That city was liberated by Americans and Poles on May 6, 1945
World War II is becoming increasingly distant in time, but some towns still remember the brave men who liberated them.
The moving return of World War II veterans to Normandy 80 years later
World War II military vehicles and aircraft in Normandy for the 80th anniversary of D-Day
On Sunday, May 3, the city of Pilsen, in Bohemia, Czech Republic, held a grand parade featuring some 300 historic vehicles from the World War II era, under the title “Convoy for Freedom.” The reason for this parade is that on this day, May 6, 1945, units of the U.S. Third Army under the command of General Patton (primarily the 16th Armored Division, as well as infantry units), and the Polish Holy Cross Mountain Brigade liberated the city.
Pilsen was fortunate to be liberated by the Western Allies, who remained there until November 1945, since the rest of Czechoslovakia went from being occupied by the Third Reich to being occupied by the USSR, which in 1948 imposed a communist dictatorship on the country through a communist coup. As a result, the country did not regain its democracy and freedom until 1989.
Last Sunday’s parade in Pilsen took place as part of a Festival of Freedom that had two distinguished guests: war veterans Joseph Thurmond, 100 years old (right in this photo), and Gideon Kantor, 101 years old (left), two men who lived through World War II in the ranks of the US Army. Thurmond was part of the 94th Infantry Division and this was his first return to Czech territory since 1945. Kantor was born in Austria in 1925 into a Jewish family in Vienna, managing to flee to the United States in April 1941, being drafted in 1943 and landing on Utah Beach in Normandy a month after D-Day.
This event featured the participation of the Czech and US Armed Forces, as well as Czech and international reenactors. The parade included tanks and other vehicles from the era, along with numerous Willys Jeeps. Here we see veteran Gideon Kantor riding in one of them.
A Dodge WC-56, a four-wheel drive U.S. Army all-terrain vehicle, used as a command or reconnaissance vehicle. We see veteran Joseph Thurmond, wearing a light blue shirt, sitting in the passenger seat.
A US Army M-24 Chaffee light tank, bearing the emblems of the 16th Armored Division that liberated Pilsen on May 6, 1945. Equipped with a 75mm gun, it was no match for the heavy German tanks of the time, but it compensated for this with its mobility, being able to reach up to 40 km/h cross-country, which is why it was used as a reconnaissance tank.
An M-36 Jackson tank destroyer, also bearing the emblems of the 16th Armored Division. This armored vehicle was equipped with a 90mm gun. It arrived in Europe in October 1944, in an attempt to counter the powerful Tiger tanks of the German Army.
In this other image we see the M-24 Chaffee from before and behind it a Sherman tank, specifically an M4A2. I’ve seen few parades in Europe with as many historic vehicles as this one. If you want to see more, yesterday the YouTube channel Vintage Military Vehicles published a very comprehensive video of this parade, in which at the end we can see two Humvees from the US Marines and a Ford Taurus from the USMC Police:
—
Photos: slavnostisvobody.cz / Facebook Slavnosti Svobody.