CZECH MARTYRS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 1 October 1941, Page 5

CZECH MARTYRS

EXECUTION OF RETIRED GENERALS SHOT WITHIN 23 HOURS OF ARREST. UNDER ORDERS OF HEYDRICH. (By Telegraph—Press Association— Copyright I LONDON, September 30. It is learned in Czechoslovak quarters in London that the two Czechs, General Bily and General Vojta, whose execution was announced by Berlin, were arrested in Prague on September 27,by special order of Heydrich, who had just arrived. A special court was formed at once and within 23 hours both were shot. General Bily, who was a septuagenarian, served in the last war on the Austrian General Staff. After 1918, he commanded various Czechoslovak units, and in 1929 was appointed to one of the four Czech commands. He retired five years later. General Vojta was an artillery specialist. He succeeded in escaping from the Austrians to the Russians in the last war, when he was appointed commander of the Ist Czech Artillery regiment. He took part in the entire Russian campaign fought by the Czech Legions and returned to his country via Siberia and Japan. The British Foreign Secretary, Mr Eden, broadcasting to Czechoslovakia last night on the eve of the third anniversary of the Munich agreement, said, “Czechoslovaks, hold on! The hour of your liberation is coming. “We will win victory for you on the front behind the German lines. We are your allies in the field and we know that the cause for which we fight cannot be defeated. Never has evil permanently triumphed over good, nor will it now.” VAGUE CHARGES MADE BY THE NAZIS. (Received This Day, 9.5 a.m.) LONDON, September 30. The German news agency, in a statement on the reason for the shooting of two Czech retired generals, Bily and Votja, and others on September 29. said the generals were leading members of a Czech group which had tried to re-establish an independent Czech state, by cutting Bohemia and Moravia from the Protectorate by force. Two other executed men were charged with being members of a group which systematically gathered firearms for use against the Germans, in the event of a revolution. Othei’ charges against the men executed were that they were preparing acts of high treason or were Communists. BOMBING IN PRAGUE REPORTED BY MOSCOW RADIO. (Received This Day, 9.5 a.m.) LONDON, September 30. A Moscow radio message said a bomb was. thrown into the Gestapo headquarters at Prague. The prison where Czech leaders were imprisoned was also attacked.