The 1st Czechoslovak Partisan Brigade of Jan Žižka (Czech: 1. československá partizánská brigáda Jana Žižky or Partyzánská brigáda Jana Žižky z Trocnova), initially known as Ušiak-Murzin Unit, was the largest partisan unit in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia (modern day Czech Republic) during the German occupation of Czechoslovakia.

After its core membership of Soviet-trained paratroopers were dropped into Slovakia in August 1944, the brigade crossed into Moravia and began operations in earnest at the end of 1944.

[2] British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain and other Western political leaders negotiated with German Chancellor Adolf Hitler and ultimately acquiesced to his demands at the Munich Agreement, in exchange for guarantees from Nazi Germany that no additional lands would be annexed.

[3] Five months later, when the Slovak Diet declared the independence of Slovakia, Hitler summoned Czechoslovak President Emil Hácha to Berlin and forced him to accept the German occupation of the Czech rump state and its re-organisation into the German-dominated Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia.

[7] The occupation influenced the daily life of ordinary Czechs by the militarisation of the economy, the elimination of political rights, and transportation to Germany for forced labour.

[9] While the general violence of the occupation was less severe than in Eastern Europe,[10] it nevertheless caused many Czech people to hate the Germans living within the Protectorate, and support partisan groups.

[12] The Protectorate was highly urbanized, which made the establishment of partisan field camps in woods or mountains impractical, and the excellent transport and communications infrastructure was at the disposal of the Nazi security apparatus.

[12] The Nazi administration brought in Reinhard Heydrich as Deputy Protector of Bohemia and Moravia in order to enforce policy more harshly.

[16] The first documented partisan group was the Green Cadre (Czech: Zelený kádr), active in the Hostýn-Vsetín Mountains along the Czech-Slovak border from early 1942.

[17] There were also urban resistance groups, such as the White Lioness (Czech: Bílá lvice) active in the areas of Silesia around Frýdek-Místek and Ostrava.

Initially, the unit conducted reconnaissance on a German counter-offensive, but soon Ušiak received orders to redeploy to Moravia, and on 6 September they began to move north.

The unit was formally named after Jan Žižka, the 15th-century leader of the Hussite army, whose fight for religious freedom and use of innovative military techniques had made him a Czech national hero.

[33] In order to stem the flow of Czechs joining the Slovak National Uprising, the Germans closed the border and made unauthorized crossing punishable by death on 16 September.

[36] In early October, the border was reinforced by about 300 SS military policemen, making it more difficult for the Žižka partisans to cross back into Moravia.

Fighting lasted for about three days with partisan losses estimated at 200[clarification needed] around Štiavnik and in skirmishes with border guards while attempting to cross into Moravia.

[40] In Moravia, the unit settled in a hunting lodge on the slopes of Magurka Mountain [cs][35][41] and made contact with the British-trained Wolfram partisan group.

[b] Concerned that an attack by American bombers on 14 October had drawn unwanted attention from German security forces, the Murzin partisans took refuge in the Wolfram group's base at Trojačka [cs; sk; sv].

[49][50] While German security forces burned buildings and terrorized civilians in the area around Trojačka, the Žižka partisans separated from the Wolfram group and established a new, more permanent base at Čertův Mlýn [cs; pl].

[54][d] The groups gathered clothing and provisions for the winter and raided police stations (sometimes in cooperation with local Czech policemen) for firearms and ammunition.

[65] The 55-kilometer cordon was carefully monitored and no one was allowed entry or exit; a system of passwords was employed to prevent guerrillas from impersonating German soldiers.

[66][77][e] However, due in part to inclement weather, the cordon was not as impervious as the Germans intended, and the local population helped partisans escape at night.

[89] With brigade membership rising, Murzin decided to restrict the number of partisans accepted into the forest units due to the limited supply of food and weapons.

This led to the acquisition of a large number of guns from raids; demoralized Hungarian soldiers would often trade their weapons for food or drink.

[93] Avoiding direct encounters with larger German units, the partisans sabotaged railways, bridges, telecommunications and factory power-lines.

By the end of December, the brigade's staff were back in contact with the Red Army, using the radio of the Luč intelligence unit which had recently been parachuted to the area.

However, the communications disruption also necessitated a period of confidence rebuilding; during the weeks of radio silence the Soviet commanders had believed the unit lost.

[101] The German occupation forces redeployed a Waffen-SS platoon, the 31st Special Operations Group, along with their 20th SS Police Regiment, to Moravia.

[106] The brigade was demobilized on 26 May 1945, having been deployed in the days immediately after the war as a security force searching for German soldiers hiding in the Moravian mountains and forests.