A short visit to Jablonné nad Orlicí, on the edge of the historic Králíky fortification area: 2 km

• The Králíky fortification area is the densest network in the country of pre-WWII border defenses. They are located near today’s Polish/Czech border in northeast Bohemia, but in the 1930’s this was a Czechoslovak/German border area. The defenses include heavy bunkers and artillery fortresses, some of the strongest in the Europe at the time. They were never put into use (at least not against the Nazi’s) as the Munich agreement stripped away this part of the country and gave it to Germany in 1938. For those wanting to visit the fortifications, here is link to the relevant walk – the intro includes some more comments on the history of the fortifications.
• One of the closest towns to the fortification area is Jablonné nad Orlicí, which has a long history dating back to the 14th century. It is an attractive place, worth a quick stop if travelling in the area, particularly for those planning a visit to the fortification area. The previously modest town of Jablonné clearly benefited economically from the construction boom in the 1930’s. The town was actually inside the Sudeten area which was to be annexed to Germany in 1938, but the town had only a very small German minority and thus managed to negotiate an exemption from the annexation. It was a short-lived benefit. Within a year, Jablonné became part of the Nazi occupied Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia.
• A good reason to stop in Jablonné is to learn more about one of the town’s most illustrious (but probably not well known) residents, Ludvík Křejčí, a decorated veteran of the First World War. After initially fighting the Russians as part of the Austro-Hungarian army, Křejčí was captured in 1917. Like many disillusioned Czech soldiers, he switched sides and joined the ‘Czechoslovak Legion’, which was then attached to the Russian army.
• Křejčí eventually rose to became a commander in the Legion, whose story is the stuff of legends. The November 1917 Revolution led to the withdrawal of Russia from the war, leaving 50,000 Czechoslovak Legionnaires stranded in the middle of today’s Ukraine. They famously fought their way across Russia to Vladivostok , manning armoured trains, battling the Bolshevik army and capturing Siberian cities lines along the rail line.
• Křejčí and his fellow legionnaires eventually returned in 1920 to the newly formed Czechoslovakia, where he rose rapidly through the Czechoslovak army ranks. In 1938, Křejčí was the top general in the Czechoslovak army and the man responsible for overseeing the border defenses. Before the annexation, twice Křejčí pleaded with the Czechoslovak government (and the country’s French allies) for a full mobilization of the population. His pleas were rejected, until finally accepted just five days before the the Munich agreement was signed, on 29 September 1938. By then it was too late to change the course of history.
• In October 1938, Křejčí was invited – he declined – to join a possible army coup against the government. He continued to push for his Czechoslovak forces to be allowed to defend the country despite the loss of the border defenses. Again his requests were rejected and Křejčí was removed from his position in December 1938.
• The former general went to live with his wife’s family in Jablonné nad Orlicí, within sight of the fortifications he had fruitlessly helped oversee. He tried twice to escape the country, was imprisoned and interrogated by the Gestapo in the notorious Pankrác prison. He even spent time in the Terezín concentration camp.
• Somehow, Křejčí survived the war. Despite his attempts to resist and escape the Nazis, Křejčí’s army pension was removed by the Communist regime and he was forced to take on unskilled work in the nationalized button factory near Jablonné (which had previously been owned by his wife’s family). Ludvík Křejčí died in 1972 and was buried in his home town of Brno-Tuřany with full legionary honors. In 2017, Křejčí was posthumously awarded the country’s highest honour, the Order of the White Lion.
• There are various references to Křejčí is the educational trail around the attractive town, which is worth a stroll even for those not that interested in Czech 20th-century history. The full trail is over 4 km long, but the route shown in the map below is a shortened version skipping the less interesting bits! Both versions are manageable with a stroller

Note: click ‘Show on Mapy.com’  to go to a full screen version of the route directly on the mapy.com site. This can be used for on line navigation, saved or exported as a GPX file.

Directions

• The educational trail is marked with classic-green white diagonal markers, with occasional notice boards (some multilingual)
• If planning on shortening the route along the lines of the route shown in the map above, it is probably best to use the mapy.com phone application