Tragedy in Rudice: 80 years ago, a pair of paratroopers committed suicide

The tragic war story of a pair of paratroopers trained in England took place on May 7, 1944, a year before the end of World War II.

“From 1941, the command of the Western Resistance in England decided to send airborne paratroopers with various tasks to the territory of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. One of them was the Carbon group, which was sent to Moravia in one plane together with the Clay landing party, on the evening of April 12, 1944. After midnight, the Carbon group, consisting of commander František Bogataj, Jaroslav Šperl, Josef Vanc and František Kobzík, jumped out near Ratiškovice . In half an hour, three members of the Clay group performed a jump near Hostišová in the Zlín region,” explained Vlastimil Hela, publicist and member of the Letecká bitva Bílé Karpaty 1944 association.

Operation Barium: the paratroopers were not talked about for a long time, 80 years after the jump, a monument to them will be unveiled

History

However, the Carbon group was not lucky. They jumped into a forest area outside the planned area, the cargo parachute with operational material got caught in the trees and was lost immediately after landing. Only the Eureka radio beacon that carried the Bogataj remained. During the jump, it was also the last time the members of the group were seen together.

After the jump, Kobzík and Vance proceeded together to the area of ​​Uherské Brod, where contacts at interception addresses were negotiated. According to post-war statements, on the night of May 7, 1944, they hid in the attic of František Lukáš’s house no. 89 in Rudice without applying to stay there. This proved fatal for them.

“They were discovered in the morning by his surprised wife. The owner of the house was being watched by the Gestapo as a legionnaire and, believing that they were German provocateurs who were gathering compromising information on him, after much hesitation and consultation with the mayor of the village, he reported them to the gendarmerie station. “Within a few hours, Kobzík and Vance were surrounded by gendarmes, and in the situation they chose voluntary death before arrest during the shootout, as their military oath commanded them,” Hela pointed out.

Another member of the Carbon Šperl group joined Bogataj after some time and they started cooperation with a local illegal organization. At the same time, they teamed up with members of two other groups, Clay and Calcium. In the vicinity of Uherské Ostroh and Uherské Hradiště, they created an extensive network of collaborators and arranged a weapons drop with London.

“They prepared about twenty suitable areas for dropping weapons. They were successful with seven out of eighteen drops, but even so, a large amount of material was managed to get into the area,” said Hela.

Later, together with the domestic resistance, they organized more than four dozen successful combat and sabotage actions, including against German transports. “In this regard, Carbon is one of the most successful dropships sent from the West,” Hela explained.

Josef Vanc was born on February 4, 1915 in Žitetín in Jičínsk. He left the Protectorate in May 1939 and that same year joined the Foreign Legion and subsequently the Czechoslovak Foreign Army in France. Later in England he underwent special task training and was assigned to the Carbon group.

František Kobzík was born on March 22, 1914 in Břeclav. As a representative in rowing, he was transferred to the 10th Infantry Regiment in Břeclav. He was the national champion in the eight rowing category in 1936, and in the same year he participated in the Summer Olympics in Berlin. After the occupation, he left the protectorate for Poland on June 1, 1939 and joined the Foreign Legion, then the Czechoslovak Foreign Army in France. Like Vanc, he went to England and after extensive training was assigned to the Carbon Airborne.

The graves of the two paratroopers were never found, and it is not even known how the Nazis disposed of their remains. Both have a symbolic place of worship at the Rudice cemetery.

PHOTO: The Convoy of Freedom passed through Pilsen. The veterans were missing

Homemade