Memorial plaque to the Slovak legionnaires serving with the Czechoslovak Legion unveiled

A new memorial plaque has been unveiled to commemorate the Slovak legionnaires who, serving with the Czechoslovak Legion, fought on the battlefields of the First World War. On behalf of the Ministry of Defence, Deputy Defence Minister Marian Majer participated in the unveiling ceremony at the former Czechoslovak Legion Bank in Bratislava.

Deputy Defence Minister Marian Majer said: “The Czechs and Slovaks of the Czechoslovak Legion, a voluntary force fighting for our national freedom abroad – in Italy, France and Russia, played a major role in the Czechoslovak National Council in Paris being recognised internationally as the political body representing the future independent state of Czechs and Slovaks.” Mr Majer thanked Matica slovenská, the Slovak cultural institution for its initiative to honour the Slovak legionnaires with the memorial plaque.

Director of the Institute of Military History Col Miloslav Čaplovič shed more light on the strength of the Czechoslovak Legion abroad. Of 9,957 Czechoslovak legionnaires in France, 1,591 were Slovak. The total number of the Czechoslovak Army Corps legionnaires in Italy was 19,476. Of them, 591 were Slovak. Finally, the Czechoslovak Legion in Russia numbered a total of 71,310 soldiers. 5,104 of those were Slovak volunteers.

In this respect, mention was made to the most outstanding Slovak legionnaires in WW1. “Among them were Vladimír Svetozár Hurban, Ján Geryk, Vladimír Daxner, Janko Jesenský, Jozef Gregor Tajovský, Štefan Osuský, Ján Papánek, Rudolf Gábriš, Rudolf Viest, Mikuláš Gacek, Ján Černek, and many others,” added Col Čaplovič.