František Bláha was a Czechoslovak soldier, general and one of the top commanders of the Defense of the Nation.
Early life and education
He was born on February 26, 1886, in Poděbrady. His father, František Bláha, was a butcher; his mother was named Anna, née Effenbergrová. He graduated from lower grammar school in Hradec Králové. In 1907–1908 he performed military service at the Landgran Regiment in Prague. On November 23, 1914, after the outbreak of the First World War, he was sent to the Russian front, only to be captured after six days. He joined the Czechoslovak legions on January 6, 1916, in Tjumeni. After graduating from the officer school in Kiev and given the rank of lieutenant, he worked on the recruitment committee of the 6th MS. Rifle Regiment. After completing a course in Jassách in 1917–18, again, he took part in battles at Marianovka and Yekaterinburg. He returned to the newly established nation of Czechoslovakia on June 1, 1921.
Military career
After spending a year on the general staff, he was transferred to the 45th Infantry Regiment in Khust in CarpathianRuthenia. In March 1923 he took command of the 1st Battalion of the regiment, and shortly afterwards became the regiment's deputy commander; in December he became commander of the regiment. After completing a series of courses in November 1932 he was appointed commander of the 21st Infantry Brigade in Košice. After a year he was appointed commander of the Command School in Prague. Between 1935 and 1938 he commanded the 7th Infantry Brigade in Josefov, and on January 1, 1938, he became Deputy Commander of the 4th Infantry Division, a post he held during the mobilization from June 21 to October 15, 1938.
German occupation
After the occupation of Bohemia and Moravia by the German army, he volunteered into the ranks of the Defense of the nation and took command of the resistance movement in June 1944 when its first commander, Zdeněk Novák, was arrested. In collaboration with the Barium landing team, he built a mobilization network in Eastern Bohemia, counting on the creation of four divisions and their deployment after approaching the front. On 17 November 1944 he was arrested by the Gestapo and imprisoned in the small fortress in Terezin. He lived to see the liberation of Czechoslovakia, but died in a typhus epidemic on May 21, 1945. He was posthumously promoted to the rank of divisional general in 1946.
Monument
On April 22, 2015, a memorial plaque was unveiled at the site of František Bláha's birthplace.
