Slovakia managed to fight longer, and on more sides, in the Second World War than any other country. Formed as Germany absorbed the Czech portion of the country, the Slovaks immediately had an ersatz war on their hands with Hungary which thought it could take some Slovak territory during the upheaval. Slovakia became an early ally of Nazi Germany and participated in the invasion of Poland in 1939, and then Soviet Russia in 1941. After being savaged on the eastern front the remaining Slovaks were assigned security duties in the rump Fascist state in Italy. Late in 1944 the Slovaks decided to try to change sides and join the allies. A particularly brutal and quick campaign was waged by the Germans to stop the uprising.
The Slovaks were the beneficiaries of the Czechoslovakian arms industry and started the war well equipped with tanks and reasonable heavy weapons. The army did not, however, keep pace with the technical development and found itself heavily overmatched after 1941.
|