English Translation

Copy. The representative of the Foreign Office at the PZ AOK 4. No. 18/43 About Inf. 389 M A.H.Q., 17 March 1943. Betr.: Czech troops in the Red Army. 3 prints. The interrogation of the prisoner of war Czech Karl Eg e r, born in 1909 in Moravia, revealed a number of interesting details about the construction of Czech troops in the USSR and their composition as well as the situation of members of the Czech people who emigrated to Russia. As to the person of the prisoner of war, it should be noted that he was born on the land according to his own statements and worked after attending the elementary school in agriculture, in the textile industry and as a chauffeur. He emigrated to Russia in October 1939. Eger makes a good and quite military impression. He is extremely intelligent and shows a fresh and open being. His factual information seems credible, but his statements about the mood in the troop and, above all, about the reasons for his emigration are incomplete and apparently not entirely reliable. After an official announcement in the "Pravda" the Czech troops carry the official name "Czechoslovak troops in the Soviet Union" (Chekhozlavakaja wojennaja Tschaftj w SSSR). According to the Eger, Colonel Swoboda, a former active officer of the Czech army, is commander of these associations. With the establishment of the I. Btl. This force was started in January 1942 after an agreement had been concluded between the Soviet government and the former (exile) government of Czechoslovakia in London - allegedly on 3.1.42. The force was set up in Busuluk, Kuybyshev region, in the same camp where Polish formations had been established immediately before. By the end of 1942, this troop had gradually been brought to a strength of about 1,000 men to the Federal Foreign Office, Berlin.