European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - September 11, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Slovak from the cover \ and mountaineers did what so Many other Defeated nations did not they Rose up against their nazi conquerors and though losing the Battle won a huge and More enduring moral Victory. It is written in Dante s version of hell that the lowest Depths of the inferno Are reserved for those who in times of great crisis do nothing. The slovaks say that their doomed uprising has earned for them selves a higher ground. Arising plan a 33-year-old dentist named Vavolo Rysavy started the uprising. /. " " the country called Czechoslovakia was pieced to Gether in 1918 from the political leftovers of world War i. For 20 years the United czechs and slovaks enjoyed one of the few functional democracies in Europe. ,." a then in 1938 the country became the infamous victim of the Munich agreement in which its allies Britain and France avoided War with Germany by forcing the Little country to hand Over much of its borderlands to the germans. The following year Adolf Hitler s troops occupied the czech half of the country and set up a puppet government in Slovakia ruled by a roman Catholic priest named Josef tips. This was the first time in the slovaks thousand year history that they had their own Independent nation. History s judgment of Tiso is mixed. Slovaks cooperated with the nazis by sending nearly All of the country s 60,000 jews to death Camps. Tiso defend ers Point out that Slovakia was free of foreign troops and fighting for five years while Europe destroyed it self with world War ii. Y still Many were discontent Vavolo Rysavy had been Active in Slovakia s former democratic government and in the summer of 1944, was part of the slovak underground resistance move ment. Germany s fortunes were turning. Russian troops had slogged their Way almost to the German Frontier. The Western allies had landed at Normandy and were gathering momentum. On july 20 Hitler narrowly missed being killed in an assassination at tempt. The russians were parachuting commandos into Slovakia to prepare the Way for the Region s main ground offensive through the Duklas pass of the Carpathian mountains. Elaborate conspiracies were drawn for the slovak  to switch sides in mid autumn and help soviet troops liberate the country. The trigger for the uprising would be the moment German troops set foot on slovak soil in order to fight off the russians. On aug. 29, at 7 30 a.m., in the City of Zilina near the czech and slovak Border Rysavy met in front of the vacant Zilina synagogue with an informant from the local police inspector Vojta Kovac. German occupation units the police informant said were crossing the slovak Border at any moment. They had come at the request of the Tiso government in order to help suppress civil disturbances and to Root out the russian commandos who were sabotaging rail lines and other communication links. Rysavy immediately notified his Contact a major in the slovak  who had been designated a regional commander by the revolutionary National Council a secret group that was organizing a demo cratic government headquartered in the City of Banka bystrica1 on the Hron River. Rysavy and the major decided it was time to act even though the germans had arrived prematurely before the uprising organizers had finished their plans. There was no time even to consider exactly what we would do of what would happen to us if our actions failed Rysavy said. He was inspired he said 50 years later by the is Vlam Cramoy above the Low Tara Range where partisans hid through the Winter of 1944-45 after the slovak uprising failed. Left Vavolo Rysavy in wheelchair alongside american wife Marian during 50th anniversary ceremonies last month in Banka Bystrick Slovakia. Rysavy had no formal title with the revolutionary government and no connection to the military. But at one Point during the hurried mobilization recalled the Zilina celluloid factory to commandeer its trucks. The director replied that All vehicles at the Factor were exempted from requisition by the ministry of defense at Bratislava. I am the minister of de sense Rysavy said in a moment of excitement. The trucks arrived within two hours. A few Days later reenlisted in the . Amer Loaft entry american involvement in the slovak uprising is officially acknowledged As a disaster. One . Army report describes a Complete fail  and a history of the office of strategic serv ices says the Oss foray into Czechoslovakia turned out to be a Mission ill conceived and poorly planned. Those who returned were Lucky they sur Vived the revolt that  the Oss was the forerunner of today s Cia and special forces. Covert operations were still experimental for the United states in world War ii. When the slovaks revolted with russian help the . Hurriedly dispatched a team to make a firsthand assess ment. Six Oss agents All Active duty military members wearing . Military uniforms landed with an arts shipment near Banka Bystrick on sept. 17,1944. Landing at 10 am., the americans were greeted by elated slovak partisans and an even More jubilant band of american air Crews who d been shot Down Over enemy territory and released from prisoner of War Camps by the partisans. As Many As 60 pos were evacuated on the b-17s that carried in the assessment team. The assessment team headed by Navy it. Holt Green immediately saw that the uprising had Little Chance of Success. Yet the partisans greatest accomplishment was the amount of German firepower they diverted from Otheir fronts. Two German corps were blocking the russians at the Duklas pass which held until oct. 6 at a loss of an estimated 80,000 russians. Meanwhile five German  divisions two is spirit of patriotism by the desire to throw =3esdivisions and is brigades converged on Slovakia Hitler s Yoke by a burning need to show the whole from All directions to crush the uprising world the real aspirations of the slovak  on oct. \ Green radioed to his Headquarters in and so on aug. 29,1944, military units were act Italy that the situation was deteriorating and that rated to halt the germans at the Streno Valley in More escaped american pos had arrived who Western Slovakia. Needed evacuation. In other radio messages he said Page sunday september 11, 1994