16.3. 1880 General Eduard Kadlec is born

During the First World War Eduard Kadlec was one of the most respected commanders. Eventually he died in poverty and forgotten, his wife had to sell off his decorations. He was born 140 years ago.

Eduard Kadlec came from Ústí nad Labem. He was born into a clerical family. In 1900 he graduated from cadet school and nine years later he was already serving in the army in various places. He trained as an artillery specialist in the Austro-Hungarian army. "In the spring of 1909 Eduard Kadlec went to Brussels, where he signed up for service in the colonial administration."Jiří Fidler writes in his book Generals Legionnaires.

As a member of the Austro-Hungarian army, he fought in the Congo for five years. He received several Belgian orders for his military service. During the First World War he fought on the Eastern Front. From 1914 to 1915 he was one of the commanding officers of the fortress Přemysl in Halych. After the surrender in March 1915, he was captured and subsequently joined the Czechoslovak legions.

"On the morning of 23. March 1915, nine generals, about 2,600 officers and 117,000 soldiers of the Austro-Hungarian army surrendered to Russian captivity; among the officers was also a reserve lieutenant, Eduard Kadlec. He was imprisoned in Russian prison camps until June 1916," Fidler adds.

Later, however, he helped build up the Czechoslovak army in Russia and took part in the Battle of Bachmach, where he was severely wounded but remained with the regiment on its journey along the Trans-Siberian Railway. He also married in Russia, taking as his wife Vera Fyodorovna Solovyeva. After he recovered, he became commander of the 7th Regiment in May 1918.

"From June 1918, he was then for a short time chief of staff of the Siberian Group of Czechoslovak troops in Russia, which was fighting the Bolshevik troops on the highway. From 21 July 1918 he became its commander and was promoted to colonel, at the beginning of September 1918 he temporarily took over the command of the 2nd Rifle Division," says the Internet Encyclopaedia of the History of the City of Brno.

At the end of 1918 he was in charge of the organization of the Romanian Legion and the Transylvanian and Bukovinian Riflemen in Irkutsk and became its commander. He managed to defeat the Soviet troops in several battles. He was promoted to brigadier general in 1921 and to army general in 1937, but was sent into retirement. He fell on hard times during World War II, when he was guarded by the secret police.

"During the first martial law in 1941, he was tried in Brno but eventually released. In the autumn of 1948 he was evicted from his villa in Brno, demoted to private in 1950, stripped of his decorations and pension. He worked as a brigadier at the Brno City Museum, where he compiled a catalogue of the arms collection," the online encyclopaedia adds.

He died forgotten and in poverty on 19 August 1961 in Brno, his wife had to sell his military decorations.

Captain Eduard Kadlec in the uniform of a Belgian officer (1908)

Sources.