to the British 4th Airborne Brigade in Haifa. On April 21st, the battalion was reorganized in the 200th Czechoslovak Light Anti-Air Regiment.

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