Czechoslovak Legion in Italy

The first formal Czechoslovak Volunteers Group (Czech: Československý dobrovolnický sbor) was formed in Italian prisoner-of-war camps in Santa Maria Capua Vetere,[1] near Naples and matured at Padula near Salerno.

In January 1918, the headquarters of the 6th Italian Army finally agreed to form reconnaissance squadrons from Czechoslovak and Southern Slav volunteers.

The Czechoslovak Legion in Italy was formed as a result of the efforts by Slovak leader Milan Rastislav Štefánik and Czech leaders Tomáš Masaryk and Edvard Beneš, who at the outbreak of World War I supported the idea wherein the Austro-Hungarian Empire should be broken up so that Czecho-Slovakia would become an independent country.

[2] Štefánik, who had become a French citizen in 1912 was one of thousands of expatriate Czechs and Slovaks[3] who volunteered for France when the war began, as early as August 1914.

The druzhina were deployed as reconnaissance units and also began a propaganda campaign to convince their fellow countrymen who had been conscripted into the Austro-Hungarian army to defect.

Under Štefánik's guidance, large numbers of Czechs and Slovaks defected on the Russian front and formed the Czechoslovak Legion.

(At the conclusion of the war the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs (which later merged into Yugoslavia) was in fact created and led to conflict with the Italians.)

Soon enough Italian officers were believers that a full scale offensive at Bainsizza was planned and, during this period, Hlaváček became the first prisoner of war actually freed from captivity.

[7] Thus Czechoslovak scouts (or intelligence operatives) entered the fight as a part of the Italian forces as the Esploratori Cecoslovacchi.

[8] As in Russia, these units were also tasked with a propaganda campaign to convince their fellow countrymen, who had been conscripted into the Austro-Hungarian army for a cause they did not support, to defect.

The Austrians explained that they wanted to pick up apples abandoned in no man's land and avoid the danger of friendly fire.

… Pivko's plan was to deliver to Italy the Bosnian battalion of the Landsturm, stationed in Carzano, after having convinced all the soldiers (including many Czechs) of that group to comply: thus allowing the Italians to penetrate the Austro-Hungarian lines, breaking through the Valsugana to Trento.

Thus, in the autumn of 1917, Italy collected a substantial number of [Czech and] Slovenian ethnic refugees, including Pivko, who were not allowed to form a real foreign legion on the French model.

The Slovenian defectors brought Italian uniforms with a special mark and were assigned to tasks ranging from the recognition of the territory to propaganda among the cross-border populations.

From a formal point of view they were prisoners of war with a special status: free to move, use the railways and receive a financial contribution.These Esploratori units were limited to intelligence, propaganda and other defensive actions, and they would later become the 39th Regiment of the Czechoslovak Italian Legion.

"[9] Štefánik then received, on 24 May from Orlando, the Legion colors in a solemn ceremony at the Altare della Patria in Rome.

[9] From the prisoner work battalions, four Infantry Regiments were formed, consisting of 13,653 soldiers and 489 officers, which then merged into two Brigades, taking the name of the Sixth Division Czechoslovak.

[14] Starting on 18 August 1918 the Legion had the task of defending the sector of Mount Altissimo di Nago, between Lake Garda and the Adige River.

In the Tešin mining basin, where the Poles wanted to seize these assets, troops from Slovakia came to support the main force in that dispute.

Regardless, the main task of the Italian Legion was to police the demarcation line that the Foreign Minister of the new Czechoslovak Government, Edvard Beneš, had agreed in Paris to form a temporary Slovak-Hungarian border before setting definitive boundaries at the peace conference.

[20] President Masaryk, eventually replaced Piccione with Pellé on 4 July 1919 and essentially ended the Italian connection to the Legion.

[21] The French military mission's role was to integrate the existing Czechoslovak Foreign Legions with the home units of the Army and develop a professional command structure.