Truppenübungsplatz Milowitz
1939 – 1945
Czechoslovak soldiers saying goodbyes to their tanks in March of 1939.
After the Munich dictate and the withdrawal from the border regions, a state reduction of the Czechoslovak army took place. Unnecessary weapons and vehicles were brought to Milovice. They were no longer sold abroad. Under pressure from Nazi Germany, Slovakia declared independence on March 14, 1939. The following day, German troops marched into the territory of Bohemia and Moravia. The first Wehrmacht units entered Milovice on March 17, 1939, and occupied the entire camp without resistance.
Wagoning of confiscated Czechoslovak equipment, that was sent to Germany.
In Milovice, the German army took control of a massive amount of Czechoslovak armament, machinery and other equipment. Most of the prey acquired was immediately transported to the Reich. The training grounds itself were renamed to Truppenübungsplatz Milowitz. The German command was counting on using it for intensive training of their troops, who would them be sent to the front.
Luftwaffe Guard Detachment at the Boží Dar Airport, that the Germans started extensively using since April of 1945.
Based on the requirements of the Wehrmacht, the area of the training ground was expanded to 5,300 hectares in 1940-1941. The following villages were evacuated: Benátecká Vrutice, Jiřice, Lipník, Struhy, Kbel, Újezdec, Zelená, Radenice and the settlement of Mladotín. Other municipalities in the vicinity of the training ground lost parts of their land registers. Residents of the occupied villages had to move out no later than midnight on October 31, 1940.
Bohumil Sucharda, mayor of the municipality of Milovice from 1931 to 1944.
During the protectorate, two resistance groups operated in Milovice, which were linked to the organizations Obrana národa and RU-DA. Captain Ullrich’s group was exposed by the Gestapo and its members were arrested, including the Milovice mayor Sucharda, who was sent to the Terezín concentration camp in June 1944, where he died on May 7, 1945.
Rebels at the guardhouse at the entrance to the camp, May 1945.
At the end of the war, there were 10,401 armed and 7,248 unarmed soldiers in the Truppenübungsplatz Milowitz. The main task of the Nymburk uprising was to tie down German units in Milovice so that they could not intervene in Prague. Rebels engaged in fights with the Germans around Jívák and sabotages of the railway took place, which blocked all transports.
Red army in Milovice
A National Committee was established in Milovice on May 5th, 1945. The camp commander, General Rüdiger, made its members responsible for order in the village and threatened to have them shot. The German garrison left Milovice on May 8th, 1945. The first Red Army units arrived on May 11th and remained in Milovice until the end of November.
Did you know that…? The 389th Infantry Division of the Wehrmacht, which was destroyed at Stalingrad, was formed in Milovice.