The middle arms were effectively put out of use when Germany occupied Bohemia and Moravia and an independent Slovakia were established.

The Slovak arms should not be seen as a Herzschild but as a shield carried by the Bohemian lion in the larger motif [citation needed].

Czechoslovakia had a Communist regime from 1948, but this initially retained the smaller coat of arms of 1920 and did not adopt an emblem in the form of so-called "socialist heraldry" so popular in most other countries influenced by the Soviet Union.

This type of shield was associated with the Hussites in Czech history, whose rebellion was interpreted as proto-communist revolutionary movement by the state-sanctioned Marxist historiography.

Above the Bohemian lion, the red star of Communism replaced the crown and the arms of Slovakia, still carried by the lion, was totally remade, removing the cross in favour of the fire of partisans and the trimount was replaced with a naturalistic silhouette of the Kriváň mountain.