The Prague Uprising

JAN 01 1945 · 12:00

Citizens building a barricade during the Prague Uprising, May 1945. Place: Czech Radio building (Vinohradská 12); Old Town Square; Charles Bridge; barricades across the city Figures: The Czech National Council (Albert Pražák, Josef Smrkovský) · General Karel Kutlvašr, military commander · General Andrei Vlasov's ROA, briefly helping · SS-Gruppenführer Carl von Pückler-Burghauss, holding the German command On the morning of May 5, with the war in Europe effectively over (Hitler dead five days, Berlin fallen two), Czech announcers at the radio building on Vinohradská street begin broadcasting in Czech only, without the German parallel. SS units inside try to seize the studios. At 12:33 p.m. the announcer Zdeněk Mančal broadcasts: Voláme českou policii, voláme český rozhlas, voláme všechny Čechy!, We call the Czech police, we call Czech radio, we call all Czechs. By nightfall there are 1,600 barricades across the city, built from cobbles, streetcar rails, overturned trams, mattresses, wardrobes, and beer barrels. German road signs come down. Swastikas are torn from buildings. The Wehrmacht commander in Bohemia, Ferdinand Schörner, has 900,000 troops in Army Group Centre still under arms and orders them to fight through the city to reach American lines.