Together with a clash which allegedly took place at Moravská Třebová, this was the only known active Czechoslovak resistance to the German Army during the occupation of Bohemia and Moravia in March 1939.

The battle took place simply because German forces cut Czechoslovak communication lines too early and the army unit stationed in the barracks didn't receive the general order to surrender.

[1] The German invasion of Czechoslovakia started on the evening of 14 March 1939, a day before the original date set by Adolf Hitler.

A Czech sentry, private first class Bohuslav Přibyla,[4] ordered the German officer to stop, however, he continued forward with his pistol in hand.

[2][4] After learning of the German advance, Pavlík had set two improvised trenches in front of the barracks and ordered the deployment of the bulk of the troops on the second store.

[5] Pavlík, who was himself firing from a heavy machine gun positioned on the rooftop,[2] attempted to summon an armoured column from one of the neighbour garrisons, to no avail.

[5] Karel Pavlík was allowed to retain the command of his men immediately after the surrender, and the German officers did not confiscate his personal weapon.

He carried out several sabotage actions, blowing up a German train at Lískovec, two high voltage pylons and a number of telephone lines.

[7] Czechoslovak president-in-exile Edvard Beneš often described the skirmish as a symbol of the heroic resistance of Silesian soldiers against the occupants during World War II.