Hobby Master Archive

One of the fiercest battles fought by the Czechoslovak 1st Tank Brigade was at Ostrava Czechoslovakia in 1945. The city and region were rich in coal and steel manufacturing. The occupying Germans depended on this to produce a large portion of their war machine. On April 30, 1945 after 57 days of battle forces including the Czechoslovak 1st Tank Brigade liberated the city of Ostrava and most estimates place the 1st Tank Brigade losses were at least 90%. The Czechoslovak 1st Tank Brigade received a handful of IS-2m heavy tanks in April 1945 before reaching Prague. The tanks carried the tri-color roundel of the Czechoslovak national insignia on the side of the turret. An external 12.7 mm DShK machine gun mounted on the Commander’s cupola started to appear in late version JS-2m at the end of WWII. On May 8 1945 the Germans agreed to leave Prague and on May 9, 1945 the Czechoslovak 1st Tank Brigade along with Soviet forces entered Prague.