Heritage When Czech soldiers camped near Winchester and met the bishop

THE discovery at the British Library of an envelope linked with a military camp near Winchester has uncovered a long-forgotten story when soldiers of the Czech Legion were feted in the city during World War I after a hazardous journey from Russia on their way to the Western Front.

The diary of the Czech officer in charge, Captain Otakar Husák, records the huge welcome given by Wintonians to the men, and chronicles the small part played by the city in events that ultimately contributed to the establishment of the state of Czechoslovakia in 1918. This followed involvement of an estimated 1.4 million Czechs who fought in the war.

In October 1917 a battalion of 1,240 Czech soldiers left the port of Archangel in northern Russia on board the SS Kursk on a 2,000-mile journey, through sea ice, with constant threats from German submarines. Beyond the Norwegian coast they zigzagged in rough waters across the North Sea, in a convoy of RN ships eventually reaching Newcastle.

Travelling on to Winchester by train via York and Oxford they were met by Army trucks that took them to Flowerdown Rest Camp, where they were to stay for almost a fortnight. They passed “rows of American corrugated iron barracks, served by wide roads, with everything neat, clean and well organized” and were greeted by “polite and friendly” British officers and NCOs.

The Czech tented camp at Flowerdown (Image: Contributed)

All this has emerged from the chance discovery in the British Library by Dr Paul Skinner, Head Curator of Philately, of an envelope stamped “Flowerdown Camp” and meticulous research by Littleton resident Brian Middleton, aided by Dr Jiří Hutečka, Associate Professor of the Institute of History, Philosophical Faculty, University of Hradec Kralove near Prague.

Brian he has long taken a close interest in the camp and written an account of its history between 1912 and 2020 (Hampshire Record Office, ref. 11A20). During WWII it was one of the listening stations that fed Bletchley Park and from 1986 became the site of the Sir John Moore Barracks, scheduled to shut in 2026. He has now added another chapter, largely based on the published diary of Captain Husák, translated using Gemini, the Google Deep Mind “multimodal large language model”. 

When the Czechs came to Winchester in October 1917, tens of thousands of American troops were stationed in various parts of Hampshire and elsewhere. The Czechs were at first disappointed with bell tents rather than “tin barracks”, but changed their minds when they found out that each man had four blankets and marmalade for breakfast!

In his diary Husák wrote: “It was very important that we quickly organised ourselves…for France and the battles ahead. I formed the troops into companies and platoons … I chose the officers who were most fluent in French and English and assigned them their various task before we set off for France”.

Captain Husák (left) and Lt Col Cheke  (Image: Contributed)

On the second day the troops were taken on a tour of Winchester, which he remembered as “a place in a fairytale ...narrow cobbled streets, old houses and a cathedral with a high tower”. To the astonishment of local people, they sang Czech songs as they marched. 

They were inspected by a British General with one arm – possibly Sir Adrian Carton de Wiart, who promised them new boots. He made copious notes and was apparently impressed by the “mud scrapers” in the entrance to the tents, made by the soldiers from old tin cans. 

The Czechs visited the cathedral, which led Husák to note, with some historical licence, that “at about the time of our St Wenceslas [921-935] the Anglo-Saxon kings had united southern England and laid the foundations for the future British Empire that we see today”.

The many memorials in the cathedral made a huge impression on this officer, especially the tomb of Cardinal Beaufort, Bishop of Winchester (1404-1447) whose life had a surprising link with the medieval history of what was then Bohemia. 

In 1427 he was tasked by the pope to lead a Holy Crusade against Czech Protestants called Hussites, but was convincingly defeated in the Battle of Tachov (for the full story, see G.A. Holmes, The English Historical Review, October 1973).

Before long a major problem faced the Czechs: they had run out of tobacco and had no English money. The solution was to flatter the commanding office of the Flowerdown Rest Camp, Lt Col E.G. Cheke, with a military parade. As they marched, they sang the British National Anthem, arranged by their military choirmaster. This clinched the matter, with each soldier receiving tobacco and two shillings, and the officers two pounds.

In his diary Husák wrote: “Our parade helped build a strong relationship between the soldiers and Colonel Cheke. He became a lifelong friend of the Czech nation and provided the soldiers with valuable support throughout their time in England”.

Clearly, as well as fighting for the Allied powers, the Czechs were keen to use the opportunity of their stay in Winchester to promote their own cause. The bishop of the day, Edward Talbot, “was very interested in the Czechoslovak Legion and [its] fight for independence”.

The stamp that broke the story –Czech troops labelled “Serbian”  (Image: Contributed)

A service was held for the Czechs in the cathedral, prefaced by soldiers holding aloft the Czechoslovak flag, “a powerful symbol of the friendship” and “the soldiers’ determination to fight for their country’s freedom”. 

Wintonians invited soldiers into their house for a drink, and gave them gifts. Husák commented: “God knows how they communicated, but a warm look and a hearty handshake are more eloquent than the most perfect grammar”.

The ultimate spectacle of friendship was a football match between the Czech and English soldiers, with the foreigners winning 5-1.  Honour was restored in a return match with “eleven giants” from Southampton, when the British took the Czechs apart in an 11-0 win.

They were also taken by Cheke on a drive to an “army school” on the camp of an artillery brigade. Women were working in the fields and there were no adult men in the villages, except for the elderly. Husák noticed that “everything is devoted to war and the sight of a fit man of military age in civilian clothes will be the subject of insults on the streets, especially from women”.

He was impressed by the training methods at the school, which aimed at “reality in the field”, with targets suddenly appearing and disappearing, in trenches and underground shelters, and shooting round corners “using a simple mirror trick”. A “heavy army revolver [was preferred] to an automatic pistol”, as it could cope with “mud, sand and snow” in the field.

The camp was not named, but it was “mainly of corrugated iron construction,,,[with] small cars everywhere”. They met a convoy of 42 “light military vehicles and batteries of field guns” and noted that even after three years of war the “materials are first-class”.  

During their short stay they witnessed mayor-making, when Alfred Edmeades, a brewer in his 80s, was installed for a fourth term. Soldiers on the loose are often a problem, but it seems that the only misbehaviour of the Czechs was to march across a field of sugar beet. In contrast, the Americans, who “had money” were renowned for drunkenness. 

Overall, Husák noted that, by comparison with Russia, “the war is hardly felt here at all”. On November 11, 1917, the Czech Legion packed up and left for Southampton, leaving three dead. The location of their graves, and much more, remains to be found out about this fascinating episode in Winchester history.

Brian Middleton’s new booklet, Flowerdown Rest Camp, has been presented to the HRO and copies (£10) can be obtained from the Sarsen Press, Hyde Street (info@sarsenpress.com).

barryshurlock@gmail.com