Ferdinand Pavelka’s grave in Flanders

From a poor working-class family, Ferdinand Pavelka received good military training as a machine gunner during his compulsory military service in the Czechoslovak army. He put his knowledge to good use when he left for Spain as a volunteer in 1937 and took part in various battles there, including the famous Battle of the Ebro. After retreating from Catalonia to France in February 1939, he did not follow the others to French internment camps. Instead, he took advantage of an offer from the French authorities and enlisted in the Foreign Legion that same month. He was posted to Syria.

After France's defeat in June 1940, the French authorities in Syria remained loyal to the collaborationist government in Vichy. During a short campaign there in June 1941, the entire area was conquered by Allied troops, and Pavelka joined the Czechoslovak exile units. He fought in their ranks during the North African campaign, and, after moving to Great Britain, he served in the Czechoslovak Independent Armoured Brigade Group, which from October 1944 until the end of the war besieged the encircled German garrison of the French port of Dunkirk. The Germans actively defended themselves, and fierce fighting continued there to the very last days of the war. Recently promoted to corporal, Ferdinand Pavelka was killed on 15 April after being hit by shrapnel. He died less than four weeks before the end of World War II.

Pavelka was one of a large number of the members of the International Brigades who survived the Civil War continued to fight against fascism during World War II. Their involvement in resistance networks in a number of occupied countries is well known. Together with many Spanish Republican soldiers, they also served in the French units under de Gaulle, but it is less well known that they also fought in the ranks of other Allied armies. No less than five hundred former members of the International Brigades served in Czechoslovak military units organized by the Czechoslovak exile government.

Among the members of the International Brigades, the names of well-known commanders and political workers are repeatedly mentioned, described and glorified. The simple muddy grave of Ferdinand Pavelka, shown here, commemorates all the ordinary IB volunteers who, after the defeat of the Spanish Republic, did not lay down their arms and, without claiming fame or recognition, continued to fight against fascism wherever they had the opportunity. Although they wore French, American, British, Polish, Soviet, or other uniforms, they were fighting against the same enemy as they had in Spain. Those who fell in battle, thus swelled the ranks of international volunteers who died on the front lines of the Spanish Civil War.

ZM