From D-Day to V-Day

May 1945

May 8, 1945 - D-Day + 266

Victory in Europe – V-E Day

The last shots of the war in the air over West Bohemia

The command of the 16th Armored Division’s Combat Command R moved to Koterov on the outskirts of Pilsen, while the 23rd Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron set up its command post in Třemošná. The unit that arrived in Prague the night before found that the person to whom the negotiators were supposed to deliver the report had already left town. As a result, the unit immediately set out on another journey and at 0600 hrs reached Velichovky, a small town north of Hradec Králové. After quickly wrapping up negotiations, the unit headed back at 1100 hrs, arriving in Pilsen seven hours later.

In the course of the day, the 2nd Infantry Division’s 9th Infantry Regiment prepared to move its command post to Rokycany, while the 38th Infantry Regiment remained in its positions in Pilsen. Its sister 23rd Infantry Regiment was located in the vicinity of Křimice and Vejprnice for now. The XII Corps made contact with Red Army units. In Amstetten, Company A from the 11th Armored Division’s 41st Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron met up with a Red Army patrol. The 65th Infantry Division did likewise near Strengberg, as did the 71st Infantry Division near St Peter.

Meanwhile, the 90th Infantry Division’s 359th Infantry Regiment mopped up the woods around Plánice and Zavlekov.

US V Corps positions at midnight, May 7-8, 1945:

1st Infantry Division – The 26th Infantry Regiment had taken up positions around Luby, Kumštát, and Kraslice; the 18th Infantry Regiment was located in Dolní Žandov, Prameny, and Mnichov; and the 16th Infantry Regiment was in Františkovy Lázně, Hrádek u Habartova, Chlum Svaté Máří, and Arnoltov.

The 97th Infantry Division had sent reconnaissance patrols out to Nečtiny, Manětín, Hvozd and towards Dražeň north of Pilsen, making contact with Red Army units near Žlutice in the district of Carlsbad (Karlovy Vary). The command of the 303rd Infantry Regiment was in Chodová Planá, while the 386th Infantry Regiment was in Město Touškov and the 387th Infantry Regiment in Něšov.

US XII Corps positions at midnight, May 7-8, 1945:

The 2nd Cavalry Group (Mechanized) was located east of Klatovy, in the direction of Plánice via Újezd.

90th Infantry Division – The 359th Infantry Regiment occupied positions along the main road leading to the southeast out of Klatovy. The regiment’s 1st Battalion was deployed between Mochtín and Bystrá, the 2nd Battalion was located in the area from Čiháň to Plánička, and the 3rd Battalion occupied the rear, between Kněžice and Běšiny. 357th Infantry Regiment – 1st Battalion had moved from Zavlekov to Stříbrné Horz, and the 2nd Battalion from Hradiště to the southeast, towards Rabí in the district of Sušice. 358th Infantry Division – 2nd Battalion held the sector from the Otava River southwards towards Rabí, up to Nezamyslice and Bílenice, while the 3rd Battalion was located in the Žihobce – Soběšice – Víska area.

4th Armored Division – Combat Command B was located on the Kasejovice – Lnáře – Kadov line. Combat Command A took up positions between Katovice and Strakonice, and the 25th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron held the zone between Drakonice and Dub.

5th Infantry Division – the 10th Infantry Regiment’s 2nd and 3rd Battalions were in Vimperk, and the 1st Battalion was near Skláře. The 2nd Infantry Regiment’s 2nd Battalion was in Milesice, and the 3rd Battalion in Volary. The 11th Infantry Regiment’s 1st Battalion was located in Knížecí Pláně, and the 2nd Battalion was in the Horní Světlé Hory area.

26th Infantry Division – The 101st Infantry Regiment’s 1st Battalion was located between Hůrka, Černá v Pošumaví, and Muckov, and the 3rd Battalion was located in the area from Želnava to Maňava. The 104th Infantry Regiment’s 3rd Battalion took up positions in Bohdalovice, while the 1st Battalion was deployed near Ostrov, south of Malšín and at Machnatec. The 328th Infantry Regiment’s 3rd Battalion was located on the Nahořany – Velenecký vrch line, and the 2nd Battalion was in Horní Dvořiště.

Shortly after 7 a.m. on May 8, 1945, Lieutenants Newman and Geiger from the 162nd Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron used their Mustangs to force two German FockeWulf Fw-190 fighters to make an emergency landing in the area near Dolní Kamenice and Hlohová in the district of Domažlice. The German aircraft were flying low to the ground in an attempt to escape the Russian zone and surrender to the Americans – or possibly make it as far as Germany as part of the unofficial "Heim ins Reich” operation. Both aircraft landed on the ground – one with its landing gear down, the other on its belly. The pilots were apprehended soon afterwards. The first aircraft, a Fw 190F-8 "<2", was part of the Luftwaffe’s SG 10/III dive-bomber wing detached in České Budějovice at the end of the war. The second aircraft, a Fw 190F-8 W. No. 586188 bearing the mark “<5“ on the fuselage, was also from the SG 10.

Several hours later, their colleagues from the 15th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron, Lieutenants George R. Schroeder and Leland A. Larson, shot down two more escaping FockeWulf Fw-190 aircraft near the villages of Nynice and Nadryby in the district of Pilsen. The crews of both aircraft were killed. A German Cross in Gold was even found in the wreckage of one of the aircraft. The shots fired over the Berounka River put a definitive end to the relatively short, yet bountiful series of victories by XIX Tactical Air Command pilots, who shot down 29 German aircraft and destroyed another 159 on the ground over Bavaria and Czechoslovakia as part of their support for Patton’s Third Army troops in the period from April 22 till May 8, 1945. At the same time, these truly were the final shots fired in the air war over West Bohemia, which lasted from 1942 till 1945.

Lt Col Sítek’s Combined Unit waited in Pilsen for orders to go out to assist Prague until May 8, when the unit was relocated to the nearby town of Kyšice.

“Even though we were welcomed with heartfelt hospitality in Kyšice, our nerves were on edge. Our fears about our people fighting at the barricades in Prague followed with the sense of dread and anxiety that everybody felt. Throughout the entire village, everyone was glued to the radio receivers. We had our command post at the school, in Principal Josef Šoltys’ office. We didn’t budge from the radios and we anxiously awaited orders from the American commander,” Kraus explained about the mission in Kyšice. But no orders that would have allowed the Combined Unit to head out to help their compatriots fighting in Prague ever came.

A note was sent out from the Czechoslovak Independent Armoured Brigade (CIAB) at Dunkirk into the surrounded port, ordering Vice Admiral Frisius to appear at the command post of General Liška, the commander of the CIAB, on May 9, 1945. At the post he was to sign the surrender of the port’s German garrison. Although he was clearly unwilling to do so, he did sign. General Liška’s men now faced their final mission – their return home, to Czechoslovakia. The first part of the brigade arrived in Bohemia ten days later.

The Czechoslovak fighter pilots, members of the Royal Air Force's No. 310, 312 and 313 Squadrons, were also closely following the events in Bohemia with bated breath. They waited until they would be called upon to use their aircraft to help the people back home in Czechoslovakia. Nothing of the sort happened, though, and the British fighter aircraft, now bearing Czechoslovak markings, did not appear in Prague until August of 1945.

The men from the No. 311 Squadron RAF lived through these final days similarly, even though on May 5 they chalked up a victory when, in all likelihood, they sent an enemy U-boat to the bottom of the sea. They continued to patrol over the North and Baltic Seas, escorting German U-boats which, as a sign of surrender, were travelling on the surface of the sea into port. The war had ended, and it was now time to assess the losses and remember those who had the terrible misfortune of not surviving to join in celebrating Victory in Europe.

The End