People now speak about Sokolovo differently than how it really was
Stáhnout obrázek
Colonel in retirement Antonín Bukový was born September 24, 1916 in the village Likavka near Ružomberok in the then Austria-Hungary. Shortly before the outbreak of WWII he did his basic military service in Ružomberok and after the declaration of independent Slovakia on September 14, 1939 he decided to escape to Poland together with four other soldiers. By way of Sabinov they managed to reach Malé Bronowice where a Czechoslovak legion (also called the Czech and Slovak Legion) was already being formed at that time. After the attack on Poland on September 3, 1939 the Legion was to move to Romania, but eventually they got to the territory of the Soviet Union where the soldiers were gradually interned in Jarmolince, Kamenec Podolsky, Olchovce, Suzdal and in Oranky. Antonín Bukový then became one of a hundred officers of the so-called Oranky group who were preparing the basis for the formation of the 1st Czechoslovak independent field battalion under the command of colonel Ludvík Svoboda. The battalion was established in Buzuluk and Antonín then went through an instructors‘ course for non-commissioned officers there. He subsequently took part in the battle of Sokolovo holding the sergeant‘s rank and he served as the commander of a telegraph squad in this combat. After the battle of Sokolovo and reorganization of the battalion to a brigade, followed by the fighting for Kiev, he was assigned to the paratrooper brigade and he underwent paratrooper training in Yefremov. Then he did special training for combat behind enemy lines and together with two other paratroopers he was deployed to Slovakia during the operation Margita. He took part in the Slovak National Uprising where his foremost task was to keep the Czechoslovak military mission in Moscow informed via a radio station and establish contact with Ján Golián. Antonín‘s radio station kept sending messages for the whole time, even after the Slovak Uprising had been put down. Immediately after the war he was patrolling the border near Košice against Hungarian soldiers. He remained in the army and served in the military garrison in Prague in the disciplinary department. Antonín Bukový died on April, 29th, 2015 in Prague.
