Defence Minister J. Naď: It is an honour for me to commemorate the Slovak National Uprising side by side with the living heroes

Representatives of the Ministry of Defence, led by Defence Minister Jaroslav Naď, along with Slovakia’s highest constitutional representatives today observed the 76th anniversary of the outbreak of the Slovak National Uprising (SNP) in Banská Bystrica. Traditionally, the official programme of the National Commemoration Event started off with a flypast of SVK Air Force aircraft.

After meeting with WWII heroes, Defence Minister Jaroslav Naď said: “Every meeting with the heroes of the Slovak National Uprising is a great honour for me. It was 76 years ago that they decided we would be standing here today on the soil of a free and democratic State. Therefore, our respect, gratitude and today’s celebrations belong especially to them.” To mark this occasion, the Minister thanked and presented four veterans with the SVK Minister of Defence Commemorative Medal, 1st and 3rd Grade, and the 75th SNP Anniversary and End of WW2 Commemorative Medal.

As of today, the SVK MOD registers a total of 436 living participants of the national liberation struggle in WW2. Of them, 92 are recognised as war veterans, based on submitted applications.

HQ 1st Czechoslovak Army was located in Banská Bystrica. The mission of the Army was to defend an insurgency area of 20,000km2 with a population of approx. 1.7 million inhabitants until the arrival of Soviet troops. In the second month of fighting, the total strength of the insurgent armed forces was at approx. 77,500 people. Despite their military defeat of October 1944, the insurgent forces were neither completely wiped out nor surrendered, and local partisan warfare continued well up to Slovakia’s liberation.