What if Czechoslovakia resisted in 1938?

  • '17 '16 '13 '12

    I took this list from another forum to describe the order of battle of the Czech army in 1938. Would Britain / France or Russia side with the Czech? What about Poland?

    if no one jumps in, what effect does the campaign have on the state of the German army to fight in 1939. How about the Poland, French, British and Soviet armies?

    Could the Czech with a national sacrifice have changed history?

    1.280.000 soldiers
    217.000 horses
    26.000 motor vehicles

    207.200 pistols
    1.536.000 hand-grenades
    864.500 rifles
    34.500 light machine-guns LK vz. 26
    7.100 heavy machine-guns TK vz. 24 (old style)
    1.600 heavy machine-guns TK vz. 37

    600 anti-tank guns 37 mm
    230 anti-aircraft guns 20 mm (Oerlikon)
    90 anti-aircraft guns 80 mm
    140 anti-aircraft guns 83,5 mm (old style 1922)

    15 heavy armoured cars vz. 27
    50 light armoured cars vz. 30
    70 tankettes vz. 33
    50 light tanks vz. 34
    300 light tanks vz. 35

    900 mine-thrower 80 mm
    200 mine-thrower 90 mm (old style 1917)
    240 mountain guns 75 mm (old style 1915)
    270 light guns 80 mm (old style 1917)
    600 light howitzer 100 mm (old style 1914/1919)
    100 heavy guns 105 mm
    340 heavy howitzer 150 mm

    370 fighters Avia B-534
    60 light bomber and reconnaissance aircraft Avia B-71 (soviet SB-2)
    50 heavy bombers MB-200
    300 light bomber Letov Š-328
    100 light reconnaissance aircraft Aero A-100/Ab-101

  • 2024 2023 '22 '21 '20 '19 '18 '17

    Here’s an interesting article about that period: http://mr_sedivy.tripod.com/eur_4.html

    Yes, I think it could have changed history in a major way. If Czechoslovakia would have fought, then they would probably have been compelled to accept Soviet help, which they were reluctant to do. If that help would indeed have materialized, and Germany wouldn’t have withdrawn, it could have caused a German-Soviet war, but it’s difficult to imagine that being fought on such a small front. And it’s very difficult to speculate on what could have happened next - a few possibilities are a split of the country between Germany and a Soviet-supported Slovakia, or a broader war in the southeast with Hungary maybe joining forces with Germany, or a belated French intervention to counterbalance the Soviet advance. As for Poland…. my guess is that it would have tried to stay neutral.
    And if nobody would have come to Czechoslovakia’s aid, that war would have cost Germany quite a bit of strength. It would of course strongly depend on how the fight went and on the amount of destruction in Czechoslovakia itself, because as it went, the Germans made good use of captured Czech equipment and factories.  My estimate would be that Germany would still have been strong enough to take Poland in 1939, but not France in 1940.

    Anyway, that’s a lot of guesses and what-ifs. But I’m pretty sure everything would have worked out very differently.


  • The problem with Czechoslovakia was that it was split in to parties, one side was more kinda pro Germans because of their heritage. The other side was more slavic. The Reich knowing of their Problems ,demanded an annexation.
    On the 14. March of 1939 President Emil Hacha (1872-1945), and foreign minister Frantisek Chvalkovsky (1875-1945) went to Berlin to discuss the future of Czechoslovakia and the next day Czechoslovakia was occupied by the Wehrmacht and the Gestapo.

    What would have happend if Czechoslovakia puts up a fight?

    • It could have cost Nazi Germany quite a bit of strength as Herr KaLeun allready mentioned, but it also would have been a short Skirmish (In a few hours you are allready in Prague, not enough natural barriers like rivers except the Moldavia).
      And it would then totally depend on the Slavic part of the Czechoslovakia what they would have done.

    My speculation is :
    If Germany needed to invade Czechoslovakia by Force ,France and England would have still done nothing about it and let Nazi Germany go off the Hook with a verbal demand of an Excuse for their actions.
    And the Soviets? nothing.

  • 2024 2023 '22 '21 '20 '19 '18 '17

    You’re referring to the 1939 situation there. I agree that Czechoslovakia couldn’t have resisted for very long at that point in time. They had already lost the Sudetenland, which had deprived them of the natural defense line that the mountains provided, as well as the extensive fortifications that had been built there. So in 1939, the situation was strategically hopeless and resistance would have been pretty much pointless.

    But in 1938, before the annexation of the Sudetenland to Germany, everything was very different. I think that the question asked referred to the possibility that Czechoslovakia wouldn’t have complied with the Munich agreements and would have resisted the German entry into the Sudetenland when it happened. It’s not very obvious how long it would have taken Germany to overcome Czechoslovakian resistance at that time, and it’s also not very obvious how the world would have responded to such a war.

  • '12

    Once the Sudetenland had been handed over they were screwed.  As Herr KaLeun mentioned, that is where they had planned to put up a defense in the terrain that highly favours the defender.


  • I still remain to my Position since I referred to 14. of March in 1939 because Emil Hacha handed over Czechoslovakia without putting up any verbal fight.
    The year of 1938 might have been more in the favor of Czechoslovakia for a minor better Defence (1 545 km to defend after annexation of Austria 2 103 km) then in `39, but Germany collected allready interesting data from the Civil War in Spain.

  • '12

    If I recall, most of the tank and munitions factories were in the Sudetenland .  So again, once you had over your defensive fortifications in the most defensible part of your nation which contained your armaments factories you have given up 75% of your defensive ability.  Once you factor in the phscological factors of knowing you already gave up it becomes hard to imagine it having a huge impact.  No doubt if things were different they would not be the same, the question is by degree and here the degree is maybe a percentage or two of things measurable IMHO.

  • '17 '16 '15

    The germans would have had a tough time in '38  I don’t think they could have penetrated the czech defenses    poland was on germany’s side during the czech confrontation and ended up with a slice of czechoslovakia themselves


  • @MrMalachiCrunch:

    If I recall, most of the tank and munitions factories were in the Sudetenland

    Yes, if I’m not mistaken that’s where the famous Skoda Works were located.

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