The Wehrmacht enters Prague

JAN 01 1939 · 12:00

Prague Germans greet the arrival of the Wehrmacht, 15 March 1939. Place: Wenceslas Square, Hradčany, the border crossings of northern Bohemia Figures: Adolf Hitler, in the presidential apartment by evening · Emil Hácha, President, signing under threat · Konstantin von Neurath, named first Reichsprotektor · the citizens on the sidewalks It is snowing heavily at the German border before dawn. The motorized columns of the Wehrmacht cross at first light. Roads are slick; some trucks slide into ditches and are pushed out by their own infantry. There is no resistance. By six in the morning the leading units are in Hradec Králové; by noon they are on Wenceslas Square. Citizens come out and stand on the sidewalks. Some weep openly. Others raise two fingers to make a V, palm inward, an inverted victory salute taught by no one in particular. A few spit on the cobbles when the staff cars pass. The newsreels (German) record cheering crowds; the photographs taken by Czech photographers, later, record faces stiff with grief. Praha pláče, Prague is weeping, is the line that survives.