1st Czechoslovak Independent Armoured Brigade

The 1st Czechoslovak Independent Armoured Brigade Group (Czech: Československá samostatná obrněná brigáda, Slovak: Československá samostatná obrnená brigáda) was an armoured unit of expatriate Czechoslovaks organised and equipped by the United Kingdom during the Second World War in 1943.

[2] The formation continued to train in the UK until the summer of 1944 when, with some 4,000 troops under command, it moved to Normandy, joining 21st Army Group at Falaise on 30 August.

In the spring of 1945, the 1st Armoured Brigade Group was expanded to 5,900 Czechoslovak officers and men, some of whom came from nationals recruited in liberated France and a significant group of a tank battalion, an artillery regiment, a motor transport company and a company of engineers from Czechs and Slovaks forced to serve in the Wehrmacht and who were captured by the Allies in Normandy.

[4] On 23 April, a symbolic 140-men strong unit detached from the troops besieging Dunkirk, led by Major Sítek, joined with the 3rd US Army and raised the Czechoslovak flag on its homeland border crossing on 1 May 1945 at Cheb.

The brigade then marched to Prague, reaching the city on 18 May 1945, eight days after the arrival of Soviet-sponsored Czechoslovak troops commanded by Ludvík Svoboda.