Prague, June 28 (CTK) – An exhibition marking the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Zborov, which was the first major combat action of the Czechoslovak volunteer army on the Eastern Front during World War One, opens outside the seat of the Czech General Staff today.
“We tried to present the Battle of Zborov both within the developments of World War One and within the developments of the Czechoslovak resistance,” the exhibition’s author, Tomas Jakl, told CTK.
The exhibition wants to show how important the battle was for the forming of the Czechoslovak Legion and for the foundation of the independent Czechoslovak state, he said.
The outdoor exhibition will last until September 4. The opening is to be made by Deputy Chief-of-Staff Frantisek Maleninsky today.
The Battle of Zborov took place on July 1-2, 1917. The Czechoslovak soldiers managed to break through the defences of a stronger enemy, the Austro-Hungarian army. Nearly 200 of them were killed and 700 injured in the battle. However, they arrested 4,200 troops, seized 20 cannons and many machine guns.
Czechs and Slovaks were part of Austria-Hungary that joined forces with Germany and fought the Allies, including France, Britain and Russia, in WW1. The Czechoslovak legions supported the Allies and their effort strongly contributed to the recognition of the legitimacy of the Czechoslovak resistance movement and the right to self-determination, which culminated in the establishing of the independent Czechoslovakia in October 1918.
The 100th anniversary of the Zborov Battle will be celebrated by a national pilgrimage to the battlefield in the Galicia region in western Ukraine.
