Ludvík Krejčí (Fall Grün)
From Alternative History
| Ludvík Krejčí | |
| |
| Rank: | General of the Army  
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| Military service | |
| Allegiance: |  Austria-Hungary Czechoslovak legion Czechoslovakia
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| Years of service: | 1910-1939 |
| Commands: | Chief of the Army |
| Biography | |
| Date of birth: | August 17, 1890 |
| Place of birth: | Tuřanech u Brna, Austria-Hungary
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Ludvík Krejčí (born August 17, 1890) was a Czechoslovak general and the Chief of the Army of Czechoslovakia during the Munich Crisis and the Axis invasion of Czechoslovakia.
[edit] Biography
He was born on August 17, 1890, in Tuřanech u Brna, a town near Brno. He was the youngest of eight children of a farmer from an old farmer family. He studied in the High School in Vyškov, and from 1907 in the professional school for forest economy in Písek. After graduation, he joined the Austro-Hungarian Army in 1910. After one-year military service in Brünn he was appointed to an official in the low service of the forest office in Slavonia. Already in July 1914, he was transferred to the 4. Bosnien-Herzegowina-Regiment, where he climbed up the ranks from company commander up to the battalion commander. He fought in Serbia and Montenegro, Albania and later on the Italian and the Romanian fronts. In May, 1917, he was captured by the Russians and already three months later he entered in Borispol the Czechoslovak Legion. As a First Lieutenant of the reserve and with the honouring "Signum laudis" he was one of the highest ranked officer who joined the legion.
In October 1917, he became in Pirjatino first the second-in-command of the 1st battalion of 6. Hanna-Schützenregiments, later the commander of the whole regiment. This regiment was counted as the best in the Czechoslovak Legion and was also present in most fights. His fame began with the victory in the fight in Bachmatsch in the Ukraine in March 1918, where he was the commander. During the next two years Krejčí proved himself in the defence of the Sibirian Magistrale. With this railway line the legionaires should be transported to Vladivostok and from there then to the French battlefield. During the transport to Vladivostok, known as "Sibirian Anabase“, Ludvík Krejčí became commander of one of the units of the 6. Regiment. Later he was promoted (already then colonel) to the commander of the 2nd Division of our legions in Russia (from Milan Rastislav Stefánik). He commanded the so-called Kungur front in the Urals, after the retreat to the Magistrale the segment Omsk-Novonikolajevsk-Atschinsk. Under his guidance his division came without appreciable losses to Vladivostok. Krejčí even led the transport of the legionaries on the ship "President Grant". He returned to the young Czechoslovak Republic on June 18, 1920. After his return he concluded the War Academy in Paris, then at home he became the commander of the infantry division in Hradec Králové in the rank of the Brigadier General.
Between 1932-33 he was the commander of the Košice Military Command. President Masaryk promoted the capable, honest and experienced officer on November 30, 1933 to the Chief of General Staff of the Czechoslovak armed forces and in March 1934, to the General of the Army. Krejčí was aware of the German threat, which continued to build up its army, navy and airforce, and worked with determination on the strengthening of the defensive possibilities of the Czechoslovak Republic. Under him the army was motorised and a system was built by border defence arrangements (fortresses). Even Adolf Hitler confirmed the effectiveness of this system. During the mobilisation in September 1938, Krejčí was promoted by President Beneš to the Chief of the Army. General Krejčí was one of the many Czechoslovak generals which deeply disapproved the agreement.
