Detailed Information on Publication Record

The book is the first comprehensive edition of original documents created during the Prague Uprising and shortly afterwards by the activities of the insurgent headquarters, especially the Military Headquarters of Greater Prague ("Bartoš" headquarters). The edition is primarily focused on the activities of the 1st Russian Division of the Armed Forces KONR, which decided shortly after the outbreak of the uprising in Prague under the command of Maj. Gen. S. K. Bunychenka to send from Beroun to help the capital. Edited reports from 5 and 6 May 1945 first document the progress of a separate reconnaissance unit and then the 1st, 3rd and 4th Infantry Regiment and anti-aircraft-anti-tank section of the 1st Russian Division to the borders of Greater Prague. Isolated documents are two apparently antedated records of the alleged decision of the military commander of the uprising Brig. Gen. Karel Kutlvašr not to use the help of the Vlasov unit and then the records of communication between liaison officers and the division command. Among the records from May 6 and 7, 1945, information predominates about the entry of Russian troops into Prague - from artillery regiments and probably also the 2nd Infantry Regiment - and their combat performance on both banks of the Vltava. The most important of these are records depicting negotiations with the second deputy military commander of the uprising, Col. František Heřman about the upcoming intervention in Prague (containing apparently inaccurately captured nationals), their political requirements, the stay of the division command in Řeporyje and subsequently in the Walter factory building in Jinonice, communication with the command of the Štefánik barracks section and the morning attack on the east bank of the Vltava. Documents of May 8, 1945 capture the retreat of the mass of units of the 1st Russian Division to Berounsko (and further west to the 3rd US Army) and the reaction of the insurgents, as well as the effort to keep certain limited forces in Prague to defend against Waffen-SS units. The record of the meeting directly in the staff of the division in Suchomasty is completely unique, or the request of the National Committee of Řeporyje to re-call the Vlasov units to Prague. Documents from the last day of the uprising, May 9, 1945, about combat activity in Zlíchov, already in the shadow of the arrival of Red Army units, intensify the tragedy of the performance of Russian volunteer units in Prague. The edition of documents as a whole presents an important, unknown and to some extent controversial view of the Prague Uprising, uses all Czech (in two cases Czech-Russian or Russian) period documents directly or indirectly related to the 1st Russian Division KONR Army Forces. They tell about, among other things, the internal mechanisms of the insurgent infrastructure, cooperation with protectorate and insurgent headquarters, civilian authorities and security forces, the current military situation, the activities of German combat groups (including Waffen-SS), cooperation with non-Prague headquarters, communication with advancing US troops, etc.