Josef Šnejdárek
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Josef Šnejdárek (April 2, 1875 - May 13, 1945) was a career soldier of 43 years in the French Foreign Legion (and later serving his native Czechoslovakia) who participated in 17 military campaigns[citation needed], was decorated 20 times[citation needed], wounded forty times[citation needed] and rose to the rank of General.
Šnejdárek was born in the town of Napajedla in the present day Czech Republic. Leaving an Austrian-Hungarian military academy at the age of 20, he went to France and joined the French Foreign Legion thus changing his name to the Josef Šnejdárek. In 1899 he went abroad with the Legion as an officer in the 2nd Division serving in Morocco and Algeria. After further infantry training at St. Maixent (1906-1907) he served in the 1st division of Algerian Riflemen. As an officer during World War I he spent much time on the Western Front in the trenches and was recognized for valour four times by the French Army. Wounded several times, he worked with other officers in forming the Czechoslovak Legions in France. In 1918 he was made adjunct to the commander of the Czechoslovak armed forces. Upon returning to Czechoslovakia he served in Silesia fighting against the Poles and later becoming commander of the Czechoslovak 2nd Division in a decisive battle.
It is the second of those two great successes for which he is most remembered. On June 5th 1919 Šnejdárek was put in command of the 2nd Czechoslovak division, which was in retreat from the advancing Hungarian Bolshevik Army. Quickly, after gathering material and men he formulated a counter-attack and successfully stopped the enemy offensive. By June 13th he had retaken the town of Zvolen.
In 1919 he became the Military Commander of Prague, followed by assignments in the French military mission in Czechoslovakia in 1919 and 1920. For the next 15 years several division level commands followed, during the last of which he began the construction of bunkers and other defenses on the Slovakian frontier. In 1935 he was pensioned and upon the outbreak of war he left for France where he assisted in the mobilization of the Czechoslovak military.
After the French surrender, Šnejdárek went to Casablanca where he spent the remainder of the war and his life. Šnejdárek died on May 13, 1945.
