Sedm válečných křížů - plukovník in memoriam Arnošt Steiner

• Published in: Vojenské rozhledy Vol. 23; no. 4; pp. 152 - 158
• Main Author: Not Specified, Author
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: Czech
• Published: University od Defence - Centre for Security and Military Strategic Studies 2014; Univerzita obrany - Centrum bezpečnostních a vojenskostrategických studií
• Subjects: Politics of History/Memory; WW II and following years (1940 - 1949); Machine Gun Company; Defence Intelligence; The 1st Czechoslovak Army Corps; Communist Coup Ďétat in 1948; Czechoslovak War Cross of 1939; the Dukla Pass battle; Hill 694
• ISSN: 1210-3292

Arnošt Steiner was a Czechoslovak army officer, who experienced the whole combat road from a small Ukrainian town of Buzuluk to Prague, capitol of Czechoslovakia. He was commander of machine gun platoon, later machine gun company. In the heat of combats, he displayed extreme courage. He became legendary namely in the Dukla Pass battle of 1944, surviving hopeless situations, generally regarded as mortal. He was awarded by seven Czechoslovak War Crosses of 1939, and was proposed to the Golden Star of the Hero of the USSR, but because of his refusal to join the Communist Party, this proposal was turned down. After the war, he became a head of local Defence Intelligence office, but he left the army even before the communist coup d’état in 1948, in the rank of staff captain. He avoided society and made his living as technician. He died in 1982 in Brno.