Prague Uprising - Uprising

Uprising

At about 1:00 am on May 5, 1945, armed Czech resistance fighters overwhelmed the Waffen-SS defending the radio buildings. The radio announcer broadcast a call to the Czech nation to rise up and asked the people in the streets of Prague to build barricades. Elsewhere, Czech resistance fighters occupied the Gestapo and Sipo Headquarters.

In the afternoon of May 5, the Prague mayor formally switched allegiance to the National Committee in the City Hall. The Czechs in the streets tore down the German road traffic signs and store inscriptions. The insurgents attacked any Germans within sight and seized their weapons. The Germans defended themselves as best as they could by shooting at the insurgents.

In the remaining hours of May 5, the insurgents' camp learned of the Nazis' intent to eliminate the uprising by using a very heavily armed attack from the outside. The intent of this maneuver was to join up with the local German forces that were positioned inside the city. The news reached Prague Resistance Headquarters of German tanks, armored carriers, weaponry and motorized units that were heading for the capital city. However, in the evening hours of May 5, the balance of power between the insurgents and the Germans started to change. After a phase of dominance of the insurgents in the beginning of the uprising, a phase of stabilization began, which was also an equalization of power.

By the morning of May 6, over 1,000 barricades were erected. Czech resistance troops had managed to seize half of the city before the Germans reacted in force. German garrisons throughout Prague were surrounded. The insurgents forced the besieged Germans to surrender by cutting off their electricity, water supplies, and telephone wires. Prague experienced a rash of anti-German excesses, while some Germans, mainly the SS, took revenge on the Czech non-combatants.